I picked this up today from a local guy who has been harvesting old growth redwood logs that were felled probably around the beginning of the last century. The logs are just there, sitting on the forest floor and likely left there because they were unable to get them because of where they dropped. Some of them look like widowmakers (you get shivers looking at big barber chair stumps that shoot up 40 feet in the air), but respect dictates that when in doubt leave any log that may have killed someone right where it is. At any rate, these trees are huge and the log that this slab came out of is medium sized compared to some of the other ones he showed me.
There were two of these slabs and while I was tempted to buy both of them, I knew I would eventually use one but was uncertain about the other and given the size and weight, this not wood you want to be moving around. I have no particular fascination with redwood although I do think the wood is under-rated in fine woodworking circles (just look at the detail pieces in old Victorian homes here in the area… all done in redwood) but the key point for me in this case is that both slabs have phenomenal quilting figure. I attached a closeup of one area where it is obvious but on the other side of this slab the entire surface is figured, big beautiful ribbons up and down the gain.
Replies
How many growth rings to the inch?
Hope much $
What you going to make out of it?
Lucky
between 30 and 40 rings per inch... really nice stuff. $400, it's about 2 1/2" thick, a little over 8' long and runs between 44" and 50" in width.I'll probably make a table because the live edge is pretty nice but will have to wait a year or so for it to dry out.
oooooooooooooh. nice.
Your photos arouse suspicion with me since sapwood is not rot resistant, and probably would have totally be gone within a few years of laying on a damp forest floor.
Also, unless there are finer annual rings between the ones that I see in your photo, I may be older than that tree.
you are right, this was a recently felled tree that is of moderate age. I confused this slab with another shipment I took delivery on, 6x6 timbers that were recovered from an old growth tree from the forest floor.
Good to hear from you, and that I was right. I really don't like to contradict anyone on the forums, and dislike it even more if I turn out to be wrong. haIf you haven't already. You sure need to get those ends sealed ASAP.
and dislike it even more if I turn out to be wrong..
Woodworkers are NEVER wrong. Maybe misguided sometimes...
"Woodworkers are NEVER wrong. Maybe misguided sometimes..."Would a laser help?Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Would a laser help? Maybe a 100 Watt?
Sorta like the saying they have in the doctor community about surgeons."Sometimes wrong, never in doubt" :-)Cheers,Peter
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
Peter,There is something to be said about confidence alright. Always sound confident, especially when you're not. When I say thing like, darn or oops, one of my coworkers likes to say, "I'm glad you're not my doctor."Chris @ http://www.flairwoodworks.com and http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Fun stuff, if your are ever up in Fort Bragg CA stop by the offices of the Warehouser (spelling?) they have a section of a Redwood tree that is something like 33 feet across I seem to remember that it was cut in the 1930s and the tree yielded about 50,000 board feet of lumber. Some of the old growth redwood was pretty amazing, there is a house in Alameda CA that was built in the 1905 era by the owner of a lumber co. that all of the living room paneling and the trim work is done in quilted Redwood.
Anyway have fun.
Troy
but respect dictates that when in doubt leave any log that may have killed someone right where it is...
From my point of view I would differ.. Hardly anybody wants to die. Ok, some folks in so much pain just have to...
However, I would think your use of that old tree has meaning... Why let it rot over many years? Not a logger but have felled more than a few trees in my lifetime. Long story, which I will not go into here, but my stupidity when cutting down a very old dead Maple on my property was a bummer.. Almost lost my right arm at the shoulder socket. I truly hurt ALOT for many years then almost overnight the pain went away? I could use my arm and hand but the pain drove me nuts.. The ONLY reason I did not die is because some local child, riding her bicycle down the sidewalk saw me hanging from the top of the tree and told her mother about a man up in a tree. She called the police to look about what her daughter told her..
I would think any logger killed never blamed the tree. Probably told God... I got in the way! A logger lives on the edge every day. As Iron workers and riggers, police, military and many others... They live on the edge because they LOVE it!
If you are allowed to harvest the tree stump.. Go for it!
It's just what the local loggers live by... but I suspect another reason is that when someone was killed under one of those huge trees the body was left there.
I respect that and I did not mean anything BAD for the logger..I would think the logger still loved that tree as did his/her family..
Edited 8/13/2009 9:59 am by WillGeorge
I for one .. If I was killed under a tree. I cut it down ,I was sent a message fron Mother Nature!
Hi Woodman41,
Nice timber, but next time make the pix's a bit smaller.
My download speed is not that good.
Not all of us have a nice fast connection.
Thanks Bernhard.
LOL..
At first I thought you got ripped off with that 'stick'..with the black stripes..... Then I remembered a shadow from the straps!
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled