Worth trying this Beech?

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Dropped this on Friday and would like to have a go on Tuesday. Current set up is 36" Alaskan but have a 72" rail set turning up tomorrow, saw is MS880 with standard 48" bar.

Question is which one to have a go at? Butt is 6'4" diameter and the rot goes about 5' up I think, upper stem next to it is 43" but not sure of all the limbs coming off it.

 

Any thoughts please.

 

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

 

[Treemoose]

Cut the rot off see how much stem is left?

I'd be tempted to quarter saw some of it even with those branch knots and see how it goes.

 

Not done much beech so I'm sure someone with more knowledge will come along.

[gobbypunk]

Hi I would cut the rot off and see what the rest mills like take a couple of cuts to see what its like hopefully you should get some nice figuring/spalting in it

Cheers Happy Christmas Mark

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Thanks both, the customer wants something made of it so have a turner coming to site in the morning to see what's best to take then will carry on ringing up till we get to some decent timber.

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

[Big J]

I'd be inclined to ring up the first length with the rot and mill the second length with the branches. Better to have solid boards with the odd branch than half rotten boards with straight grain.

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Yep, half way along and still soft as cheese...

[gobbypunk]

That but in the photo with the saw on it I would mill that just take 2 cuts and see what you get I bet that looks cool when milled ideal table top

Cheers Mark

[Big J]

That but in the photo with the saw on it I would mill that just take 2 cuts and see what you get I bet that looks cool when milled ideal table top

Cheers Mark

 

Just not worth it Mark. With the volume of sound wood above, you're better focusing on that and firewooding the rest. Of all the viable hardwood timbers, beech has the lowest value.

[spiral]

For a commercial mill , clearly not worth it, for an money making enthusiast with time to spare that outer 8 to 10 inches of good wood is worth slicing off perhaps all round the tree. {Like American grade sawing.}

 

Could yield a couple of gorgeous figured 2 inch deep, 3ft wide boards from beneath the sap & above the rot on all 4 sides, I would guess?

 

A lot of work for 4 or 5 potentially nice boards, though.

 

But At that size that's probably the most stable prime cut other than quarter sawn?

 

Then just leave the middle to rot away.... it wont take long.

[Big J]

Not likely to be very stable as crown cut. It will be inclined to cup fairly seriously.

 

If it were the only length there, then perhaps you'd take a few slices off it, but given that there is a reasonable second length (I'd probably mill it), that's what I'd put the time into and I'd firewood the main butt. Remember, it's just as much work (and usually more) to convert a crap log into boards for only a fraction of the return. Stick to the best logs and you'll have far fewer issues in the log term.