Well this is not a surprise – I brought about 6 times the amount of work on my holidays than I was actually able to complete. But this did mean I had more down time than planned, which I guess is a good thing.
One thing that definitely suffered was my planned updates on this forum and on my YouTube channel, so I will try to catch up over the next month of so.
This update covers the activities around removing the large cedar tree stump I had in the front yard and turning the stump into usable wood.
The tree was first limbed back in July 2014 (Tree Day). The stump was left up to support the B.A.T. (Big Ass Tarp) during the earlier part of construction. It now needed to go to allow development of the front yard landscaping and most importantly, make room for the natural gas line that will be installed in the spring.
Tree is ready to be felled.
I have removed most of the nurse stump with Alfie in preparation to falling the nurse tree stump above. It is amazing at how the root structure formed above ground to stabilize, what was a pretty large cedar, as the nurse stump rotted away.
This mountain ash established a home on my nurse stump once the cedar stump was limbed. It has lived through several dry summers, so is a fighter.I will place this Mountain Ash sapling somewhere in the landscaping because is has worked so hard to create a home in a nurse stump that itself had grown from a nurse stump. With that kind of persistence, it deserves to live.I chose to also get some cross slabs. Although I am not a fan of the 70’s era slab coffee tables, I do want to figure out something to do with these. At one point I also need to count the rings and determine the age.3 additional cross slabs. The thinner one in the foreground may be a nice art piece hung on a wall once cleaned up.First Log Ready to mill at Burley Boys yardThis first cut to square up the log, will be used as an outdoor bench once the rotted cambium layer is removed.This represents the bulk of the milled lumber. I chose several different sizes to allow flexibility in the projects I will be able to create with them. The 3″ slabs will be used to create a dinning room table.This load contained off of the outer cut-off’s that were needed to square up the logs for milling, as well as a super wide 1″ strip.I will use the cut-off’s needed to make a square log for benches.The milled wood was in excellent shape except for the cambium layer, which in these photos, you can see has rotted. The layer will be removed prior to processing the milled wood.
A full 3 months after milling the stump, these insects are hatching out of the cambium layer. Still trying to identify. Anyone have an idea?
Here is a short YouTube video showing the process. This is my first narrated video so let me know what you think.
As always, thanks for visiting.
““What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet. “My favorite day,” said Pooh.” —Winnie-the-Pooh (A. A. Milne) (1882-1956) Author
“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.” —Hal Borland (1900-1978) Memoirist, Author
