I ground the stump today for the job that we did yesterday. Then, I got the big trailer and went to get some big chunks of wood that a guy that I know wants me to make slabs out of so he can make tables for the restaurant that he is opening.

There were 5 pieces and we loaded 4 but took one of them off since I have to go back to get the last one.

 

 

wow... thats alotta wood you got there.....

 

Yup, big, hard wood. hehe

 

hmmmm I always heard that it was all about the girth.
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Well I pretty much see how you load the trailer, I'm just wondering how you unload the trailer.

 

Took the ramps off, backed up to a big tree, hooked big chain around said tree and big piece of oak, put Excursion in 4 low, drive away from harnesed tree while watching big piece of oak slide, bang, tip, and finally fall off end of trailer.

Use skid steer to pull chain out from under logn, back trailer up, repeat 2 more times.

Took about an hour and a half. ugh.

My skid steer will just barely even roll one of those monsters over.

For the other 2 pieces, I think I will use the dump trailer. It's just a little easier to unload.

 

You must have bought a new stove? One of those big ones?

 

Those are huge pieces, what kind of weight were you hauling?

 

Thats what I figured except I did not count on the skid steer!

 

Wow those chunks are big.

If you remember, take some pictures of the finished table.

Stewart

 

I'm not making the tables, just cutting the slabs for them. I'll still take pictures of the tables when they are done.

Very interesting story on this job.

This tree was in a historic cemetary in downtown Jackson. (Saw many graves from the 1800s) This tree was probably about 200 years old which means it's even older than the city is. There are also many HUGE Magnolia trees that are just as old that are still standing. Quite amazing to behold.

They guy wanting this done is all about history and thought it would be cool to have this downed tree (blew over recently) made into tables for his restaurant.

He got ahold of the city cemetary manager and told the guy that he wanted the tree and that we would get rid of it for him. The guy thought that was great... until the local news station started running stories about how run down this historic cemetary had gotten and that there were even dead trees just sitting across part of it.

The restaurant owner is buying me the equipment I need to slab up this large wood. I, in turn, am basically working for free but get to keep the equipment when I am done. (Abut $1,000 worth) He already cut me a check and I deposited it and ordered the first batch of stuff for about $700.

Well, he calls me yesterday all frantic saying that they hauled the tree off and hoping that I hadn't ordered anything yet. I was able to cancel the order.

He went to the city dump and after some persuasion, (a one hundred dollar bill) gets the city workers to unbury the 5 chunks of wood. (It was only 3 even larger chunks when in the cemetary but they had to cut them down smaller to be able to move them.)

I went and looked at them this morning at the dump and told him that there was still plenty of wood and that it all still looked fine. Actually, that red oak smelled so good and was so strong that the land fill smelled of nothing but the wood. Love that smell.

I've already got 3 of the 5 pieces at my house so now I can reorder the equipment. I'll probably get the other pieces on Monday. That is if the workers at the dump leave them until then.

The good thing is that now they are at my house and I can work at my own pace and not have to worry about hauling all the equipment back and forth to the cemetary.

The restaurant owner is going to try to get the news people to do a follow up story on the wood which would be a cool story I think. Historic tree falls, gets sent to dump, gets saved and then gets turned into tables for a restaurant in downtown Jackson.

I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

The big piece will yeild 10-15 slabs that are 2" thick by 4' wide and just over 6' long. (Was going to be just over 12' long but oh well.)

 

My guess is 5,000 for 2 of them and probably 6,000 for the big one plus the 4,000 trailer.

 

My skid steer is very handy but rather on the small side. It maxes out at about 1,000 - 1,200 lbs. (It only weighs about 3,000 lbs.)

 

Cool Scott !!!

Bartering is a GOOD thing isn't it ?

I remember coming around a curve right north of Osyka after one of the hurricanes a long time ago and
almost hitting this HUGE OAK that was not only across the two lanes but taller than my car !!!!

Gosh that tree must have been ancient !!!