Ron had enjoyed a 35 year old Ash tree in his front yard for years, but it had become quite sick over time and his tree expert said that it could not be saved. Ron decided to have the tree removed, but instead of hauling it away or cutting it up for firewood, he decided to have it milled into lumber, so that he could remember his tree by building something useful from its wood.
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First, several large branches were cut away from the side of the tree that would strike the ground first. This would minimize damage to the lawn when the falling tree came crashing down. To further protect the grass, several cut-off limbs were laid side by side in the path of the falling tree to keep the trunk from burying itself in the turf.
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| A wedge shaped cut helped guide the tree in the direction to fall. A second cut on the opposite side, and….timber!
Once the tree was down, Ron had all of the braches removed and then salvaged the large trunk.
With a portable mill saw, called the Wood-Miser, Ron hoped to create useable wood planks from his downed tree. This saw mill is essentially a really large band saw that travels back and forth on a rail.
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| They started by making two cuts off the top of the log, not really knowing what they would find inside. The wood turned out to be beautiful.
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| They rotated the log a quarter turn and then began cutting the second side. After each pass, they lowered the saw blade anywhere from an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half, depending on Ron's preference. After one more turn, they had essentially reduced the once circular log to a rectangular beam.
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| Finally, they clamped several of the boards into the mill bed vertically so that they could cut away the bark and end up with a straight edge. Out of a single log, Ron ended up with an impressive pile of lumber and only that small amount of scrap.
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| Before Ron would be able to build anything out of his new wood, he would first have to allow it to dry. The ends of a plank dry out more quickly than the center, so Ron applied a coat of latex paint to the ends of each plank to slow down the drying and prevent cracking, which could cause him to lose some of his planks.
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| Ron placed the bottom boards on a level surface created with 4 by 4s. He then placed small pieces of wood called stickers between each of the planks to create a space that would allow air to circulate and cause the boards to dry evenly. The stickers were stacked directly on top of each other to prevent the boards from bowing.
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| Whiile the wood dries out, Ron will have plenty of time to think about the perfect project for his new lumber. The important thing now, is that he knows that his tree wil be remembered.
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