35 year old yard waste

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Weird Wood Pusher
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I bought this log from a guy who has a tree service.
It is a 35 year old Sequoia that was removed from someone's yard.
Surprising how fast Redwood trees grow.
Photos show Reggie cutting the log into tabletop slabs.
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What is Reggie's playlist whilst cutting?
 
Around here it is pretty much Blues, Reggae or Bluegrass.
 
Damn that thing is huge. You could probably supply half of Japan with handles with just this one log!
Does Blues also protects one's eyes and lungs? Cause if I were Reggie I'd probably put some protection on my face :)
 
The wood is just plain straight grain.
We are cutting slabs for stuff like bar tops, outdoor table tops and such.
 
Curious as to the planning that goes into the orientation of the log for cutting into slabs. Will Reggie be taking successive slabs in the same fashion -- i.e., the next cuts will be parallel to the one he's now making? Is the log rotated after one or two slabs are taken from a side?

I have no experience with such things, but looking merely at the picture, would have thought more attractive slabs might have been harvested if the log had been rotated an additional 90 degrees counterclockwise (as viewed).
 
Larrybard,
Those are good questions. Some woods show better grain patterns when cut different ways like you mentioned.
But...this is just plain looking wood so we are just making parallel cuts all the way through the log.
This way we get a live edge on both sides with a band of white sapwood at the outside edges and red heartwood in the middle.

There is another Sequoia log and a Sycamore log on the way.
The sycamore will get cut quartersawn (at a right angle to the outer surface). That will show the flecks that look similar to snakeskin.
 
What's the going price for a table top size slab, or do these get fully turned into furniture and sold that way? Just curious
 
Wood like this would sell in the $200 to $300 range.
With old growth figured stuff, the prices multiply.

When we mill wood it goes into the wood yard for sale.
Then when a piece of furniture is getting made the workers just go through the wood and select the pieces they need.

My wood gets hidden away and locked up.
 
Do you have any big dry slabs hidden away anywhere? We'll be looking to make a desk in the summer (6-8 ft long and 3-4ish ft wide and 1.5-3" thick) and I'd love to drive over from PDX and see the shop.
 
Interesting factoid: redwood trees take 50% or more of their water not from the ground but directly from the air around them. Amazing trees.
 
Do you have any big dry slabs hidden away anywhere? We'll be looking to make a desk in the summer (6-8 ft long and 3-4ish ft wide and 1.5-3" thick) and I'd love to drive over from PDX and see the shop.

We will usually have some bigger slabs like this that come from old salvaged stumps. est. $300 and up.
Old growth like this will usually have deeper colors and some figure.
If you come out on a weekday the furniture makers are here working on projects.
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Wow. Which Stihl saw is that and how long is the bar? Interesting setup.
 
These are a couple more logs from the tree service guys.
The remainder of the Sequoia.
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And a London Plane butt log. The narrow end is about 4 foot.
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A firewood cutter also brought in a bunch of maple burl caps and some forest fire salvage pieces. The second photo is a couple pieces getting cleaned up so I can cut it into knife handle blocks.
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We All LOVE seeing photos of Slabs that are for sale Mark . Tennessee folks Like me and a few friends would love to see some Yard lumber/Slabs for some projects here in Good Ol Tennessee Rocky Top ! <Grinning Like a Possum >
 
I will take some slab photos when the guys finish milling the logs.

This is the maple burl piece I grabbed for handle material. Carrying it to the saw was like wrestling a 75 pound porcupine.
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The piece was rotted inside but the pressure washer removed most of the punky material.
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Cut in half to make it a bit more manageable.
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Later I will start cutting into chunks I can trim into blocks.
 
Wow Mark, I didn't realize the scope of what you do. I bet you have some real nice slabs stashed away too.
 
I look forward to seeing some Slabs that would make an Awesome table and end tables Brother Mark !

Thank you and Best Regards with Blessings sent your way .
 
Today we started cutting the London Plane log.
This is a hybrid tree that is a cross between American Sycamore and Oriental Plane tree.
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The pink coloring will probably become a light orange when it dries.
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I took the outer portion from the first cut. I will cut them into quarter sawn blocks.
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Hard to see in the photo but the quarter sawn surface will have the snakeskin flecks like Sycamore and Silky Oak.
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Still not sure what the color will be like when dry but the flecks look good when I sand it a little.
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