New from Wilkes County

Tweiler72

New User
Tabitha
New here from Wilkes County. I bought a house a couple years ago and have a small waterfall now visible from my property after cutting down trees that either leaned up the bank toward my house or were storm damaged. Wondering about the possibility of turning some of this wood into useable materials for remodeling in my house. I'm on disability so I will be doing a lot of the work myself. Have a small electric planer, skilsaw, chainsaw and limb saw, etc. The waterfall is shown below, I'll be building an overlook deck where the large mud patch is shown.
 

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Grimmy2016

Administrator
Scott
welcome to the site! Hope you have a blast with your first steps into wood working.

There are plenty of people on here who can direct you to lumber mills or other vendors who can help turn your logs into usable wood. :)
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
Welcome aboard Tabitha! Yes, you can turn those trees into boards. First you will need a saw mill; they are expensive, but there are portable saw mill owners that will come to your place and saw those logs for you. Second you will need to dry those boards, a simple process where you stack the boards with strips of wood between them, so air can circulate all around the boards. They should also be covered with a tarp or tin roofing. The lumber must dry for a year or more to be useful.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Welcome Tabitha. You moved from where to Wilkes county and why did you choose Wilkes?

after cutting down trees that either leaned up the bank toward my house or were storm damaged. Wondering about the possibility of turning some of this wood into useable materials for remodeling in my house.
I don't think that it's a feasible idea.
1. The logs have to be brought up to a flat/level area. You're terrain looks pretty steep so it'll be hard to get equipment in there to get the logs out.
2. You'll have to find someone with a portable sawmill to come to your house unless you can take the logs to the sawmill. You pay them for sawing the logs either way.
3. What kind of wood is it and how big are the tree trunks?
 

Tweiler72

New User
Tabitha
I actually have spent most my life in Wilkes. My parents moved here when I was 8 and other than 10 years in Roanoke, VA I have lived in Wilkes.
 

Tweiler72

New User
Tabitha
As far as the wood, there are some small maples that need to be thinned, no more than 12" in diameter. My brother says we can cut them into 5-6' lengths and use a come-a-long to get them up the hill. I'm mostly looking for lumber for picture framing and small projects. I know when my dad cut trees where we grew up, he saved large branches and cut them, then stored in the attic to dry after rough cutting them with his saw. Maybe some oak slabs off a storm knocked one to turn into foot stools or simple stools for around my firepit.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
As far as the wood, there are some small maples that need to be thinned, no more than 12" in diameter. My brother says we can cut them into 5-6' lengths and use a come-a-long to get them up the hill. I'm mostly looking for lumber for picture framing and small projects. I know when my dad cut trees where we grew up, he saved large branches and cut them, then stored in the attic to dry after rough cutting them with his saw. Maybe some oak slabs off a storm knocked one to turn into foot stools or simple stools for around my firepit.

OK. You originally said remodeling in your house but now it's some picture frames and other small projects around the house and that's fine too. You still have to get the logs sawn into usable lumber for your projects.
 

Tweiler72

New User
Tabitha
Lol, for me remodeling includes furniture for the outdoors, like little stools. It's all construction stuff and the stools and such can be rough cut. I'm considering built in benches for the new deck and I consider all that part of the remodeling.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
Welcome Tabitha,
We are glad you found us - keep asking questions, there is SO much experience here and willingness to give advice or make suggestions.
What a WONDERFUL property! I am jealous that you have a waterfall right there on you property.

As you know the biggest problem harvesting wood is the handling (getting someone to your property to cut the wood or getting a log to a mill) then getting it stickered in a good location and then the drying time. Approximately one year per inch, so you have to be patient when you harvest your own wood. BUT, what a rewarding process when you are taking wood harvested from your own property and use it in a project!
 

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