Thread: My wife says I have to clean up the yard........

Originally Posted by sharptonn

How high off the ground were those or is that a root-ball?

Betcha' there is some sweet wood in there!

Take the gas saw to it!

The base was 1 foot or so off the ground. In the pictures the bottom was how it was oriented in the woods.

The hatchet and chain saw are good ideas but I am past that point tonight.

Do you think that 6 inch chunks are a reasonable size?

Uh, YEAH!

Better make them 8. Just to be safe!

Yer just going to have to break out the old McCullough to see!

Bet there's some good stuff in there yet. I'd make it meow through the band saw real quick and see what's inside. No point wasting time with dry rot.

I would use the chain saw if that is an option. It can have a bit of salt to it and still be solid enough to work with. I have not really done much in the way of stabilizing. I have seen stabilized spalted wood in shops and most of it seemed like the spalt was fairly thorough. None of it seemed to go to the point of rot though. Spalt is the very first stage of rot. You will have to analyze your pieces as you cut them up. I am a collector of stuff and my wife is a minimalist, so I know your pain. It is all worthless junk until you need it, and around here the store are limited and there is no rental shops.

Stabilizing in cactus juice and the like under vacuum will harden up most punky stuff, but it doesn't fill voids very well in my experience.
You need a thicker epoxy type set up to close the holes, and then it takes on a hard plasticky feel to the finished product..
Chainsaw, or bandsaw into largest pieces you can manage until you chase all the soft stuff out will yield you the most options from the burls. Could end up with some 6, 8, and longer lengths of some nice stock there.
Good luck..
I have some really nasty old willow trunk pieces, ummm spalting, in the back yard still I might clean off and try to save pieces of..

The only reliably starting saw I have around here at the moment is my sons.

It is duller than heck and cuts to the left. I made it that way.....

I was going to return it as is to pay him back. But I may have to see if I have another chain or sharpen the one that is on it.

Man! Those Stihl files do a great job. I wear chains down to the nubs.

I think that I found a chain that is sharp....

I wrap a tab of electrical tape around the sharp ones so even if they are old looking I don't get them mixed up with the ones that need sharpening.

She wants you to clean them up , probably because she does not like the way they look.
so turn them into something she can relate to & that ain't brushes.
Turn them into organic planters with nice flowers growing out of them.
Dress them up with a chainsaw then put plants in them.