Anti-gloat and a big GRRRRRR!

[Kevin Craig]

Visiting my mother today, I saw that her neighbor across the street had felled a large black cherry tree. The trunk was clear, straight, and limb-free for 15 feet. The largest diameter was probably 32", and perhaps 26-28 inches at the upper end. No evidence of rot or damage.

It had been down a couple of days, so the ends were a beautiful deep russet color. Not just "both" ends, but all 20 of them.

Yep, 20 ends -- several hundred dollars' worth of fine lumber had been cut into neat 18" firewood lengths. As we sat in my mother's living room for a visit, I heard the clank of a maul repeatedly hitting a splitting wedge. I cringed at each blow, and I think I have developed a tic in my eye.

*sigh*

Kevin

[Kevin Singleton]

It's amazing what non-woodworkers will do to such fine material!

[RKG]

I think there are valid reasons for violence and this comes really close. Too bad you didn't visit a few days earlier maybe could have traded some junk firewood for what he had. Even a few of the 18" lengths would have been good for small boxes etc.

Rick

[SteveC1280]

There otta be a law!

Remove the 'remove' in my address to e:mail me.

[Eric Ryder]

I kinda like the smell of it burning myself:)

[Mark & Juanita]

Maybe you can console yourself by repeating, "it probably had lots of hidden nails and other metal all through it".

[Dave Hinz]

So share the misery - saunter over to the neighbor, sigh, and say "Shame that you're getting 100 dollars worth of heat out of a tree that would have got you 500 bucks for lumber wood..." and walk away.

No reason for you to be the only miserable one.

[dave in Fairfax]

I think you're letting him off to easy. You could say, "Ya know, cherry sells for between 6 and 10 dollars a board foot. That makes each of those wedges worth about $5-7. Let's see, you got

20 chunks times 6 splits, that's 180 wedges or so, times 5-7, that's about $900-1260. Then there's the large branches and the part after it starts to branch, Yup, you've prolly got $2000 worth of cherry there. Ya know, a cord of wood goes for about $60, seasoned, which this isn't. Too bad ya went and wasted all that expensive wood. At least it'll make the grill cook tastier. 'Less you were just gonna throw it in the fireplace.

The math doesn't have to be exact, just high enough to give him that sick feeling.

Dave in Fairfax

[Dave Hinz]

(snip)

There you go, that's the way to do it. Might not educate him, but at least by sharing your pain it'll make yours easier to take.

Dave Hinz

[jtpr]

fill it up! We pay $200 in NH.

--

-Jim ©¿©¬

[dave in Fairfax]

VA. The guys run around with F-450s full every Fall and deliver it. The Korean guy down the street bought a splitter and paid it off by selling 3'X3' solid stacked piles for $15. Sorry it's so expensive up wher eyou are, do you own a chainsaw? A maul? A tree stump? I think we have a solution!

Dave in Fairfax

[D. Mo]

Where abouts are in in NH. I'm only paying $100 a cord for it and that's if I get lazy and don't cut my own. Then figuring in labor it's around four hundred a cord. More if I do something stupid. Emergenicy room is exspensive:-)

D.Mo

[Mike Marlow]

Holy crap! I'm sure he had to have meant a face cord, but still... 200 smackers even for a full cord is crazy. In the dead of winter our local prices are only around $35 for a face cord, delivered. I may just load up a trailer and take a drive to NH. I've got some really nice soft maple that's been down for a year now - perfect for splitting up into this year's firewood.

[david]

As long as it's burning under chicken and ribs I don't see it as a waste. Expensive bbq yes, but definitely not going to waste.

[Dan Cullimore]

Hell, I gotta live one I'd cut down for that kinda doh--big ol' silver been droppin' branches for a few years, kinda twisty on accounta growin' up with a 'talpa crowdin' it.

That 'talpa's seen better days, too. It'll die 'for too long. Anybody out there made any thing outta 'talpa (Catalpa)?

BTW, Kevin--I feel your pain. Dan

[Todd Fatheree]

At Bauhaus Chicago Academy, they have a bed on display that was made from catalpa.

todd

[jtpr]

Nah, I did that one year as I'm surrounded by woods. Most of a weekend, rent a splitter for $50 and maybe get killed by a tree or chainsaw. Not worth the $150.00 savings. I can go spend a couple of hours fixing somebody's computer and get that. It was one of those things that was fun... once.

--

-Jim ©¿©¬

[jtpr]

I'm in Milford. Best price I ever got was $160, $200 'cause I need 12" logs for my itty bitty wood stove. I'm looking to upgrade that. Where are you?

--

-Jim ©¿©¬

[jtpr]

Yep, I haven't seen it go below $150 for a lot of years...

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-Jim ©¿©¬

[Unnh]

Cherry can be hard to split. Burning it puts off a lot more chemicals than many other woods. Trees in suburbs often have concrete, steel and other embedded items. I'm sure that that particular tree was riddled with termites, fungi and mold.... HTH, /ts