Short Logs need Employment

[hubcap]

They were in South Carolina...

-Mike

[Duane Bozarth]

Luigi Zanasi wrote: ...

subspecies on the range map...being on western High Plains, I tend think only of the Plains variety.

[Larry Caldwell]

Oh yeah, I forgot. Out here in the west, our trees don't burn. NOT!

The only reason the prairie wasn't wall to wall timber was that the buffalo killed all the trees. You should see them around a tree sometime. They hate trees. If they can't shove them over, they dig the roots up or peel the bark off.

You should take a look at the oak savannah prevalent on much of the west coast. It's drought adapted, and depends on frequent fires for its survival. I also have trouble thinking of someplace that grows grass as arid. It takes a lot of water to grow grass.

There is a mini-ecological crisis going on right now in the prairie states, where trees are encroaching on any land that is not under the plow. Do a google on "trees encroaching prairie" (without the quotes) and see what pops up. It makes interesting reading. The buffalo created the prairie. Without them, it will not survive.

[Lobby Dosser]

There were Woodland Buffalo living on the east coast at one time.

[Lobby Dosser]

How do you explain similar habitats on other continents?

[Duane Bozarth]

Yes, but fire isn't/wasn't as prevalent/frequent on specific piece of ground as in the prairies. With the flat unrestricted plains, estimates were that any given area burned on the average of every 5-10 years.

Fire isn't the only cause, much of it is the soil pH is not particularly suited for trees' benefit and the continuous wind contributes as well to stunting growth of those which do survive. All in all, it isn't a very good place to be a tree.

You should see them lounging in the shade of those around some of the water holes enjoying the shade on a hot summer day... :)

They do, like elephants, enjoy a good pushing contest, though, you're right. Corral fences are a challenge. ...

Depends of the type of grass, naturally as well as the soil. The sandy soil will support much more vegetation on minimal rainfall than heavier soils. If we had clay soils of the type in much of the east, it would be near-desert.

Don't have to google, can look out my window... :)

'Tis true, but as noted, a good burn will fix it. The prime difference is twofold--first, early settlers and particularly in the Dust Bowl days, farmers planted trees around their farmsteads and thousands of miles of windbreaks. These now propogate w/ the aid of birds, etc., and some can get established. Particularly bad are the red cedar and tamarisk. Problems are, of course, enhanced the farther east one goes as rainfall goes up and wind goes down.

[Larry Caldwell]

What similar? The American Prairie is unique in the world.

[Silvan]

I think he was referring to the pampas of Argentina, the savannah of Africa, the steppes of Russia, maybe other similar that I'm forgetting. He said similar, not identical. They're all places naturally devoid of trees.

[Lobby Dosser]

Every continent except Antartica.

[Doug Chadduck]

Duane, where you at? I grew up in ND and spent a lot of time in and out of those mile long shelter belts planted back in Dust Bown Days. Every time I go back home it seems more and more of them are dieing off. Guess they've hit the end of their life. Have you ever seen a map of the country showing where the Federal Gov't helped the farmers plant shelterbelts? National Geo did an article years ago. It's a strip, maybe a couple hundred miles wide, at most, running from the Canadian Border to Oklahoma or Texas or somewhere's down there. Amazing to think about when looked at from that scale. Driving east west across ND you can almost see the line, on either side, by the sharp decrease in the number of old shelter belts. In later years more trees were planted closer up around the buildings with less and less out in the fields. When I was spending summers on a tractor, in the 60's, many farms had a single row of trees every few hundred yards across the fields. But when prices for wheat went sky high for a few years those trees went and the wheat was planted right up the sides of the road ditches. Maximum yield.

[charlie b]

snip

Head on over to a.b.p.w and look for "From One, Many" - what you can do with fire place size split - wait for it - Black Walnut

As a respondent noted, a metal detector is a necessity when resawing logettes from unknow sources. Fortunately, the paddle type metal detectors are becoming reasonably priced.

And you don't need a wide blade to turn mini-logs into useable wood. A 1/2", 3 tpi hook tooth will do the job. A decent, adjustable to the blade lead angle, fence is a must though.

Think - bookmatched drawer faces, jewerly boxes, small panels ...

Wood - a terrible thing to waste.

charlie b

[charlie b]

snip

Head on over to a.b.p.w and look for "From One, Many" - what you can do with fire place size split - wait for it Black Walnut

As a respondent noted, a metal detector is a necessity when resawing logettes from unknow sources. Fortunately, the paddle type metal detectors are becoming reasonably priced.

And you don't need a wide blade to turn mini-logs into useable wood. A 1/2", 3 tpi hook tooth will do the job. A decent, adjustable to the blade lead angle, fence is a must though.

charlie b

[Nehmo Sergheyev]

- charlie b -

- Nehmo - I went to news:alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking , but couldn't find the subject line. You say wait, so I will. I assume you're saying it's not posted yet.

[charlie b]

It's still there as of 12:32 am PST 1/22/05

If you can't find it I'll e-mail the images. Am working on some illustrations of the process to go from split log to bandsawn boards ready to sticker. Will put more resawing stuff on my WWing site in a day or two.

[charlie b]

Just finished putting up some pages on bandsawing mini-logs/ split firewood. Here's the page with the black walnut chunk I just sliced up. You can back up to the "how to" and further back to making a resaw fence and larger table top.

The next page goes over edge joining a pair of bookmatched boards with a hand plane. If you orient the parts right the joined edges don't have to be square to the faces of the boards.

The bandsaw is one versatile (sp?) machine. Though I didn't know what I'd do with it I got the LT16SEC because the deal was too good to pass up - $1100 total, delivered to my shop floor. With a 2.5 hp TEFC motor it's never bogged down. (Drive by Neener)

charlie b

[rcook5]

Inspiring. Thanks Charlie.

"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

[WD]

I live south of the KC Metro. This morning I took pics of the free lumber and a tool. Maybe, one of these days I might even find a router of TS among the free mulch and lumber :-).