# First time poster looking for advice...



## Trumpet (May 10, 2008)

Alrighty,
So, I'm going out on a limb here (no pun intended). My wife and I just bought our first house in December here in S. Maryland. Anyway, we have about 14 sweet gum trees that are about 30' tall. I loathe them and the little "spikey" balls they drop. I would like to have them removed, but I have a feeling it would be quite costly. A friend of mine suggest I get in touch with any woodworkers in my area who might be willing to offset some of the removal costs in exchange for a LOT of wood.

Does anyone here have ANY ideas of woodworkers in my area, or how to go about doing this?

Thanks so much!


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## Mike (Apr 27, 2007)

Might help if you said where you are.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

Being that they are only 30' tall I have my doubts about them being big enough in diameter to be worth much effort on the part of a woodworker.

Sweetgum yields two kinds of wood. It has a wide sapwood and a reddish brown heartwood that is known as redgum. The redgum is the valueable part. But from your description these trees sound small and wouldn't have much redgum. 

And are they also yard trees? Yard trees have a reputation for being full of tramp metal.

If they are bigger maybe you can find some interest. Post some pictures of some typical samples. Include their diameters as measured at chest height, and the bole (distance from the top of the butt swell to the first limb) lengths.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I will add to what dirtclod said sweet gum is notorious for being hard to dry flat after milling. 14 trees is alot of mess to clean up for the lumber yield.


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