# Judge a book by its cover



## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I know you have heard the saying "_don't_ judge a book by it's cover". As sawyers we get some weird looking logs to chose from and experience (and sometimes just curiosity :huh we will saw an "ugly" one knowing beauty is only skin deep hoping for something worth while.

I went fishing earlier last week and the municipal burn pile is on the way to my fishing spot. I noticed a bunch of brush piled up ready to burn and pulled in to see if there was anything good. The rural road commissioner was there dumping a load of debris they had cleaned out some drainage ditches (small creeks really). We had some bad flooding earlier this summer and they are still trying to get some of the junk cleaned out of the drainage paths. Mostly big limbs and corn stalks...but I see this rotten log in the pile, 2 actually-same tree cut in 1/2. They are 6' long and from the very little bit of bark left looked like white oak to me. He said they where bound up in a log jamb and they had to dig them out of the mud. He thinks they washed in from a farmers smaller drainage ditch when it flooded.

I told the road guy not to burn them I wanted them "These rotten things ? They ain't no good, are they ?" I said yea they probably were, at least part of them. So he said no problem he will just drag them out and dump them at my place later. I have been doing pretty good lately from other sources but I still will check a pile, even for one log.

I know these have laid for 2 years at the _very_ least. I milled one of them this morning. I milled it 8/4 and one board (the last one) was 5/4. The other log really looks better to me so I am going to mill it 4/4, maybe some more 5/4.

You can see some species like this white oak, knock the crud off the outside and you may really get some pretty lumber. The boards are short I had to cut 3" off each end so I only had 5'6" logs, but the lumber is totally clear. 

Dinner is over, gotta go mill the other 1/2 . Should tally 150 bft, delivered free...it would have been on fire a couple days later if I had not have stopped.


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## Handyman (Jan 2, 2008)

Thats nice. I most likely would have thrown that is the burn pile. I guess you caint judge a book by the cover after all.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

Handyman said:


> Thats nice. I most likely would have thrown that is the burn pile. I guess you caint judge a book by the cover after all.


I start with a hatchet and "sound" it out with the hammer part. I can chop into it a little to see what it looks like. I don't bother with the ones that are too rotten. And that's what the sounding tells me. But it's the mill that tells the rest of the story. [Sorry Paul Harvey.]


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## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

Along that line, has anyone worked with Mulberry? I've heard a couple of people say it will surprise you! I know I dislike messing with the Tree. I've always considered them a nuisance tree and dread having to cut them down and dispose of their carcasses. I found out the hard way why it sucks as heating firewood, I've seen the aftermath of sparks & embers from Chimmies starting fires on barns a, houses etc... . In any case I by default have a few mulberry logs I just cut and rolled down the hill to be drug, pushed and/or pulled to the gully for burial at a more convenient time. I'm just not sure I want to use a blade on the stuff unless there really may be "more to a book than it's cover)??


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I love Mulberry. I've gotten some killer bookmatched crotch boards from red mulberry. And of course osage is my favorite mulberry.


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## ecologito (Jan 27, 2008)

I wish I could get a hold of free lumber like you guys do... I am jealous (good jealous). I not longer work for Cleveland Metroparks, now I work for in Charlotte NC for park and rec and I think there is a much less red tape here so I am already suggesting a partnership between Park and Rec and maybe the coutry and the community college to start with urban logging. We'll see where this takes us.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

[email protected] said:


> Along that line, has anyone worked with Mulberry?


It is a direct cousin of osage orange, just as rot resistant. It has a great color, looks like black cherry. Like osage decent saw logs are hard to find because they don't like to grow straight usually. It is also the best cooking wood there is for BBQ many think, I sell my mill _scrap_ for $100 a rick (small one) they pick up here. It machines/turns well, dries flat as lumber. Don't roll them down the hill :no:, good thing is you can always dig them out years later and mill good heartwood. It takes a niche maybe to sell it, but I have niche guys who appreciate something different.


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## jeffreythree (Jan 9, 2008)

Oscar, here is a pic of my mulberry before it has dried, have not taken any pics since then. This is the center board and has the pith cracks to prove it. It now has a wonderful color, planed out one of the smaller pieces but no pics. Air dryed as flat as it was cut, no checking, and none of the cracks already present opened up or spread.


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## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

Well: You all convinced me to venture into milling some Mul berry. Like I said I had rolled a few down the hill and 1 of them is relatively straight (straight as Mulberry goes). I'll post some pictures. However, I can not really appreciate the God awfull color when it's first cut (Baby S___ Yellow) it does have a nice deep red after it dries awhile though!


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## clarionflyer (Apr 27, 2008)

Awesome Daren... That's the problem with this country, it needs more folks like you (and those on this forum) who take it upon themselves to (this will come back to get me but it's true)... "Get'er done".
Great find.


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