Bedknobs Green Pages
Macrocarpa
This is the story of a Cupressus Macrocarpa, one of two sisters, planted in 1888 or thereabouts as ornamental conifers in what was a new bank overlooking the rear of the house.
When we arrived at Polgwyn in 1999, one of the sister's had already been felled. The remaining tree was now over 15 metres49 feet high with roots that were year on year prising the retaining wall apart. A slight issue when the bank is only 7 metres23 feet from the house!
Decision to Fell
Having established that the tree really did have to go, we considered options for it's removal and disposal of the resultant wood. Research indicated that the timber would be suitable for use in the garden as long as it was not below ground (no good for fence-posts) so we decided to try and extract timber from the trunk with a view to using it for garden furniture or the like.
The job was given to Team Maintenance Services and their 3 man crew felled the tree over a couple of days. A substantial volume of the leaves and branches were shredded and stored for subsequent use in mulching the garden paths to keep weeds down. All of the small logs were cut, stacked and subsequently were given to local neighbours with log burners. Some logs were retained and placed in areas of the garden to foster wildlife.
Lumber Conversion
We were now the proud possesors of a 2 tonne trunk and about 6 additional logs of considerable size and weight. Having seen a demonstration of a horizontal band saw at the Royal Cornwall Show we decided that turning the logs into useable lumber would be the way to go. The only problem was how to get the logs onto a level surface where this could happen. Remembering that there was an agricultural contactors firm at the top of the Glynn Valley, we got in touch with the Dingle brothers who had just the right bit of kit to shift the logs onto the hard-standing at the back of the house.
Tino Rawnsley and his team showed up just after the logs were shifted and set-up the Wood Mizer. After some initial difficulty in getting the main log onto the bed of the saw and a few expletives, Tino and the Wood Mizer made short work of the timber. At the time we decided on a 2"50mm plank size as being ideal, though having lifted them into the stack (lumbar conversion!) we wished we had opted for a more workable smaller dimension.
Seasoning
The timber is now properly stacked, fully seasoned and ready for use.
The stack is made of two piles separated by about a 6"150mm gap and all planks are 'stickered'. The external dimensions of the stack are 173"4.39m long by 50"1.27m wide by 34"0.86m high. Some damp has got through to the top boards but all of the items mentioned below are dry and unmarked:
- 7 of 20"500mm x 2"50mm planks - 168"4.27m length - 3.9cf0.11m3 per plank 27.2cf0.77m3 total - condition good
- 2 of 10"250mm x 2"50mm planks - 130"3.30m length - 1.5cf0.04m3 per plank 3.0cf0.09m3 total - condition good
- 10 of 4"100mm x 4"100mm posts - 140"3.56m length - 1.3cf0.04m3 per post 13.0cf0.37m3 total - condition good
- Plus various wany-edged boards of various thickness and length (around 15% of the stack)
That comes to 43.2cf1.22m3 and probably a carriage weight of around 750kg0.75ton-1000kg1.00ton.
Future Use
A suitable use for the timber has not yet transpired, but it's early years yet and as it's safely stored, not a problem. Having spotted this page, expressions of interest have been received from a local architect that specialises in environmental builds and a wood sculptor and furniture makers. If you have an interesting project that could provide the next chapter in this story, then feel free to get in touch.
