Big Log

Burnham

Woods walker
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
Messages
22,932
Location
Western Oregon
I ran across this picture recently, and though it would entertaining to many of y'all to see it.

Taken in downtown Albany, Oregon, in the central part of the Willamette Valley, in 1948.
 

Attachments

  • BigLog.jpg
    BigLog.jpg
    99.2 KB · Views: 111
That is a HUGE bunch of logs.
Any idea what kind they are.
Does ( or did) sugarpine get that big?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
I'm pretty sure that is Douglas fir, Stig. Sugar pine did get that big, but this is just about the very northern edge of it's natural range, and they didn't get to such large size here as farther south.

I think that several logs are all from a single tree.
 
Is it common for old growth Doug-fir to get a partially fluted butt like in the butt log pic?

I guessed Sugar Pine as well - based on the bark.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8
Is it common for old growth Doug-fir to get a partially fluted butt like in the butt log pic?

I guessed Sugar Pine as well - based on the bark.

Not particularly common, but not unknown...interesting point.

So far as the bark goes, that looks just like Doug fir bark to me. Given the diameter of those sections, that bark is easily 6+ inches thick. I don't know for sure, but I really don't think sugar pine got that big this far north.
 
I'd like to turn one on the lathe.

Wow, Mike, kind of heavy on the hippies, wanting to see them crushed under logging trucks. What did they do in Norway. :?
 
You can see axe marks on the butt log. I'd say they were all cut with a long crosscut saw. Bet they got it right the first time, don't want to get docked on those guys.:lol:
 
When I see pictures like that I wonder if the big trees were profitable or if it was the challenge that caused them to be felled. Back then they'd have had to retool to handle logs like that when they could have had a steady stream similarly sized, medium(large by today's standards) logs.
 
Can you imagine diving into that monster with a crosscut ? I've only used one of those things a few times in my life and I never care to again .I know why they called them "misery whips "
 
On that size ,there's lot of board feet in a monster log like that .It had to be profitable or they'd have never fell it .
 
Most volume of clear lumber, very little wane, tight grain, it was worth the effort
 
Most volume of clear lumber, very little wane, tight grain, it was worth the effort

Yes, and they had built the mills to handle the largest logs. Also human labor was cheap and disposable at that time in history.
As too loading most pictures I have seen they where parbuckled onto the trailer from a road built right next to the tree where it was felled.
 
If my guesstimation is correct of about 8 ft diameter and about 18 feet long logs those logs would have been a tad over 8,000 bd feet .The weight says about 44,000 .If that is correct those trucks are massively over loaded . Lawdy the only way to stop one would be to toss out an anchor .
 
Back
Top