Using wood from old downs trees

[bigcreekdad]

We have a cabin in northern Michigan. Our property is quite wooded and there are many downed trees in the forest. There is walnut, oak, and maple, besides poplar, cedar, birch etc. I burn quite a bit of it in our wood stove.

 

I've often wondered if this downed, long dead, wood could be used for modeling.

 

Any thoughts?

 

[reklein]

Should be some of the best stuff you can get. You may have to cut through a lot of junk but the sound wood you find will be of the best. Watch out for foriegn metal in it as fokls over the years have driven nails and staples into them.

[rpeteru]

Depending on where you are there is also the chance some individual has use the tree for target practice. Have seen many clips of people milling local timber only to find lead pellets or shot in the felled trunk.

[Bob Cleek]

4 hours ago, rpeteru said:

Depending on where you are there is also the chance some individual has use the tree for target practice. Have seen many clips of people milling local timber only to find lead pellets or shot in the felled trunk.

A saw should go through a lead bullet or shot like a hot knife through butter, but iron nails will make a believer out of you!

[grsjax]

You can run a metal detector over the trunk before cutting it to find nails etc. stuck in the wood.  A cheap one from Walmart would work fine for this.

[Crowe]

Check out Matt Cremona on you tube. He just cut up an old log and shows you what to look for on the outside and what you find inside.

[Jaager]

Downed trees, in contact with the ground, have a near continuous supply of water and recycling is likely. You may find that fungus and boring insects do not leave much useful wood.  The species that you list are pretty much all available commercially as seasoned lumber.  The work expended using ad hoc tools might be more efficiently expended on species not readily available from commercial dealers.  Fruit wood, hawthorn, boxwood, hornbeam, honey locust, dogwood  The Maple, Beech, Birch might provide branched stock, that at larger scales, provide naturally curved pieces for knees, hooks, catheads, etc.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Jaager

[wefalck]

 

... in some parts of Europe trees growing in/near towns are pretty much unuseable as timber because of shrapnel from WWII aerial bombs etc. imbedded in them 😱