Macrocarpa

This is part of 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 metres high with roots that were year on year prising the retaining wall apart. A slight issue when the bank is only 7 metres from the house!

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.

Felling the Tree

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 Tino Rawnsley demonstrate use of a horizontal band saw up at the Royal Cornwall Show in 2002 or 2003 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, I got in touch with one of 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 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 inch (50mm) plank size as being ideal, though having lifted them into the stack (lumbar conversion!) I wish we had opted for a more workable 1.5 inch (37mm).

...and finally

The timber is now safely stacked and is now fully seasoned and ready for use ... when I get time that is. Here are some links to the people who have helped us so far: