How to Get Wood and Make Lumber for Projects, and Wood for Heat.

I have a friend that commented to me that it looked like I had managed to get a good supply of firewood. I told him no, that it was not firewood. He was very puzzled. I tried to explain that I use it for projects, especially the dry ash logs. He still didn't really get it, he said it looks like firewood to him. I told him:
All wood can burn but not all wood is firewood. You don't go down to the lumber yard and buy a truck load of 2x4 and cut them up to burn. It would work but it's not firewood.
I have come to learn that what some people think is nothing but fire wood or in many cases garbage for the landfill is actually a very valuable resource if you know how to work with it.

There have been a number of authors and DIY people who have been trying to convince the public that cutting down the giant trees in their yards and having them hauled off to the landfill is a terrible waste. The urban trees growing along the streets and in front yards are the exact same trees that grow in the forests that companies harvest and sell to lumber mills. Maybe your trees won't be big enough to do big projects but you can get enough wood to do smaller things by harvesting what is often being thrown out as worthless. Now I am not encouraging people to just whack down their trees for wood. That would be a waste also. But what I do encourage is to harvest those older trees that are reaching their end or ones that for some other reason need to be removed. I can think of no greater honor for a tree than to make something from it after it has spent all those years providing you with shade. That big maple tree that grandmother planted all those years ago deserves better than to be hauled to the dump.

In reality there are a number of problems as to why this is not being done on a large scale. Even the people advocating it admit that while it would be a good idea to get a crew to come and harvest urban trees it is not fiscally feasible. And this is why it is something that lies in the realm of DIY.

I have a good friend who does lawn care and landscaping in the Chicago suburbs. After seeing some of what I have managed to do with my own trees he has gotten into the spirit of it and has been bringing me truck loads of wood that he has managed to salvage. I have a big project in the works for the woodworking contest that will show off a number of those woods.

In the meantime I thought I would show you a little of the process of how I have been getting my wood. We are going for an outing down to the river. Even though getting logs from the river is not the same as getting them from my backyard I go through the same process with those. I just don't have any big ash trees growing in my yard. I have to get them where I can.