Holly tree trunk in Chapel Hill, NC

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Sarah McI

New User
Sally
I don't know where to post the following:

My father, a woodworker, 30 years ago (before his death 20 years ago) just after we moved in, suggested to me, a daughter who was still doing some cabinetry and carpentry, at that time, that this holly tree in our front yard should be used for marquetry and veneer as holly is a very dense, white wood with minimal grain. At that time, when we had trouble with our two preschool sons climbing this tree, we cut off all of the lower branches up to 8 ft from ground. This means this tree's trunk has had over 25 years of growth with the knots healing over on the bottom 8 feet. The girth, at 4 ft from ground, is 63." I can't wrap my arms around this trunk and my arms are not short. This is an excellent trunk of holly wood. When we moved in over 30 years ago, it was a big tree, then, even bigger, now. there has never been any sign that this tree ever had any hardware put into it.

Earlier this year, in the spring, with intention to remove this tree, we had Doug Ludy start to take it down, but then we learned that holly is best harvested in the fall. So in this way, with all the branches removed almost 6 months ago, now, this holly trunk, at almost full height has been standing, now with some sprouts on it near the top.

It is now fall and it is time for this holly tree trunk to come down.

What I am looking for is for a local fine woodworker, or lumber merchant, who wants this wood to do all of listed below:

1. Finish taking the tree down (you would also need to bring in cross logs to keep any dropped tree from cracking the concrete driveway) OR you need to use a crane
2. Removing most of tree wood (see 4) and any remaining unwanted scraps
3. the removing party must paying for complete stump grinding
4. I want from this tree, from near the top, a handle-able 4' section to cut into boards for a few checkerboards and jewelry boxes.

I know this wood would make some very excellent marquetry, and holly is not cheap. I am familiar with arboriculture and tree removal, but I am not equipped, nor physically able, to finish removing this very, very heavy hunk of wood, which might even take a crane to remove, if taken intact.

The party wanting this wood must know what they're doing, be properly equipped, and be properly insured. If you are interested in this job, and this wood respond to this post by private email at sarhkamc@gmail.com. No solicitations, please.

The pictures are at this url http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=11396&username=sarah-mci

Sarah (and Mark) McIntee
 
Last edited:

Cbozz

Chris
User
Pictures would help for anyone interested, as would clarifying what you mean by "girth". Is that diameter or circumference?

Be aware that it is relatively rare that yard trees, even desirable species, are worth the time and effort for sawyers to fell and process taking only the wood as payment. There is a high risk of issues, such as finding metal in the tree or staining.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
email sent to Sarah for clarification and pics. Move to "Wood" forum by the admins?

At 65" girth/20" diameter, I don't think that the tree is holly.
 

Sarah McI

New User
Sally
Girth is a circumference measure 4' from the ground. The girth of this tree is 63" and it is an American Holly tree specially prepared for harvesting for woodworking.
 

Sarah McI

New User
Sally
I uploaded them, and my acct has 9 images uploaded The software says I have 35,117kb (35959581 bytes) used. But I don't know where these pictures are.

The album is titled Mcintee Holly Tree in Chapel Hill.

The search box appears to be useless.
 

zapdafish

New User
Steve
after you select files to upload and you see the text {#} files uploaded, you then still have to click the bottom button upload/submit. That takes you to another window with your photos for more processing. After you click the process button at the bottom of that page, your stuff is then in your gallery. ( I think)


3 files uploaded here does not mean its in your gallery yet

nc.PNG
 

Sarah McI

New User
Sally
As I have already written, the software shows that the 9 files were uploaded and that
35,117kb (35959581 bytes) of my account has been used. I haven't a clue as to where these uploads went, but they were clearly uploaded.
 

tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
For those who don't know (like me upto about 5 minutes ago), you can click on her name (Sara McI) on the left of her post and select "view gallery uploads" to see the tree pictures.
 

Sarah McI

New User
Sally
The pictures are posted in the Member Gallery under "random" The pictures appear to be not in an album, but each are labeled as "McIntee Holly Tree in Chapel Hill."
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Well I got a bit further this time, going through the whole thing again. I think they are posted.

Yes, I found them in your gallery so we're good. On line 2 of the message headers you'll find a "My Photos" icon that looks like a camera-the fourth one from the right. Click on that and it'll show your gallery, then click on the picture that you want to add to your written text. Voila!

Who butchered your prized tree prematurely? It looks like the Seattle Space Needle. :eek:
 

Sarah McI

New User
Sally
Thank you for the gentleman for leaving a message and phone number on my husband's cell phone, but I think these pics finally got up before you made the call. I would prefer, however, any interested parties to communicate by the email address provided in my initial post, and to not call on phone. If there are several folks interested, then there would have to be bidding on this, and this sort of thing doesn't work well by phone. I will be replying to all interested parties at once. Thank you for your offer of help.
 

Sarah McI

New User
Sally
Now that you have seen the pictures, re-read the initial post.

Answering questions-comments:

I am aware of the metal hazard. The collector is assuming some risk in that, but for the time we have owned the tree, since 1985, which is in the front yard, with the house having only 2 owners before us, the house builder's widow and an older couple, there has been no sign of hardware, not have we put any hardware in the tree. The tree was probably planted about 1962, when the house was built.

If I was still a woodworker, or a woodworker that would be able to use this quantity of holly, or to manage the weight, etc, then I would find a way to cut up this tree and season the wood. My father, 30 years ago, was interested in doing just that, but he did not have a use for this volume of holly, and he was fighting cancer by then. I am not familiar with what a saw mill does for making veneer, but peeling back 30 years worth of a 60 year old tree avoiding any questionable material in the middle, it would still be a lot of holly. It has been years since I am done anything close to that sort of activity.

In my younger days, I cut down trees mostly this size or smaller, usually pine, oak, or maple, and that was when I was in an arboriculture program in a vocation school in Massachusetts. I have never cut any piece of wood so large and heavy as this, with chain saw, nor have I even tried cutting up holly wood (very dense) on a band saw. I have never personally had access to a portable saw mill, and I am not as familiar with what happens to wood after it is harvested. For me, this tree is a white elephant, if you see the bark in the pictures, this white wooded tree even looks elephant-like!

Considering the risk, the cost is mostly just paying for removal and stump grinding.

Girth is the circumference measure at about 4 ft, as I learned in school years ago.
 

Matt Furjanic

New User
Matt
The coldest time in winter is the time to take down a holly tree, if you want the wood to stay white. Then it must be cut and kiln dried immediately, before the internal sap starts to ferment; otherwise, the fermentation process will stain the wood. You may want to do some more research on this before you end up with gray lumber.
 

Sarah McI

New User
Sally
I was not aware of the wood whiteness being affected by timing, but I am aware of the moisture issues; taking the tree down in winter would be a good idea. Late Nov, early Dec is best. I am not familiar with holly tree peculiarities, but with other trees it has to be taken down before the winter solstice as once it starts realizing spring here in NC, the sap will be back to replace leaves.

If I girdle the tree really well, it should start drying out. In fact, I think I will do that this week. It already has no branches on it. I suppose if I had girdled the tree earlier, it would be drier by now.

I have girdled trees in the past, and it can take a while for the tree to die. There is a smaller tree too close to our shed I girdled spring of 2015 and it still has green leaves on it. However, it is probably not growing, which was our concern.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Here's a similar discussion about the do's and don'ts of holly wood cutting, drying, etc.

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=59201&p=545046&highlight=holly+lumber+wood

There are 3 unpredictable outcomes if you do a comprehensive on-line search. Any and all of these can happen to the wood from the same tree so it's a crap shoot.

1. Everything is perfect from A-Z, the stars align, and the wood will be very white.

2. Not so perfect but the wood will be off-white like ivory or maybe a slight yellow. That's probably not a show stopper for some uses.

3. The sky and stars collapsed. The wood is grayish or it has blue stain fungus throughout. Matt Furjanic has seen a lot of this in his marquetry experience.

If I girdle the tree really well, it should start drying out.

Not a good idea for your holly tree at this point.

What's the pseudo-science behind cutting holly trees during the dead of winter when the sap is down and then getting them in a kiln pronto in order to reduce the moisture content?
 
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