# Reclaiming some stunning heavily spalted birch burl.



## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

This is the first select harvest tree my friend Has asked me to remove from his property. All the haul out is done by hand to minimize the impact of the tree's removal. Check out the base of this birch cluster!


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

Had a couple of scary moments when instead of snapping cleanly it folded over like a noodle. Bit of rope work and some creative saw work had it down quick. The side tree stump in the fore ground is about 12 inches in diameter. I used it as a platform for cutting the main trunk.


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

The two main trunk burls with my husky 460 for scale. The saw has a 24 inch blade


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

This is my 4 year old son Gunther, he is 4'3" tall. In this pic he is standing with the first 4 sections of the bigger burl. There is still about 4 feet of burl on the ground and I have not reached it's widest point. These sections are much wider than tall and the last one would easily make a nice coffee table.


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

Gunther with the smaller burl, rip cut into sections. The center section gave me a bit of a challange, I am sure it wieghed every bit of 125 pounds.


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

So whats all this stuff look like on the inside you ask?


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

Stump and 30' mark cross sections.......Awesome!


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

Average burl section..........


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## KBs Pensnmore (Sep 13, 2011)

Very nice haul, I'm sure there are some beautiful pens in there somewhere?????????
Kryn


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## ossaguy (Sep 13, 2011)

Thanks for showing what the spalted blanks I order look like in real life,I've never seen.Let me know if you decide to sell some pen-sized blanks,that's beautiful wood!

Steve


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## sumterdad (Sep 13, 2011)

Very nice. As ossaguy said if you decided to sell some blanks let me know as well
Chris


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## Monolith (Sep 13, 2011)

Holy crap, you grow some huge 4 year olds in Alaska!  Nice wood, too. :biggrin:


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## D.Oliver (Sep 13, 2011)

Rick, that is an awsome haul.  Did you ever get all your blanks stabilized from this post http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=84266?


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## D.Oliver (Sep 13, 2011)

With the birch you have from this post http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=82564 you must have the most envied wood stash in Alaska!


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

Derek
A lot of it is cut and stabilized, got some great blanks out of it! I have to be sure I have enough to keep me in blanks for the winter.......

I don't know about the "most envied wood stash in Alaska" but I have a bunch of great wood drying. This one is really special! Spalted stuff can be very soft, this is in great shape.

Best part is there are 2 more trees like this one to come out yet! I'll have to wait till there is snow on the ground so I can use a sled to haul it out but it's waiting for me to cut.


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

Monolith said:


> Holy crap, you grow some huge 4 year olds in Alaska! Nice wood, too. :biggrin:


 
Both his mother and I are over 6 foot tall and I am the runt in my family, he'll be 5 November 2nd.........but yes he is about the size of a average 7 year old. Heck of an outdoorsman and a great help to me hualing out wood, gear, moose meat, etc.


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## Monolith (Sep 13, 2011)

Rick P said:


> Monolith said:
> 
> 
> > Holy crap, you grow some huge 4 year olds in Alaska! Nice wood, too. :biggrin:
> ...



Pics of mother? :biggrin:














:tongue:


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## Rick P (Sep 13, 2011)

My wife on our trap line showing off her skillz with a lynx set........can ya see the snare? Cause you ain't seeing more of my wife ya perv! :biggrin::tongue:


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## Monolith (Sep 13, 2011)

Oh my, that's a very pretty... snare... :biggrin:


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## robutacion (Sep 13, 2011)

Rick P said:


> My wife on our trap line showing off her skillz with a lynx set........can ya see the snare? Cause you ain't seeing more of my wife ya perv! :biggrin::tongue:



Is that a "snapped" tree that your wife is under...???

And, I can't see no snare either, but your wife I can see, and she is a nice looking lady, congrats...!:wink:

I always wonder how I would do in those sort of conditions/weather, funny that some of my most memorable dreams as a young boy, were from a place in a forest, a wooden cabin and white all around...!

I hated the cold for most of my life, in fact the hotter the conditions the better I would work and I've experienced 50°C in the desert, many times for weeks on end.  Since I retired from paid work and a full time job at 46, my body has been trough a few transformations and all of a certain, I don't do to well in hot weather any more, I started to enjoy the cool evenings and nights, and winters, don't seem to bother me much.

Obviously, I'm not living in the same area as I worked, I'm now in a more moderate area with 4 seasons and temperatures identical to most mediterranian places.  Temps vary from 0° to 45°C in extreme situations since I've been here but, the average temps are about 15° to 25°C and that is just nice for me now...!

I still wonder I would do, in such places like yours, tough...!

Cheers
George


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## Monolith (Sep 13, 2011)

robutacion said:


> Rick P said:
> 
> 
> > My wife on our trap line showing off her skillz with a lynx set........can ya see the snare? Cause you ain't seeing more of my wife ya perv! :biggrin::tongue:
> ...



I went through Adelaide a few years ago, and you have nothing to complain about! :tongue:


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## Old Lar (Sep 14, 2011)

That is some very nice birch.  
It was very neighborly of you to take that terrible rotting tree out for them.


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## tjseagrove (Sep 14, 2011)

I swear I saw a PITH pen in dat der wood....

Let us know when some of that nice stuff is available for delivery.  

Tom


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## Rick P (Sep 14, 2011)

Old Lar
That's exactly how all the folks I have gotten wood from see it! Thank goodness he hauled off the nasty old stump. Sure am glad the crazy man wanted that nasty rotten tree, it might have fallen on something and the view is so much better. The guy who I am currently working with has been to my house and seen the turning catalogs, he knows what I charge for my pens...........I have a totally clear conscious.


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## Rick P (Sep 14, 2011)

George

Ironic, as a young man I always wondered how I would do in a desert climate. Luck has smiled broadly on me and I got to do a lot of traveling with my wife before we settled here. I got my chance at a desert........it kicked my ass! Like living in a food dehydrator! And we timed our visit for winter!

The only way you will know how the cold will treat you is to come visit, a friend from California is headed up this february to see for herself what -35 is like. Travel is really good for you, our door is open if you ever want to face the challenge of deep cold.........might want to prep a bit. Ask your local butcher if you can sit in the deep freeze. Start with a few minutes then add more time as you get used to it. :wink:

PS your right Tracy is very attractive, even hauling wood or the 10th day of moose camp she gets a bit better looking to me each day.......which is exactly why monolith didn't get more than a look at her face!


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## Rick P (Sep 14, 2011)

tjseagrove said:


> I swear I saw a PITH pen in dat der wood....
> 
> Let us know when some of that nice stuff is available for delivery.
> 
> Tom


 
Tom
My Pith pen was from a black spruce root I got from an old burn about 4 hours drive East by North East of Fairbanks, bit north of Chicken Alaska and spittin distance form the Canadian boarder. It had some really good figuring but totally different material.

I think this is the valley it came out of, Right road anyway. This is definately me and the boy with the actual stump.......customers who are buying my stuff because of the "Alaska factor" Love that I have pics of there tree, the story behind it and a location they can look up on a map!


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## Monolith (Sep 14, 2011)

Rick P said:


> .......which is exactly why monolith didn't get more than a look at her face!



So... you're saying you have pics that show more?  :banana:


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## Rick P (Sep 15, 2011)

I cut 2 slabs like this one and a bunch of smaller ones today, finished up the fire wood from the tree as well. Anyway a side and front view of one of the slabs.


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## ctubbs (Sep 16, 2011)

Rick, that is some mighty fine timber there.  You are one lucky man.  Like myself, your child took after his mother.:wink::biggrin:  No offense meant.
Charles


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## Rick P (Sep 16, 2011)

Yes I am and he did Charles..........I only hope he takes after her in his behavior as well. I greatly fear he will be just like dear old Dad in that respect.


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