Oak stumps to go.

[weldtoride]

Several years ago, we lost over 3 dozen ash trees on our property to the EAB, or Emerald ash borer. So, we bought a portable bandsaw mill to harvest some lumber from the still-usable trunks. I am an avid wood-worker, and this has been a lot of fun.

As one thing leads to another, I stated milling various tree trunks from a tree service, a local excavator, and other sources. Not all trunks I get turn out to be lumber quality.

I would like to offer free oak stumps for local pickup. I live in Northern Illinois, Chain O' Lakes area.

I'll even cut it to your desired height. I also have a couple chunks of green-treated utility pole, which is what I carved a dish in for myself years before we got the mill. After almost 20 years inside my garage, its never split open.

I am offering stumps for free pickup. However, if you are so inclined, I do have a beer refrigerator that occasionally needs some love.

PM me if you would like a stump(s)

[memphisrain]

That's a generous offer. I hope some folks can take advantage!

[weldtoride]

After diving deep down into the emerging "urban lumber" scene, I have found that large tree trunk sections are often actually a liability for many tree removal services.

The tree service I use can't process trunks into firewood because he lacks the yard space, as do many tree services in urban areas. He's got a giant a$$ chipper, but it costs a lot to run/maintain, and then at the end of the day literally, he's gotta get rid of the chips so he can go at it the next day. Sometimes easy, sometimes not.

Around here, we lost all our ash at almost a pandemic rate due to the EAB bug. And now Oaks are dying off early, sometimes oak wilt, sometimes a mystery, but at least not anywhere near the devastating rate that our Ash disappeared. So, with disease, along with storms, building construction, road construction, etc, there's far too many trees coming down. Mulch is such a wasteful end use for so many of these trees, hence, the Urban Lumber movement is trying to make a difference.

I get my saw logs from a tree service in exchange for a little fuel money, both parties are happy. There's an excavator down the road from me who brings choice logs; I mill "for shares" with him.

My advice to anyone looking for a stump should stop when they see a tree service at work, preferably at lunch or quitting time and offer up a couple of Hamiltons to the tree crew.

I wouldn't go near any creosoted or Penta treated utility poles, but some are CCA (green treated). I milled a log truck full of non-treated old western red cedar utility poles for a guy, the old gray poles were amazing inside once we opened them up on the mill.