# Huge monkey puzzle tree milled today.



## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

The pic says it all - this tree was recently felled in Cork, Ireland. It stood over 100 feet tall. The man in the picture doing the milling with a chainsaw mill is a friend of mine. I hope to use some of it, once it has dried, primarily for electric guitars. A furniture maker could make spectacular table-tops from those book-matched knotty slabs.


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## Gaia (Feb 20, 2010)

JCJCJC said:


> The pic says it all - this tree was recently felled in Cork, Ireland. It stood over 100 feet tall. The man in the picture doing the milling with a chainsaw mill is a friend of mine. I hope to use some of it, once it has dried, primarily for electric guitars. A furniture maker could make spectacular table-tops from those book-matched knotty slabs.


Yeah really nice, wood rocks


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Some decent sized slabs there, John.

Did you get much knot free lumber from the tree?


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## PRDarnell (Mar 21, 2012)

Wow! What wonderful patterns! 

How are you going to dry it? Kiln?


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

JCJCJC said:


> The pic says it all - this tree was recently felled in Cork, Ireland. It stood over 100 feet tall. The man in the picture doing the milling with a chainsaw mill is a friend of mine. I hope to use some of it, once it has dried, primarily for electric guitars. A furniture maker could make spectacular table-tops from those book-matched knotty slabs.


All I can say is "wow"... that is some beautiful wood! Isn't wood just the most beautiful "artist"? it's like stone... some of the patterns in there are absolutely gorgeous.


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## LiLRdWgn (Dec 31, 2011)

JCJCJC said:


> The pic says it all - this tree was recently felled in Cork, Ireland. It stood over 100 feet tall. The man in the picture doing the milling with a chainsaw mill is a friend of mine. I hope to use some of it, once it has dried, primarily for electric guitars. A furniture maker could make spectacular table-tops from those book-matched knotty slabs.


Awesome looking slabs John. Mind going crazy over what those beautiful slabs could be used for.


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## japa62 (May 9, 2012)

Those first 2 slabs are stunning. Interested in to see the final guitars and what happens to the slabs. Thanx's for sharing.


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## japa62 (May 9, 2012)

Funny actually, looking at the bottom pair of 'eyes' on both slabs on the last day of October, gives me the creeps now. Especially the one on the right.


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## Ben I (May 21, 2010)

japa62 said:


> Funny actually, looking at the bottom pair of 'eyes' on both slabs on the last day of October, gives me the creeps now. Especially the one on the right.


The wood looks great to me. It's the Irishman on the right that's the scary dude. He looks like my grand-dad!

Halloween or no Halloween, there no chocolate candy for him.:stop:

Ben


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## Jimmy Dee (Oct 31, 2012)

How much time was required to saw that much lumber with the "chainsaw mill"? What size chainsaw was used?

Jimmy Dee


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Curious. No one's asked why it was cut down?

150-year-old Monkey puzzle tree facing chop because health and safety say its needles are 'like syringes' | Mail Online
The Monkey-Puzzle Tree: A Living Fossil


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## Harrison67 (May 30, 2012)

Crazy safety rules, again:



"The protest is being led by Mike and Carol Crafer, who are threatening 
to sell up if the tree – which stands in front of their home – is axed. ‘It’s another case of health and safety gone mad,’ said Mrs Crafer, a 49-yearold mother of two. ‘The tree’s needles are not that dangerous – comparing them to syringes is ridiculous."


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Busybody bureaucrats, bullying.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

*Monkey*

Apologies for not replying sooner. I'll try to answer as many queries as I can remember.

The tree had to come down because it developed a lean towards the stone building behind it - had it fallen, it would have smashed through the building. It stood in the grounds of a retirement home for elderly priests - people were walking about under it, driving cars within it's radius etc. It was bound to come down on its own one day so the risk was deemed to be unacceptable and it was therefore felled in a controlled way.

The man doing the milling is a friend of mine. He has a simple website here giving details of his work and services. The saw bar was about 40" long or maybe a little more. All the wood he produces is for sale, I can't guess where it will all end up or for what uses. Because the branches of the tree are radially symmetrical, woodturners like it - here's some work by another Irish man. That guy bought the crown of the monkey-puzzle. Turners prefer rings to planks.

Drying - this is a very damp, showery humid country. Most small-scale woodworkers like me couldn't afford kiln-drying, so it's a matter of buying a stash well in advance of needs and letting it air-dry somewhere out of the sun, which is just about everywhere in Ireland this year. The general wisdom is a year's drying-time per inch of thickness. I'm currently using some beech I laid up two years ago, I made some ecclesiastical-style frames for a few old and rather care-worn stained glass panels recently from it - this is the obligatory bit of router content - 



















It'll be about two or more years before I use any of the monkey-puzzle I got last week on that basis.

Finally - Mr. Jimmy Dee - what a name. One of my best friends was also called Jimmy Dee, sadly he passed away unexpectedly well before his time.

Thanks to you all for the interest shown.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

Jimmy Dee said:


> How much time was required to saw that much lumber with the "chainsaw mill"? What size chainsaw was used?
> 
> Jimmy Dee


Jimmy = about ten man-days, chainsaw bar about 40" I'd guess - I'm no expert, Stihl chainsaw, don't know how many cc's.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

"It stood in the grounds of a retirement home for elderly priests "
Well then, absolutely no chance of it coming down on the building...


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