Famous California Redwood

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

carlmorrell

Member
Joined
May 14, 2013
Messages
689
Location
Cary, NC
Anyone here read about it? The famous redwood, that you could drive through? I saw on the news it had fallen. Am I the only sick one on here who's first thought was how many pens could it make?

Seriously, any West coasters know how to snag a a splinter or two?:biggrin:
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

Skie_M

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
2,737
Location
Lawton, Ok
Last edited:

CREID

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
3,009
Location
Vancouver, wa
I sure wouldn't mind to get a couple of "splinters" from that tree, they should be the size of a power pole, huh?

It will be a big fight with the local timber merchants to see who gets the rights.

California

Cheers
George

We just lost what was the oldest or one of the oldest trees in Washington and the decision as to what to do with it was to leave it and let nature take it's course. They may do that with this one.
 

Skie_M

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
2,737
Location
Lawton, Ok
Well, I went ahead and bought that bowl blank through Ebay that I listed in my post ...


Fair warning, it was DRIPPING WET inside the package, and there was a little bit of mold that had started to grow on one edge ... I do like spalting, though, so that's fine, but the wetness??

I grabbed my Harbor Freight moisture content reader and as inaccurate as many people may believe it to be, it reads 19% for the "top" of the blank and 40% for the bottom, 30% in the middle. This thing was cut green and couldn't have been sitting on a shelf for more than a week! lol


I cut a small slice off one side and I'm turning it into a cabochon, just to get a feel for working this piece of wood. No idea what I'll do with the medallion once it's finished, though ... probably make a nice little decoration, though?
 
Last edited:

Skie_M

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
2,737
Location
Lawton, Ok
Well, if that's the consensus, then the only thing we can do is get our hands on some other Sequoia wood and tell people it's at least the same species ... and they can go see the fallen giant where it laid down in the woods! :)

I'm gonna have to dry some of this out and see how it turns.


attachment.php



It was very wet, kinda stringy ... had to start sanding with 120 grit to smooth it out, as it really tended to tear quite a bit - probably because it was soaking wet!

I sanded it up to 1000 grit, dry (though the wood was pretty wet, gummed up the paper pretty fast), then finished with Minwax, one coat of CA, (no sanding or micromesh whatsoever) Plast-X, and Turtle Wax.

Anyway, the picture and video I took simply don't do this wood justice ... cant see the chatoyance or the whitebait that is present in the wood surface anywhere ... (don't ask for the video, it's deleted). It's gorgeous, for a softwood ... though I do prefer the look of Eastern Redwood Cedar (aromatic cedar).
 

Attachments

  • Redwood Sequoia.jpg
    Redwood Sequoia.jpg
    235 KB · Views: 355
Last edited:

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
I can't remember if my family drove through it or walked through it back in '89. We still have a brochure on it somewhere.

I have often wondered when this would happen. I saw it on the news shortly after it happened last week - when they were having those storms.
 

elkhorn

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2013
Messages
1,199
Location
Utah
I also called them the day after it was announced and got the same story - it was NOT leaving the park. The lady I spoke to said she had already received almost a 1000 calls from woodturners wanting some wood.

Of course we did - we're just trying to recycle:big grin:

My family and I did have the opportunity to go through the tree about 10 years ago - pretty neat!
 

carlmorrell

Member
Joined
May 14, 2013
Messages
689
Location
Cary, NC
They could probably make a LOT of money selling it. Wonder how many board feet in a 1000 year old redwood 5000? at $10 per pen blank, thats $1,200,000 assuming 12 blanks per bf.
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Well, I had a feeling that the park would make that decision and my first thoughts are that, I believe is a waste of not utilising what can be salvaged, to create all sorts of wood work pieces that would last another couple of hundred years, giving the opportunity of local and other timber artists to create a long lasting memory of that old tree, instead of letting it rot, what a waste.

Now, I don't know of what condition, amount of salvageable wood is let from that tree as it has exploded on impact, I'm sure it will be large parts of that tree that are still usable and that, the rangers will have a hard time preventing people from stealing the wood and sell it on the black market where will fetch a lot of money so, the usable wood will endup being stolen and no one will talk about it.

To me, the tree deserves better than that, what a way to give the tree the respect it deserves, by letting it rot where it fell...! seriously...?

Does the park, that area need some additional compost to enrich the already rich soils? no...! is it of any help to the remaining huge trees..? no...! so, why not to give that tree some of the respect it deserves and make the decision to allow timber experts to make a salvaging plan, make it available to suitable buyers and use the hundreds of thousands of dollars made on the sales to create a small monument where the tree once lived and use part of the money to teach kids and adults what these trees are about and allowing these persons to plant young trees in areas where there are none or very few, why not...?

Governments are capable of doing some amazing and sometimes crazy things about preserving/salvaging/protecting some "significant trees", doesn't this tree (remainings) deserve the same or better consideration?

Is like idolising someone/something/pet, etc..! and then when it dies, is just left there to rot where it fell..? what do you call of that..?

I'm sorry but, I can not nor I could ever agree with let the tree rot there, that would totally contradict what I am and what I think and admire about trees (all sorts), would make what I have been doing all these years a joke and a waste of time and that wouldn't be right.

Cheers
George
 
Last edited:

farmer

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2012
Messages
807
Location
NV
Red woods

My grandfather took me through that tree when I was about 5 years old.
I also lived in that neck of the woods and fought forest fires as a tree faller all around the red woods ..
I have dropped tress that were 10- 12 feet across the base of a Douglas fir..
Never dropped a tree that was 30 to forty feet across at the base .

Red burl wood
I have a slab I have been hanging onto for about 25 years
Its underneath all the stuff I was photographing and using it as a back drop ...
 

Kenny Durrant

Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
2,480
Location
Sachse Tx. 75048
I agree George. It's not like the one tree, although it's huge, will make or break the park. I don't think they should go through and clean up the whole park but this one tree could bring in a great sum of money to go back into the park. I guess they will do as most government agencys and just raise taxes if they need to.
 
Top Bottom