Last fall, I had to remove a few trees in preparation to having my new shop delivered. I had 2 very large trees with rot at the trunk. In order to cut them down I had to cut some hemlocks to make room for the big ones to fall. Those hemlocks will now be sawed into lumber on my sawmill and be used to build a storage loft in the shop, and an equipment shed on one side of the shop. Sawing will begin this week. It may take me a day or so just to open up the debris to make way for the logs to be pulled out, then a day or 2 to cut the lumber.
One of the big trees I had to cut was a sugar maple, the first log off that has been bucked and split for firewood for next year. After the loft is built I will try the next log from that tree to see if it is firewood or if it is good enough to saw into lumber. The other big tree was a black cherry. I still have that laying where it landed. I know the bottom 14′ maybe more is only good for firewood, but above that I might get a log or 2 for lumber before I get to the upper part which will be firewood only.
I also have a friend coming Tuesday (another maple producer) to visit. That will be enjoyable. They are also bringing a 16 gal SS barrel they no longer need. I like those smaller ones so I don’t need to bottle a full 26.5 gal of syrup in one grade all at once and a partial barrel can not be stored more than a few days until I build a walk in cooler (hopefully planned for 2019).