Taking Down the Bass Wood Tree

This tree was about 45 feet tall -  (Today it is only six inches tall)

   Behind our home there was this basswood tree.   It is about 15 feet from the back side of the house.   A basswood tree is a softwood.   It is a fast growing tree.  It is also a great shade tree.   Lately it was starting to split down the middle.   If you look at the picture to the right where snow blew up against the trunk you can see where the tree was starting to open up.   I was getting concerned that one windy night it might just split open and possibility hit part of the house on its way down.
    I checked around the neighborhood and found a neighbor with a "good" chain saw and we rented a boom cart and proceeded to take this big boy down.
   I did have visions of taking the trunk to the saw mill, but the wood was to heavy to maneuver around.   Basswood is considered a good carving wood but not to many pieces of furniture boast that they are made out of basswood.
  After dropping the tree and when the weather was nice, it became an exercise process for me to saw it up as firewood.   You know,  about 35 minutes every day and eventually it was all sawed up.   (That exercise feature always occurred right after my afternoon nap).

When this wood dries, there will be a campfire every night for the next three years.

   Now I know that last week I made this commitment that I was on my way to using up wood from my scrap pile.   But I found myself laying awake at night and wondering  "What does basswood look like once it is sanded"?  "What if I would want to start a new hobby of being a wood carver".   I had all my basswood cut up into fire wood and it would no longer pay to haul it to a mill.  I was wondering if I could make my own boards. \

I wonder if a guy could cut meat with this thing?

     My band saw is not a big band saw and I have never done the process of what is called  "resawing" on it.  (A guy my age does not have a lot of time left to say "Maybe someday I will try that" so now is the time.)    The idea was that I would take a small log and saw it into small boards.   I made my own little fence to guide the log.    The highest my log could be is 5 1/2 inches.   The table is about 20 inches long with 10 inches on either side of the blade.

   
       I "resawed"  nine or ten logs.    A few I made at one half inch thick and a few I made at 1 inch thick.    Even though the tree was sawed down over four months ago the wood was still very wet.
      I did saw a few square blanks and gave them away to my brother who does some wood carving.   I'm curious as to how that will work.  I have not went out and purchased my carving tools yet, but checking out the costs.  Hmmm, maybe wood carving is not for me.    (I wonder if one has to do a lot of sanding when you are a carver?)
     It will take some time before this wood will dry down to where I will be able to make something from it.

Can't you just see a toy truck or boat coming out of that pile? 

   It took a little practice to learn how to feed those short logs past the blade and keep your pieces somewhat even.   (It also took a little practice to learn to keep your fingers out of the way.)
 
This process was kind of fun.  (More free wood.)   I will just stack these back by my old wood scrap pile just in case.   You know, one never knows when he will need a small piece of basswood.