The above photo is a view of private property on the other side of the brook runing right next to my workshop. It is easy to see the two oaks  killed by gypsy moths a couple of years ago and if not cut down will simply rot in place. Several sawyers in R.I. have been given permission to cut dead oaks on government and private land to use as they wish. Some are similar in size to the standing but limbed tree in the slide below left; if properly managed these can be turned into usable boards and planks such as you see in the photos below right. Many smaller can be used as firewood. The sawyers are encouraged to not remove the brush from the cut down trees. It makes good refuge areas for the local critters.
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This beauty (above) was 24 inches in diameter and approximately 50 feet tall. Successive seasons brought the dreaded gypsy moths, which eat all the leaves on a tree when they attack it. If attacked year after year it will end up dying, which is what happened to this one. We lost approximately 12 good-sized oaks starting a couple of years ago. Smaller trees were cut up for firewood; larger trees were salvaged for woodworking projects.

Some limbs were destroyed to the point of making them only good for firewood, while larger logs could still be used for wood-work processing. 

Processing large logs is not for the faint of heart; they can weigh hundreds of pounds and must be moved using power equipment such as tractors, bucket loaders and other lifting equipment to position them on the sawmill. Ensuring a safe working environment is vital to processing the logs into usable sizes.



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The damaged trees were cut down and the limbs cut off to create 8 ft long logs, when possible to  fit on my brother Roland’s sawmill. The sawmill will cut them into planks or boards, depending on the condition of the log itself and present needs. The standing tree in the left photo above is the same tree as shown to both photos to the left.

On the workshop property, four good-sized oaks (24” in diameter or larger) were salvaged and will be processed for new projects, for flooring in the workshop and various repairs, the lifeblood of Morgan’s Woodwork Shop’s business. Most of the standing oak tree photo was cut up into planks which were milled into tongue-and-groove flooring. Some of it was high quality and was set aside for furniture-grade projects. The above two photos are views of my brother Roland’s trusses supporting part of structure of his workshop. It to is created from local milled oak.

The yellow bucket loader has the bucket removed and has been temporarily modified to lift and manipulate logs by pivoting, twisting and aligning them onto the portable sawmill (left). As you can see in the upper photos most of the logs, we are sawing cannot be managed by hand very easily. A peavey or cant hook must be used just to roll them into position in order to attach the chain on the loader, which will then be used to place them on the sawmill.