From: "Gene Smith" <SmithFrow@worldnet.att.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: Re: baidarka : mulberry
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 13:37:44 -0000
Wynne wrote:
>I have an investment idea..We find a mill that'll do custom work, get paid
>to pick up these "trash" trees, mill 'em, ship 'em to Atlanta, Austin,
>Rochester, wherever, to sell to fine woodworkers. If I had the startup $$
>and a couple of my former timber-hacking friends, I'd be in "bidness".
Yeah, I had a similar idea a few years ago. I wanted to start "urban
logging". Here in Houston, we have a lot of trees and what usually happens
when they come down is that they get cut into small pieces and then the
heavy trash carts them off to a landfill. There is one company that
recycles trees here by grinding them into mulch. They have a huge location
and they only process about 5 - 10% of the trees that are cut down in the
city. A lot of this wood is mighty fine. My idea was to develop a company
that could convert trees to lumber on the spot in an urban environment.
This way, instead of getting paid to cut down the tree and remove it and
then having to pay transportation and a fee to dump the cuttings, you'd get
paid on both ends. Here in Houston at least, the volume is such that you
could easily concentrate on the best lumber and let the trash trees fall
where they may. Trouble with this sort of bright idea is that it requires
someone to dedicate themselves to it full time, and that would not be me.
Still think it could be made to work though.
>
>Back on subject: I have used (southern) juniper for lots of stuff, but
>haven't ever tried steaming it. Would it make acceptable ribs for a
skinboat?
In my experience, Juniper is usually used for planking on small boats. I am
not well versed enough in kayak practice to know if it would be suitable for
ribs.
Gene Smith