A couple of weeks ago I heard the sound of chainsaws coming from up the back of the property. Now, this isn’t necessarily the best of sounds, given that Auckland is losing some of its heritage trees. But on the positive side, trees up the back of the property are shading our backyard, which is basically a southern slope, and the trees on the neighbours property aren’t natives, so there were potential positives. My partner had in fact talked with the previous owner of the property up the back about removing some of the trees. In particular a large tree that was a monkey apple.
In talking to the arborists doing the work, it turns out that the our new neighbours were removing a very large plum tree, and also thinking about other possibilities around the section. Subsequently in conversations we have had a few more things trimmed back, so its a bit of a win for our backyard. More light, and good neighbours over the back fence.
Back to the large plum tree. The arborists were happy to take some of the heavier straighter bits of wood, and throw them over the fence for me. It was no extra effort for them. Probably the contrary, as all the wood and waste would normally be hauled, manually, out to the front of the property, and thrown in the chipper. So as far as the arborist and the team were concerned, throwing some of the heavier bits over a nearby fence was in fact significantly easier.
Not quite sure what I thought I was doing, but I now own a mixed lot of plum wood logs. I have absolutely no idea what to do with them, and its not entirely clear that I have the tools to process them, or that they are worth the effort. They are pretty solid logs, and fairly gnarly. That said, the wood database suggests some interesting colours; admittedly, with a tendency to tear out knots, which might make reaving or splitting the timber a bit hazardous.
Anyway, we shall see what we can come up with. It might give me an excuse to buy more tools.
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