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Resources
 A
well run WARP will require a number of people and
material resources. We recommend to each
woodworking club that is implementing a WARP, have
the following resources identified ahead of time.
When you get a call that a tree is down, or about
to be felled, you will have little time to be
locating the resources you need. Locate them ahead
of time, so you know where to call when you need
them.
#1
- People with chain saws (at least one or
two)
These are often Woodworking Club members. They may
need to be called upon to remove the limbs from
trees or buck large trees into manageable lengths.
If they are qualified and insured, they may be tree
fallers as well, but falling is best left to the
professionals.
#2
- Access to a Crane Truck
This is not as awesome as it sounds. Some trees
will be located in areas that are difficult to get
at, and many large trees may need to be lifted onto
trucks or trailers to be hauled away. In some
instances auto wrecking trucks are suitable,
otherwise a truck with a "lift" from a construction
company may be needed.
In some cases trees may be in peoples back yards or
other less accessible spots. Some of these are so
large they are impossible to remove economically
and the only option is use a portable mill. like an
Alaskan chain saw mill or a small portable band saw
which could be used to process these logs. In some
cases you may have to make the determination if a
tree is worth salvage or not. Not every tree will
be worth the time, expense and effort of rescuing
it for wood.
#3
- Access Tree Hauling Truck or Trailer
This can often be done with a suitable utility
trailer (car haulers work well) or a truck large
enough to hold the wood, as mentioned above a truck
from a construction company may work for
this.
#4
- Saw Mill
In almost every region of the country there are
numbers of people who have small saw mills. Some of
these mills are portable, some are fixed. There are
also a variety of them that use large chain saws to
cut rough planks, while others use gas driven
circular or band saws. You will need to compile a
list of people with mills, fixed or portable
depending on your need and preference, or what is
available in your area.
#5
- Work and Storage Location
Very often wood is "rescued" during the week and
workers and club members are only available on
weekends to assist with the milling. You may need a
small yard to store the trees until you can get a
work party to begin processing them, and you may
need a place to mill the trees if the mill you are
using is portable. Many farmers and industrial
locations will allow temporary use of their acreage
(offering to clean up thoroughly after can go a
long way too). Also if you are dealing with local
and municipal governments, they often have a secure
place where wood can be stored short term.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT - is that trees that are felled,
need to be moved to a secure place, otherwise they
will be bucked up and removed by others.
#6
- Drying Wood (optional)
There are a variety of ways wood can be dried. Most
hardwoods are best dried slowly to reduce twisting
of the wood. Air drying boards naturally, when they
are two inches or more thick can take two to three
years or more. Electric or gas fired kilns can dry
wood in only a few days but there is an added cost
for this service. Other kilns that dry wood through
evaporation processes include solar and moisture
extraction kilns. These often take a few weeks to
dry the wood, but the twisting is often much
reduced, as is the cost of drying. If you can
cannot find someone with a kiln in your area you
may need to sell your wood "green". Evaporation and
solar kilns can be quite safe and economical to
build . These could be worth investigating in for
an individual or a club.
#7
- Sales Yard or Location
If you are selling your "rescued" wood green, you
could use the same cutting lot, or if you have
dried the wood maybe you can sell it as it comes
out of the kiln.
#8
- Reserve Funds
The process of recovering wood will cost your club
some money. You will need to have money to pay
people for their services, possibly a tree faller,
a skidder, someone to "crane" the wood and haul it
to your holding yard. You will also have to pay
someone to mill the wood and possibly something for
drying too, depending on your situation. Make sure
you keep track of the costs because this is what
will help determine how much you will be selling
the wood for.
With
some suppliers you may be able to "trade" some of
your wood for their services. A saw mill or kiln
operator for example may be interested in taking
some wood as all or part payment. This is another
option for you to explore.
#9
- End Sealers for Tree Trunks
Once a tree is down, it is critical to seal the end
grain of the wood. Most woods dry quickly once the
end grain is exposed and when it dries too quickly
this can lead to cracking an warping. We recommend
that your club invests in a suitable quantity of
end grain sealer, that is specifically manufactured
for this purpose, available at all fine woodworking
stores. You will need a substantial quantity of
this, talk to your dealer to establish the correct
amount.
The "Leaders" will need to know where this material
is being stored, or assign it to a club member of
the WARP team.
#10
- Cleaning Tools
Depending on where you haul your trees to or mill
them into boards, you are likely going to be faced
with some amount of cleanup. We recommend that a
few brooms, shovels, plastic bags or plastic
garbage containers be available to carry waste
away.
#11
- Signs or Spray Paint for "Tagging"
Trees
Once a tree has been cut down, particularly if it
is on public land and in are area where there is
heavy traffic, it is VERY important to identify and
"tag" your trees so others who come across it will
not take it. We recommend that small waterproof
signs be made and stapled to the trees, or that the
trees be spray painted to identify them. In most
cases this is all that is needed in order for
people to not buck your trees into firewood. Is is
also a good idea to move them away to a secure
location as soon as possible to reduce
temptation.
#12
- Metal Detector / Remover
One of the known disadvantages with "urban" trees,
is that they can contain bits of metal, including
nails, wire, even old bullets. All of these can
damage saw blades and can create safety
hazards.
If possible, we recommend using a good quality
metal detector on a tree to see if you can find any
metal bits. Don't be surprised if the metal
detector does not pick up nails that are embedded
deep in the tree. It is not unusual to cut down
trees with nails or pieces of wire in them that
have been in the tree for decades.
#13
- Informing the Community
In order for the WARP to be a success, you are
going to need to inform a lot of people of what the
program is, and how they can participate in it.
Much of this will be up to individual Club Members
but it is also a good idea for the WARP Leader
and/or Woodworking Club President to pay a visit to
local municipal government officials to inform them
of the program and the benefits to the
community.
People
who will need to be contacted include Town / City /
Municipal / County government officials in "Parks",
Highways and road maintenance, Building and Public
Works. Private companies like landscapers,
arborists, tree fallers, building contractors and
developers and anyone else who may have occasion to
remove trees.
ALL
OF THESE CONTACTS should be provided with at least
one business card (click
here for CONTACT
Cards)
so that in the event they have trees that need to
be removed they will know how to contact someone in
order to donate their trees. This is where
woodworkweb plays the role of FIRST LINE CONTACT
and in turn informing the appropriate club of the
wood rescue opportunity.
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