Our Family Recipe:
How a tree becomes a TreeHugger Floor.
In November 2008 we received a special request: ALL SWEETGUM FLOOR.
QUITE LIKELY THE ONLY SWEETGUM FLOOR IN THE WORLD!
As you probably know by now, our specialty is
mixed species floors. We leave the boring flooring for others.
We specialize in mixed species floors. But, when we received a request for an
all Sweetgum floor, we thought it was a great idea!
Here's how that idea become TreeHuggers first all sweetgum floor. Step-by-step...
How a Tree Becomes a Treehugger Floor.
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Yellow circles show top of Sweetgum tree to be cut and and my mom walking below it. The tree is about 85 ft tall. Okay okay, I know what you're thinking...We said we take the "worst first" & the dead dying & down. So, what's the deal here. Basically, I had been wanting this particular Sweetgum out of my yard for a while. Also, we did use other trees to make this flooring. Most if not all of the other trees we used were: Dead Dying or Down already. |
Freedom, mom & dad preparing to drop that big ol Sweetgum |
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| DIRECTIONAL FELLING: As you can see, the notch has been cut out
and dad is plunging the blade of his Stihl chainsaw into the
area behind the notch. he will cut out this area and
try to leave a 1" area uncut that runs parallel to the notch.
He will also leave 3-5 inches uncut on the far opposite side
from the notch that will hold the tree in place until he cuts it
and "releases" tree to fall in the direction dictated by the
notch and hinge. See pic below and to right.. Once he gets everything like he wants, he will cut the release area opposite the nothch. |
DAD DROPS A BIG
ONE! Watch the video to see my dad, Wallace Baird , demonstrate directional felling expertise using Swedish felling technique. 73 year old lumberjacks are few & far between. |
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| 85 foot sweetgum that dad dropped
exactly precisely where he predicted. (You can see fetching arch up toward trunk. It comes into play in a moment.) The picture on the right shows how the tip of the tree landed almost precisely where dad predicted. Click pictures to expand. This prediction was not based on a lean. Actually the tree would not have naturally fallen that direction. He made it go there! It was based on where I needed the tree to go in order to miss my other trees and plants. WOW! DAD ROCKS!!! |
Swedish directional felling techinique
utilizes hinge to control tree. Blue: First, dad cuts out notch. Shorter and steeper than traditional notches. See picture above left. Yellow: shows actual hinge area that was left when dad plunge cut (see pic above left). Ideally this is a straighter and 1 inch wide line from side to side. The plunge cut out area between yellow and red. The plunge cut actually removes all of the trees support between the hinge and the release area in orange. This means that the whole tree is then being supported by the hinge and the area in orange behind. Orange: shows last area cut. this is where the last cut is made to release the tree to fall in a controlled direction dictated by hinge in yellow. |
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| After balancing the log on the fetching arch, mom takes the log to the sawmill up my driveway about 700 feet. Although the balancing means the log won't tear up my yard, dad is seen here asking mom to drive around my flower garden to get to the driveway. She will drop the log off by herself once she gets up there. | Dodge loaded down with firewood. We don't waste a drop of wood at Treehugger Forestry. Owning one of our floors makes a person feel good. |
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| Mom and dad producing sustainable flooring with our Woodmizer sawmill. | Mom offloading for Dad while he sawmills on the woodmiser sawmill. | ||
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The Solar Kiln. This is a really neat thing we built about
1993. After the baords are sawn at the sawmill, the
boads are dried outside in covered stacks for weeks until the
moisture content gets down to 15-20%. At that point they are moved to the kiln. The Kiln is way cool. See the water trapped in the 2 layers of plastic in the front. These two layers are seperated by air and fans blow hot air causing condensation which is the water you see. But for more details, well, you'll just have to ask us how it works. |
Mom and dad using the edger to produce mixed width flooring blanks. This machine has 2 12" circular saw blades. One of the blades can be moved from left to right while the first blade is stationary. |
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| Dad using Logosol. Goes in just a
regular ol' board and comes out a tongue & groove piece of flooring. See video to right. |
Dad creating tongue & groove flooring
with the logosol planer moulder in our rebuilt shop. Click here to see that project.. |
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| My 73 year old dad (at that time) working his
butt off fixing the sub-floor. Whoever installed it only put nails every 15 or so inches. We believe in SCREWS installed every 6-8 inches. Otherwise...squeak! |
All repair work of subfloor completed.
Was not in good shape before but now it is much better.
Hours of work! Red paper stapled down. Wood stacked at Marvin and Sandy's for install next day.. |
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| Look at those windows. They look
like artworks hanging. Expand by clicking pic. Fall had settled in and the colors were spectacular. Will Hartness is installing flooring. |
Mom fixing small holes from nails etc... Very patient and hard working. I'm a real slave driver.... |
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| Sweetgum floor installed , sanded but no
sealed nor finished. Very pretty but just wait till the finish hits it. We use Bonakemi Traffic clear finish. Super good finish. $90/gallon!.... Worth it though. |
Daniel (me) finishing sweetgum floor
with Bonakemi sealer.
Very exciting moment. In 24 hours, it will be ready for the finish. |
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| Mom putting Bonakemi finish on Sweetgum
custom cut baseboards. We produce sustainable flooring, moulding & baseboard. We used my Freedom Mailing Signs office to prefinish the baseboard. |
Really good views of the sweetgum baseboard
in this video. Each board so different & beautiful. Check it out. |
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| Installed, sanded, finished, baseboard installed....Nice.... | Finished Sweetgum floor. | ||
| Short Video tour of floor. Watch the
videos because I believe the colors are sometimes more realistic than the pictures. |
Tour of entire floor including hallway.
I would definitely recommend this video if you are interested in our floors. |
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| Beautiful floors are nice.... | But happiness is another thing altogether.... |
| Treehugger Home | Mixed Species Floor. | See Shop Fixup/old barn renovation |
Mixed Species Cutting Board. |
Contact Us. Free tours! |
Family vacation/learning week in Spring Green Wisconsin |