Customer Reviews

Harvesting Urban Timber: A Guide to Making Better Use of Urban Trees (Woodworker's Library)

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Harvesting Urban Timber: A Complete Guide by woodworking expert Sam Sherrill is a no-nonsense guide for local businesses, woodworkers, and city governments concerning the facts and how-to's of making the most of urban trees, rather then simply sending them directly to landfills when they must be removed. Color illustrations, anecdotes considering real situations where harvesting urban timber was absolutely necessary such as the outbreak of Dutch Elm disease in Minnesota, step-by-step instructions and much more make Harvesting Urban Timber a "must-have" resource for local policy makers responsible for this urban issue. It should be noted that Sherrill brings a particular expertise to this unique subject and is currently forming Harvesting Urban Timber organizations throughout the United States with the full support of the USDA Forest Service.

While the book has lots of info, details, footnotes -- lots! -- it still has not found the key(s) to making "urban logging" readily feasible, at more than subsidized or maybe hobby level, as far as I can tell.

Thirty years ago our tree removal crew lamented all the elms (and other trees) we were hauling to the landfill, during the peak of the MN Dutch elm episode. The challenges we saw are STILL there -- widely scattered stock, generally small amounts, too-often necessarily cut to short lengths (e.g. to extract from fenced yards), etc.

I read the book looking for the "Aha!" where someone had found the key or keys... some sorting secret, sequencing, yarding... dirigibles, for all I know. Nope. Subsidy by government may be the common denominator to most trials described here. The book is meant to encourage more trials, exploration of options. While harvesting urban timber may be a SAFER "slam dunk" than, say, going to war with Iraq, the outcome remains no more certain, as far as I can see.

On another note, while there is lots of experience here, there are faults that leave me wondering; e.g. "Use the chain saw to taper the front of the log so it will not snag or dig into the ground as it is being skidded." Whaaat?! Good God... the time, the danger of pissing away at that level, the slim payoff, other ways to raise an end... Or "attach a pulley to the tree and use it as a pivot point." OK, but let's point the neophyte in the right direction by calling it a (openable) snatch block, OK?

Hats off to the author. Nice work. But no hard hat going on this head to chase urban wood on other than an incidental scale. I don't mean to be negative... hoping for a map, with "the treasure lies here," was too much. ;-)

Book has much useful information in it. However, from a "how to" perspective the book has enough faults that I would choose another. The tree felling portion seemed particularly bad: a couple of horror stories on tree felling are followed by some sub-par descriptions on tree felling methods - the part on "bore" cuts is especially badly described and illustrated - it should have been better handled or left out entirely. Quite frankly, the authors frequent citing of OSHA as an authority on cutting methods made me a bit nervous too. Somehow, I think I would prefer cutting advice from a professional lumberjack than a governmental bureaucracy....but thats a matter of taste I suppose.

Very helpful and a first stop for anyone seeking to help start the urban lumber movement. It is disgraceful more than wasteful actually disgraceful to be throwing away tons of lumber a day in the San Francisco bay area each day because there is little meshing or connections between the urban tree care companies and lumber companies to crafters to -end users.