Writing this in 2023. Back in 2018 a storm rolled through and took down a couple of huge limbs from of a silver maple in my mother-in-law’s yard in Naperville. They caused some damage to the house and really tore up the yard. I told her to have the cleanup crew leave any big logs in 8-10’ sections so I could have them milled up.
A couple of months later, I got around to picking up the logs. I found a service in Batavia called Meyers Lumber that would saw the logs into boards, and charged by the hour. He told me most people don’t bother with limbs like this, and that the size of the logs was on the border of what is even worth doing. Went for it anyway and I think it ended up costing on the order of $250 to mill the boards.
My friend Grant and rented a truck, and managed to lift the logs into the bed without breaking our backs. Even these modest size logs were so freaking heavy. I think I still owe Grant some of the material - you’re free to take whatever you want when you move back to town! ;)
Ron milled up the boards and I picked them up a few weeks later in the Highlander, driving carefully as the boards hung out the back. Probably bottomed out the suspension from the weight.
They’ve been drying in my basement ever since, and I’ve started using them in a few projects. Anything in the Maple likely includes this material. Couple of project stick out:
The original tree is still standing, though its disproportional and looks like something out of doctor seuss. When the rest finally falls, there’s a massive trunk probably 40”+ in diameter that I’m coming for.
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