My trip to the pole farm (lots of pics)

Its seems that my source for free wood is not that reliable. So I loaded up 2 of my kids and took a 35 minute drive to Bell Pole

Upon driving up all I could see is huge piles of treated and untreated cedar and pine poles. Some one said there is a Tiki in every piece of wood waiting to get out ...

Can you imagine if all the tiki's here were let out!!!

So, Darren the salesman gave me a hard hat and a safety vest and told me to follow him. "Dont stop" he says or the big equipment may squash you.
And there it was, a pile of 5-7 footers of cedar as tall as a house.

Take what you want he says...

So for $64.20 I got 8 logs at just under 7 ft.

Thanks for taken the time to look.

[ Edited by: rodeotiki on 2005-03-21 13:27 ]

Great find, and you can't beat that price.

Just think, I bet a few decades ago all the land in those pics was covered with dense forest.

On 2005-03-21 12:57, rodeotiki wrote:

:music: The hills are alive, with the sound of Tikis :music: (sorry)
Yes, there actually is a Tiki God.

WOW,You must have felt like a kid in a candy store, and all you could fit on your truck was 8 logs? I would have told the kids to walk home and put a few more up front,Ha. Serious pile of perfect size logs and great find. They aren't treated yet I hope??
Lets see thats 8 logs and at Least 8 tikis we expect pictures of real soon. One a week should keep you pretty busy.

8Q

Can you mail me one of those? I send the stamps.

[ Edited by: Raffertiki on 2005-03-21 15:12 ]

not a bad find rodeo... now time to get carvin!

Nice!!! Post the carvings soon BruddaH!!!!

MAHALO!!!

i like that sight!

That picture is porn to a carver.

Let's see, $64.20 for eight 7-foot logs, throw in 10 bucks for gas, that's $9.28 each, or $1.33 a foot.

Man, you got ripped off! Tell you what. You being a good friend, I'll give you 2 bucks a foot & you can walk away with a HUGE 50% profit... If you throw in shipping... Waddaya say!!! :)

Seriously, that is a GREAT score, and practically in your own back yard. I guess you won't have to think too hard about where your next log's coming from. There's some perks that come with living in Canada, I guess!

It looks that I may be busy.

Benzart- the poles are not treated, I read what you had said before about treated wood.

Finkdaddy- the wood comes from northern alberta and British Columbia .

Raff- I will put one out by the mail box for ya first thing tommorow.

AA- Dont forget thats $64.20 in canadian funds , I plan on going back for more wood often . The fresh milled stuff will always be at the front of the pile. They said come back anytime, Wrong thing to say to a carver.

Thanks to everyone else , I thought you might like those pics.

Thanks to all for your support. Without your wisdom and encouragement I never would have tried to carve.

[ Edited by: rodeotiki on 2005-03-21 22:34 ]

On 2005-03-21 12:57, rodeotiki wrote:
Some one said there is a Tiki in every piece of wood waiting to get out ...

Around here, they seem to feel there is a bear or Indian in every log waiting to get out...

Really great. hope to see pics of the finished project

So did he look at you funny when you asked if you could see his 7 foot poles???

I'll have to search around to see if there is anything like that place here in the Lower Mainland!

I wonder where the City of Vancouver get theirs from?

The motherload!

HOLY CRAP!!!
sorry, it's all I can say.

Carvers,

RT's account of plentiful, cheap, perfectly rounded, debarked, kiln dried wood really wet my appetite. PolyPop & I were talking about finding a local pole source in SoCAl after reading that Tikimecula had gotten some cedar poles locally.

I did some research on the web, but it's a little discouraging. I couldn't find the place that TM mentioned in Corona, but after several calls, I found C&E lumber in Pomona, CA that specializes in round stuff - Lodgepole Pine. This particular wood is $36.50/ ft for 12" dia., and $25.50/ ft for 10" dia.
Poles 7" dia and smaller are priced per the piece. An example is a 7" dia X 8 ft. pole, which goes for $38.75.

Now I know I could probably get some good hard wood (cherry or carob) in log form w/ bark attached for maybe $20 for a 6 ft. x 10" or 12" dia. log. I was just thinking that the cedar poles would be perfect, all debarked, round, & ready to go. The price just doesn't work for me though, so I think I mght have to stick to debarking and shaping with the chainsaw like I've been doing.

If anyone is able to find a reasonable price for these poles in the SoCal area, make sure & clue the rest of us in, will ya?

Mahalo,

A-A

"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2005-05-19 09:45 ]

What a great pictorial story. If I had a place like that near here, I could safely pull in and select what I wanted and just quietly drive them home. Of course then I would miss out on all of the nervous reactions from Mrs. 8FT as I am driving and taking my eyes off the road whenever I see trees felled for construction or road work. Shes always saying something like " I saw you looking at those logs".

On 2005-05-19 09:39, Aaron's Akua wrote:
Carvers,

RT's account of plentiful, cheap, perfectly rounded, debarked, kiln dried wood really wet my appetite. PolyPop & I were talking about finding a local pole source in SoCAl after reading that Tikimecula had gotten some cedar poles locally.

I did some research on the web, but it's a little discouraging. I couldn't find the place that TM mentioned in Corona, but after several calls, I found C&E lumber in Pomona, CA that specializes in round stuff - Lodgepole Pine. This particular wood is $36.50/ ft for 12" dia., and $25.50/ ft for 10" dia.
Poles 7" dia and smaller are priced per the piece. An example is a 7" dia X 8 ft. pole, which goes for $38.75.

Now I know I could probably get some good hard wood (cherry or carob) in log form w/ bark attached for maybe $20 for a 6 ft. x 10" or 12" dia. log. I was just thinking that the cedar poles would be perfect, all debarked, round, & ready to go. The price just doesn't work for me though, so I think I mght have to stick to debarking and shaping with the chainsaw like I've been doing.

If anyone is able to find a reasonable price for these poles in the SoCal area, make sure & clue the rest of us in, will ya?

Mahalo,

A-A

That is the place A-A. I talked to the guy who built my palapa today. He said it was expensive! I wonder if there are any loging (SP?) companys up near Big Bear? just a thought.

I also have a friend who bought 11 acres up by Julian. The fires flashed burned all the trees on his property last year? would the pine still be carvable? I keep trying to get up there, to check it out.

If it is, he said i can have as much as i want.

From what I saw, the places to find are the pole treatment plants. Once the poles get distributed, the cost goes up rediculously. And there are none in SoCal. Rodeo's just lucky to live near a plant where he get's his cedar poles for next to nothing (that's Canadian nothing, which is a little more than USA nothing).

As far as the flash burnt logs, maybe you could just grind off the burnt layer???

Thanks, TM.

I ran across these while driving through the desert

This is the first batch of logs I got over a year ago. I am almost through carving about 60 percent of these