Re-use

So trees are this incredible carbon sequestration mechanism.  As they grow they absorb massive amounts of carbon-dioxide and store this C02 as embodied energy.  When they die and decompose, or burn in forest fires they give up that CO2, and it returns to the atmosphere (but when they burn they are still carbon neutral unlike propane, natural gas, coal etc.) making them a valuable source of heat energy.

 When trees are turned into lumber that CO2 is prevented from returning to the atmosphere and an incredibly durable building material is created with a relatively low embodied fossil fuel energy requirement when compared to steel or concrete.

 While we produce primarily lumber,  we don't waste any part of our precious resource. Every part of the trees is utilized by Kamuela Hardwoods.
When we remove a tree, the small limbs and greenery are chipped.  Chips are either sold or donated.  The limbs and trunk material are milled into lumber, and all rotten or damaged material is split into firewood.  Stumps are either removed and again split into firewood, or ground out.  Sawdust from the mill is saved and used to create mulch, soil amendments or fertilizer.

Wood chips: $30.00 dollars a yard.
Sawdust:       $30.00 a pickup truck load.
Firewood:     $200.00 half cord.

Down the rabbit hole...

So Lee called,  He had this massive Monkeypod tree in Paauilo and it'd been dying a slow death for a very long time.  He'd been threatening to take it down for years and finally committed to it.  We went out to take a look, and sure enough:  Diseased.  A large limb broke off a decade or so ago about 30 ft up, and a ficus tree had started growing out of the rotting snag.  The canopy had been steadily in decline and we agreed, the tree was in trouble and given that it was looming over a house, it was determined that it was safer on the ground now and repurposed as lumber than the alternative.

We brought out the tools of the trade and set to work.








Sawyers are a funny bunch, an unusual motley crew of giant men built like bulldozers mixed with the small and darty; and then there are the arborists: definitely primates, there is no doubt about it.  Occasionally, with a warplane bomb rider sort of style about their high risk high wire acts, the good ones possess amazing skill.  Its one thing to shimmy up a tree, its entirely another to do it with finesse, and precision drop every single limb you cut, the way you want it and have it land where you want it. A trimming is impressive.  Felling a 100 ft. tall 4ft. diameter Acacia 15 ft. at a time is a feat.  A limbing saw weighs about 8lbs, but a Stihl 660 with a 36 inch bar is a heavy 25 lbs when your bucking logs on the ground. Humbolt cutting a trunk with it from a set of spikes and a flip line at 50 ft. is like successfully performing surgery blindfolded with a butcher's cleaver.

During Surgery, uncle Ben from a few houses up stopped by.
 While we were in the thick of it. He said and I quote "dat's one old tree you know,  even when I was a boy, da buggah was just big, and I'm 77 now."
We were starting to feel sheepish about the situation, and then, while clearing the cane grass and one of the tendrils of the parasitic ficus from the base,  we stumbled upon the rabbit hole....

Apparently I'm just the right size,  and since Im not claustrophobic I was sort of volunteered. so down I went.

Here's the view from within.  Sick is an understatement.  This tree was absolutely on the verge of collapse.

So how hollow was the base of this 6 ft. diameter tree?  Hollow enough to fit about 400 rabbits or the Berenstain bears I suppose.

A big Mahalo to the guys for their assistance on salvaging this one!