Oxfordshire Woodland Group

A standing dead (top blown out) Douglas Fir tree was felled, debarked and the rotten, beetle grub infested sapwood hewed off to reveal that the underlying heartwood was both dry and completely unaffected and hence should be suitable for conversion to beams / planks.

The lower part of the felled dead Douglas Fir tree was bucked into 2 x 8ft lengths together with a number of 4ft firewood logs.

The 8ft logs were then sawn to form square section cants ready for sawing thru and thru to make planks.

The DF cants were sawn to form 6" wide x 1" thick vertical cladding planks with 3 matched pairs. There is no rot or bug damage demonstrating the value of standing dead snag timber.

The planks are completely dry and so can be close stacked (i.e. not stickered) and thus are ready for immediate use.