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Thread: Reservoir logs

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    _________________ grandmainger's Avatar
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    I've been reading this article on Wired Magazine (I'm a geek) about a submersible robot which can harvest healthy timber from long-forgotten underwater forests and man-made reservoirs... Water-aged tonewood?

    We might need to buy Bruce Harvie a scuba-diving set

    Germain

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    ....and get our better minds to design an underwater moisture content meter so he can decide which ones to bring up first!

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    Registered User oldwave maker's Avatar
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    Fine woodworking magazine, as I recall, had an article about brazilian rosewood trunks salvaged and brought up by divers with saws. The oldwave charity auction mandolin just sold saturday had back and sides made from mesquite that spent decades on the bottom of an irrigation reservoir in northern mexico.
    Looks like theres a lot of salvage wood worldwide. Im still hoping to find the maple beams from Noah's ark.....

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    Tom Mannon
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    Quote Originally Posted by (oldwave maker @ Feb. 05 2007, 06:11)
    Im still hoping to find the maple beams from Noah's ark.....
    Wasn't that built all out of dogwood?
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    Cafe Linux Mommy danb's Avatar
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    Wasn't that a Quentin Tarrantino film?
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    Luthier Wanna be Sitka's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (Greenmando @ Feb. 05 2007, 08:29)
    Quote Originally Posted by (oldwave maker @ Feb. 05 2007, 06:11)
    Im still hoping to find the maple beams from Noah's ark.....
    Wasn't that built all out of dogwood?
    It was made out of Gopherwood.

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    Registered User Steve Davis's Avatar
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    I wonder why they didn't harvest all that wood before creating the resevoir?
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    .. while I wonder why they didn't get photographs of the thing.

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    Got Buckstrips? Jerry Byers's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (Steve Davis @ Feb. 05 2007, 10:19)
    I wonder why they didn't harvest all that wood before creating the resevoir?
    I suspect that this one area of 154 square miles had a lots of trees, and 53 years ago, there wasn't a lot of demand for lumber in this area. It could been lack of manpower, money, or resources.

    I think it's a cleaver way to harvest good wood.



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    I think the fish might not like it since the forest is now their home.
    Look up (to see whats comin down)

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    Quote Originally Posted by (Steve Davis @ Feb. 05 2007, 10:19)
    I wonder why they didn't harvest all that wood before creating the resevoir?
    I wonder too, philosophically, but I also think I know the answer.

    There was still so much timber in those days, that the mentality was that there was an infinite supply. Why bother with those few trees, we got serious logging to do! If there was a cost/benefit study on logging the area first, it probably said "why bother?"
    The question; "why did they use all that Brazilian rosewood for paneling, furniture, and boats when is should have been saved for guitars?" has a similar answer.

    Funny, in a way, that "underwater logging" (sounds like a joke!) would be more economical than "regular" logging these relatively few years later.

    It's also funny, in a way, that they are touting the environmental friendliness of the operation. It's like; "it's already ruined, so we're not hurting anything".




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    From the Phoenix Mandolin website:
    "The bridge base is made from resonant ancient-forest maple recovered from Lake Superior by Timeless Timber."
    Wye Knot

  13. #13
    She was a good dog! Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Timeless Timber has been around for several years. They recover old logs that did not float and mill them.
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    Dunno if this has made the rounds here, but it does seem apropos.

    http://www.fineguitarconsultants.com/lucky12.htm

    Not quite sinkers.

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    Registered User Andrew Lewis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (sunburst @ Feb. 05 2007, 13:35)
    It's also funny, in a way, that they are touting the environmental friendliness of the operation. It's like; "it's already ruined, so we're not hurting anything".
    I guess they weren't thinking about disturbing the underwater ecosystem that that stuff has created. Any fishermen knows the importance of structure to fish...
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    She was a good dog! Bill Snyder's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (ErikAitch @ Feb. 05 2007, 23:21)
    Dunno if this has made the rounds here, but it does seem apropos.

    http://www.fineguitarconsultants.com/lucky12.htm

    Not quite sinkers.
    Bill James started this thread about the Lucky 12.
    Bill Snyder

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    Jason Wicklund DryBones's Avatar
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    not to mention how they are going to stir up the sediment thats been on the lake bottom for how many years?
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    I used to be sliabhstv. steve V. johnson's Avatar
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    The first of this stuff I ever saw was long ago... a slab table that a pal in Indianapolis uses for a living room table. He says it came from a plank from the side of a ship sunk in Lake Erie in the 18th century. It's just gorgeous.

    I played a Tacoma guitar at First Quality Music in Louisville that had a lake-aged top. They claimed that the log had been a couple of hundred years old.

    it looked just wonderful, like it had a zillion great stories (songs...) in it, and it had a character to the sound that reminded me of pre-WWII guitars.

    Very nice. I'd love to have some instruments made of that stuff.

    I did read the Wired article, too. There was also a good program on PBS about the folks who lumbered in Vermont and New Hampshire and ran the logs downriver from there. Many of those huge old spruce trunks sank, and much land was flooded to expand the river course. Interesting...

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    Quote Originally Posted by
    Wasn't that a Quentin Tarrantino film?
    <LOL!!!> I actually missed your joke, Dan, until I read the thread title tonight.
    "Reservoir Logs"....featuring Mr. Spruce, Mr. Oak, Mr. Maple, and Mr. Pine.
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    MikeB, I'm afraid you'll have to play Mr. Pink.

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    Bog wood has been available for many years now in the veneer trade. Some of these trees fell into the bog before Jesus walked the earth and are still usable. I understand that there is quite a bit of Redwood being brought up from the rivers in the Northwest that sank to the bottom around the turn of the last century.

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    Registered User MikeB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by
    Some of these trees fell into the bog before Jesus walked the earth...
    Wow, that's about when I started learning to PLAY!

    (How come I have to be Mr. Pink?!?)
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    Registered User bryce's Avatar
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    One of my best sounding mandolins was built using sitka that I got from Spruce. It lived under a housebost in Alaska for 25 years. Not as far back as Christ, but some mighty good wood. David
    David

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