Why are sunken logs so valuable?

After centuries, the sunken treasure has finally been recovered. These logs are prized for their possible uses, including flooring and paneling due to the wood's tight grain, rich color and intriguing grain patterns. DeadHead Lumber Company has been focused on reclaiming the sunken logs from Maine rivers and lakes.

Why are sunken logs worth so much?

Some of these trees were a part of virgin forestlands, where they stood for hundreds or even thousands of years, growing to enormous girth and density. Very few of these old growth trees remain legally accessible for harvest today, which makes the sinker logs that much more desirable.

What are underwater logs used for?

They are now perfectly preserved specimens prized for milling into tables, mantles, bed frames, flooring and bar surfaces. The special properties of the Edisto River turn old logs into sustained jewels.

Why do loggers put logs in water?

Wet Storage

Storing logs under sprinklers or in a log pond helps prevent end checking and slows deterioration caused by insects, fungal stain, and decay. However, chemical staining can occur under wet conditions.

Why are cypress trees so valuable?

Cypress Tree Are Slow Growing

Some cypress wood, like pecky cypress wood, is extremely valuable because it is created by a fungus. The fungus creates a pattern of pockets pleasing to the eye and sought after by artisan woodworkers. This type of wood is also quite rare, adding to the value.

This log was underwater for how long???

How much is a sinker cypress log worth?

Commercial retail prices range from two to five dollars per board foot. By the time high-quality sinker cypress wood reaches a California show room, it can range from eight to fourteen dollars per board foot.

What does sinker cypress look like?

Species. The grain on Sinker Cypress is basically the same as todays Yellow Bald Cypress, with tighter grain now and then. It tends to be clear, being cut from large old growth Yellow Bald Cypress .

How do you find sunken logs?

First, a scuba-diver must locate the sunken logs in the water, searching from about three feet from the bottom of the lake or river. After that, a buoy is placed around the log about three feet from its back.

Why do loggers yell timber?

Timber is a warning word similar to how folders yell “for” in golf when they hit a ball toward other people. Loggers used it to warn people nearby of the falling TIMBER. So, people will typically use it when something is falling, especially in a humurous instance.

How long should logs dry before sawing?

From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor: As a rule of thumb, there will be a measurable loss in four to six weeks of warm (over 50 F) weather. It is just a rule of thumb.

How much do swamp loggers make?

A salary survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median annual salary of $38,840 in 2017. This means half of the loggers made more than the median and half made less. The top earning 10 percent of loggers earned more than $59,870 while the 10 percent paid the least received under $24,540.

What is deadhead logging?

A Permit to retrieve Pre-cut Submerged Timber, or deadhead logs, allows the removal of logs that were cut during the state's logging boom from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Most of these timbers can be recognized by the ax marks at the end of the log.

What does salvage logging do?

Salvage logging is the practice of extracting boles from burned-over or otherwise disturbed forest areas in order to minimize the loss of commercial timber.

What happens to wood at the bottom of the ocean?

Wood regularly flows into rivers each year after large storms, eventually drifting to sea. There, the wooden debris becomes waterlogged and sinks — sometimes thousands of meters deep — and settles on the seafloor.

How much is an old growth cypress log worth?

New cypress sells for about $2 a board foot. Felled by a natural disaster before people walked these parts, the forest of trees has been radiocarbon-dated at up to 40,000 years old.

What is swamp wood?

Swamp Ash. Swamp ash, also known as green ash, is a common wood found throughout the eastern and central United States and in adjacent parts of Canada. It is a strong, hard wood with excellent bending qualities. The strength alone causes swamp ash to be used for tool handles and sometimes baseball bats.

What do you say when a tree is falling?

Timber! That's the call of warning you hear before a tree falls. That's because those lumberjacks are going to use the tree to make timber, otherwise known as "lumber" or the wood used for construction.

Do lumberjacks really yell timber?

There appear to be a lot of trees here, but lumberjacks disagree on whether to yell “TIMBER” when chopping one […] Actually, the modern French word is “tomber,” but the Arcadian word is “timber” and the likely source of the warning.

Where did the word timber come from?

Timber traces back to an Old English word initially meaning “house” or “building” that also came to mean “building material,” “wood,” and “trees” or “woods.” Timbers are large squared lengths of wood used for building a house or a boat. In British English, timber is also used as a synonym for lumber.

Can wood be stored under water?

The water acts, first by excluding the air, and second by leaching out impurities. There is no reason why wood should ever decay while it remains under water. The softening or physical disintegration that may eventually take place is not decay. Logs are sometimes found buried deep in the mud of swamps.

Is cypress wood good for anything?

Cypress wood is very durable, stable, and water- and rot-resistant, making it suitable for building and heavy construction. Other uses where its properties make it a good choice include caskets, piers, bridges, boats, siding, sashes, doors, stadium seats, posts, cooperage and railroad ties.

What is sinker lumber?

These sunken logs came to be known as “sinkers” or “deadheads.” Underwater for up to a century, the bark and sapwood (light-colored wood just under the bark) of the log decomposes, but the inside is perfectly persevered. This interior wood is the “heartwood,” and is prized for its beauty and durability.

What is Sinker Pine?

Heart Pine (River Reclaimed)

River recovered or “sinker pine” is milled from timber that was lost during log drives – submerged in rivers or lakes, often for over a century, where they were preserved without oxygen, slowly absorbing the minerals of the underwater environment.

Is there a market for cypress trees?

Loggers, landowners and mill operators are itching to get the trees to market. Wood from cypress, which full-grown rise 75-100 feet into the sky, is valued for its beauty and its resistance to rot and insects, and there is a market hungry for everything from cypress shingles and lawn furniture, to cabinets and mulch.