The Urban Logging Model
Sourcing local material
For those of you in the woodworking community that have been living under a rock, this is Matt Cremona. He is the man behind the urban logging movement. You may be wondering what is urban logging and why should you care about it. Both questions are important and will be given the attention that they deserve… okay, moving on. But in all seriousness, urban logging is the collection and use of local trees that have come down due to death, disease, or damage. These logs are then turned into other useable wood products rather than allowing them to rot in some depressing landfill. Oftentimes, when people like Matt pick up the logs, they intend to create furniture. This wood can have embedded metal and other treasures, so cut at your own risk. But even if your lumber has some embedded metal, it can still turn into beautiful creations like this.
This particular table was made by an exceptionally talented creator named Cam Anderson, whose channel is Blacktail Studio.
Cam works primarily with high-end woods like black and Bastogne walnut to create these tables. Tables like this come from slabs that were sourced from trees that needed to come down for some reason or another. The supplier that Cam gets his slabs from is Goby Walnut. So if you live in and around Portland, Oregon, then you might consider checking out their stock and seeing if they have what you want to build your next project.
Now back to urban logging. These trees that are cut down are economical, in some instances, you may be able to talk to the homeowner or tree service company to get that log for little to no money. Ideally, you can get the log for free and keep your total investment relatively low. If you talk to the tree service company that is cutting the tree down, you can often work out a deal to get them to deliver the log or logs for some fee. Now you have a log sitting in your yard or driveway. GREAT!!!
If you want to do this as more of a hobby and you have a dump trailer or an equipment trailer, then you can get in touch with the tree service company and get them to set the log into your trailer. If you are handy with a welder and have a stable trailer, then you might consider making a logging arch and winch trailer to load the logs onto your trailer without the assistance of the tree service company. To do this, I would suggest using the videos that Matt Cremona made to create his first urban logging trailer.
In the next blog, we will be discussing what tools someone would want to bring with them when going on solo urban logging missions. As always, thank you for reading.