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Living Faith Church Sycamore Tree Site Photos
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a drive to Berryville, Arkansas, Rick noticed this tree in the Living
Faith Church yard along Highway 221. Rick said, "It looked like
a bunch of beavers had chewed the tree", the first time he saw it.
The tree was felled by the Living Faith Church parishioners using home
owner chain saws with 16" long guide bars. The tree was removed
because a large branch from the tree had fallen and crushed a playground
set used by the children of the church.
This is the largest tree that Rick has ever milled. The tree measured 8 feet in diameter where it met the ground and was still 5-1/2 feet in diameter at shoulder height. After two months of milling two to three days a week, using a two-man chain saw with an Alaskan Mill, Rick and his friend Alex Buderer, completed sawing this tree. An 084 Stihl chain saw with a 72" guide bar was used to cut the tree into various slabs ranging from mammoth cross sections measuring 5 feet x 8 feet x 3" thick to mammoth long grain slabs measuring 14 feet long x 4-1/2 feet wide x 3 inches thick to smaller cross sections measuring 36 to 40" in diameter. A backhoe was used to load the huge slabs onto a 16 foot utility trailer on site. Once at the Wood Merchant shop, the larger slabs were unloaded via hand by rolling them off of the trailer on pipe sections, as the lifting equipment we had at the time was left on site. Some of the slabs from this sycamore tree were used to create the furnishings for the Holy Family Catholic Church in Shell Knob, Missouri. To see pictures of these furnishings visit our Church Furniture Gallery. Below are some of the pictures that were taken on site. |
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| Alex sitting on top of the sycamore tree. Ladders were used to start the cuts on the cross section slabs taken from the trunk that is suspended in the air. | Finishing a cut on one of the cross section slabs. |
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| Rick standing on the stump of the sycamore holding the saw used to slab the entire tree. A fact for those of you that have not met Rick, he's 6 feet 6 inches tall. | Rick standing behind one of the cross section slabs taken from the main trunk of the tree. |
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| Alex with a "stack o' slabs". The stack of cross sectional slabs on the trailer would equate to a full days work using the Alaskan Mill and chain saw. | A photo of the tree before the milling process began. The "beaver chew" from the smaller saws can be seen on the end of the tree trunk. |
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| "Moby Dick"! Alex has caught himself a big one. The "Moby Dick" slab measures 14 feet long x 4-1/2 feet wide x 3" thick. | Giving further measurement to the stump; Alex demonstrates how much larger the stump is than him. For reference, Alex is 6 feet 2 inches tall and the stump is still 18 inches above the ground. |
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