I was burning a brushpile Saturday and decided to save one large log out of it for the pond. I dragged the log to the lip of the pond with the tractor and rolled it in. The log has already been charred pretty good from a previous burning of the brushpile, and it laid on the ground for about a year and a half. I have no idea what type of wood it is. Think this log will float, and should I try to weigh it down?

Thanks,
Eric

Oh yeah....it'll float. Better stake it down or weight it with something. Takes more weight than you expect to sink wood. Once waterlogged, it'll stay put...until then, it'll move where it wants.

Thanks Matt. I'm off work tomorrow and planning to do some work over there. Maybe I can weight down the log while over there.

Eric:

I fought a 70 foot cottonwood for about a year. It was green, 8 feet in diameter with a rootball on it the size of a Camry...and it still floated. Finally settled where it wanted to be last fall. Pond started filling 11/03...

Pond guy says..."it won't float...too green and heavy. 'Sides, that root ball with anchor it..."

Riiiight...at least it ended up in a cool location.

Where did the log end up at? I guess in the grand scheme of things it's structure even when floating, but I'm sure you wanted to decide where it laid at

I did go over this afternoon but ended up using the concrete blocks near the pond to weigh down a tire pile. The log is in the shallowest part of the pond that hasn't filled up yet, so I'll try to weigh it down before the water covers it.

Thanks,
Eric

Cottonwood is one of the lightest hardwoods around. Less than half as dense as water. I'm going to use a lot of sycamore butts and rootballs in mine, because that's what was there to be cleared, but their specific gravity is not much better than cottonwood, only .56. So, what I did was cut the trunks about 30-40 ft lg still attached to the rootballs. I've stockpiled these outside of the basin until construction is complete. I'll put them back in the pond with the rootballs furthest from shore and about 10 ft of trunk up on the shore. Then I'll stake them to the bank with two stakes each, to keep the trunks perpendicular to shore, until they eventually sink, at which time I'll remove the stakes and trim the trunks down to the shore. Just an idea I had, we'll see how it works.

Well...we "placed" it where it looked best at the time with his D8. Root ball higher up the bank in about 5 feet of water, and limbs poking out into the deepest area of the pond. Sounds good...limbs from bottom to top. Plenty of structure.

Unfortunately, as the pond filled and the top floated some, the root ball slid down to where it's now in 8 feet of water...but you can still see some of the roots, so it'll be covered by about 3.5 feet, when she's full.

The "top" rests in the deepest portion of water still, but it's moved overall about 40 feet...no big deal.

It was awesome when it rolled over in a hard east wind last fall. MAN...10 tons of tree rolling over looked like NESSIE. Glad I was looking out the window as she moved. Never would have believed it could happen after it was sunk for 2 years. Figured it'd been waterlogged and wouldn't move....the next day, it moved BACK in a west wind!

Here's Nessie before she rolled...and with about 2 feet less water.

[img]http://images.snapfish.com/346689%3B9%3B%7Ffp345%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E756%3E465%3EWSNRCG%3D3233623738%3C88nu0mrj[/img]

TNHB:

Would you happen to know the S.G. of Osage Orange (aka Hedgeapple aka Bois d'Arc) heartwood? I'd love some scientific facts to back up my position that it won't float.

Theo:

From Windsor Plywood...SG Green =.76 and .85 at 12% moisture. 62 lb/cu ft green and 53 lb/cu ft at 12%

Heavy wood...but looks like it should still float...

BTW, Eric, it ended up right where it should be...in the water! Gravity just managed to convince me that it wasn't perfectly placed.

Woulda took about a ton to hold it where I first put it.

I wonder how much the S.G can vary from piece to piece depending upon growing conditions? I have always felt the slowest growing pieces were denser.

Great pic Matt, you have a beautiful place.

I was just looking at that huge log yesterday in my pond, and wondering how many concrete blocks it will take to hold it down The log is in what will be the shallowest part of the pond so I guess there is time to think about it before water gets there. We've had an unusually dry March and there is only a couple feet of water in the two deep holes. I dug the pond just over a month ago. It is supposed to rain tomorrow though.