Sadly, I had to take down a very old sugar maple tree in my yard this past winter. It had lost a considerable portion of bark below a large dead branch, plus it was close to, and leaning toward my house. Two arborists concurred that it was time to go. I am telling this part of the story because I still feel badly about losing that tree, but what makes me feel a little better about it is that I was able to recycle most of the tree.
I had the tree removal company leave the wood chips in my yard and I've used them to mulch my garden. I also salvaged hundreds of board feet of lumber by hiring a guy with a portable sawmill to mill the wood right in my driveway. The wide maple slabs are beautiful and are in fact ‘spalted’ which means the grain has a pattern of dark lines created by an invading fungus. It will take a year or more for the wood to dry and I expect it will yield a lifetime of cabinets, counters and other projects. Here are some pictures of the sawmill in action:
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