What to do with two large Yew trees

keanob

Hi

I have two large Yew trees at the side of my house and as much as I hate to
remove them we need the space (its a 3bed semi red brick in whitehall, D9)
Anyway, I hear that Yew timber is pretty good timber for working with and
I imagine there should be some decent cuts available form the trunks of these
monsters. They are I believe the Irish variety, tall and straight.

My question is (not sure what to do yet) ...

- Would someone be interested in taking these from me.
Its going to cost me E1000 approx. to get them removed
so I'd like to offset the cost of this somehow!

- Alternatively, if I kept the timber myself, could I get it processed into
usable cuts at a reasonable cost? Say to make a garden fence or even
some decking? That would be the ultimate in local sourcing and I'd rather
this than turn the good cuts into firewood.
Not sure if there are any timber mills that would do this for a private customer.

If anyone on this forum has some knowledge that might help I'd love to hear it!

thanks
Brian

Alun

Try Pat Staunton sawmills in Glenealy, Co Wicklow, 087 2514934. I know he deals in native hardwoods and sells to lots of local woodturners. Also try the Lisnavagh Timber Project on http://www.irishwoods.com/index.htm.

You could also contact Geoff Tulip (user geofftulip), who is a member here. He lives up north but he might be interested, or at least know someone down here who is.

I wouldn't say Yew was really the kind of timber to be used for decking or fencing tbh. It's a beautiful wood with a contrasting orangey brown heart wood and a milky cream sap wood. Great for furniture making and woodturning alike.

Oh yes, and the branchwood can be used by woodturners too for making all sorts of little knick-knacks too, so don't throw that away either.

geofftulip

hi - as alun suggests i may be interested in your yew trees
the timber is indeed useful to woodturners and furniture makers , but i wouldnt bother trying to mill it up itno posts and decking - the costs would outweigh usefullness - you could get pretreated stuff for less than the costs..

firstly we would need to acertain if it is indeed an irish or common yew. if possible can you send me a few pictures of the tree - with some form of size scale (you in the pic would do)... an idea of height and circumference would also be useful
if you cant send pics - a description may do -
an irish yew has several 'trunks' maybe 12" in diameter growing straight up like fingers - often forimng a bush like tree
an english yew is more like the normal tree shape with a large trunk and spreading branches.

drop me an email - you can get my address through my website
www.geocities.com/tulipwoodcrafts

keanob

The trees are the height of a two storey house with
trunks around 12'' in diameter.
Sounds like they are English Yew rather than Irish.

One of them has a very straight, single trunk, while the
larger one has a few "trunks" bunched very close together.
Actually at the base it must be a 2ft+ diameter.

I'm looking to get them removed around the end of May this year.
They are close to the house (more so to next door!) so it will have
to be done professionally, so the timber will likely be cut in sections.
Any lengths too long/short for usefulness?

Thanks for the advice on milling idea - I figured it would be expensive,
but it was more the idea of using your own local trees rather than
treated stuff shipped half way around the world!

Are there locally sourced decking providers in Ireland?
Maybe I'll find that info in another thread here!

galwaydude18

id take them off your hands then if you wanted?

geofftulip

I am also interested in your trees - your description however does not convince me that they are yew but as you have seen them and i have not i will go by your judgement - how old do you reckon the tree is ? do you remember it being alot smaller ? red berries ?

anyway providing it is yew - i am interested - i normally fell the trees myself - which would be the most saving for you - but if you insist on going with your tree surgeon i would still be interested in the logs and branchwood - the amount you would save would be alot less - but again that is up to you....

contact me if you are interested
www.geocities.com/tulipwoodcrafts

keanob

I was told they were Yew trees by a guy from Coillte that came to give me
a quote for removing them. I'm no expert but comparing them to Yew trees
in the botanic gardens here in Dublin they have the same needles and red
berries (loads of them) with the hard centre seed.

As for the age I cannot say. We bought the house in 2005 and they have been
there for sometime according to the neighbours.

Attached image from a google image search shows the berries + needles of
a Yew tree which are exactly the ones on my trees.
I'll take some photos and upload them so as to avoid confusion.

If you are interested in coming and cutting them down all the better.
I can sort the green waste out after that.

geofftulip

ok - i'm convinced - they are surley yew !! sorry for dooubtling you but you would be surpised how many fir trees have ended up yew !! i would like to see the pics of the trees (the more the better) - and importantly their location with respect to buildings etc...perhaps you can email me

keanob

Tried your website Geoff and it doesn't load very well for me.
All the links on the left are images that don't load and I
couldn't change from the initial web page that loaded.

There was no contact information on the website so I'll send
you a private message on boards with the images.

Alun

Geoff's website unfortunately only works with IE

keanob

Couldn't attach images to private message to Geoff,
so here are photos of trees attached to this thread.

Let me know if you are still interested.

keanob

Ah, got the website now.

grombomber

Just saw this thread and had to laugh. Yew is an amazing timber and very hard to get. Therefore that Coillte fella asking money to take them is crazy - he should be paying you to remove them, and I hope he did. Do you still have them bt the way? I know it's a longshot lol

richiek67

God yeah. I'd be paying to take those beauties too...lol
Yew ( Irish yew) is sought after by furniture makers and people on lathes etc.
If it was me and I lived in the area I'd be paying for some of those ...

paddy147

Why are you bringing up a 4.5 year old thread???

grombomber

Who are you to decide what is discussed, and when?

richiek67

Lol. Di dent even know myself I was on a thread that old...Doh..But yr right..

kadman

grombomber wrote: »

Who are you to decide what is discussed, and when?

I am one of those that actually gets to decide those issues:D

So a bit of civility please:)

And resurrecting old threads is a wee bit silly. So I am closing this one, if no one minds.

thankyou