On May 28th of 2019 a tornado tore through the town of Linwood, Kansas leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. One of the people impacted by the storm reached out regarding some logs that had fallen on their farm. They were looking to find a good home for the trees that once stood proud on their property. You can see from the picture that path the storm took.
Driving to the site was a sobering experience seeing the damage to both the property and fauna in the area surrounding Linwood. We found 3 logs initially that would fit on our trailer and set out to capture 2 walnuts and 1 honey locust tree.
Interestingly, the larger walnut and a quadruple crotch (4 branches in the same space of the trunk) and showed evidence of a previous lightening strike. You can see the dark area in the picture where the bark burnt away and the tree healed itself.
With the logs shuttled to our friendly neighborhood sawmill, Tom the Sawyer, we started the process of breaking down the logs.
The wood was then stacked on our drying racks, treated with a solution to eliminate wood-borne insects and left to dry awaiting their final home as someone’s new table or nightstand. Even at this early stage, the grain in both the walnut and locust was something to get excited about. Thanks to our new friends in Linwood for trying to find a good use for the downed trees on their property.
