Splitting oodles of cottonwood, renting splitter -- any tricks I need to know?

[Backwoods Savage]

The cottonwood hasn't been too stinky so far. I also got a limb trimmed off an oak (it was shading the veggie patch) and that oak was pretty strong-smelling too--and I've been around a lot of oak while it was cut down. It was also a bit stringy as I split it (the oak--haven't touched any cottonwood yet) so I wonder if it's a different species than the few I've done already. Or if splitting it within an hour of being cut makes things different.

I filled up one wood rack just with the upper branches of one cottonwood. This yard is going to be SO full of woodracks...

With oak, many do not like the smell of red oak but most like white oak. There are many types of oak trees (someone told me there are like 50 types) but mainly you'll find the ones with leaf that pointed and others that are more rounded. The pointed are in the red oak family and are the strong smellers. The rounded are the white oaks. One curious thing is that deer love acorns....from white oaks mainly. They will eat some red oak acorns but only after the whites are gone. However, another curious thing is that every fall we see deer picking up the acorns from a pin oak (red) and that is a bit puzzling.

Splitting within an hour or a month won't make much difference. We do all our cutting from December through February and then do all the splitting after snow melt. This year we did not have to wait a bit for snow melt. lol

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Is that photo shopped????

Not really sure about that. Those pictures had been posted on this forum in the past. I make no claim to them.

 

[dorkweed]

Is an "oodle" a standard unit of measure here on this site??? If so, I've missed it. Can someone provide a conversion factor for me!!

 

[nate379]

All depends on the kid I'm sure. At 8 years old I was already running stuff not closely supervised such as tractors, skid loadors, snowmobiles, trucks, etc... and certainly the wood splitter. My Dad didn't let us mess with the chainsaw at that age though. Can't blame him, that pro mac 610 he has is a heavy beast!

I had a kid helping me out the last few weekends with some dirt moving and other yard work. Up until then he had never used a wheelbarrow or yard tractor (ZTR type). He did pick it up quickly but he's a junior in high school and drives a car.

dont allow any young children to try it! it seems every year we have injury's or fatalities from some "wing nut" dad letting his children near a splitter or chipper that he rents! its one thing to have a 17 year old learning and helping but for the love of god keep the entire area clear and off limits of any 7 or 8 year olds while your working.

 

[Jags]

Is an "oodle" a standard unit of measure here on this site??? If so, I've missed it. Can someone provide a conversion factor for me!!

Oodle - sometimes referred to as a pile or a bunch. The oodle is exactly 1/3 of an asspile. Common slang terms include but are not limited to: face oodle, Rack and bush oodle.

Hope this helps.

 

[whatisup02]

Oodle - sometimes referred to as a pile or a bunch. The oodle is exactly 1/3 of an asspile. Common slang terms include but are not limited to: face oodle, Rack and bush oodle.

Hope this helps.

LMAO

 

[lukem]

Oodle - sometimes referred to as a pile or a bunch. The oodle is exactly 1/3 of an asspile. Common slang terms include but are not limited to: face oodle, Rack and bush oodle.

Hope this helps.

There are 5 gobs to an oodle, and 4 oodles in a s#!%load.

 

[annette]

I have around 9 oodles of cottonwood all over my yard right now, or more likely, 10 s%^tloads of cottonwood in a 5 s^&tload yard. I am so tired. I've filled 5 woodracks so far (and built them too). I've used my little splitter to split the smaller big rounds (what's the technical term for THAT??) and I'll be happy to have the big splitter so I won't have to lift the huge rounds into place. Also, my little splitter can't do Vs. The cottonwood usually splits pretty cleanly. Not like maple, but OK.

Tomorrow we get the big splitter, AND I'll have my helper for 2 days! We're renting it from a coworker, so we're getting it for a few days and not paying a lot. I did have several toddlers lined up to help on the splitter--their tiny hands are so good at clearing jams!--but instead I'll just have them stack the wood. (just kidding!)

I'll have to peruse some of the likely oak species. The tree guy, in passing, said a different oak in my yard was a pin oak. I think we may have some white, some red; the deer come for acorns, but I sometimes still slip around on acorns, there are so many left on the ground.

 

[bogydave]

Got any pictures?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Annette, the pin oaks tend to have the lower limbs pointing down and they die off early. Pin oaks are also terrible with so many limbs, even when grown deep in the woodlot. As for those acorns and slipping, on a heavy acorn year it is like walking on marbles all the way up our driveway which is about 100 yards. Good that you are getting the bigger splitter.

I agree with Dave, it would be nice to have some pictures.