Superbowl Sunday wood!

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Machria

Minister of Fire
Nov 6, 2012
1,071
Brookhaven, Long Island
3 small (14") Black Locust tree's, and one big o'le 25" Oak tree. Now bucked 18" and stacked as rounds. I'm done for a few years(ok, yes I said that a few weeks ago!), have absolutely no more storage left, and 5 cords split and stacked. Man, those oak rounds were HEAVY.

One thing I found out yesterday, I have been over estimating my tree/round sizes! I thought this was a 30-35" Oak treek at the base. I measured it with a tape and it was only 25". I wonder how many here are also over-estimating tree diameters? These 25" x 18" rounds could not be lifted. 200-300 lbs?

Anyway, so the back row which is almost all Black Loucst, measures 12' long by 8' tall, by 18" thick. How much wood will that make when split? Is there a rounds stack cord calculator estimator somewhere?

Cutting Oak1.JPG

Cutting Oak2.JPG


Stack4.JPG

Stack.JPG
 
Nice haul, Mac! I was out too, playing in the snow (and snuck a couple loads of white oak and cherry home with the snowmobile).....
 
Good work and nice stacks!
 
Looks great. How do you like your echo?
 
That is some nice superbowl wood. You must have enjoyed the half time show, eh? (zing!)
 
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Nice stack of wood.
Should be close to the same amount split.
my split stack grows just a little , more air space when split. (Some say perfect straight grain rounds, split is less space.) Depends on how stacked IMO.
Great pictures :)
 
Nice haul, Mac! I was out too, playing in the snow (and snuck a couple loads of white oak and cherry home with the snowmobile).....

Saw that! That is too cool using the snowmobile! I wish I had enough property for a snowmobile and/or tracktor! I had to roll these thing home by hand, one at a time. Thankfully it was only about 40 or 50 yards into the woods in front of my house.

That is some nice superbowl wood. You must have enjoyed the half time show, eh?

Was done 10 minutes before 6, quick shower and enjoyed the game.

Looks great. How do you like your echo?

It's fine, starts VERY easy, probably the easiest starting 2 cycle motor I've ever owned. Not much to compare it to though, my previous saw was a small 16" McCulloch I had for about 25 years. But it's easy to tighten the chain, and easy to change the chain (just changed the bar and chain as they were a mess from a bout with blacktop).

Nice stack of wood.
Should be close to the same amount split.
my split stack grows just a little , more air space when split. (Some say perfect straight grain rounds, split is less space.) Depends on how stacked IMO.
Great pictures :)

hmmmmm.... I've always thought I got alot bigger stack when split than rounds. Alot more airspace between each and every split while the rounds are all tight and compact.
 
Saw that! That is too cool using the snowmobile! I wish I had enough property for a snowmobile and/or tracktor!

I had to roll these thing home by hand, one at a time. Thankfully it was only about 40 or 50 yards into the woods in front of my house.

Ah, rolling the logs. If you can swing it, one of these works great for rolling logs like that. I stand in front of the log and just grab it just a bit on the other side and pull. Works like a charm and really saves the back. It also makes the work go faster.
Hookeroon.jpg
There is another tool that can work for rolling:
Log tongs.jpg
This is made for picking up the logs but I've also used them like the hookeroon (pictured above), by just spreading the jaws and hooking one end and pull. Not as slick as the hookeroon but works for a short distance. Best part with this tool though is picking up wood. A tremendous back saver. Also keeps your gloves dry.
 
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Super!
 
The only thing missing is a Fiskars, right Dennis? ;)
 
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Very nice on the wood stack. You guys have a ton of trees down up there. I was in Hicksville, Long Island this weekend for an engagement party and the number of trees I saw down was insane. Luckily, I didn't have any free time or I would have regretted leaving the saws at home.

I barely watched the Super Bowl. Tough for me to watch professional sports nowadays. Like politics, all I can see is corruption and greed.

Spent some of this morning going through my 2011 stack of red oak and poplar to pull out the poplar to burn this year. Split the red oak a little smaller and have it all sitting in a pile waiting to go back into a rack. Going to have too much free time on my hands once I am 3 years ahead. lol
 
Machria, just read the middle portion of your post. One of the easiest ways to measure the diameter of a tree is to use the bar on your chain saw. I have a 25" bar on my 660, so if I cannot get through the tree with that, it is most likely 30"+ Since you also have that 19.5" stick for measuring round length, that should make it easy too. And yes, 25" wide oak rounds bucked to 18" long are really hard to move but they provide a good amount of wood.

Don't worry though, the more you do this stuff the more you start to understand it. I had the hardest time figuring out what species trees were when I started doing this seriously in 2011. Yesterday, it was easy to determine what was poplar and red oak in the stacks just based upon the bark and grain on the wood. The wood had all been aged since summer 2011 so it was all gray. The poplar just had a much larger grain. Easy to tell the two apart when they are just cut up, but I used to struggle a little with it when they were seasoned and all grey.
 
These 25" x 18" rounds could not be lifted. 200-300 lbs?
Lucky for me, that's light weight. No wonder why I always get the big ones left behind. You have to be smarter than the wood, even the largest pieces are easily managed. My construction coworkers claim I am reincarnated from building the pyramids, a testament to mind and leverage.
 
Lucky for me, that's light weight. No wonder why I always get the big ones left behind. You have to be smarter than the wood, even the largest pieces are easily managed. My construction coworkers claim I am reincarnated from building the pyramids, a testament to mind and leverage.

Yes, but "Many hands make light work".
 
Very nice on the wood stack. You guys have a ton of trees down up there. I was in Hicksville, Long Island this weekend for an engagement party and the number of trees I saw down was insane. Luckily, I didn't have any free time or I would have regretted leaving the saws at home.

There are tree's in Hicksville? Come out here and it looks alot worse, mainly just because we actually have tree's. ;) If you happened to travel on the Northern State Parkway up there around Hicksville, you probably saw LOTS of tree's down. There are an amazing amount of big, old oak trees down all along the Northern State Pkwy, it's an old pkwy lined with alot of old tree's, and many of them came down and are all just laying on the sides of the highway. I get a sore neck everytime I drive up that way....

Machria, just read the middle portion of your post. One of the easiest ways to measure the diameter of a tree is to use the bar on your chain saw. I have a 25" bar on my 660, so if I cannot get through the tree with that, it is most likely 30"+ Since you also have that 19.5" stick for measuring round length, that should make it easy too. And yes, 25" wide oak rounds bucked to 18" long are really hard to move but they provide a good amount of wood.

Funny you noticed my handy 19.5" measureing stick. ;) My splitter only goes up to 20", so I use that to make sure it fits when I have oddball peices. I use the chain bar trick, but I was referring to before you get to cuting something up. You see a tree laying in woods and say "looks like a 25"er, then you bring tools and start to cut and find out it is 1/2 that. I just think thye look bigger than they are.

You have to be smarter than the wood,...

The problem, my head is mostly wood. So I am generally just as smart wood, not smarter. :)
 
Awesome, thanks Lowtech....
 
Very nice on the wood stack. You guys have a ton of trees down up there. I was in Hicksville, Long Island this weekend for an engagement party and the number of trees I saw down was insane.


There are tree's in Hicksville?

I lost a 60' Honey Locust during Hurricane Irene! There were many huge trees down during Sandy also.

Bill
 
I lost a 60' Honey Locust during Hurricane Irene! There were many huge trees down during Sandy also.

Bill

I was just kidding Bill... ;) Actually, I was in Nassau counter last week, and drove down the Northern state pkwy, can't beleive how many HUGE Oak and Black Locust trees are still laying on the side of the road just itching to be thrown in the back of my pickup!
 
I was just kidding Bill... ;) Actually, I was in Nassau counter last week, and drove down the Northern state pkwy, can't beleive how many HUGE Oak and Black Locust trees are still laying on the side of the road just itching to be thrown in the back of my pickup!

No offense taken. I keep seeing all the down trees and they are begging me to buy a pick up and wood stove. I almost regret the pellet stove because there is so much free wood around. The savings almost make it worth it to buy a log splitter truck and stove!

Bill
 
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