What is the most wood from one tree?

I cut 5 cord from the branches of one back oak. The trunk still stands and has another 3 cord or more in it.

Aprox 9 cord from a white oak. It was a old yard tree.

My BIL and I cut a large beech quite a few years back and both burnt on it all winter. I'd guess we each burnt 5 cord. We could not hook hands with one on each side wrapped around the tree.

I helped my sister cut up a big northern red oak from the October snow disaster last year and it yielded about 3 cord of premium firewood. Nine cord from a single white oak is incredible(more btu's too). How old do you think that sucker was?

First guy don't have a chance.
I got 10-1/2 cords from a big cottonwood. When it hit the ground it Recored 5.1 at the earth quake center & caused an avalanche 5 miles away.
Fell it with an axe up hill, carried it up hill, into 40 MPH wind & snow, then slide it down a glacier, floated it up river then used sled & dog team to the house. LOL
That was before I owned a camera of course.

An cord of birch here takes about 6 - 7 trees average.

anybody that lives in Alaska has to be tough

about 2.5-3 cord out of a red oak in my yard. Not near what I have seen on the board here, but it's really satisfying to get half a year's heat out of one tree in the yard.

bogydave said:

First guy don't have a chance.
I got 10-1/2 cords from a big cottonwood. When it hit the ground it Recored 5.1 at the earth quake center & caused an avalanche 5 miles away.
Fell it with an axe up hill, carried it up hill, into 40 MPH wind & snow, then slide it down a glacier, floated it up river then used sled & dog team to the house. LOL
That was before I owned a camera of course.

An cord of birch here takes about 6 - 7 trees average.

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I can back you up on this one. I was the guy that shot 5 bull moose with a .22 and cut them up with a pen knife while you were going by on the river.

Ironwood said:

I can back you up on this one. I was the guy that shot 5 bull moose with a .22 and cut them up with a pen knife while you were going by on the river.

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I thought that was you.

Would be fun to cut up large trees, but an 18" green birch round is all I want to handle as it is.
But when I see the nice splits youns get from the big trees, I'm jealous. It's amazing how much premium CSS wood is in one big tree.

My personal record is around half a cord.

5 cord from a 48"+ DBH white ash,(yard bird) it had branches the size of 30 year old tree trunks.

5 cords out of the top of a huuge white oak. This was after 16' of log was off. I worked for a logger as a feller for a while, but he loved to cut big trees . Every time a tree like that oak came along he would come out of the skidder or loader for a bit to knock it down.

bogy is clearly winnin'. Best I can claim is working 3-4 years on the same hedge 'tree'. The central 'trunk' is probably around 50-55" diameter where it comes out of the ground and there are five 20-24" 'branches' - each really a 'tree' in it's own right- coming immediately from that. Over the years, I've worked on the four scraggly branches. Finally got to the last one in the summer of '10...straightest piece of hedge I've ever seen...forced to grow straight up by the other four branches. When cutting, I finally got to yell 'timber' and everything! It hit the ground with a 'thud'!

Usually cutting hedge is more like hacking away at a tumbleweed. You cut the trunk and the tree sags a few feet. Then you start cutting the branches on the ground and it sags a few more...cut more branches and it sags a few more! But WOW is that heat ever worth it!

My neighbor had a very large old growth fir fall on his beach property. I've seen pictures and the tree was at least 6' thick and a couple hundred feet tall. He had to hire someone with the right gear to cut rounds off it. I won't say how many cords he claims have come from it so far, because I don't know that his estimate is based on any measurements. But I know it's a lot. He and a couple of friends have been heating their homes with that tree for a few years and it ain't gone yet.

Got about 3.5 cord from a Silver Maple down the road. Free too!
Split it by hand too.

scroungerjeff said:

I helped my sister cut up a big northern red oak from the October snow disaster last year and it yielded about 3 cord of premium firewood. Nine cord from a single white oak is incredible(more btu's too). How old do you think that sucker was?

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I don't Know. The bottom was hollow so I couldn't count the rings.

17 cord.

Should have seen the one that got away.
Oh, wait we are not talking fish stories here?

More than I wanted to deal with!

LOL at Smokin... You wont be doing that tomorrow.

Best I have done on my own just under 2 cord on an ash tree.
It was only about 24" round but went up for a long way.
I thought I was living it up. I gave a couple face cord to the neighbor for next year.
He thinks I am silly for drying my wood for a whole year.
I am going to clean his chimney too.

Someone I know has several willow trees that they coppice, so as far as I can see, someone could keep cutting more and more wood from the same tree as it regrows.
So theoretically, you could get an endless supply of wood from one tree.....

Coppiced trees below:

mecreature said:

LOL at Smokin... You wont be doing that tomorrow.

Best I have done on my own just under 2 cord on an ash tree.
It was only about 24" round but went up for a long way.
I thought I was living it up. I gave a couple face cord to the neighbor for next year.
He thinks I am silly for drying my wood for a whole year.
I am going to clean his chimney too.

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No Iam retired until mid sept. That pic with the 880 was last Aug. and it was 98 out. After 14 rounds off that we took a break. I then set the choke and told every body get my saw running and we will finish this thing. After about 40 pulls they gave up and we went home! (Best trick to have for tomorrow)