My Intro Pictures

Had to have some trees cut down today. Too close to the house and power lines for me to be comfortable doing it. Only got to watch the sugar maple come down before having to get to a meeting. Guys weren't supposed to cut the trees up, but as I was leaving offered to. Figured what the heck. Of course, my 16 inch request was met with a +/- 8 inch variable. I'd rather have cut them up myself once I saw that.

The back is a giant willow tree that dropped it's top third on my house causing significant damage during Sandy. I was going to have them chip it up, but my boss said he'd take it. Fine by me. I split up a few rounds of it just to see what it was all about....full of carpenter ants trying to stay warm for the winter. Mighty wet wood. Might keep a round or two for kindling or for the fire pit.

Front right is a Sugar Maple. Hated to see this one go. Beautiful tree, but made it impossible to get a drilling rig in. Sap was pouring out of it. The tree crew actually would walk over and open their mouths underneath the fresh cut branches. Split up pretty easily, though I saved the knotty ones for a later date or if/when I rent a splitter. On the plus side, it's good firewood and I can get rid of those roots that like to run along the surface of the yard.

Front left is a white ash tree. Reasonably small tree that also had to go for the drilling rig. I had planned on doing it myself, but after taking damage to that corner of the house (out of view) and it having a slight back lean, figured I'd just let the company do it.

Stacked over near the porch is a Norway Maple ( some of it is mixed in with the rest, I just didn't feel like moving it). Not sure how good of firewood this is. Don't see on too many charts. Pretty dense wood though and I've got about a half cord of it split and stacked from March of this year.

Got most of the ash and sugar maple split by hand this afternoon. Plan on moving the chippings to the flower beds and splitting the rest tomorrow....except the willow. I might quarter them to get them out of the yard, but I'm not putting too much work into it.

Intended on finishing it up today (except the willow), but under estimated how much time it would take to spread the wood chips throughout the flower beds given all the slope of my land. Pretty exhausted and settling into to watch football.

albert1029 said:

nice...post pictures when you get it all split...

Click to expand...

It's all split now. Even quartered most of the willow to make it more manageable to get off my lawn for the boss to come pick up. Decide to go ahead and split the rest of the sugar and norway maple....were crazy knotty and twisted compared to my previous experiences with these species. Ash was as easy as can be to split. The willow pretty much swallowed the Fiskars except the main trunk (ground to 18ft), which was surprisingly pretty dense. Lots of sledge and wedge today.

Stacked all the splits that won't fit into the insert today (almost all 24 inches +/-2). Really wish I had cut these things up instead of letting the crew do them. Could have measured and avoided a lot of the knots and just burned those with the rest of the uglies. Oh well. First pic is the 8x5.5 stack of the long logs (mix of sugar, norway, ash). Second pick is the original shot of the willow...including my wood chip pile in the background. Last is what remains of both the willow and the wood chips. Trunk at the base is exactly the length of a Fiskers x27.

I've actually been doing some digging since I like to isolate different types of wood for evaluation. What little info I've found indicates it's much better than the soft maples and slightly behind Sugar. Not sure what the policy is for linking to other sites, so I'll just copy and paste.

Hardwoods
Species BTUs in Ignition Smoke Sparks Millions Quality
Alder, Red 17.6 fair light light Apple 17.6 fair light light Ash, Black 21.0 good light slight Ash, Blue 24.9 fair light slight Ash, Green 24.0 fair light light Ash, Oregon 18.9 poor light slight Ash, White 25.7 good light light Aspen, Bigtooth 16.7 good some light Aspen, Quaking 13.0 good some light Basswood, American 15.9 fair light light Beech, American 21.9 poor light slight Birch, Black (sweet) 27.9 poor light slight Birch, White 23.6 poor slight slight Birch, Yellow 21.3 poor light slight Butternut 16.3 fair light light Cherry, Black 17.1 fair light light Chestnut, American 18.4 good light light Cottonwood, Balsam 14.6 fair slight slight Cottonwood, Black 15.0 fair slight slight Cottonwood, Eastern 13.7 good some light Elm, American 21.4 good light light Elm, Cedar 21.4 good light light Elm, Rock 27.4 good light light Elm, Slippery (Red) 22.7 good light light Hackberry 22.7 fair light light Hickory, Bitternut 28.3 good slight slight Hickory, Mockernut 30.9 good light light Hickory, Nutmeg 25.7 good slight slight Hickory, Pecan 28.3 good light light Hickory, Pignut 32.1 good light light Hickory, Red 32.1 good light light Hickory, Shagbark 24.7 poor light slight Hickory, Shellbark 29.6 good light light Hickory, Water 26.6 good light light Locust, Black 29.6 good light light Locust, Honey 28.3 good light light Magnolia, Cucumber 20.6 fair some slight Magnolia, Southern 21.4 fair some slight Maple, Bigleaf 20.6 good light light Maple, Black 24.4 good light light Maple, Norway 26.4 good light light Maple, Red 23.1 fair light light Maple, Silver 16.1 fair light light Maple, Sugar 27.0 poor light slight Oak, Black 26.1 good light light Oak, Bur 27.4 fair light slight Oak, Cherrybark 29.1 fair light light Oak, Chestnut 28.3 fair light light Oak, Laurel 27.0 fair light light Oak, Live 37.7 poor light light Oak, Overcup 27.0 poor light light Oak, Pin 27.0 fair light slight Oak, Post 28.7 fair slight light Oak, N. Red 21.6 poor light slight Oak, S. Red 20.2 poor light slight Oak, scarlet 28.7 poor light slight Oak, Swamp chestnut 28.7 poor slight slight Oak, Swampy white 30.9 poor slight slight Oak, Water 27.0 fair light light Oak, White 29.1 poor light slight Oak, Willow 29.6 poor some slight Sassafras 15.8 good light high Sweetgum 22.3 poor some slight Sycamore, American 21.0 poor slight slight Tulip 14.4 good some light Tupelo, Black 17.1 fair some light Tupelo, Swamp 21.4 poor light light Tupelo, Water 21.4 poor light light Walnut, Black 18.9 fair some light Willow, Black 16.7 poor some slight
Softwoods
Bald Cypress 15.8 good some light Cedar, Alaskan 18.9 good some high Cedar, Atlantic white 13.7 good some high Cedar, E. Red 16.1 good some high Cedar, Incense 15.9 good some high Cedar, N. White 10.6 good some high Cedar, Port Orford 18.4 good some high Cedar, W. Red 11.0 good some high Douglas Fir 16.5 good high light Douglas Fir, Western 21.4 good high light Douglas Fir, Northern 20.6 good high light Douglas Fir, Southern 19.7 good high high Fir, Balsam, 15.4 good some high Fir, California Red 16.3 good some high Fir, Grand 15.9 good some high Fir, Noble 16.7 good some high Fir, Pacific Silver 18.4 good some high Fir, Subalpine 13.7 good high high Fir, White 13.4 good high high Hemlock, Eastern 17.1 good high high Hemlock, Mountain 19.3 good high high Hemlock, Western 22.3 good high high Larch, Western 22.3 good high high Larch, Eastern 22.7 good high high Pine, Eastern White 15.0 good high high Pine, Jack 18.4 good high high Pine, Loblolly 17.5 good high high Pine, Lodgepole 17.6 good high high Pine, Longleaf 25.3 good high high Pine, Pitch 22.3 good high high Pine, Pond 24.0 good high high Pine, Ponderosa 13.7 good high high Pine, Red 19.7 good high high Pine, Sand 20.6 good high high Pine, Shortleaf 21.9 good high high Pine, Slash 24.3 good high high Pine, Spruce 18.9 good high high Pine, Virginia 20.6 good high high Pine, White 13.0 good high high Redwood 17.1 good high high Spruce, Black 17.1 good high high Spruce, Engelman 15.0 good high high Spruce, Norway 17.1 good high high Spruce, Red 14.1 good some high Spruce, Sitka 17.1 good some high Spruce, White 17.1 good some high

Finally got the yard all cleaned up on Thanksgiving morning.

First is the final tally of Ash, Norway Maple, Sugar Maple. Left stack is 8x5x24 inches and the right is 8x4x16inches. Boss still hasn't picked up the willow and I need at least half of it gone or moved by next week. Last pic are my girls....minus one wedge that's stuck in a knotty ash round. At least I found another wedge in the woods today.