Last Day of Vacation

Well I have to go back to work tomorrow (the mortgage won't pay itself) so today was my last day off for Easter break. Decided to finally take care of all the wood that came down on my property since Hurricane Sandy.



Here are a couple of oaks that came down during the hurricane. One got uprooted and took the top off of another.


This is the remaining root ball of the uprooted oak and also an old, dead pine that I took down today. I was afraid the wind would blow it down and hit the camper in the background. Pieces at the top are hollow and will probably wind up on the campfire, pieces at the base could be used next fall.



These two are some dead oaks that I took down today. The hurricane blew the tops off so I cut the tops and then brought down the trunks. Some punky sections in both trees but a lot of good wood also.



Finally, here are my stacks as of right now. The one on the right has been stacked for about 18 months (mostly), and is starting to settle a bit and lean - may need to be restacked. It is just sitting on some longer pieces of wood to keep it off the ground. The one on the left is my first stack attempt with pallets. I was able to get a few from a buddy so I wanted to see how they work.

The main stack on the right will have several more rows and is usually about 12 cords. The additional stack when finished will have 4 cords, and then I want another stack on pallets that will hold an additional 4 cords. So the goal is 20 cords on hand, but that may be a good way into the future!

bogydave said:

You've been busy.
Fun vacation!
Looks to be a lot of wood. gotta be close the the 16.
Will the next 4 cords come from your property or scrounging?

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Thanks! The next 4 will come from a relative's land who lives within a couple of miles - he told me I could take anything dead or down. Just with the down oak I should get 4 cords easy. Unfortunately that job will probably have to wait until summer. Ahhh....cutting when it's 90 degrees out.....

jdp1152 said:

and here I was thinking you just sat on the beach and read books all day long.

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That's just my summer job!

ArsenalDon said:

I am jealous....Easter break...you teach?

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Yes - so my wood processing schedule revolves around holidays and summer. It wasn't all that long ago that I cut, split, and stacked all my wood in the summer, then I wised up and got ahead, so I could do the work when it wasn't so hot out.

Woody Stover said:

Yeah, we've got a lot of Reds that rot out in the middle like that. Never sawed one that was still standing and had the rotted center still in there, though. They are hollow by the time I get to 'em. I wonder if that's the result of a disease, or what's going on with them? The Whites seem to hold up much better here...

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I actually just cut a white oak that was starting to go hollow in the trunk, but I agree it's much more common with the red. I've sawed quite a few down with the rotted center, and many that are hollow. Almost all of them have ants inside them somewhere, but I don't know whether the tree dies first, or the ants enter the tree first. I really hope it's not a disease, but it does seem to be common in the red oaks around here as well.