Good sized red oak

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JOHN BOY

Minister of Fire
Sep 20, 2012
532
Western Mountains ,NC
Well i dont post many pics , so i thought i'd show you all what ive been doing later . This Oak was 27 inches across and One of 2 that ive been working on . The other was 24 inches across . When iam done i'll post some pics of the wood wall along my driveway . I guess i probably got close to 3 chords out of the 2 trees 0906131847b.jpg 0906131847.jpg
 
John Boy, where are you located in western North Carolina? I'm just up the mountain from Franklin, NC. We have red oaks all around us! Great wood to burn but it takes a few years to season it. I guess you are working on your wood supply for 2015/2016.
 
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Nice straight lengths. A real lot of fun to split those. Nice pics too.
 
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John Boy, where are you located in western North Carolina? I'm just up the mountain from Franklin, NC. We have red oaks all around us! Great wood to burn but it takes a few years to season it. I guess you are working on your wood supply for 2015/2016.

Todd we live in Morganton NC. Yea this wood is for 2015/2016. Tree's were very straight lots of limbs.
 
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John Boy, where are you located in western North Carolina? I'm just up the mountain from Franklin, NC. We have red oaks all around us! Great wood to burn but it takes a few years to season it. I guess you are working on your wood supply for 2015/2016.
most of my family is just up from there, in the andrews/murphy area.
Todd we live in Morganton NC. Yea this wood is for 2015/2016. Tree's were very straight lots of limbs.
i'm a little closer to morganton, being in lincolnton. nice wood btw. i came across some red oak logs about that size a while back, one was about 15 feet long, and the other about 20.
 
Cool pics ,brother, Gotta love it, ,I felt good, cutting up, bustin up ,processing 32" white oak in my first year
 
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Great pics, beautiful rounds. I love splitting red oak. Only takes an inch of the wedge most of the time.
 
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nice big rounds there, John! Thanks for posting your work, you know how we LOVE those pics of firewood here...
maybe some pics when you get 'er split and stacked, just to "ice the cake" for us!!==c
 
I have considered going up to a 28 inch bar on my big saw. Every single year in these mountains I cut a bigger tree than my 24 inch bar. I just processed a white oak last week that was bigger than my bar. That is some beautiful looking wood!
 
Mark it is was some nice stuff. i love oak .. Just hate the drying time :( Ive considered moving up to a 28 inch bar myself . But to tell ya i love to run a 20 on the 044 it makes for fast work and rarely ever bogs down
with this size bar. I really dont mind having to make 2 cuts thru on the bigger tree's. I feel its well balanced and easy to handle
 
Nice wood you got there bud... For sure....
 
Nice trees...would also like some pics once it's split and/or stacked.
 
Are you the guy who posted the thread about the Water oak a while back?
I looked it up because that was a new one on me.

I think water oak is farther south of these parts, like SC low country. I could be wrong about that. I have a book on trees of the Smokie Mountains and water oak is not in it.
 
I have considered going up to a 28 inch bar on my big saw. Every single year in these mountains I cut a bigger tree than my 24 inch bar. I just processed a white oak last week that was bigger than my bar. That is some beautiful looking wood!

Just because your bar will not go all the way through a log does not mean you need a longer bar. Most of the trees we cut here are 32" and less. We get by very easily with a 16" bar. I think the largest diameter I've fell was in the 33" or 34" range. Yes, there was just a touch in there that the saw could not reach but it posed no problem. The tree fell as planned with no problems and those first few cuts just needed a little tap and they broke right off. I much prefer to use the shorter bar because with a terrible back, less weight is a big plus for me. I wrestled with the big saws long enough and do not care to go back to using them.
 
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Just because your bar will not go all the way through a log does not mean you need a longer bar. Most of the trees we cut here are 32" and less. We get by very easily with a 16" bar. I think the largest diameter I've fell was in the 33" or 34" range. Yes, there was just a touch in there that the saw could not reach but it posed no problem. The tree fell as planned with no problems and those first few cuts just needed a little tap and they broke right off. I much prefer to use the shorter bar because with a terrible back, less weight is a big plus for me. I wrestled with the big saws long enough and do not care to go back to using them.

I understand your position on this. I like the luxury of cutting through a large log in a single pass and I have a saw that does it easily. There is a productivity element at play for me here too. I am busy, have young kids etc. I am able to handle it physically at this point. I like my small saw too. I was thinking the other day my 50cc saw could do it all if I wanted it to.
 
You do not lose by using a shorter bar. I could easily put a longer bar on our saw but I see no need and I would not gain any time at all. Once you know for sure how to do it, the rest is easy. So in my book, the longer bar would not be an improvement unless you are talking about some really big diameter stuff. Even then, you still do not need a bar long enough to go through the wood at the largest diameter. But if one just wants the bigger saw and bigger bar, that is fine too. It is just not required.
 
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