Sure I will Help...How big can it be....

Jags said:

Neighbor farmer calls up and asks...You wanna help me get a tree out of the field? We will use my trailer and loader and drop it at your house (1/4 mile away). Sure I will. How big can it be?
View attachment 178934
Yeah - 50 inch dude.
A few trailer loads and 2 loader buckets full and it was pretty much done. It was already sliced and diced so we just had to move it. About 1.5 hours and 1 cord (plus) sitting in the yard. His trailer is small but has a 5000 pound axle. 4 rounds of the trunk was all we dared to put on it.
If anybody is scratching their head - thats Oak, by the way. Now comes the "fun" part.
The plan is to quarter the big stuff first. I don't like rolling stuff that can roll back and kill me.

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Hope you have a very big saw....

That just makes my back sore looking at it. Got a strong back, but it has the tendency to get sore easily with hard work or lying around too long. Stacked 2 cord yesterday and I'm doing pretty good, my hamstrings are like bows though...

Last year got to the chiro due to moving 30+ inch hickory rounds around the splitter- and splitting for hours at a time. Next time I'll pass on the big rounds or do one or two a day lol...

That's going to make great firewood though!!

Jags said:

Neighbor farmer calls up and asks...You wanna help me get a tree out of the field? We will use my trailer and loader and drop it at your house (1/4 mile away). Sure I will. How big can it be?
View attachment 178934
Yeah - 50 inch dude.
A few trailer loads and 2 loader buckets full and it was pretty much done. It was already sliced and diced so we just had to move it. About 1.5 hours and 1 cord (plus) sitting in the yard. His trailer is small but has a 5000 pound axle. 4 rounds of the trunk was all we dared to put on it.
If anybody is scratching their head - thats Oak, by the way. Now comes the "fun" part.
The plan is to quarter the big stuff first. I don't like rolling stuff that can roll back and kill me.

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Very nice...

Jags said:

It seems that I get lots of the big stuff that nobody else will work with.

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Guess nobody else has the big toys that are needed. That log lifter on your splitter will sure come in handy!

I know you're set up for stuff like that, but mein gott, stuff like THAT!!??

How on earth do you even get it on the trailer w/o dropping it and having pop back out in China? Will you saw it in half (for starters) on it's side or will you push it over like a giant oak filet and then cut it? Are you going to have nightmares about losing five wedges inside that thing and it refusing to split??

I'm not set up for stuff that big - I'd have to borrow or rent a lot of equipment from somebody! I bet it'll be fun adding that to the stacks!

I had a 42 inch red oak taken down a few years ago. Except for a few tough rounds they all popped right in half with 2 wedges and a maul. Those rounds are no joke - they had to have been around 500 pounds per 16 inch round.

Couple weeks back had a customer come in and ask for help with a Maple - Middle sized 36" dia. Silver. His 16" Poulan was a might small for the job.
Middle sized as typically I get calls on stuff in the 48" class and up. I have Red and White Oak, Black Walnut plus some Elm of one type or another from 25-40+ inches laying around here at the shop , but haven't had time to work it yet. Really want to get some planks out of some of it Just can't decide if I want to burn the check book for a band mill or cheap out on a chain saw type.

I got ahold of a red oak last August over 4 foot diameter it is definitely big and heavy but great wood very few like to mess with the very big stuff. If you don't mind the work it's worth it. I still split all my stuff by hand I still enjoy doing it that way. Nice of the neighbor to help you out like that, have fun!

Jags said:

Neighbor farmer calls up and asks...You wanna help me get a tree out of the field? We will use my trailer and loader and drop it at your house (1/4 mile away). Sure I will. How big can it be?
View attachment 178934
Yeah - 50 inch dude.
A few trailer loads and 2 loader buckets full and it was pretty much done. It was already sliced and diced so we just had to move it. About 1.5 hours and 1 cord (plus) sitting in the yard. His trailer is small but has a 5000 pound axle. 4 rounds of the trunk was all we dared to put on it.
If anybody is scratching their head - thats Oak, by the way. Now comes the "fun" part.
The plan is to quarter the big stuff first. I don't like rolling stuff that can roll back and kill me.

Click to expand...

Nice score. Think back to just a hundred years ago when there were no chainsaws (or if there were, they were very primitive), and no hydraulic splitters with lifts. Dad (84 yrs old) just told me a story about him and his little brother cutting up a tree like this with the two man hand saw when they were young teenagers. Stuff like this is what makes this site so entertaining, tales about carving a little cost effective heat out of the opportunities presented, even when some hard work is involved. Good luck with the project, Jags, and stay out from under those rounds!

I just saw this thread. Ya that's big wood.

When I'm cutting on my land or my families land that's fairly common . I just noodle them in half or quarter them if I'm alone and no problem just heave, roll, lift , etc what you have to do to get them on the trailer. Have your cell handy in case you have a heart attack ! Lol ! No actually I guess that's not a joking matter but still wise to have your cell on you

If my brother in law is with me he has a skid steer so we use that and noodle them at home by the wood piles.
Big trees are more work though no doubt about it

I'd call my fire wood Prince to help you, bit he's a but far away

*Dix, being a smart ass*

woodhog73 said:

still wise to have your cell on you

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Don't laugh ... a few years ago, I threw the cell phone in my jacket pocket then went out for a skate on the rink on the lake. Heard the kids come home and shortly after tripped and fell with the skate getting caught in a crack. Broken fibula ... was just about to give up shouting for the kids and had the phone out. Daughter heard and brought her brother out to see what was going on ... piggy back ride since I couldn't make it up the hill.

Was just in one of those last week.. "Hey we had a tree down at church, it's big, want it?

love the big stuff!
i get great satisfaction counting the number of splits i get out of a big round. the biggest i usually can haul are about 36". i think i get about 50-60 splits out of one. that's more than a few cold winter nights heat right there from one round!

Jags said:

Around here - I am the firewood prince.

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Really . . . always kinda of thought of you as the Firewood King.

Big fir, I can't lift the rounds into the truck so while they are still on edge I cut the thing from top bark to as close as I can get to the ground without jamming the saw up with chips. Then roll it 90 degree and repeat. Then flop the thing down onto the ground and use a maul to break the last little 4" to the other bark and load the quarters. It's not worth busting a gut to lift huge rounds when the saws make it very easy to widdle them down to reasonable size.

Some of these rounds, if they tip over you're in trouble. Can be nearly impossible to get up on edge again to where you can cut them properly. Again, don't bust a gut trying to flip them back up.

Kills me to see how small the east coast wood is. Seems like a pile of pencils.

2 years ago I scrounged some 48 inch hickory rounds from the roadside. One got away from me while I was rolling and rolled past my ankle too close. It took 5 weeks for the torn skin to completely heal. Now I noodle all that big wood up before trying to move it.

Ouch... That must have left a mark.
Having that issue a bit with pine & oak rounds...On a set steep hillside.
I let them roll.