I've got OAK---but how to move rounds?

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LISound

New Member
Mar 20, 2008
25
Southern CT
Friend hooked me up with a tree they had taken down. All oak...but the rounds these guys left behind are huge!
most of them are 3-4 ft wide and weigh about 300lbs each.
what should i do here?

I don't want to rent a log splitter and sawing it up will be a PIA. Plus i read it's not good to split cut with a saw, something about burning the ends?
can i split them with a maul? or am I out of my mind. the tree just came down last week so it's green as can be.
I would guess the rounds are between 15-24 inches long---

should i just bit the bullet, rent the splitter and split on site? I know the wood won't be ready for at least a year--just don't want to waste money on the splitter.
 
ok so what your saying is they are too big to just tow behind the car? ahahaha

it depends how many there are... maul ... or rent a splitter.
how you hauling?? cant just roll them up a ramp/plywood or something?
 
If the rounds are fairly knot free, oak in my expierience ,splits well . The trick is not to attack it like a smaller piece with a full frontal assault. But to split around it ,splitting of pieces as you go . 24" pieces may be a lot easier to split if cut down to 12" though.Those longer pieces of wood split hard.
 
ram 1500 pickup.
can't roll the rounds, they are heart shaped and they won't let me back the truck up to them.
I have to go about 50-60 yards to get them in the truck.

Can i split them in half with the maul---I've never split oak by hand before...this is only my 2nd year of wood burning.
if i get them in half, i can use a hand truck to get them out to the truck and lift them in.
 
using the maul, its only a couple of good whacks to half.......and as NCOUNTRY said..less knots, easier to split.
the heart shape you mention may actually make it easier to split.
 
Renting a splitter will cost you as much as Cut/Split/Delivered wood. That doesn't make any sense. You'll have to just give it a try to split with a maul, otherwise your only option is to cut the slabs with a chainsaw, then hand truck out the pieces. I took down an ash tree a while back, and the trunk was so large that I had to borrow a larger saw to cut it into slabs. Then the slabs were so heavy I couldn't lift them, so I cut each of them in half with the saw, and then trucked out the halves. Once the slabs were halved, it was easy to split with a maul because there were sharp angles that could be split off the outside.
 
take a sledgehammer, 2 or 3 splittin' wedges, and a maul, you'll be fine bustin' 'em in smaller pieces UNLESS they are really, really, gnarly and knotted.

been there, done that, split so easy I couldn't believe it, huge pieces of red oak, 3 ft across, no problem.
 
Sounds like you have a great deal there! Congratulations.

Yes, you can split oak. It is not that bad or hard to split. Also, with that heart shape you might be able to use the hand cart even without splitting, but splitting is probably the way I would go. Haul them out with a wheelbarrow or cart.
 
Buy a splitter, about 1k, it will be paid for in a year. After that it is free! You can split it with a maul like someone else said...whittle the edges. You will definitely be able to ring the bell at the fair if you can split all of it! Free heat is good but do not kill yourself trying to achieve the almighty free! An investment in the right tool will make your life easier tenfold!!! Good luck!
 
Trying to split by hand is a big pain in the neck, the arm, the shoulder, the wrists, and back. :)
Getting a splitter would be a better option.
I split allot of my oak, birch and elm by hand.
If you try make sure you have some pain killers on hand.
 
Use the maul! Alot of work but in the long run worth it! It will be hard, but it can be done! Like what was said above attack it in small pieces! I had to do the same with some 24" shag bark hickory, and it took awhile!

goodluck
 
4' to 5' across eh? Split with a maul I hear? Cmon guys, be serious.
All manly man-nes aside, its on someone elses property that prolly wants it gone asap.
Borrow, rent, buy a splitter and be done with it. Cross cut it as needed to move it onto splitter.
If you have that much time on your hands. You have one or several of the following going on:
1. Retired
2. House upkeep being neglected or done by paying others to do it.
3. Don't work for a living.
4. Have no life.
5. Have some kind of deficiency and trying to cover with superior show of manliness.
ETC. ETC. ETC.ETC., ETC. ETC.

4-5' across, lets be just a tad realistic here.
And how many pcs of these does the guy have to maul through.
Man, if your asking , then your already contemplating obtaining a splitter, or you would have been chipping away at it already.
I know what I'd do, between working on the house & working, and everything else on "the list".
Turn knob on, pull pull start, engage leaver, listen to crack & drop.
Nuff said.
 
Sledgehammer and a wedge or two to get reduce rounds to halves or thirds. Then use a hand cart to get them to & on your truck.
 
Try splitting into smaller pieces with a maul or wedges. May be easier than you think. If this doesn't
work then the rent a splitter or leave them alone could be a couple of options.
 
LISound said:
Friend hooked me up with a tree they had taken down. All oak...but the rounds these guys left behind are huge!
most of them are 3-4 ft wide and weigh about 300lbs each.
what should i do here?
.
Click to expand...

Here's what we do: quarter saw them , not ripping from the top, but on the round bark sides. Get a good 50cc plus saw with a sharpened and raked chain 16" or more. Then quarter the beasts to a manageable size. It will go suprisingly fast making what we call "curly fries" chips. Be careful, they can clog the inside of of the bar cover; keep it cleaned out (with the chain brake on of course).
Green oaks can be a b___ch to split at that size; worse when frozen. Don't even bother with the splitter on site.
Tell us how it worked.
We know it all. %-P
 
downeast said:
LISound said:
Friend hooked me up with a tree they had taken down. All oak...but the rounds these guys left behind are huge!
most of them are 3-4 ft wide and weigh about 300lbs each.
what should i do here?
.
Click to expand...

Here's what we do: quarter saw them , not ripping from the top, but on the round bark sides. Get a good 50cc plus saw with a sharpened and raked chain 16" or more. Then quarter the beasts to a manageable size. It will go suprisingly fast making what we call "curly fries" chips. Be careful, they can clog the inside of of the bar cover; keep it cleaned out (with the chain brake on of course).
Green oaks can be a b___ch to split at that size; worse when frozen. Don't even bother with the splitter on site.
Tell us how it worked.
We know it all. %-P
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I do as well...cut those big rounds into quarters right down through the bark side. Just so you know if you do cut those big riynds into quarters they also hand split a heck of a lot easier too.
 
The other warning I will add is to protect your back trying to move those rounds! I suspect that's what screwed up my back 30 years ago (and it was only a 22" round). Get them small enough to be safe before you lift them. Although I'm in pretty good shape now (after three operations), there is no "fix" that will return you spine to normal.

Ken
 
If they're 3ft. across they're probably not going to be very easy to get onto a splitter either. I had a neighbor with about 10 red oak rounds about 3' across. My method, eventually: smack it once with a splitting maul to get a good divot --> pound in one wedge with the sledgehammer (rounds were good and cracked at this point) --> if not so well cracked, put in a big wedge on the other side and pound that down --> at this point it sometimes came apart OK, but for those that were still sticking together a bit I used a big fat dogwood wedge (or "glut" as my friend who taught me to make them calls them) and knocked it down / the wood apart with quarter swings. Anyone else out there use gluts / big wooden wedges to force apart big stuff? Magic. Same process to get halves in quarters and quarters into eighths. Eighths were what I hauled one by one to the truck to take home and split further. Each of the eighths made roughly FIVE very good sized pieces of firewood. Awesome. Good luck . . . and the former poster was right: keep splitting until lifting won't ruin your back!
 
Grab a hammer and couple wedges and split them once each onsite. Use a 2 wheel handtruck and a couple boards to get them up into your truck and out of your neighbor's yard.
 
Sometimes you just got to know when to fold them. Try some of the excellent advice above but be careful. Unless you do bull work for a living and enjoy a work out, don't kill yourself. One simple shoulder injury will haunt you forever. They also say heart attacks are not to pleasant. Give it a try but don't be seduced by the free word. Stay safe.
 
UPDATE: Yes, i was kidding myself with the maul, wedge and Axe method.
I could only get through the really wide rounds...about 5 ft accross...they were kinda of wet/ant infested.
The other rounds i couldn't even get the maul into---i figure i took about a cord and a half and had to give up.

The guy i got it from is now using the remaining roounds as a retaining wall---truly sad to see it holding dirt and not in my stove---but they were just too big.
They didn't want me on the lawn with my truck either---so at least i got some.
It sucks b/c this would have been enough wood for at least 2 years---about 8 cords.

On a side note, someone else in the hood took down a really big tree---not sure what it is, but half the neighborhood has rounds on their front lawn from this tree and there is still a good 75 ft of 4ft plus rounds left---time to make a new friend.


thanks for all the above help. I'm going look for a used wood splitter in the coming years.
We just moved into our new home here in monroe, CT.
So anyone looking for some wood share help, let me know...I've usually got a bunch of sources for free wood.
 
You can always use the chain saw to cut the rounds down to size (assuming they are on their side and not sitting flat. It works faster than normal (cross) cutting. It's kind of neat to watch the high volume of slivers come out instead of chips. Just make sure that you give the saw enough clearance so that the slivers don't clog up the saw.

Ken
 
I agree with everyone telling you to use the saw to cut it up.

Rounds that size, and of oak should be cut into 3-4 parts at the least. To easy to tear up your back.

I did a huge white ash that way 2 years ago. Beast of a tree 100' tall with 4'+ trunk. Not a single branch for 25' and huge the whole way.

14 truck loads out of that ash, and we didn't cut up as much as we might have. Farmer wanted to start working the field, sprayer with kerosene for forced fire after he piled up what we'd not yet got to. Sad, but we did get most of it & all the largest limbs & the trunk.

And ripping does make some neat curly chips.

My 460 can rip rounds like those at a pretty good pace & saves your back.
 
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