An old oak finally comes down!

[Nick Mystic]

I've had a medium size dead oak tree out behind my house for the past 5 or 6 years, but I never got around to harvesting it for one reason or another. It's off to the side of a trail we use and hard to see once the other trees leaf out, so out of sight - out of mind. I noticed it again a few days ago and when I went over to inspect it I could see it had slipped most of its bark and only had a few large limbs left on it at the very top. It stood nice and straight and I had a small opening to drop it in the direction I wanted it to fall, so today I decided to bring it down. I didn't think to get any before photos, but here are a few of it once it was down and bucked up:



It is about 16" at the base where I cut it.



As you can see in this picture most of the bark has rotted off.



However, as you can see it was nice and solid onside all the way to the top. It looks like it will make some nice firewood. In the above photo you can see a small amount of moisture still visible in the center. After standing dead for some many years I'll be interested to see how quickly if finishes drying out.



As you can see in this photo it fell between that crooked tree and the large tree to the right. That is only about six feet wide! I had intended for it to fall to the right of the big tree to far right in this photo, but where it did fall worked out even better.



It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but I'll have to carry the wood by hand down a small ravine and then back up to a trail about 100 feet away where I'll be able to load it into a wheelbarrow. I"m guessing it should produce between a third and a half of a cord once it's worked up. The tree was about 50 feet tall.

 

[ScotO]

I cut piles and piles of them on the farm here at home. One of my favorite kinds to cut, too. Not much bark, no little twigs or limbs, pretty much just all good firewood....

Looks like you did a decent job of dropping it, don't see any widowmakers hanging from nearby trees....good job!!

 

[albert1029]

It's a beautiful thing....

 

[bogydave]

Nice job on the drop.
Bet it dries a lot faster than green oak

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That without bark looks suspiciously like some I split today! Except that the wood I split was at least 10 years just laying on the ground! Some punk, naturally but a lot of good wood too.

 

[Paulywalnut]

I find it still has a high moisture content when you cut standing dead, but dries much faster
Nice score there Nick. Gotta love that oak with no bark.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'll have to carry the wood by hand down a small ravine and then back up to a trail about 100 feet away where I'll be able to load it into a wheelbarrow

1)Roll 'em down into the ravine.
2)Put the hooks of a tow strap on the axle shaft on either side of the tire of the wheelbarrow.
3)Find a gullible person that's willing to "just help me out for a couple minutes."
4)Place aforementioned person in the loop formed by the tow strap and tell them to start walking up the hill out of the ravine (leaning might help.)

BTW, nice grab. I've got a few like that. Hoping they don't fall before I get the ones cleaned up that have already fallen.

 

[PapaDave]

I'd say your guesstimate is very close.
I did a couple Oak last year about 12", and ended up with about 1/3 cord out of each.