Clearing the trail

[Stonefly]

The farm we moved on to about 2 years ago was logged about 12 years back. All the wood we have burning so far (about 4 weeks) has come from friends that has been seasoned for 1-2 years. When we decided to start burning I walked the property behind the house to see what was available. There were some trees that had been cut by the power company to clear their lines and then there were some pretty nice blow downs. There is a lot that went to rot that the loggers did not take. I took vacation this week and borrowed my brother's 4 wheeler. There is a logging road that goes up the front side of the hill and then down the back side to the back end of the property. I had several blow downs and 10+ years of briars to clear in order to open the logging road back up (really hate briars). Here are some of pictures of the trail and a hickory that was on the back side.

 

[basswidow]

Looks nice. Plenty of wood in that hickory you cut - good size.

I hate briars too.

 

[thewoodlands]

Stonefly, have fun doing it because after X amount of time spent doing it you will see the fruits of your labor. Cleared trails = btu's and a better looking woods, another thing it's never ending. :zip:


zap

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Looks great! Briars are no fun for anyone.

But where is the snow? Looks odd to be bare ground.

 

[Kenster]

Downed hickory can get punky and ugly but don't let that deter you. Seems like the punkier it is, the harder the core is. If the punk is very thick I just knock some of it off with a hatchet. The core can be like iron wood and give you super hot, slow burning all night long. Hickory can be a real bugger to hand split though. I've got some hickory rounds, cut about three years ago, that my Fiskars won't even dent. Makes for a good aerobic workout.

 

[Stonefly]

Thanks for the comments.

basswidow - I've had my eye on that hickory for awhile. The cut end was a little lite but the rest seemed pretty good.

zap - We're sitting on 400+ acres. We have acess to about 15 at the moment. The rest is leased out to hunting camps. I'm going to check with the landowners this coming spring to see if we can get permission to access the rest of the land. I borrowed my brothers 4 wheeler for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if there is one in the future for me or not (I can only hope).

Dennis - So far the snow has stayed N,S,E & W of us. We'll get ours, I'm sure.

Kenster - That's good to know. Rumor has it that there is about 10 cords of hickory in log form stacked across the creek. No sure I am going to try and venture across during the winter plus hunting season is still in for awhile.

 

[mywaynow]

Hickory is about the 4th best wood for BTU's. Definetly worth the effort. I took an oak that was standing dead for many years. The outer edge was dead and dry rotted about an inch thick. When you put that on a fire, it really ignites quickly! No reason to remove it unless it is nearly dirt.

 

[tfdchief]

More beautiful country. I love the pictures. Looks like a lot of good wood to me.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes tfdchief, for us flatlanders those hills can be pretty. But at the same time I've worked in some rough hills and it can be very difficult. I think of that many times as I'm hauling wood.