Ever get one of those red oaks...

[Pagey]

...that just flies apart when you look at it? I split some gorgeous red oak with the Fiskars this afternoon. This was the heart wood from a huge, tall, straight red oak that split like a dream. This is the kind of wood that makes hand splitting a joy. It's almost a shame to think it will be fuel in 3 or 4 years. It would make some killer floors or cabinets. Some guys cut it down logging near my grandmother's farm a year or so ago. They left the log and never came back. It's been in log form since then, and dad bucked it up last weekend.

Pile:

Pile again:

OMG oak:

A nice split:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Pagey, that is some great firewood. I have split many, many of those logs with an axe but never with a Fiskars; it was a double bitted axe. And yes, I've split some with a splitting maul too.

 

[SolarAndWood]

That building is a woodburner's dream.

 

[Pagey]

That building is a woodburner's dream.

It was my late paternal grandfather's hay barn back in the day. Dad had considered demolishing it at one point, as it does have a lot of miles on it. However, it's turned out to be a great place to process wood out of the elements. It needs some work, but then again what doesn't?

 

[xman23]

Red oak, (Rock oak) is great splitting. One shot every time. I end up with almost all oak in north east PA. I can split with a maul much faster than the splitter. That said since I have the splitter now I use it for everything. White oak on the other hand is very stringy. You have it split, but you don't have it apart.

 

[stejus]

Lots of that red oak in my piles. Heavy as heck and stinks at first but when dry, burns nice and hot and long.

 

[TreePointer]

Mmmm, oak. I can smell it from here!

 

[Flatbedford]

Red Oak is a hand splitter's dream. I can often, once I have cracked open a big round, do the rest of the splitting one handed.

 

[fahmahbob]

Love that red oak! Good thing, too - most of my land is covered with the stuff.

That's a great use for that old hay barn. I may just have to add something like that to my 'to-build' list!

 

[firefighterjake]

This past Spring I got my hands on a pile of free bucked and split red oak . . . a few were too big for my tastes so I split them up with a regular old ax . . . couldn't believe how easily they split . . . as good, if not easier, than white ash.

 

[Joey]

I can smell it from here. Call me crazy,,,but I kinda like the smell, but then again,,so do the flies around here..!!

 

[thewoodlands]

[quote author="Pagey" date="1316318593"]...that just flies apart when you look at it? I split some gorgeous red oak with the Fiskars this afternoon. This was the heart wood from a huge, tall, straight red oak that split like a dream. This is the kind of wood that makes hand splitting a joy. It's almost a shame to think it will be fuel in 3 or 4 years. It would make some killer floors or cabinets. Some guys cut it down logging near my grandmother's farm a year or so ago. They left the log and never came back. It's been in log form since then, and dad bucked it up last weekend.

The splits look great Pagey. The barn is a classic, hope you can fix it but if not put it to good use until that dreadful day!



zap

 

[lukem]

...that just flies apart when you look at it? I split some gorgeous red oak with the Fiskars this afternoon. This was the heart wood from a huge, tall, straight red oak that split like a dream. This is the kind of wood that makes hand splitting a joy. It's almost a shame to think it will be fuel in 3 or 4 years. It would make some killer floors or cabinets. Some guys cut it down logging near my grandmother's farm a year or so ago. They left the log and never came back. It's been in log form since then, and dad bucked it up last weekend.

Pile:

Pile again:

OMG oak:

A nice split:

A good photographer (not that you aren't) could make some outstanding art from that hay barn. I can see some nice black and whites with all the shadows and whatnot. If you have a person who is skilled at that, it would make a nice family heirloom/reminder of the family farm.

 

[Pagey]

It needs work, but I hope that old barn outlasts me!

 

[Flatbedford]

It needs work, but I hope that old barn outlasts me!

Be careful what you ask for.

 

[Pagey]

It needs work, but I hope that old barn outlasts me!

Be careful what you ask for.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[tfdchief]

"Ever get one of those red oaks…" Yep, 2 of them last winter. A storm took them down believe it or not. They were both huge and in the woods with other trees that weren't touched. They split really easily but boy is red oak wet and stinky. Nothing that a couple of years won't cure I hope.

 

[Flatbedford]

I still have to go get the rest of this one.

It has been one of those so far. Just ran out of room at the house until I start burning.

 

[jdinspector]

Yes, red oak splits easy.

There is a tree service near my house that I routinely drive past. I would say that I've taken 15-20 cords out of their storage bin over the years. Much of it is good oak, but I've also taken out maple, elm and the occasional hickory or pine (eeek!). They stack wood in a large concrete bin at the rear of their building and don't mind if I go back and scrounge from their pile. In the past, they have not (knowingly) let anyone cut logs to length in their pile. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed some LARGE red oak in their pile, but had no way to take it out uncut. The logs are 22" in diamter and most are 8-12 feet long with no knots or other buggers hanging off of them. So I went in over the weekend and once again confirmed that they are OK with me taking wood. While in the office I again asked if I could cut logs back there. I showed the manager my safety chaps, steel toed boots and hardhat. Since it looked like I knew what I was doing (I do), he agreed to let me cut back there. HALLELUJAH!! No mess back at the ranch, and I can actually handle individual logs by myself.

I took 11 (so far) 22" rounds that split like a dream. Like the original post, they practically fall apart when you show them the splitter. I split the first 6 with my hydraulic splitter, but am splitting one per day with my splitting maul or fiskars after work. I get about 26-34 splits per log! Today, I split one of the final pieces by letting the splitting maul (12 lbs.) fall from over my head onto the split. The split broke right down the middle. Unbelievable.

I reckon there are about 15-20 more rounds that I can take. I will have to move (and likely cut) some larger elm logs just to get to the large oaks on the bottom of the pile. That's OK. These will dry by 2013-14 when I plan to burn them.

I've reached the point where I'm a bit picky about what I take. Too many knots or uglies and I'll take a pass on wood.

If anyone close to Libertyville, IL wants in on the location, just PM me and I'll tell you where it's at. EZ Pickin's

 

[joefrompa]

My heart leaped when I saw that wood storing barn. I love it!

 

[Flatbedford]

I love those big rounds. It's nice to see two days worth of wood come from one round.

 

[Pagey]

I love those big rounds. It's nice to see two days worth of wood come from one round.

Yes it is. Funny, when I was a kid, I hated those big rounds, as they were just more work in my mind. Now I see one and think about how many more splits it will add to the stack!

 

[Pagey]

I still have to go get the rest of this one.

It has been one of those so far. Just ran out of room at the house until I start burning.

Now that's a nice looking tree, sir!

 

[Bspring]

I still have to go get the rest of this one.

It has been one of those so far. Just ran out of room at the house until I start burning.

Now that's a nice looking tree, sir!

It doesn't get much better than that!

 

[Flatbedford]

I still have to go get the rest of this one.

It has been one of those so far. Just ran out of room at the house until I start burning.

Now that's a nice looking tree, sir!

It doesn't get much better than that!

Only problem is that I have to burn some wood before I have room to take this home. I am not worried. It is on private property and I have exclusive permission. It will be '14-'15 wood. Hopefully it will still split easily by the time I get started on it.