From Poor to Rich in One Fell Swoop (Wood-wise)

[Haston]

So this year I suffered having to buy two cords from firewood suppliers; both were less than seasoned and I struggled mightily in Jan and early Feb working with wet wood. I dipped into my stock of also less than seasoned red oak (3 cords) that I had earmarked for next year. Got through the winter somehow. Now I have an unintended bonanza on my hands, as my neighbor has asked that I take down three very large tulip poplars along our property line (he offered to pay half the cost, but I declined since several years ago a lightening strike caused a limb from one of the poplars to fall onto his roof, damaging a length of gutter). Anyway, I'm having a tree company take down a White Oak that also suffered a lightening strike several years ago, as well. The oak will require the use of a $crane$. And because of the heavy outlay in cost ($3600 for all four trees), I am getting a small break by having the tree guy leave all the wood except for the brush. I have no idea how many cords will result from the project, but I suspect it will be significant. My problem is that most of it will be poplar-- a softwood that I suspect I will have to process sooner rather than later in order to get it stacked and covered before rot sets in. Unfortunately, I am unable to get a gas splitter back to where the wood will be left. So it will all have to be done by hand. In essence, I go from having not enough wood this winter to having way too much for next, and probably not enough time to keep some of it from going to waste. This is the first year that my elbows hurt from splitting manually, and it looks like I have a king' s ransom of hard work ahead of me. So, is this good news or bad news? H.

 

[tradergordo]

my neighbor has asked that I take down three very large tulip poplars along our property line (he offered to pay half the cost, but I declined since several years ago a lightening strike caused a limb from one of the poplars to fall onto his roof, damaging a length of gutter). Anyway, I'm having a tree company take down a White Oak that also suffered a lightening strike several years ago, as well. The oak will require the use of a $crane$. And because of the heavy outlay in cost ($3600 for all four trees), I am getting a small break by having the tree guy leave all the wood except for the brush. I have no idea how many cords will result from the project, but I suspect it will be significant. My problem is that most of it will be poplar-- a softwood that I suspect I will have to process sooner rather than later in order to get it stacked and covered before rot sets in. Unfortunately, I am unable to get a gas splitter back to where the wood will be left. So it will all have to be done by hand. In essence, I go from having not enough wood this winter to having way too much for next, and probably not enough time to keep some of it from going to waste. This is the first year that my elbows hurt from splitting manually, and it looks like I have a king' s ransom of hard work ahead of me. So, is this good news or bad news? H.

Tulip poplar is technically a hardwood, but its one of the lowest BTU hardwoods. Makes it a pain, if not impossible, to get an overnight burn, but I'd use it if it were free and easy to get. I don't think you will have to worry about it immediately rotting, I've got one down near my house in the woods that has been there for 2 years now and it still looks good to me.

 

[ROYJ24]

Get a couple of wood burning neighbors exchange their help for
some of your new wealth :cheese:

 

[Henz]

why cant you get a gas splitter there? I I cant imagine why you couldnt

 

[Haston]

Can't get a truck into my backyard, with two steep slopes to climb. And can't imagine pulling a splitter back there by hand, either, but perhaps I should consider getting a few friends to help out in that effort, if possible. I'm probably the only woodburner for miles in all directions. I do have an old Rover. Maybe I should take some of the polish off my yard and just pull a splitter back there, the grass, the slopes, and the small trees in the way be damned. Food for thought.

 

[Henz]

anyone with an ATV??? Thats what I pull mine with..

 

[JustWood]

Have the tree company crane it in when they do the removal.

 

[burntime]

How about one of those electric splitters? Not ideal but some of the people have them on this sight and are really happy with them. Sounds better than a maul???

 

[Henz]

yeah, for extra$$..

 

[gpcollen1]

You just have to have the right technique to get that splitter up there.

If you have to do it by hand you can do it this way. Get it as far as you can via vehicle or by hand. Chock both wheels. Rotate moving one side (wheel) at a time and chock when done. Then do the other side. Kind of like walking it up the hill. It is not a straight run but should do the trick. Used this trick to pull a tree with a huge root ball out of the woods on a trailer in some pretty tough terrain.

 

[JohnCusick]

I have one of the hand held trailer dolleys like this one -
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200312193_200312193
With two people, we muscle a 600+ lb splitter around some pretty rough areas as well as in & out of a flatbed truck on ramps.
Taks a look

John

 

[Scrounger]

Bad news? I don't think so. Having a huge load of wood in the back yard is not bad news! What is the diameter of the poople trees? Poople splits really easy. I'll take all I can get for free. Burns nice and hot. Not gonna work for overnight but when your home during the day it is fine. You'll be loading three or four splits every hour to hour and a half. We used poople and craptalpa half the winter and only had a couple 17 dollar gas bills from the furnace kicking on.

 

[caber]

I love Tulip Poplar. Mostly because we have a lot of it here and it suits us well. It dries really fast and lights up in a second. Pile it in the woodstove and you will get a quick, hot burn. Granted, it does not last long, but for the fall, early winter and spring, its great stuff. In the winter, its very good starter for burning the better hardwoods.

For splitting - tulip poplar does not take much effort. A maul will go thru it like a hot knife thru butter. You could use an axe if you want something lighter.

 

[Haston]

I certainly appreciate all the replies and good advice. The polars will be about 24-inches across, three large trees worth. The white oak (on the street side of the house) is much larger, but gnarlier, as it has water holes all up and down its sizeable trunk. I haven;t split much poplar before. Perhaps I can do it by hand. I hope to secure a bunch of pallets and have the tree guys stack the rounds off the ground in that fashion. The oak I'll let sit with a bunch of red oak that I've been collecting off CRAIG'SLIST ads for $20 a toyota 4x4 truck load. This was to be my wood for two years from now. With my bonanza of poplar, I'll be able to extend the 3 cords of red oak that I have spilt and stacked for next winter. If I end up dragging a spilitter up the back hills, I'll try to document the process with photos as it's sure to be an adventure. H.

 

[Henz]

anyone with a decent lawn tracter could pull your splitter as well

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Methinks you are also worrying too much about rot. It won't rot this year for sure even if left on the ground.

What you need to do is get it cut and split ASAP, then stack it so possible sunlight hits it. Also so that prevailing winds can get through the pile of wood. But do not cover it Not until next fall. Covering it during the summer will not allow maximum evaporation. Let Mother Nature be your friend. Just cover it when the fall rains begin.

btw, we stack a lot of our wood right on the ground. True, we have yellow sand and rain goes right through yellow sand like $%*& through a tin horn. But I also know of guys who live on clay and they also stack right on the ground. True, it is better if you can get it up off the ground but it is not 100% necessary. For getting wood off the ground, we just cut saplings and stack the wood on top as if they were 4 x 4's.