How far do you go? How far would you go?

[redmanlcs]

I cut firewood from a 120 acre tract of land. This place has the typical hardwoods of the eastern Appalachian mountains. Oak, Hickory, Beech, and walnut are very common. This land was logged 8 years ago and most of the large walnuts and oaks are gone. There are a lot of large beech trees left. The area has served as the family firewood cutting place since the 1800's as well as an income source from logging. There never really was a shortage of trees even though you might have to settle for a 12 inch dia tree, as anything over 18inches in diameter are rare. A couple years ago we had a powerful storm rip through and lots of beech trees were uprooted or the tops broken out of them.

I ran out of wood about a month ago. Last year I was slack. It was a very hot summer and I refused to cut and split in 100+ degree heat. I guess I should have got up early at 4am and cut in the cooler morning air. I have been out gathering wood to keep us warm till spring. I refuse to try and burn fresh cut, green wood. I just won't do it. I won't even try. I found a pile of dead beech from the storm but its 100+ yards from the nearest place I can park an atv and trailer. The wood is nice and seasoned and burns very hot and clean after about 36 hours in the dry and split into nice splits.

How far would I go to keep my family warm? I guess as far as I had to. I have been watching youtube videos where I see people cutting wood and packing it up steep hills to their truck. They seem to pack it more than I personally would like to. I think everyone would love to have easy access to trees. Cut a tree right off the side of the road. On my property there isn't much left to cut that is easy to get to. I'm thinking it wouldn't be too hard to use a hand dolly to haul the rounds to the atv trailer or my firewood truck.

Do any of you guys use a hand truck or dolly to transport hard to reach firewood to the main firewood hauler or do you just pack it?
Would you pack your firewood over long distances and up hills, or would you just turn up the dial on the thermostat?

 

[peakbagger]

I also have a steep hilly woodlot, I need to remove a lot of live beech that has blight and that has crowded out more desirable species. I am going to be actively girdling acres of it so they are not dead yet but will be in few years. The lot is steep enough in many spots that I would not feel comfortable using the ATV. My solution is that I am gearing up for is a gas powered capstan winch http://www.capstanropewinch.com/. Pulling line is cheap and with a skidder cone and a few snatch blocks I should be able to get to a lot of the wood and drag it out past the trees I want to leave. I will start using the system once my woods dry up in the spring. Prior to this I dropped the trees, bucked them and split them by hand in the woods then used a canvas fire wood carrier and walked it out or a wheelbarrow. There are also all terrain gas powered wheelbarrows in use around the world but I havent see . Note dragging logs can really screw up the soil if done at the wrong time of year when its wet. I

Unlike a lot of folks I can only tolerate a 2 or 3 hours of doing firewood and go find something to do for the rest of the day. I burn 3.5 to 4 cords a year and have made sure that I have tightened the house up as much as possible to cut back on how much wood I need to process.

 

[armanidog]

Turn up your thermostat, save your back.
It sounds like you need to bust butt this spring and get 3-4 years ahead on firewood.
As far as transporting it, use a garden wagon ($70 at Lowes, https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gorilla-Carts-4-cu-ft-Poly-Yard-Cart/1000065361 ) instead of a wheelbarrow. With a wheelbarrow you are not only having to push it but also balance it. With a wagon you are just pulling it. Easier on the back. (I learned this last year).
Have you looked into an electric winch for your ATV? You could load the wagon and pull it up the hill.

 

[EbS-P]

If I was looking for a workout and had the time I’d give it 1 an hour a couple days a week. I’d make a frame pack that could hold 70-80# of rounds or half rounds and get a pair of walking sticks. I think would be more efficient than pulling a wagon That’s kinda how I’m treating my wood pile now. But if it takes time away from other more profitable or honey-do endeavors I’d just turn up the t-stat.

Evan

 

[MissMac]

in my neck of the woods, unless you know someone with property who will allow you to cut, the norm is that you buy a fuel wood permit from the govt (about $50 - good for one year) and go out and harvest what you need from crown land. there are rules - you can only take standing dead or scavage from scraps from cut blocks, stuff like that. also, besides a chainsaw, you're not allowed to use any mechanized equipment to harvest your personal fuel wood. so, no atvs or winches. I personally will walk about 200ft from the truck, but that's it. and even that is a push when you're dragging out big rounds of jack pine. but i enjoy the work, so right now i don't mind.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Depends what equipment you got. I cut a lot on my neighbors 26 acre property with steep hills (2 to 1). I have a little Kubota BX1500 4 wheel drive with a loader buck on the front that will go most anywhere as long as the pathway is clear and you keep the center of gravity low with the bucket. There are some hills though that are still too steep for that. I then cut rounds and throw/roll down the hill to where a can load on the bucket and take to the splitter in my old garage nearby where it's split and piled out of the weather. On the other side if want some good standing dead Oak I might drive out to Green Ridge State Forest in Allegany County (1.6 hour drive) with truck for $5 (Maryland Residents) and cut rounds there for the day and drag them back. Yea there's some gas to pay for there back and forth but still whey cheaper the buying local. Just what I do.

 

[SpaceBus]

I also have a steep hilly woodlot, I need to remove a lot of live beech that has blight and that has crowded out more desirable species. I am going to be actively girdling acres of it so they are not dead yet but will be in few years. The lot is steep enough in many spots that I would not feel comfortable using the ATV. My solution is that I am gearing up for is a gas powered capstan winch http://www.capstanropewinch.com/. Pulling line is cheap and with a skidder cone and a few snatch blocks I should be able to get to a lot of the wood and drag it out past the trees I want to leave. I will start using the system once my woods dry up in the spring. Prior to this I dropped the trees, bucked them and split them by hand in the woods then used a canvas fire wood carrier and walked it out or a wheelbarrow. There are also all terrain gas powered wheelbarrows in use around the world but I havent see . Note dragging logs can really screw up the soil if done at the wrong time of year when its wet. I

Unlike a lot of folks I can only tolerate a 2 or 3 hours of doing firewood and go find something to do for the rest of the day. I burn 3.5 to 4 cords a year and have made sure that I have tightened the house up as much as possible to cut back on how much wood I need to process.

Why is Beech undesirable? I thought it was pretty dense.

 

[Zack R]

Maybe time for a powered wheelbarrow?? If its in log form can you winch it with the truck?

Perhaps there's a few teenagers around who think they are big and tough, see if they can handle it for a few bucks. Looking back when I was a teenager I did many hours of manual labor landscaping work for my friends parents for what now seems like a pittance. At the time (20+ years ago) $40 for a day of work seemed awesome.

 

[peakbagger]

Why is Beech undesirable? I thought it was pretty dense.

Beech is good firewood but as a desirable species in a timberstand it is undesirable due to the beech bark scale disease an invasive that got it start in Atlantic Canada and is working its way south and west . There is no commercial value for veneer or sawlogs so its only good for firewood and pulp. My woodlot was predominantly sugar maple but an ice storm in 1998 before I owned it took out the mature maples and the beeches moved in. They dont have to seed in like a sugar maple, they just sprout clones out of the old roots. Ideally I need to knock back the beech aggressively to let the remaining young sugar maples get dominant and shade the beech out. Its long term thing, I probably will be long gone before anyone will know if I am successful .

 

[SpaceBus]

Beech is good firewood but as a desirable species in a timberstand it is undesirable due to the beech bark scale disease an invasive that got it start in Atlantic Canada and is working its way south and west . There is no commercial value for veneer or sawlogs so its only good for firewood and pulp. My woodlot was predominantly sugar maple but an ice storm in 1998 before I owned it took out the mature maples and the beeches moved in. They dont have to seed in like a sugar maple, they just sprout clones out of the old roots. Ideally I need to knock back the beech aggressively to let the remaining young sugar maples get dominant and shade the beech out. Its long term thing, I probably will be long gone before anyone will know if I am successful .

I'm sure you know the Greek saying about trees. Thanks for sharing your tree knowledge. I am about to start shaping my 25 acres this spring. So far it seems to be 90% Spruce and Fir with a bit of birch, Ash and a tiny bit of sugar maple (probably planted). Our house is up on a hill and the trees at the bottom near the road are dying from so much water. Trying to figure out what to plan that likes a ton of water. Apparently birch does not.

 

[Kevin Weis]

You could try River Birch.

 

[SpaceBus]

You could try River Birch.

I'm too far north. Which is weird because I think willows will grow here.

Edit: further reading shows maybe I'm wrong.

 

[peakbagger]

I think with that acreage you may want to contact the cooperative extension and get a county forester to come do some assistance.

 

[billb3]

Beech is great firewood but I find it gets punky/soft pretty darn quick laying around in the forest.

would a portable winch help on those hills ?



I've gone about 20 miles for dead standing red oak that was dry enough to burn the day it was cut and split. One time deal though. Now I've got some dead standing oak on my own lot courtesy of gypsy moth infestations but it will still need some seasoning time so I'm not going far at all..

 

[maple1]

I would go as far as I could drive my ATV. If that gets me to the bottom of a hill I could let rounds roll down, I'd climb the hill on foot to cut and roll.

 

[redmanlcs]

99% of the time, i park in road, walk up hill, cut tree, saw into rounds, then roll the rounds to the vehicle. some people like to drag the logs to another location to cut up into rounds, but this don't work for me. The logs get embedded with dirt and rocks and after about two logs my chain just gets so dull that it quits cutting.

Currently anything "easy" to cut will be green, too wet to burn this year. I have been gathering some beech that fell off the beaten path..... its been down couple years... and like previously mentioned... yes the wood is just starting to get punky.

I'm hoping for a much better year this time around....

 

[SpaceBus]

I think with that acreage you may want to contact the cooperative extension and get a county forester to come do some assistance.

We want to keep almost all of it intact and make some trails to walk or ride an ATV on. The primary goal is to get all of the dead stuff out. We plan on clearing some living trees to build a barn/shop, but otherwise we like the forest the way it is. I will look into the county forester. It would be nice to have an experts opinion before we do anything.

Hopefully it doesn't bite us in the ass, but there wasn't a recent survey done before we bought the house. We went by one done in the 70's and the tax records. We really want to get a surveyor out here before we start doing anything aside from pulling stuff out of the tree line.