Parks Highway project wood score

[bogydave]

They are going to improve the highway from Willow to Denali Park, Mt McKinley.
They are cutting a swath 100' wider than the old highway. Lots of birch, spruce & cottonwood.
Decided to drive up & see what's going on & have some fun.
Got truck off the Hwy, waited my turn to cut.

First pic, "feller-buster" way ahead can see trees he laid down. Logs in pic are cottonwood & alder (nobody takes them) had to cut a trail thru several

2nd pic, truck full approx 1/2 cord, 5' X 6' X 2.5' & HEAVY!, Commercial fire wood guys in there with a JD tractor
skidding out logs by the bunches (see way back in pic)
This guy cutting & I cut a trail thru cottonwood to get some birch, I loaded up now he's bucking his load.
80 mile round trip, cost effective ??(at $250/cord I say yes) will take trailer if I do it again & get there early. 1 hour of cutting & I had a load.
Several miles cleared so far. Stump grinding machine about 1 mile behind the feller buster.
Spent allot of my time helping other guys load & get un-stuck (kinda a team effort with most guys there)

 

[bogydave]

2nd picture on the way

 

[maxed_out]

Dave, I havent been to alaska but is the wood in the truck with white bark birch? Why doesnt anyboby want cottonwood or alder? I'm not familiar with them.

 

[bogydave]

Dave, I havent been to alaska but is the wood in the truck with white bark birch? Why doesnt anyboby want cottonwood or alder? I'm not familiar with them.

Yes, truck is loaded with birch. Cottonwood & alder are soft, stringy & very wet. When dried, it's almost like balsa wood. Very little heat value for the work to cut, split, stack & season.
We have 2 kinds of trees used for fire wood, birch is #1 here, spruce is #2. The tree just left of the guy cutting's butt, is alder. it will get left there to be ground up.
Is was funny, I drove by a few miles of logs in the clearing area till I got to where the cutting was going on
& all were either cottonwood or aspen. Hundreds of cords of it. Now I did notice some "city slickers" from Anchorage cutting some into the back of a mini pickup (explorer I think).
Too bad it was a cloudy day, the view of McKinley in that area is awesome. (will be easy to see from the highway now, no trees)
Just came in, split & stacked.

 

[bogydave]

Been calling the wood the wrong name, it's aspen
While BS-ing with the other cutters, I was amazed how many people looked at me when i started talking about seasoning for a year
before burning. One guy says "the stuff on the truck there will be burned up in 2 weeks"
Another guy has the same stove I have with a cat, he never worries about seasoning wood, say it burns good green. (he just installed the new BK with a cat) I tried but.
Couple others basically the same. I was out of place & none of them would listen when I talked about EPA stoves need dry wood,
loss of heat value, etc. They live in the area & have been burning wood before Alaska was a state, so no whipper snapper is going
to know anything about burning wood.
So educating the folks that have burned wood here for many years & are not concerned about MC, seasoning or efficient burning ain't gonna happen.
I mean, some of this wood still had ice crystals inside the knots & hollow spots. They are taking it home to burn now.
Maybe I should try some of the aspen, season it well & see if all the things I've been told about it is true, maybe it will burn if dried properly. Not cottonwood though, tried it.

I can her them after I left. "Did you hear that boy. Season birch! Dat boy has some learn'n to do, ha ha"

 

[billb3]

There are burn it too soon people here, too.
and they'll tell you they have been burning wood for twenty years and they have only replaced their chimney 3 times.

 

[quads]

I had one guy tell me yesterday that the fresh green oak he cut last October really puts out the heat (he has never allowed wood to season before burning, just like all the other locals except me). I told him he should have waited another 2 or 3 years and see how much more heat it puts out then. He laughed at me, of course.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

With people like that, there is no use in trying to confuse them with the facts because their minds are already made up.


Good find Dave.

 

[firefighterjake]

With people like that, there is no use in trying to confuse them with the facts because their minds are already made up.


Good find Dave.

+1

Just let them think they're doing everything fine . . . while you burn less wood and get more heat . . . patience does have its virtues . . . and waiting for the wood to season is one of those times.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Spent allot of my time helping other guys load & get un-stuck (kinda a team effort with most guys there)

Good for you; I hope you get a lot of good wood there.

I wish that you could experience some of the hardwoods that we are blessed with having down here, since your choices are so limited....

 

[bogydave]

Same today, 3 other guys, burning the wood they take home. Gave my spiel, one guy kinda listened.

Took my trailer today. it holds 1-1/4 cords. + truck 1/2 cord.
WHAT A MISTAKE. :bug: Left a 8 am back at 8:30 pm (I offloaded the truck & trailer so I'll get a pic of the pile of wood if I get out of bed tomorrow)
My buddy also had a trailer 1/3 cord + truck (cord total)
I didn't take any pictures (no time & didn't think about it) & can barley walk or type.
I'm beat, hungry & sore everywhere.
Drove back a 45 mph & less, trailer real heavy, I know I overloaded it, 3500 lb max & I had to put air in the tires so they wouldn't look flat. (got a mini 12V compressor than goodness I had it in the truck)
65 psi in 45 max psi tires & still looked like they needed air, (God protect idiots) (New 12 ply tires in the plan)

What a work out. I forgot all about those days of getting wood when you can & get all you can.
(now I remember why I was so happy when natural gas came 10 years ago)

Could not pull the trailer to the wood (to rough & hills to steep) so , loaded truck, then to the trailer, then loaded truck then to the trailer then overloaded truck, then 1/2 of it in the trailer.

I Added another step or 2 to "how many times do you handle fire wood before its gone?
But good wood, 80% birch rest is spruce. (gotten wood ) Will split/ stack when I can move.

 

[SolarAndWood]

That is a solid day. I take urban scrounging for granted. There aren't too many places I can't back my trailer to.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

But Dave, there is something to it that you are sore and tired, but it is a good tired. You did something for yourself and worked hard at doing it. It would be totally different if you were somewhere at work and had to do that. It would then have been more like torture. lol

 

[bogydave]

But Dave, there is something to it that you are sore and tired, but it is a good tired. You did something for yourself and worked hard at doing it. It would be totally different if you were somewhere at work and had to do that. It would then have been more like torture. lol

Your right, but I still have tired old muscles & a few more aches this morning. I sure slept good too. I enjoyed work. Better than in the house watching TV. I will go back next week & do it again.
In a round about way, I had fun. Got a lot of benefit from the work. I was venting more than complaining.
2 more cords of good fire wood to look at for a year or so as it seasons is a thing of pride.
Hope to get more.
Those guys burning green wood just amaze me though, Maybe they will think about what I said & get more energy form natures re-new-able bounty. I think
they are wasting millions of BTUs.

 

[bogydave]

Yesterday's wood
Todays work (in the snow storm) Went quick, had family help. Got forced to go for pizza after done, but worth it.
Glad I had the splitter, some of the spruce was gnarly, even after it was split, I had to cut some of the strings with a hatchet.

 

[quads]

You're really getting a nice collection of firewood Dave! I bet they didn't have to "force" you too hard to go for pizza, did they?

 

[bogydave]

You're really getting a nice collection of firewood Dave! I bet they didn't have to "force" you too hard to go for pizza, did they?

I have more fire wood now than I've ever had. around 12 cords +/-, I have no idea how much is there since I have it stacked so hap-hazard, trying to keep it
where I can start on a wood shed, & move it one more time (into the shed) without having to move it to start building the shed.
Your pictures motivated me.
The doubling of the price of Natural gas nudged me some too.

The help was great, got it split/stacked 3 times faster than by my self.
No I wasn't hard to force , the Pizza hit the spot for all of us. I call that "cheap labor"

Not spring here yet, 15 ° last night & 2" of new snow. Today 40° in the sun, 22° in the shade.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Keep going Dave. 12 cords says you are trying to catch up to a few of us. The way mine has been going out this winter you'll probably pass me.

 

[iskiatomic]

Keep going Dave. 12 cords says you are trying to catch up to a few of us. The way mine has been going out this winter you’ll probably pass me.

Dennis, however, you will get the nice guy of the year award.


KC

 

[wsorg]

Quite a load. Looks nice!