All in a days work

[Creek-Chub]

Got the call from a local farmer earlier this week, and the word was that they were taking out a fence row between two fields in order to make way for a new irrigation system. These boys farm big, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 acres, and don't mess around. The offer was to come take what you want, but get it quick because come Monday they were going to be burning and burying anything that was left. Hands down, this was the best "scrounging" situation I've come accross. The wood was all cherry and mulberry. they knocked it over with an excavator, cut off the root ball, limbed the trunks, and set them out into the field. It was a pretty frenzied bucking situation with the MS280 and and couple of Husky 455's to keep up with the excavator, but we managed. Load the rounds onto my brother's 18' gooseneck trailer with the little John Deere and run it back home to unload while someone else stayed behind to buck. Rinse, repeat. My uneducated wild guesstimate is that we ended up with about 10 cords of bucked cherry and mulberry. I have yet to burn mulberry, but my back (even after some kick-butt pain pills followed by a couple Gin and Tonics) says that as heavy as it is it ought to burn nice. Here are some poor photos to at least give you an idea of what went on.

 

[Creek-Chub]

Unloading...

 

[Creek-Chub]

And the end result... The photos don't really do it justice, but this was 6 heaping loads on an 18'x8' gooseneck trailer that had an F-250 diesel digging deep to get her down the road. I'll be splitting for a while, but happy to do it.

 

[sparke]

Sweet deal!! Looks like spring comes early in your neck of the woods...

 

[Creek-Chub]

Sweet deal!! Looks like spring comes early in your neck of the woods...

Ahh, that's Michigan for you. We're still burning 24/7. Next week could either bring 60 degree temps, or a foot of snow. We won't be completely out of the woods for another month or so.

 

[LLigetfa]

And the end result...

No. The end result is when it's all split and stacked. %-P

Doesn't look like much in that pic. It will look much more impressive stacked.

Sweet deal, 10 cords for free. I pay $1000 to get that much dropped in my yard.

 

[Creek-Chub]

And the end result...

No. The end result is when it's all split and stacked. %-P

Doesn't look like much in that pic. It will look much more impressive stacked.

Sweet deal, 10 cords for free. I pay $1000 to get that much dropped in my yard.

Touche'. I'm not really hanging my hat on the 10 cord thing just yet. I took some very, very basic measurements and like I said - made a wild guesstimate based on that. We'll see what it comes out to in a month or so when I get it all split...

 

[LLigetfa]

Hey, I'm not belittling the work you did. I realize how much work it is and that final picture doesn't do it justice.

I really enjoy seeing the fruit of my labour once the work is all done but it is nice to see progress milestones too.

 

[savageactor7]

Good haul Creek...when opportunities like that happen you have to take advantage of them.

 

[Duetech]

Creek-chub,
According to this link info the mulberry is better than white oak. Even if it's a little less I would say that is a good haul. (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm)

 

[jpl1nh]

That's a great haul. You guys obviously were workin your butts off! Wonderful burning with that haul.

 

[Creek-Chub]

That's what I had read. The funny thing is, I wasn't able to ID it right away. The cherry was obvious, and then there was "all this other stuff". I've got tons of it around my place, but the largest tree is maybe 8 inches in diameter, and most is extremely bushy. The bulk of the Mulberry we bucked yesterday was well over 20" in diameter. We were working on the cherry exclusively when I asked one of the other guys what the heck this stuff was. He said Mulberry right off the bat, and I was tickled pink. I'll tell you though - I was cutting rounds to 18", and with the Mulberry it was a chore just to get them rolled into the tractor bucket. It's going to be some work splitting them, even with the hydraulic splitter, but I'm looking forward to burning some nice big chunks of it next winter. It will be stacked in a single row, seasoning in the middle of an open field with full sun until next winter sets in, so I'm thinking it should be nice and dry by then. It was a ton of work, but it sure is nice looking at all of that wood on the ground, and knowing I won't have to do the nickel and dime scrounging thing just to get through next year.

 

[rdust]

Awesome haul!

 

[f3cbboy]

hey creekchub mulberry burns awesomehot fire. i split a bunch last year - definatly give it time to season. As far as splitting - the tree that i cut and split seemed to grow in a slight twist, the grain had a little bit of a wave to it and man was there tension in that wood. the splits would pop and land about 6 ft on either side of the splitter.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That's what we call making hay when the sun shines. Great find and great haul Creek Chub. Bucking and loading that much wood in a day will make most men hurt for a few days....but it is well worth it.

Also, isn't amazing that at the end of a day like that you really feel tired....but satisfied. Spend a day in the office, come home tired and you just don't get the same feeling!

You'll be one happy camper next winter.

 

[Creek-Chub]

Yesterday I was hurting, but today I'm feeling pretty good. You're dead on about the satisfaction. I find myself moseying out there every once in a while just to check on the pile...

If I can locate a couple more scores like that, I think I'll be able to get myself and my folks both two years ahead, and then it will be gravy. I've got a line on another farmer who is going to be having some woods logged, and I can have the tops if I want them. Significantly more of a pain in the butt, but I'll check it out and see. Time to get splitting I guess...