OK, so I had the tune Minute by Minute by the Doobie Brothers on my mind, you have to 'sing' the title of the post and it may make sense %-P. Anyway I am thoroughly tired of waiting for mother nature to give us a snowstorm (and I have been REALLY patient this year) so after getting 60 maple taps out this morning I twisted my own arm to get up in the woods and grab one of those long-dead standing white oaks with the snowmobile and sleigh. With barely two inches of snow (the drifts were plentiful on the ridge) I went ahead at 4:00 and said the heck with it, its now or not til next year. Split the whole thing on the spot and hauled it all home, stacked it up and finally came in the house at 8:40. A good evenings work if you ask me. Now I can eat supper! :cheese:
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Sweet pics, I can see the sled tracks. That probably the best way to do it. Buck, than split. Less bending over in the long run. Thats something I need to do instead of bucking, loading, hauling, splitting, than stacking. I plan on fine tuning my whole logging process inn the spring. Great pics.
Locust Post
Minister of Fire
Way to go Scotty....you've been itchin to get after one of those by the sounds of it. I talked myself out of cuttin this weekend but did at least go take a look around to see what the next victim of the saw would be. That looks like a monster maul and the handle looks bent at the top is that from heavy duty splitting or was you using it for a pry bar? I have one of those and it seem indestructible. I am sure Quads will love the maul shot and it sounds like he need to find something to smile about (see his post in the picture section).
thanks backwoods. I have done it all and I find it easiest to split it right on the spot, less mess and work back at the homestead. It took me four trips with the sled to get tonight's cache out of the woods. There's still four bigguns up in that little oak grove, I may have to wait til next year to get them but at least I got two nice ones out of there this year. I like yer new signature! I hope zap don't find my white oaks!! Take care and stay warm brother...Backwoods said:
LP I have bent that dang maul handle several times (the kicker is its solid steel!) If if I would not over-swing that probably wouldn't happen!! What happened to quads?Locust Post said:
That stuff looks dry as a bone! I recently got one, not quite that big, that had that same color to the wood; I've tossed a couple of big splits in the stove already and they burn great. :coolsmile:
woody it is as dry as a bone......that's why it went straight in the basement and some of it is in the stove right now!! Its probably around 15 to 20% MC. Its probably been standing dead on that ridge since I was a teenager.....over 25 years ago!!Woody Stover said:
That's some great looking premium firewood.
Looks like it split well, some nice split to throw on the fire next year.
Was expecting a pic of the sled & sleigh.
Nice pics.
Quads would be proud
Looks like it split well, some nice split to throw on the fire next year.
Was expecting a pic of the sled & sleigh.
Nice pics.
Quads would be proud
BD I had some of the sled and I deleted the darn pics by accident....as for the wood it is dry enough to use now so in the basement it went......bogydave said:That's some great looking premium firewood.
Looks like it split well, some nice split to throw on the fire next year.
Was expecting a pic of the sled & sleigh.
Nice pics.
Quads would be proud
Isn't it amazing how well dead oak (standing or laying down) keeps over time. I've gotten a lot of dead oak these past two seasons ready to go just like yours here. The pics look like some stuff I cut up this fall that was and still is bone dry and I'm watching burn right now a I type. Enjoy.
I have found if the dead oak tree is standing straight for many years, without any bark, it is usually bone dry. Now if its a leaner (say caught in the top of another tree) or laying dead on the forest floor it will have quite a bit of moisture in it and it will need to be seasoned. This one was as straight as an arrow, and other than the bottom four feet, it was ready to go. Its getting loaded on the stove for the overnight burn here in a few..Knucklehead2 said:
Scotty Overkill said:
Looks great Scotty Overkill, looks like you have the same amount of snow that we have. How much syrup will you get in an average year out of 60 taps?
zap
No boys that's a 1977 041AV Super .....72cc. I have an 075AV 111cc but that's just a tad too big for that tree. Not to mention its undergoing an overhaul right now and its in pieces......lol.......
not sure, depends all on the weather. I have a lot more taps to put out yet, I'm hoping to get a 1000 gallons of sap this year which equates to around 20 gallons of syrup.....not to mention around three or so cord of firewood.......alot of work for minimal reward. But it is really good stuff!!zapny said:
I'll find out today, Sav. I just got home from work and can't get out to the trees til the wife comes home around 6:30. I'm sure it ran today, the sun was out all day and it's in the mid thirties, perfect sappin weather.....I'll let you know later this evening....Backwoods Savage said:
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