First try at wood ID

[Big Scott]

So this is the pile I've been scrounging and working from the past few weeks. Most of it was found at the site of an old logging operation and seems to be Eastern White Pine, judging by the trees growing all around the area. I think the few with the craggier bark are some kind of spruce, they have that smell when cut. Those seem to almost all have marks on them from must have been some kind of mechanical limber? Not sure why they left these laying all along the sides, unless they were too small for what they were after. A bunch I passed on since they had ants all through them, but I think that came after they were taken down. The trunks left behind show they took some massive trees when they went through - a couple measured almost four feet in diameter which seems big compared to what's nearby. I also scored a nice straight tree that had come down in a storm and hung up on a stump, so it has been sitting up off the ground for a year or two and seems pretty dry. I think it might be oak? It has very light color and looks like it'll split nice and easy, it cut like a dream compared to the others. So take a look and let me know if you agree with the IDs, especially the oak (if that's what it is)





The 32" crosscut wonder . . . as in "I wonder what I was thinking!" Seriously though, it is a lot of fun, for the first couple hours anyway. I'm definitely wanting to build a proper sawbuck, this was slapped together out of scraps and nails and isn't holding up well.




I'm pretty sure most of these are Eastern White Pine, and you can see the tool marks from what I think was a mechanical limber, I'm picturing a bunch of teeth biting into the bark to pull it past cutters that strip the trunk?




These are some the ones I thought were spruce, judging by the bark and the smell when cut




These are from the tree that I thought might be an oak? The wood is very clean and fine grained.




This was one of a bunch that were laying in a swampy area, and I wasn't sure if it's gonna be worth hauling more out (they're a lot heavier than the others) since it looks like it might be break apart when I try to split it? It almost looks like it's ready to fall apart.

 

[bigbarf48]

Nice looking scrounge! I'm no good at softwood ID, but that one log doesn't look like oak to me...

 

[nrford]

Hardwood is Ash, softwood you are right on with W. pine and Spruce.

 

[seabert]

I am also new to identifying wood by bark, color and grain. In your case you may be able to match some of your cut wood to living trees in the area. I am not sure what the tight grain clean wood is. I have lots of red oak and the core has more color and the grain is not as tight. Try and see how easy the wood dents when struck to see if you have a hard wood or soft wood. I have some maple that looks like your piece. Burns beautifully.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hardwood is Ash, softwood you are right on with W. pine and Spruce.

I think I see at least one popple in there or am I seeing things that are not?

 

[nrford]

I think I see at least one popple in there or am I seeing things that are not?

I'm not seeing any.

 

[Wood Duck]

The ones you thought were oak are ash, and behind the ash is a log that looks like Red Maple to me. I agree on the pine and spruce.

I think all of it is good firewood. I see a fair number of smaller logs and less saleable species left behind after logging operations. I think at some point they run out of good weather or it isn't worth the time to collect the last few piles of small logs, so they just leave them.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Your oak is definitely ash you can see the little pin hole on them. It all looks dry though and ready to split.

 

[Big Scott]

There is one there from the neighbor's red maple, I offered to "get rid of it" when a storm cracked it near the trunk. Took some time to get it down the rest of the way without doing more damage to the tree since I was using a hand saw, but free wood is never really free so I didn't mind putting the work in. And I'm not sure what a popple is, but there are a couple small ones in there from what we've always called quaking aspen, the leaves hang on late most winters and make a lot of noise in even the smallest breeze. There's a couple more sections of that one that everyone agrees is ash that I want to go back for, just waiting for this coming snowstorm to drop 7-12 inches down so I have an easier time skidding it out with my trusty tow strap! The snow makes the job a whole lot easier. I'm hoping to find more of this leftover stuff out there too, and if I see any loggers working in the area I'm gonna have to bring em some drinks or something and introduce myself, see if I can get some more "easy" wood that way.

 

[mstoelton]

I believe "Quaking Aspen" and "Poplar" are the same tree different common names for the Populus genus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes they are mstoelton.

 

[Big Scott]

Got a cord's worth of the wood bucked and split, about 10 hours bucking and 2 hours splitting. Kinda hoping this all goes faster once I get the technique down - the bucking will definitely go faster now that I bought some PT 2X4 and built a sturdy sawbuck. The one I was using was slapped together from scraps and kept trying to fall apart, and I had to push the saw at half strength to avoid pushing it over. The new one is much more stable, and as a plus it folds up flat for storage (found the plan on Mother Earth News site). I figure there's a bit of art to bucking with the crosscut saw that will take time and practice to get better with.

As far as the splitting, I know now what others meant with comments I've read about choosing which species to work with. That ash and the red maple split so clean and easy I was amazed! I could work with that stuff all day

Then I hit the knotty pieces of pine and spruce and almost every one had one or more nasty sections that just refuse to split cleanly. I think I had to resort to the sledge and wedges about 1 in 5 rounds. A few were pretty punky which makes me think these may have been down longer than the year or two I first thought.

A lot of them had fat white grubs that had burrowed down 4-5 inches into the wood, and a few had pretty good numbers of ants in them. Is this gonna be a problem in the stack? I am going to move it out back so it's away from the house as much as possible, but I'm wondering if I should be keeping the "infested" pieces for quick use in the fire pit, or it it's not something to worry about?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Got a cord's worth of the wood bucked and split, about 10 hours bucking and 2 hours splitting. Kinda hoping this all goes faster once I get the technique down - the bucking will definitely go faster now that I bought some PT 2X4 and built a sturdy sawbuck. The one I was using was slapped together from scraps and kept trying to fall apart, and I had to push the saw at half strength to avoid pushing it over. The new one is much more stable, and as a plus it folds up flat for storage (found the plan on Mother Earth News site). I figure there's a bit of art to bucking with the crosscut saw that will take time and practice to get better with.

As far as the splitting, I know now what others meant with comments I've read about choosing which species to work with. That ash and the red maple split so clean and easy I was amazed! I could work with that stuff all day

Then I hit the knotty pieces of pine and spruce and almost every one had one or more nasty sections that just refuse to split cleanly. I think I had to resort to the sledge and wedges about 1 in 5 rounds. A few were pretty punky which makes me think these may have been down longer than the year or two I first thought.

A lot of them had fat white grubs that had burrowed down 4-5 inches into the wood, and a few had pretty good numbers of ants in them. Is this gonna be a problem in the stack? I am going to move it out back so it's away from the house as much as possible, but I'm wondering if I should be keeping the "infested" pieces for quick use in the fire pit, or it it's not something to worry about?

Scott, if you are pushing the saw at half strength, what is full strength? Actually, you should not be putting strength into that saw. If you have to muscle the saw through the wood, stop and sharpen it.

You are spot on with the splitting.

 

[Big Scott]

That might well be the problem, as I have zero prior experience with a crosscut saw I don't know that I'm doing this at all correctly, or efficiently, and I guess my idea of sharp isn't up to woodcutter's standards? I did pick up some files and am going to have a go at sharpening before I cut any more, and I'm hoping that makes the difference. How often should I need to sharpen when sawing by hand like this? My wife's father only use chainsaws so he thought I should be good for a couple cords of cutting before I need to re-sharpen, but he said that's mostly a guess. He touches up his chains several times a day when felling, but this seems like apples and oranges. Nobody round our parts has had any experience with a crosscut any time recently to draw on.

When I start the cut the saw slides along with little effort, and it usually stays that way until the cut is as deep as the height of the blade, so I don't really put much effort into it and I let the saw do the work. Once it gets to that point, at least with these knotty pine and spruce logs, it gets tough to keep the stroke going all the way through. With that ash and red maple I sailed right through the cuts so easy I can see myself becoming a real wood snob! I'm going on the assumption that it's good to use as much of the cutting teeth as possible, so I try to use a full and steady stroke. But when the cut gets down to the center and below it seems like I'm pushing hard to get the full stroke in. At first I thought it might be pinching some, so I made adjustments to the sawbuck, but there's definitely no pinching going on since the cut opens up as soon as I get to the last 1/4 and then the sawing goes fast and smooth again. I tried spraying a little silicone lubricant on the blade but that didn't seem to do much. Not sure if the problem is just not being sharp enough, or the logs being frozen (it has been down to single digits for weeks here at night), or just my own lack of experience. I did notice a lot of people with this kind of saw drill a hole for a top handle a few inches in front of the main handle, and I thought that was to help put more force into the stroke, so that was what I was trying to do with my hand-over-hand hold. It's hard to find a good video online of someone using one of these correctly that shows the technique. They seem to all be either ramming the saw through like a machine to cut as fast as possible to show off, or not putting much effort into it at all. The first would mean I'd burn out in an hour and the other would have me taking an hour to make a 10" cut . . . neither option seems good to me! Any tips or hints would be GREATLY appreciated as always.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Scott, for sure you won't be able to cut 2 cord before sharpening. One cord is a better guess on that. It has been a long times since I've done any (thank the Lord for that one!) but it just seems I remember doing it every cord. Fortunately, I never had to sharpen as someone else was proficient at it. On chain saws, many will touch up the chain with every tank of gas and that is good. I most times will go two tanks though.

Just remember that as you get the saw to the center of the log, it will be harder simply because you are taking a bigger bite than you do toward the outside of the log. For example, say you are cutting a 12" log. When you first start the cut, you are only taking a very few inches with each stroke. But when you are taking 12" with that center stroke, you have to push that saw a lot farther to get through it. Just makes sense that it will seem harder.

We too tried some lubricant but found it made no difference. So long as the kerf is straight rather than crooked, don't worry about it. I also would not worry about the logs being frozen. Keep at it and as you get more experience, it will go better but will still be hard work! Good luck.

 

[ATsawyer]

For what it's worth…… Looks like a factory new saw, I'm guessing 36"?. I've never seen a new saw that was properly sharpened and set (key on set). If the cutters don't have at least 0.010" - 0.012" set, that saw will tend to bind, assuming the blade is flat ground (no taper). Also, the saw doesn't have a helper handle hole near the D handle, only at the tip. Adding a helper handle hole for a second handle will give you more control when you saw. The tooth pattern is ok for small wood, but a longer peg and raker saw is better suited to bucking firewood in quantity because you can take a full stroke.
5' Disston Champion tooth:

 

[Big Scott]

I think you've hit the nail on the head. This was a new saw, 32" Wilhelm Putsch, and the tooth pattern was called Great American. It is designed to be easily carried when backpacking, so I don't think it was ever intended to cut the thickness or volume of wood I'm using it for. There are sets of 4 cutter teeth and no rakers, with the idea being that each tooth cuts and cleans on the push. The set is I think the biggest problem, when I measured it is a total of less than 2mm. The saw does bind a lot in thicker cuts, and this might be made worse because the blade is uniform with no taper. I've read that tapered blades bind less because the top of the blade is thinner than the kerf, keeping the saw moving easier. I did notice a huge difference after spending 2 hours working a file to sharpen the teeth, but the binding is still an issue. As far as the extra handle, it came with just the one pre-drilled hole at the far end, but many online reviews say to drill another one for an extra handle like your picture. Probably helps to keep the cut straight too. I paid attention yesterday while bucking and noticed that when I had the worst binding problems I had inadvertently created a bent cut, which probably created a lot of friction and increased the effort needed. I gave up on a few larger pieces and split them with wedges, then bucked the halved logs. I'm thinking that this saw might be the one to use when cutting smaller stuff, or when cutting out in the woods where it is easier to carry and use, and that it'd be a good idea to get a lance tooth saw to use at home for bucking. I noticed that a lot of pictures of people bucking with a lance-tooth saw have piles of curled shavings afterward, while what I get is more like large sawdust chips. Using the best tool for each job makes sense, just wish I'd thought of it before killing myself bucking up a cord and a half the hard way. My plan is to re-set the teeth, then add the helper handle, then look online for a lance tooth bucking saw. Thanks again for the help, this forum is a great resource!

 

[bigbarf48]

I prefer a saw thats got a 2 stroke engine hanging on the back myself

Props to you for bucking all that up the old fashioned way, thats gotta be quite the workout

 

[ATsawyer]

I've never filed a Great American, but without a cutter-raker combination, I don't see how it could produce noodles. That's not necessarily bad, as some M-tooth saws can really cut fast, but they also work you harder. You need to have all your teeth the same length though. If your sharpen without jointing, you have no way of knowing if all the teeth are the same length. The long ones will catch and the short ones will go along for the ride without cutting. You can pick up a used jointer on *bay for cheap. Properly tuned, your saw should easily cut the small logs pictured without binding.