My Splitter Is Super!

[quads]

Yesterday, when I cut and split wood, the crust on the snow was softening and I broke through almost to my waist a couple of times. I only hauled one load up because I wanted to give my pants time to dry by the stove before milking the cows. I had more wood cut and split than I thought, as it took me most of my time today to finish hauling it up. Although, as far as hauling capacity goes, sometimes my little sled feels more like a wheelbarrow. I can't wait until the snow melts and I can start using my normal trailer again. Won't be long. I spied a little bit of mud and water on the south side of one of the pine plantations.

 

[Shari]

Quads,

I don't know, Quads, who seems the most proud - you showing the splitting you got done or the 'stately' pose of that thar Fiskars!

I know what you mean about the snow @ this time of the year. I drug my faithful Otter sled out to my birch stack today to bring some in to make kindling. I sunk in the snow to slightly over my knees and then had to drag the sled!

Shari

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Quads,

I don't know, Quads, who seems the most proud - you showing the splitting you got done or the 'stately' pose of that thar Fiskars!

I know what you mean about the snow @ this time of the year. I drug my faithful Otter sled out to my birch stack today to bring some in to make kindling. I sunk in the snow to slightly over my knees and then had to drag the sled!

Shari

We wanna see a pic of the man behind the maul

 

[bogydave]

Great pictures
Nice head on the fiksars! (oops spelled it wrong)
Better fix that crack in the back of the sled before next winter with some fiberglass before you start loosing the new gas can
I think you exceeded the max load of the sled.

 

[quads]

Quads,

I don't know, Quads, who seems the most proud - you showing the splitting you got done or the 'stately' pose of that thar Fiskars!

I know what you mean about the snow @ this time of the year. I drug my faithful Otter sled out to my birch stack today to bring some in to make kindling. I sunk in the snow to slightly over my knees and then had to drag the sled!

Shari

Thanks! Actually I am quite proud of what I can do all by myself, especially with a maul that is supposed to be so inferior that it's deemed almost unusable by so many! Ha ha! Makes the feat seem all the more amazing.

Our snow is still only about knee-deep, but in some places it's on top of thick raspberry vines and that makes it deeper when I fall through.

 

[quads]

We wanna see a pic of the man behind the maul

Very few exist.

 

[quads]

Great pictures
Nice head on the fiksars! (oops spelled it wrong)
Better fix that crack in the back of the sled before next winter with some fiberglass before you start loosing the new gas can
I think you exceeded the max load of the sled.

Ha ha! Yep, I'm sure I have exceeded the safe limits of the sled many times this year. But the cracks were already there long before I started using it for wood. I thought about taking the tub off of it and building a wooden box on it, but hopefully I won't need it much longer.

 

[IPLUMB]

Thanks for the pictures Quads. I always enjoy your posts. all that dead wood you cut looks ready to burn. I'm running low of my seasoned wood this year. I have never ran into this problem before. I going out to find a standing dead ash or elm today. Thanks again

 

[IPLUMB]

oh and are you guys getting much Asian Ash Borer damage over there? Our woods over here are a mess. I can't beleave it. Its a mess.

 

[quads]

Thanks for the pictures Quads. I always enjoy your posts. all that dead wood you cut looks ready to burn. I'm running low of my seasoned wood this year. I have never ran into this problem before. I going out to find a standing dead ash or elm today. Thanks again

Thank you! Quite often the limbs are close to being ready to burn, but the trunks are almost always wet.

 

[quads]

oh and are you guys getting much Asian Ash Borer damage over there? Our woods over here are a mess. I can't beleave it. Its a mess.

I have heard that Wisconsin is having a problem too, but Ash trees are rare in my immediate area. There isn't one anywhere in the woods, that I have ever found. I had a small one in my yard, and it died. There are two big ones growing near the barn and one of those has been sick for a few years now. They were planted there before my time and I think the small one in my yard was seeded from those.

 

[IPLUMB]

Just wait....We have a huge mess over here. ALL of my nicest trees are all ash. I had I.V.s put in three in my yard to try to save them, but that just slowed the prosses. I should shoot some pictures of them. The snow ends up covered with bits of bark from the woodpeckers getting at the larve.

 

[webie]

oh and are you guys getting much Asian Ash Borer damage over there? Our woods over here are a mess. I can't beleave it. Its a mess.

I have heard that Wisconsin is having a problem too, but Ash trees are rare in my immediate area. There isn't one anywhere in the woods, that I have ever found. I had a small one in my yard, and it died. There are two big ones growing near the barn and one of those has been sick for a few years now. They were planted there before my time and I think the small one in my yard was seeded from those.

So far here between the lakes ( lake winnebago and Michigan ) I haven't seen any damage but I did take a white ash down and cut a slab off the side of it , it looked to me to be damaged from the beetle , I took it to the county agent as it was drilled full of holes and it sure looked to be the tracks of the larvae under the bark . County agent said it wasn't ash borer but this perfectly healthy tree died in one year . I sure hope I don't get hit where I cut as about 30 percent is ash either black ash or white ash and that would be ashame but at least its only a few miles from my house in my county so I could still cut and use the wood . My brother has land across the county line and has been cutting and taking as much ash as possible in fear of a transport band coming this way . The 2 counties to the south Fondulac and Sheboygan counties have already bans on them along with brown county to the north .
You know its always something It seams as one species gets killed off another grows in its place , I remember the dutch elm disease That nearly wiped out 25 percent of my woods now its the ash borer .
The elms are trying hard to come back as I have cut a few that have died here lately that have made it into the 12 15" range but I doubt I will ever see the 36 " size that they were when the disease hit .
If the ash borer hits my woods I will be taking one heck of a lot of trees 18- 24 " 60 ft tall .
I sure hope it doesn't happen .

 

[quads]

Just wait....We have a huge mess over here. ALL of my nicest trees are all ash. I had I.V.s put in three in my yard to try to save them, but that just slowed the prosses. I should shoot some pictures of them. The snow ends up covered with bits of bark from the woodpeckers getting at the larve.

Oak wilt is the biggest problem here, since we have no ash trees. But the wilt only kills the red/black oaks and doesn't seem to affect the white/bur oaks. In fact, I don't think anything kills a bur oak! They're tough.

 

[quads]

oh and are you guys getting much Asian Ash Borer damage over there? Our woods over here are a mess. I can't beleave it. Its a mess.

I have heard that Wisconsin is having a problem too, but Ash trees are rare in my immediate area. There isn't one anywhere in the woods, that I have ever found. I had a small one in my yard, and it died. There are two big ones growing near the barn and one of those has been sick for a few years now. They were planted there before my time and I think the small one in my yard was seeded from those.

So far here between the lakes ( lake winnebago and Michigan ) I haven't seen any damage but I did take a white ash down and cut a slab off the side of it , it looked to me to be damaged from the beetle , I took it to the county agent as it was drilled full of holes and it sure looked to be the tracks of the larvae under the bark . County agent said it wasn't ash borer but this perfectly healthy tree died in one year . I sure hope I don't get hit where I cut as about 30 percent is ash either black ash or white ash and that would be ashame but at least its only a few miles from my house in my county so I could still cut and use the wood . My brother has land across the county line and has been cutting and taking as much ash as possible in fear of a transport band coming this way . The 2 counties to the south Fondulac and Sheboygan counties have already bans on them along with brown county to the north .
You know its always something It seams as one species gets killed off another grows in its place , I remember the dutch elm disease That nearly wiped out 25 percent of my woods now its the ash borer .
The elms are trying hard to come back as I have cut a few that have died here lately that have made it into the 12 15" range but I doubt I will ever see the 36 " size that they were when the disease hit .
If the ash borer hits my woods I will be taking one heck of a lot of trees 18- 24 " 60 ft tall .
I sure hope it doesn't happen .

Good luck!