Oak, Oak, and more Oak

[Clyde S. Dale]

So my BIL & SIL moved into their new house last week and had a tree service come and do work. They had 4 huge oak trees that were dead or dying removed. I have 8 cords C/S/S and no room for it, but do you think I could say no? There are other family members that will take some of the wood but I have dibs on the best tree of the bunch. I did not measure length of the logs in the picture but the one on top is 36" at the base. Unfortunately they are an hour away so it will take a few trips to get everything. However we visit them fairly often and they have a pool so I won't count the cost of fuel in the equation [] . However, I will probably rent a chainsaw big enough to cut everything up efficiently rather than trying to tackle this with my MS261. My local dealer rents out an MS660 @ $30 a day which will be perfect for the largest cuts.

You guys that run the 066 or MS660 can you help me with the bar size since he'll put any length on for me? Should I go for a 36" bar. Bigger? Smaller? Last time I rented it from him I ran a 28" bar to cut up a cherry log about that diameter and it chewed through it like a warm knife through butter.

Regards,

Clyde

 

[lukem]

$30/day is a good deal on that rental. If he's got it, throw a 36" on there. Don't go bigger than you need, especially if you are going to have to sharpen it once to get everything bucked. That's a LOT of cutters to file.

 

[Clyde S. Dale]

Thanks lukem. Great point about sharpening. He's either going to have to give me a 3/8 file set or an extra chain. I will ask for both now that I think about it more. He's definitely got the 36" bar. Last time I rented it from he pulled a brand new bar and chain from his inventory. Great customer service which is why he gets my business. He's also always got at least 3-4 used saws for sale in his inventory so it is fun to see what he has. Last time I was there he had a good condition MS200T for $350 which almost went out the door with me. I hope it is not still there when I go back to rent the 660...

 

[thewoodlands]

So my BIL & SIL moved into their new house last week and had a tree service come and do work. They had 4 huge oak trees that were dead or dying removed. I have 8 cords C/S/S and no room for it, but do you think I could say no? There are other family members that will take some of the wood but I have dibs on the best tree of the bunch. I did not measure length of the logs in the picture but the one on top is 36" at the base. Unfortunately they are an hour away so it will take a few trips to get everything. However we visit them fairly often and they have a pool so I won't count the cost of fuel in the equation [] . However, I will probably rent a chainsaw big enough to cut everything up efficiently rather than trying to tackle this with my MS261. My local dealer rents out an MS660 @ $30 a day which will be perfect for the largest cuts.

You guys that run the 066 or MS660 can you help me with the bar size since he'll put any length on for me? Should I go for a 36" bar. Bigger? Smaller? Last time I rented it from him I ran a 28" bar to cut up a cherry log about that diameter and it chewed through it like a warm knife through butter.

Regards,

Clyde
View attachment 105316 View attachment 105318

On some of our bigger Maple mother nature put down I ran a 25 & 28 inch bar on the 660, last week I had the 25 inch bar on, on the biggest part I could've used the 28.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Thats a nice length of red oak there. That will split up real nice.
You are from my neck of the woods also.

 

[Clyde S. Dale]

Pauly - yes, I am about 20 mins west of Kennett Square although the oak logs are about an hour south of me.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Clyde, won't that 261 do the job? A 20" bar would do the trick too even if you have to sharpen it a bit.

 

[ScotO]

Wow, that big log sure looks like some nice boards to me........
Maybe a call to a local bandmill guy may be in order here....still lots of good firewood, but there's probably some nice boards in that one log. I don't see any blue streaking in it, maybe it's a nice clean log....

 

[Clyde S. Dale]

Dennis,

I may have to use my 261. Went to the dealer today and the 660 was not available. The biggest saw he has right now is a Red Max GZ7000 (68cc). I know the 261 is up to the challenge, so I may just go that route.

Scotty,

I hear you on the boards but I'm gonna go the firewood route due to logistics. If that log was closer to home most likey I would have it milled in boards.

Clyde

 

[ScotO]

Dennis,

I may have to use my 261. Went to the dealer today and the 660 was not available. The biggest saw he has right now is a Red Max GZ7000 (68cc). I know the 261 is up to the challenge, so I may just go that route.

Scotty,

I hear you on the boards but I'm gonna go the firewood route due to logistics. If that log was closer to home most likey I would have it milled in boards.

Clyde

Clyde, it's all good! You're gonna end up with some PRIMO firewood out of that cache. Nice, straight rounds make nice, perfect splits......

are you using a hydraulic splitter? if so, you can make some top notch splits out of those rounds....I like splitting big rounds like that into "square" splits and using them for the cribbing at the ends of my stacks (see my avatar, that's the big red oak I split up a couple of weeks ago)

 

[Clyde S. Dale]

Clyde, it's all good! You're gonna end up with some PRIMO firewood out of that cache. Nice, straight rounds make nice, perfect splits......

are you using a hydraulic splitter? if so, you can make some top notch splits out of those rounds....I like splitting big rounds like that into "square" splits and using them for the cribbing at the ends of my stacks (see my avatar, that's the big red oak I split up a couple of weeks ago)

No hydraulics, it will all be split with a fiskars x27. In fact, I will quarter the rounds on site before loading them. I have a 5x10 trailer and the bed of my pick up to bring it home. Anything the fiskars can't handle will get noodled or left behind. I just hope the weather works out. Hasn't been the best lately. As you know, humid and lots of rain.

 

[ScotO]

No hydraulics, it will all be split with a fiskars x27. In fact, I will quarter the rounds on site before loading them. I have a 5x10 trailer and the bed of my pick up to bring it home. Anything the fiskars can't handle will get noodled or left behind. I just hope the weather works out. Hasn't been the best lately. As you know, humid and lots of rain.

Yep, lots and LOTS of rain.....same here in the Alleghenies......

 

[WellSeasoned]

I agree with scotty, take that rear bad boy to the mill. I see a thousand dollar log there.

 

[aussiedog3]

Take it. Never say no. Get it while the getting is good.

 

[Big Donnie Brasco]

No hydraulics, it will all be split with a fiskars x27.

YOU..... complete me!

That's me too! If I can't blast it into splits with Mr Fisk then it ain't gettin split! And I just processed 2 HUGE red oaks!
To date the EASIEST wood I have yet to split to!!

 

[lukem]

Straight grained red oak is about as easy as it gets to split.

 

[paul bunion]

No hydraulics, it will all be split with a fiskars x27. In fact, I will quarter the rounds on site before loading them. I have a 5x10 trailer and the bed of my pick up to bring it home. Anything the fiskars can't handle will get noodled or left behind. I just hope the weather works out. Hasn't been the best lately. As you know, humid and lots of rain.

I bet that you will be able to quarter the trunk log with a fiskars. No noodling necessary. The log under it is a different story with all those branches

 

[Clyde S. Dale]

Update - We went down yesterday and I started working on the pile. Their tree service moved all of the logs to their farm about 5 mins down the road. There they will sit so we can work on them as we are able. They are having more work done this week, all oak (their property is loaded with it) and all the big logs will be moved to the same spot. I spent about 2 hours working yesterday with about a 15 minute break for rain and you can see what I got done. Lots of work still to be done but no rush to get it done.

 

[paul bunion]

Nice looking pile of logs there. No noodling? Lacking any heavy equipment to pull logs apart I always get my tree guy to lay my logs out flat so I don't have to worry about getting crushed. Laid on stringers they can be pretty easy to deal with. I have a bunch of old 2" iron pipe that does the trick so long as the ground is firm on delivery day.

 

[Plow Boy]

That is a nice pile of red oak

 

[Woody Stover]

That trailer load looks great! It doesn't stay that red for long. The color lightens up as the surface moisture dries.

 

[Hogwildz]

That is some big pcs, will you burn them as is, or split down more?

 

[Clyde S. Dale]

Paul - there is a tractor on hand to help us pull the logs off as we get to them. Also, no noodling required yet. The 2 logs I cut up were about 14" diameter and 20" diameter and I was using a 20" bar.

Hog - definitely more splitting to do. Yesterday was just about busting up the rounds to make loading on the trailer easier and more efficient.

Now if the weather would cooperate I'd like to go back and get another load in a few weeks!

 

[Hogwildz]

Hot, humid and rainy a good part of this week. Not real great wood processing weather.

 

[Woody Stover]

Hot, humid and rainy a good part of this week. Not real great wood processing weather.

I don't imagine the processed wood is drying like it did last year, either.