Slotta Hedge

[lukem]

Wrangled about 20 of these monsters today.

 

[muncybob]

Looks like work to me!!

 

[lukem]

Looks like work to me!!

Felt like work too!!

 

[schlot]

Felt like work too!!

Wow...must have been work. Looks like you worked a hand right off.

 

[blujacket]

Awesome score

 

[ScotO]

Great stuff, lukem! That's a dandy hedge there, lots of long-lasting BTU's.......

Worth the effort of wrestling it. You'd have been crazy NOT to get that stuff!

 

[osagebow]

Niiiiice! How did the huskee 22 do with those?

 

[bogydave]

At first I didn't see the glove on there,
those are huge !
Nice score to be split vertical

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I hope you had some good tools, especially a good cant hook for moving those beasts. Good for you for getting them too.

 

[lukem]

Nah...I just tucked one up under each arm and carried them out.

Three guys rolled them up on the trailer. The heaviest load was all of three rounds...and way overloaded. ATV pulled it home about a quarter mile.

 

[lukem]

Niiiiice! How did the huskee 22 do with those?

Didn't split any yet...but I will report back. Pretty straight so should be easy.

 

[Woody Stover]

Wow. There are a couple behind my MIL's house where the bottoms of the trunks have those buldges...not round. They are huge.

I just tucked one up under each arm and carried them out.

Was that before or after you lost the hand?

 

[WellSeasoned]

Nice lukem! Going vertical on those, eh? Monster rounds are a bear to work with, but yield many splits! Be well

 

[Nixon]

All that I can say is ...... I'm jealous !

 

[Pallet Pete]

Wrangled about 20 of these monsters today.

Wow you could make a seat out of those with a few beer holders too ! Nice score

Pete

 

[BoilerMan]

Sorry about your hand, at least you have the other to roll that to the splitter. Primo BTU's in that round alone!

TS

 

[Applesister]

Wrangled about 20 of these monsters today.

Cool pic using your glove as measurement. I had heard of Hedge and tried to recall where I rea d it. We dont have this wood here in NY. Never seen the wood used anywhere but my brother brought back an "orange" apple from a road trip once. He said he found it growing in a hedgerow. Hedge. That is where I had originally looked it up.
I believed this wood to be an understory tree like hop hornbeam and Ironwood. Your stump was amazing and I studied the grain and it looks interlocking like some elm I split this summer. The end grain was put on a diamond blade saw and cut superfine and it showed the same wavy pattern your stump is showing. You said it was very straight, did you mean the tree was straight or grain was straight splitting?
Can you please post more pics of your splitting project? Its really neat seeing this wood. It looks like black Locust here.
Thanks
C

 

[lukem]

Hedge is usually a twisted crooked mess. This tree was so big the trunk was relatively straight.

There are two more trunks as big, if not bigger, on the same tree. There is probably about 5 cord in that tree. The rest is still standing and I plan on leaving it that way. Too much down where I cut already.

I won't be splitting for several weeks or maybe wait until spring. I wont burn this for about 3 or 4 years.

That round was from about 10 feet up. The stump is much larger...if you measure around the true base of the tree including all the trunks it is probably over 100".

 

[Applesister]

Hedge is usually a twisted crooked mess. This tree was so big the trunk was relatively straight.

There are two more trunks as big, if not bigger, on the same tree. There is probably about 5 cord in that tree. The rest is still standing and I plan on leaving it that way. Too much down where I cut already.

I won't be splitting for several weeks or maybe wait until spring. I wont burn this for about 3 or 4 years.

That round was from about 10 feet up. The stump is much larger...if you measure around the true base of the tree including all the trunks it is probably over 100".

I was just guessing it is an uncommon tree and that you specifically hunted for that species. I was thinking maybe it was a stump because we have beech trees here that have very wide spreading 'feet' that make that daisy pattern just off the ground. It sounds like an impressive tree. Thats a lot of heavy wood. Im sorry I wont get to see a longitudinal split. But thanks for the educational shot anyway. Top of the chart there.

 

[lukem]

I attempted to split a couple of these monsters over the weekend. There are 12 total this size, about 8 that are smaller (but still 20" plus). That's a men's size XL glove in the original post...and they are cut to about 18" long.

Put the splitter in vertical, rolled round into position, ram came down, and it stopped dead in its tracks. Huh? Retract the beam....full throttle....drop the wedge again....I hold it down and it groans and eventually stalled. What? Spun the round trying to find a "weak" spot. No dice. The wedge made a 1/4" impression. Thinking I just had one really stubborn one, I rolled all 300lbs of it out of the way...and rolled in another. Same thing. Now I'm all kinds of mad. I wrestled these out of the woods...and it wasn't for my health...I'm going to have me some firewood.Grab the 361, noodle in half. Finally got it to split. I got 16 splits out of one round....but it was a hard fought 16 splits.


I guess I'll have to noodle all of them. These are the first rounds that ever stopped the 22 ton Huskee. In all reality I was probably asking too much of it.

 

[ArsenalDon]

These are the first rounds that ever stopped the 22 ton Huskee.

 

[Jags]

Now you know why I built my big boy. Between twisted elm and big hedge, I got tired of the fight. Now I don't fight it. The splitter doesn't stall. Period. Ever.
But that is some fine burning stuff when you do get it broke down.

 

[BobUrban]

Awesome stuff there and in my opinion well worth the effort but dog gone osage is a tough split!! Up side ids if you have 3-4yrs you can season that stuff underwater. It can't rot. Amazing resistance to rot anyway.

I would like to have more of it in my stash

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Wow, nice work! I think I felt my back twinge just looking at the pic.

 

[Woody Stover]

Monster Maul?