Solar wanted.... TIMBER!

[skyline]

A friend is going to put up some Solar PV panels on his roof and they wouldn't even file the permit until he got more sun on his roof.
So he asked if I would give him a hand removing the main shade factor. That and all the wood gathering going on around here motivated me get started on next years wood supply. 5 truck loads like the one pictured and for the quantity it doesn't get much easier than this for me.

Out of curiosity, do other folks separate their inner splits from the outer splits on big rounds like these? On this fir my outer splits of the same size are 3X the weight as inner ones so I stack them in a different row.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Great find! That should give you lots of wood from that tree. As for separating, I never have bothered with that and see no need for it.

 

[smokinj]

Nice clean fell! Not your first...........

 

[Flavo]

for the separating. Wouldn't the heavier center be more dense and therefor burn longer? More like a hardwood? If so, it makes sense to me to separate it.

 

[skyline]

for the separating. Wouldn't the heavier center be more dense and therefor burn longer? More like a hardwood? If so, it makes sense to me to separate it.

Actually I went ahead and separated all of it. I don't expect the density is much different once it is dry but at least in the case of Fir, the dead heart wood in the center is about 1/3 the weight and averaged 22-25% MC on fresh splits while the outside splits were 42% or more (the limit of my moisture meter). My guess is the heart wood would be ready to burn in less than 2 months while the outside splits may not be ready next winter.

 

[Willman]

Looks like some saw logs there. Was it worth milling?

Will

 

[bogydave]

Nice score.
You got to let us know how many cords in a tree that size. (3+ my guess)
Looks like a "fun" bunch of rounds to split.

 

[Wood Duck]

I have never heard of or thought of separating the outer splits from the inner ones. Interesting that you noticed a difference. I don't think there is such a large difference in eastern hardwood trees or I think I would have noticed. Maybe the difference is particularly large in the spring.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Howdy Skyline

I noticed that sawing some spruce 8x8's. The 2"-3" thick slab was heavier than 8"x8" center cut beam. I have also noticed the slabs being heaver cutting pine too.

Billy

 

[firefighterjake]

I have never heard of or thought of separating the outer splits from the inner ones. Interesting that you noticed a difference. I don't think there is such a large difference in eastern hardwood trees or I think I would have noticed. Maybe the difference is particularly large in the spring.

Same here . . . never heard of anyone separating their wood in this fashion.

 

[skyline]

Nice clean fell! Not your first...........

No, but I don't do it every day and I've been around mother nature long enough to know the first time you feel over confident she'll wack you good :ahhh:

Looks like some saw logs there. Was it worth milling?

Will

If I had a mill I might have tried to save out the butt log, other than that these open growth firs just make knots that are too big for the effort/quality. Sometimes too much effort to split too! Plus I would still have to get the log to my house. The branches are like active solar panels, a bunch of the energy that hits limbs goes into making the limb bigger, thus a bigger energy collector and bigger knots. Fir is not shade tolerant so if they plant a bunch in a clear cut they will compete for sunlight by growing up and not out, that makes the interior limbs die and smaller knots and more valuable wood. All this you probably know well since you mill but of course if this housing bust never ends, the wood may never be worth much until they become old growth again!

Nice score.
You got to let us know how many cords in a tree that size. (3+ my guess)
Looks like a "fun" bunch of rounds to split.

Those rounds pictured + a few more came to just over 1.25 cords. (stacked pretty tight) (see pic) I didn't split the bottom 4 rounds as a buddy wanted a couple of vice stands (as soon as I make them level!) I dumped another truck load of rounds outside my barn so I'm guessing I got just under 2 cords worth. I'm guessing the tree was 100-110' tall but next time I'll measure. The locals say a full log truck has 8-9 cords of wood but usually of smaller diameter and I'm thinking a full truck would have had about 18-20 total of these 2 log sizes. At around 9 cords per truck, 2 logs per cord, I'm probably doing well to get 2 cords. I'm sure with smaller splits and looser stacking I could make more cords but I'm burning it not selling it ;-) Incidentally the tree was 30" DBH and 50 years old.

I have never heard of or thought of separating the outer splits from the inner ones. Interesting that you noticed a difference. I don't think there is such a large difference in eastern hardwood trees or I think I would have noticed. Maybe the difference is particularly large in the spring.

Wood Duck, I'm guessing the hardwoods being more dense may retain the interior moisture more than the fir. And you might right about Spring increasing the MC in the outside splits. I don't notice the difference on smaller fir <20" (although I'm sure MC is probably less in the middle) or on hemlock, maple & alder around here but the difference on these splits was just too big to ignore. I tried to pick 2 equal sized pieces and the outer split on the right weighs 5 lbs 9 oz more than the one on the scale (6 lb 2.6oz) almost twice as heavy and measured over 42% verses 23% MC.

 

[smokinj]

Nice clean fell! Not your first...........

No, but I don't do it every day and I've been around mother nature long enough to know the first time you feel over confident she'll wack you good :ahhh:

Looks like some saw logs there. Was it worth milling?

Will

If I had a mill I might have tried to save out the butt log, other than that these open growth firs just make knots that are too big for the effort/quality. Sometimes too much effort to split too! Plus I would still have to get the log to my house. The branches are like active solar panels, a bunch of the energy that hits limbs goes into making the limb bigger, thus a bigger energy collector and bigger knots. Fir is not shade tolerant so if they plant a bunch in a clear cut they will compete for sunlight by growing up and not out, that makes the interior limbs die and smaller knots and more valuable wood. All this you probably know well since you mill but of course if this housing bust never ends, the wood may never be worth much until they become old growth again!

Nice score.
You got to let us know how many cords in a tree that size. (3+ my guess)
Looks like a "fun" bunch of rounds to split.

Those rounds pictured + a few more came to just over 1.25 cords. (stacked pretty tight) (see pic) I didn't split the bottom 4 rounds as a buddy wanted a couple of vice stands (as soon as I make them level!) I dumped another truck load of rounds outside my barn so I'm guessing I got just under 2 cords worth. I'm guessing the tree was 100-110' tall but next time I'll measure. The locals say a full log truck has 8-9 cords of wood but usually of smaller diameter and I'm thinking a full truck would have had about 18-20 total of these 2 log sizes. At around 9 cords per truck, 2 logs per cord, I'm probably doing well to get 2 cords. I'm sure with smaller splits and looser stacking I could make more cords but I'm burning it not selling it ;-) Incidentally the tree was 30" DBH and 50 years old.

I have never heard of or thought of separating the outer splits from the inner ones. Interesting that you noticed a difference. I don't think there is such a large difference in eastern hardwood trees or I think I would have noticed. Maybe the difference is particularly large in the spring.

Wood Duck, I'm guessing the hardwoods being more dense may retain the interior moisture more than the fir. And you might right about Spring increasing the MC in the outside splits. I don't notice the difference on smaller fir <20" (although I'm sure MC is probably less in the middle) or on hemlock, maple & alder around here but the difference on these splits was just too big to ignore. I tried to pick 2 equal sized pieces and the outer split on the right weighs 5 lbs 9 oz more than the one on the scale (6 lb 2.6oz) almost twice as heavy and measured over 42% verses 23% MC.

Dont know anyone who stand in the pocket on a big one with out a few second thoughts!