Sometimes small loads are the best loads

[bsruther]

A friend mentioned to me about a month ago that he had some logs that he'd cut from a tree last spring and that I was welcome to them. I finally got around to picking them up today. One of the easiest wood grabs I've made yet. Backed right up to it, most of it was already cut to stove size. One big round, about 6 ft long to be cut up, loaded it up and I was gone. Got it home, split it, stacked it and cleaned up my mess. Beginning to end took me less than 3 hours, and I had to drive to California to get it.

It's been down for about 6 months, but the sap is still a little sticky. I'm thinking it just might be ready for next winter along with the Ash it's stacked on.

 

[Jack Fate]

California to get it.

I got some scrub for you just across the river

Kentucky to California ain't that like 50 hr drive

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Uhhh, He means California, Kentucky, not California as in the state. Hey bsruther, you sound like you're near my neck of the woods. I bicycle out California way quite a bit, even though I do find it difficult to leave Rabbit Hash!

 

[bsruther]

If you've rode your bike to California, you've probably gone right by my house.
Did they ever find a new dog to elect for mayor in Rabbit Hash, after the old dog mayor died?

 

[Ralphie Boy]

If you've rode your bike to California, you've probably gone right by my house.
Did they ever find a new dog to elect for mayor in Rabbit Hash, after the old dog mayor died?

Yep, the new mayor is a groan by the name of Lucy Lu. She a great mayor, always happy to greet everyone and she don't pee on anyone's tires!

 

[bsruther]

I got some scrub for you just across the river

Kentucky to California ain't that like 50 hr drive

What's scrub?

 

[PA. Woodsman]

That's Mulberry which is very wet when green; it'll take awhile to dry out but once it is dry it makes great fuelwood!

I was just thinking yesterday how sometimes I get big scores, sometimes smaller ones; sometimes like you said the smaller ones are more fun, for some reason....

 

[bsruther]

That's Mulberry which is very wet when green; it'll take awhile to dry out but once it is dry it makes great fuelwood!

I was just thinking yesterday how sometimes I get big scores, sometimes smaller ones; sometimes like you said the smaller ones are more fun, for some reason....

Especially when it doesn't take much gas to go get the wood. Those wood grabs can build the wood up quickly, if you keep at it.

And no, that's not Mulberry.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Certainly looks like Mulberry to me, the fresh pieces that are yellow will turn the reddish-brown like the others when they dry....

If not Mulberry what IS IT?

 

[Jon1270]

This is how almost all of my scrounging goes, and it is nice. I have a 13 year-old station wagon that can carry 1/5 of a cord, more or less, and I do my scrounging in the city and suburbs where tree services have usually done most of the bucking for me (which is kinda disappointing, since they're not consistent about the lengths). The wood never sits around as rounds for very long; I split and stack everything within a few days of acquisition.

I'd have called it mulberry, too.

 

[bsruther]

It's Osage.
Mulberry is some mighty fine wood and sometimes when I get a bunch of free mixed wood, I have trouble figuring out which one it is. Mulberry seems to me to have a smoother bark. Most of the Osage I get is smaller in diameter, but some of this was about 11" across. So it was a treat to have some big splits from it.

 

[Jon1270]

Mulberry seems to me to have a smoother bark.

That varies dramatically, probably with the age of the tree. I've gotten a lot of mulberry that's indistinguishable from what I can see in your pics.

sometimes when I get a bunch of free mixed wood, I have trouble figuring out which one it is.

I read a neat trick for this, though I haven't confirmed it experimentally. What I read was that Osage has a water-soluble yellow dye in it, so a handful of shavings/sawdust will color a glass of water yellow whereas mulberry will not.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I came home and magnified it on my home computer for a closer look; is that all from the same tree? Looks like the pieces with the reddish-orange color cutsides are Osage, the yellow cutsides looks more like Mulberry to me-the bark looks different as opposed to the bark on the other pieces.

Now you'll blow that theory out of the water and tell me that it is all from the same tree!! Either way, it's good stuff!

 

[bsruther]

No, it's all the same tree. Some of it was already bucked. I had to cut up one log, that's the fresher stuff you're seeing.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

No, it's all the same tree. Some of it was already bucked. I had to cut up one log, that's the fresher stuff you're seeing.

See I knew it lol!! I get tons of Mulberry here in PA., Osage not as much although it is around here too.

 

[bsruther]

There's no Mulberry, it's all from the same tree.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

There's no Mulberry, it's all from the same tree.

Yeah I got that-I meant "I knew it" that you'd blow my theory out of the water and tell me "it's all from the same tree"!

 

[bsruther]

Yeah I got that-I meant "I knew it" that you'd blow my theory out of the water and tell me "it's all from the same tree"!

I have a few Mulberries on the property that will eventually become firewood, they're part of my wood savings account. I'll never cut my living trees, as long as I can scrounge wood. They're like money in the bank.