Many a round but not much firewood splitting going down. The Good - Honey & Black Locust, and Apricot wood, the Bad - Blue Spruce & Poplar, and the Ugly (medium wood) - Russian Olive, Lodgepole Pine, & Siberian Elm.
Work Done 2023
- Thread starter thewoodlands
- Start date
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Pretty nice Cheery log, right there. As you know, just the sapwood rots, not the meat. 👍
What caused the 20* miss, did the hinge get cut through or was it mis-aimed? If the latter, I've found the aiming line on the side of my Stihl saws to be useful. Not sure if your saws have that...?
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
I met Vistaguy at the Shingle Oak place about noon and got two more van loads for him. I rode back to his house with him to unload the first one.
Interesting... The wood weighed a ton, but was metering about 30% or less. Maybe the uprooted tree continued to keep the leaves alive, and they sucked some of the moisture away. The tree fell about a year and a half ago. There were green leaves in it last fall.
The rest of the trunk and rootball, which we'll get later, after Vistaguy gets the wood that's already at his house split and stacked.
Wood in the pic, below the last crotch, started pushing up to near 40% moisture.
After he left with the second load, I went to this gent's back yard to move a fallen dead Shagbark from a mowed area. I didn't know if it would still be any good for firewood. Although it's not 100% there's plenty of BTUs left in it. I'm grabbing that for us, since it's already dry.
Might be about a third to a half cord.
There is sap dripping from a lot of trees, depositing a sheen on anything that's under them. I guess that's because it's been dry for several weeks, and maybe that's a defense mechanism to hold in moisture. Looks like we may get about an inch of rain Sunday, just in time for the farmers, gardeners and all the critters and trees. 👍
Interesting... The wood weighed a ton, but was metering about 30% or less. Maybe the uprooted tree continued to keep the leaves alive, and they sucked some of the moisture away. The tree fell about a year and a half ago. There were green leaves in it last fall.
The rest of the trunk and rootball, which we'll get later, after Vistaguy gets the wood that's already at his house split and stacked.
Wood in the pic, below the last crotch, started pushing up to near 40% moisture.
After he left with the second load, I went to this gent's back yard to move a fallen dead Shagbark from a mowed area. I didn't know if it would still be any good for firewood. Although it's not 100% there's plenty of BTUs left in it. I'm grabbing that for us, since it's already dry.
Might be about a third to a half cord.
There is sap dripping from a lot of trees, depositing a sheen on anything that's under them. I guess that's because it's been dry for several weeks, and maybe that's a defense mechanism to hold in moisture. Looks like we may get about an inch of rain Sunday, just in time for the farmers, gardeners and all the critters and trees. 👍
What caused the 20* miss, did the hinge get cut through or was it mis-aimed? If the latter, I've found the aiming line on the side of my Stihl saws to be useful. Not sure if your saws have that...?
The tree had a double trunk with the main tree leaning back and to the side, the wrong side. So 2 trunks growing together where I was cutting - a misformed, unround trunk. I did the wedge cut - good there. I started the back cut on one side, ok there. I then went to the back and I started too high and I also cut upward. And the result -
The hinge was high on one side and 1" on the other side. A mess in other words. I should have went to the other side with my 20" small bar instead of the back or just ignored that bad back cut, a do-over. I pounded away on some wedges to try and straighten things out but the hinge was bigger on one side - the tree pulled to the lean side a bit. A tree's lean can overrule one's aim sometimes, especially if one makes a crappy cut.
Probably better to make clean cuts and to overaim some to compensate for the lean. I have another try with a similar tree. I'll use a bigger saw with a longer bar and better chain, and I'll do more double wedge pounding to get the tree straight before I let it loose.
The tree had a double trunk with the main tree leaning back and to the side, the wrong side. So 2 trunks growing together where I was cutting - a misformed, unround trunk. I did the wedge cut - good there. I started the back cut on one side, ok there. I then went to the back and I started too high and I also cut upward. And the result -
The hinge was high on one side and 1" on the other side. A mess in other words. I should have went to the other side with my 20" small bar instead of the back or just ignored that bad back cut, a do-over. I pounded away on some wedges to try and straighten things out but the hinge was bigger on one side - the tree pulled to the lean side a bit. A tree's lean can overrule one's aim sometimes, especially if one makes a crappy cut.
Probably better to make clean cuts and to overaim some to compensate for the lean. I have another try with a similar tree. I'll use a bigger saw with a longer bar and better chain, and I'll do more double wedge pounding to get the tree straight before I let it loose.
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Sometimes, if it looks like the back cut will be hard to start correctly, like on a big tree, I'll cut the hinge, then wrap a string around the trunk at the height I want the back cut coming to the hinge. Then I tie the string off and put a line with chalk along the string line.
It might take a couple false starts before I like the way the back cut is following the chalk line.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
I went back over and snatched up the Shagbark in post 529. The section of trunk in the woods was lying on top of some scrap metal, so I made some cuts double- and triple-length to avoid hitting metal with the saw chain. It was tough in there, with unsure footing, and I was almost relieved when the trunk began to look punky on one half of the diameter..I then had a good excuse to leave the rest of it. 😏
I got a short trailer load of some decent wood, anyway. I thought it would all be pretty dry, but lower in the trunk it metered up into the 40s %. 😯
I also found in the woods an old, down Sass log that yielded three 8' logs, which I'll use for another log/cattle panel stacking base. Panels are 16'x50", so I cut them half-length to cover the 8' logs and hold a cord or more each, depending how high I stack.
I got a short trailer load of some decent wood, anyway. I thought it would all be pretty dry, but lower in the trunk it metered up into the 40s %. 😯
I also found in the woods an old, down Sass log that yielded three 8' logs, which I'll use for another log/cattle panel stacking base. Panels are 16'x50", so I cut them half-length to cover the 8' logs and hold a cord or more each, depending how high I stack.
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Here's a pic of what I saw on the Shingle Oak behind the house. This sap was all over everything.. leaves, cars, my quad, etc.
Shingle Oak leaves are glossy to begin with, but what you see here is the smooth, glossy leaf, after 3/4" of rain rinsed the sap off.
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
I slid the Hickory logs to the end of the trailer and sawed off these rounds. Looks like maybe 1/3 cord or so. Since I started seeing 40% as I got lower in the trunk, but the tree was dead for a good while before it fell, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes to dry after I split and stack it.
If this weather holds with the low humidity and wind after I stack it, I'll have to factor that in. But I think summer weather will set in before long--warmer, but more humid and less breezy.
Bonus points for an ID of the small tree behind the round on the top with the bark intact. 😏
If this weather holds with the low humidity and wind after I stack it, I'll have to factor that in. But I think summer weather will set in before long--warmer, but more humid and less breezy.
Bonus points for an ID of the small tree behind the round on the top with the bark intact. 😏
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The Cherry tree is still standing, everything in the pictures was White Pine with the bark removed/fallen off.
I'll get a picture of the Cherry tree today, we'll get some firewood out of it but the ants have done a good job on it.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Ah, OK.
There's a nice down Cherry in the woods behind the Shingle Oak guy's place, maybe 16-18", but only one place to get across the ravine that's in front of it. It'd be a bit of a hassle to get it, but I think I will at some point.
I went up in the mountains this morning. I picked an easy location where I wouldn't have to move the rounds too far. I grabbed about 1 cord of Lodgepole pine from 3 trees - 2 medium sized and one small tree.
I got checked by the police - no problems, tags, fire extinguisher, shovel, etc... I chainsawed through a bullet - wth! I had to drop a tree with a 30 degree lean opposite from the lean's direction. I tied a rope to the tree and went around another tree and got a 90 degree pull from truck - it worked (I'll do anything to save some work). I've been breaking in the Dolkita 7900. The carb has been tuned for sea level not 5000 ft -
.
I got checked by the police - no problems, tags, fire extinguisher, shovel, etc... I chainsawed through a bullet - wth! I had to drop a tree with a 30 degree lean opposite from the lean's direction. I tied a rope to the tree and went around another tree and got a 90 degree pull from truck - it worked (I'll do anything to save some work). I've been breaking in the Dolkita 7900. The carb has been tuned for sea level not 5000 ft -
.
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mpaul
Burning Hunk
Reached out to my local tree service to drop off some more wood. He brought over this mixed load of wood. I’m still a newbie at identifying species. Would welcome any feedback on what this is.
Have some other yard work to do the next few weeks and then I’ll start cutting and splitting this load.
Have some other yard work to do the next few weeks and then I’ll start cutting and splitting this load.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Kinda hard to tell from those pics, but the one with the lighter-colored flats on the bark, left side of the pile, could be a Red Oak type. Can you see the light-colored rays radiating out from the center on the cut end?
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Another day of mowing the trails around the house even though my plan was splitting and stacking more pine. I still have one area that a pine top will get moved out of and picked up so I can mow that.
heavy hammer
Minister of Fire
I finally have had some time to get some wood the last couple of weekends. 6 truck loads of tulip, 3 truck loads of maple and cherry, and 1 load of cedar. I have moved about half of it with the tractor. I have been busy with work and kid sports so no time to do wood. Everyone on here seems to be getting a lot and staying very busy.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Yesterday I busted the rest of the 'shroomy White Oak, and put it on top of a short stack that I have next to the quad path. That little stack has a bit of everything; Cherry, BL, Hedge, Red Mulberry etc. It's all ready to burn this fall, and is the closest wood to the house.
My main stacks run down the hill and the short stack is at a 45* angle to them. Then I have about five cords in a different area, of BL, White Oak, and a bit of Sugar Maple. Once I burn that, all wood will be stacked in the area I'm working in now. It's more accessible, and gets slightly better air movement.
Short stack:
It's on a base of concrete blocks and timbers, four rows deep, with two longer rows closest to the camera, and two shorter rows behind them.
These are two of the three main stacks in that area:
It's hard to see, but one log is visible of the stack base, uphill of the right-hand stack under the leaning pallet. I was pulling from the top end of that stack last winter..hard Maple.
The stack on the left is mostly Red Maple, with a little of the 'shroomy White visible at the top where I filled in from what I grabbed last winter. That's 10' sheet metal on top.
As you can see, in this area I have plenty of room to extend the three stacks down the hill as needed. Where you see the sheet metal in the distance, it drops into a ravine behind there..
Today I split the Hickory shown in #534, and stacked it where the 'shroomy White Oak rounds were. I removed the wooden pallets, left the concrete blocks in place, and put down two plastic pallets that a friend gave me. They are 44x48", and heavy-duty. This is the beginning of the third main stack, where I'll have high-output wood--White Oak, BL, Persimmon, Red Mulberry...and Hickory of course. This stack is parallel to the other two next to it, and all have enough room between them so that I can drive the quad and trailer though to load and unload.
Being on a slope, a row slid on the plastic pallets a couple of times so I got some long deck screws and put one in one of the holes in the pallets every so often. One is visible at the end of the second row if you zoom in.
You can see some White Oak splits on the left. I had about five rounds, from a fallen branch I got when I was working on the uprooted White that was propped up off the ground on a branch, a few months back. All the sapwood was gone, and it had that sweet vanilla aroma when I split it today. 🤗
This is the second quad trailer load of Hickory/White. It's heaped about as high as possible--good thing I only had to drive about 50' to the pallets.
My main stacks run down the hill and the short stack is at a 45* angle to them. Then I have about five cords in a different area, of BL, White Oak, and a bit of Sugar Maple. Once I burn that, all wood will be stacked in the area I'm working in now. It's more accessible, and gets slightly better air movement.
Short stack:
It's on a base of concrete blocks and timbers, four rows deep, with two longer rows closest to the camera, and two shorter rows behind them.
These are two of the three main stacks in that area:
It's hard to see, but one log is visible of the stack base, uphill of the right-hand stack under the leaning pallet. I was pulling from the top end of that stack last winter..hard Maple.
The stack on the left is mostly Red Maple, with a little of the 'shroomy White visible at the top where I filled in from what I grabbed last winter. That's 10' sheet metal on top.
As you can see, in this area I have plenty of room to extend the three stacks down the hill as needed. Where you see the sheet metal in the distance, it drops into a ravine behind there..
Today I split the Hickory shown in #534, and stacked it where the 'shroomy White Oak rounds were. I removed the wooden pallets, left the concrete blocks in place, and put down two plastic pallets that a friend gave me. They are 44x48", and heavy-duty. This is the beginning of the third main stack, where I'll have high-output wood--White Oak, BL, Persimmon, Red Mulberry...and Hickory of course. This stack is parallel to the other two next to it, and all have enough room between them so that I can drive the quad and trailer though to load and unload.
Being on a slope, a row slid on the plastic pallets a couple of times so I got some long deck screws and put one in one of the holes in the pallets every so often. One is visible at the end of the second row if you zoom in.
You can see some White Oak splits on the left. I had about five rounds, from a fallen branch I got when I was working on the uprooted White that was propped up off the ground on a branch, a few months back. All the sapwood was gone, and it had that sweet vanilla aroma when I split it today. 🤗
This is the second quad trailer load of Hickory/White. It's heaped about as high as possible--good thing I only had to drive about 50' to the pallets.
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
No one will be messing with your stash, with those vicious attack dogs on guard duty!
Get it while you can! Nice work @heavy hammer , how has the weather been in your area?
Nice work @Woody Stover , you're putting up a bunch of firewood.Yesterday I busted the rest of the 'shroomy White Oak, and put it on top of a short stack that I have next to the quad path. That little stack has a bit of everything; Cherry, BL, Hedge, Red Mulberry etc. It's all ready to burn this fall, and is the closest wood to the house.
My main stacks run down the hill and the short stack is at a 45* angle to them. Then I have about five cords in a different area, of BL, White Oak, and a bit of Sugar Maple. Once I burn that, all wood will be stacked in the area I'm working in now. It's more accessible, and gets slightly better air movement.
Short stack:
It's on a base of concrete blocks and timbers, four rows deep, with two longer rows closest to the camera, and two shorter rows behind them.
View attachment 313372
These are two of the three main stacks in that area:
It's hard to see, but one log is visible of the stack base, uphill of the right-hand stack under the leaning pallet. I was pulling from the top end of that stack last winter..hard Maple.
The stack on the left is mostly Red Maple, with a little of the 'shroomy White visible at the top where I filled in from what I grabbed last winter. That's 10' sheet metal on top.
As you can see, in this area I have plenty of room to extend the three stacks down the hill as needed. Where you see the sheet metal in the distance, it drops into a ravine behind there..
View attachment 313371
Today I split the Hickory shown in #534, and stacked it where the 'shroomy White Oak rounds were. I removed the wooden pallets, left the concrete blocks in place, and put down two plastic pallets that a friend gave me. They are 44x48", and heavy-duty. This is the beginning of the third main stack, where I'll have high-output wood--White Oak, BL, Persimmon, Red Mulberry...and Hickory of course. This stack is parallel to the other two next to it, and all have enough room between them so that I can drive the quad and trailer though to load and unload.
Being on a slope, a row slid on the plastic pallets a couple of times so I got some long deck screws and put one in one of the holes in the pallets every so often. One is visible at the end of the second row if you zoom in.
You can see some White Oak splits on the left. I had about five rounds, from a fallen branch I got when I was working on the uprooted White that was propped up off the ground on a branch, a few months back. All the sapwood was gone, and it had that sweet vanilla aroma when I split it today. 🤗
View attachment 313370
This is the second quad trailer load of Hickory/White. It's heaped about as high as possible--good thing I only had to drive about 50' to the pallets.
View attachment 313373
I mowed a long trail the wife uses today and another area around the Brook. Hopefully tomorrow is nice (at least half the day) so I can get most of another face cord of pine up.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
I'm no thewoodlands, but I've been getting some lately. Like you say, "It adds up." 👍 I guess what I put on the plastic pallets yesterday might be 1/3 cord or so.
I've got some other stuff to do right now, but I'll be stacking more before long, both here and at the SILs. And whenever Vistaguy gets caught up on stacking, we'll saw him some more of the Shingle Oak that he can haul home. He's loving how easy it is to split, compared to the twisty hard Maple we got him earlier.
If this mild weather would hold, it'd be great, but I'll be out there no matter what.
I've got plenty of wood here to work on, but for some reason I can't resist a good off-site scrounge when I stumble into it, especially if it's a wood that's more scarce here at our place. We have more dead Red Oak than you can shake a stick at. 😏
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I should change that to theolderwoodlands
I'll put up another face cord of pine and then if the heat isn't that bad, start working on some downed hardwood again but only after removing four or five stumps with the 4540.That will make those areas easy to mow and plow during the winter.
I planted some Red Oak years back but that's nothing I'll ever cut. I was hoping they would grow and produce acorns for the wildlife.
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