Work Done 2023

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Om April 13, I got this load of locust. (And a bit of maple.)
Today I finished splitting it. All with the fiskars.

2.6 face cord of locust for me (and at 18" that's almost a cord). And one facecord of maple for me.

And 17 wheelbarrows full of small stuff (generally less than a foot long and 2*3" or so) for the neighbors (they are old and can't split and get crappy wood from someone - they pile it on pallets in a tent, at least the small.splits will make this drier than what they get normally).

The neighbors across the road had a large red oak taken down. I got the trunk. About 20" dia.
A pick up full to a friend (he splits it), a round or 6 for me,.and the rest is going to be made small for the neighbors again.

I couldn't store more as.my shed is full. But I couldn't let a nice quality oak trunk across the street go either... So I'll put it on a rack on the downwind side of my shed under the overhang. And it'll get.moved into the shed after.next season.

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And 17 wheelbarrows full of small stuff (generally less than a foot long and 2*3" or so) for the neighbors (they are old and can't split and get crappy wood from someone - they pile it on pallets in a tent, at least the small.splits will make this drier than what they get normally).

The neighbors across the road had a large red oak taken down. I got the trunk. About 20" dia.
A pick up full to a friend (he splits it), a round or 6 for me,.and the rest is going to be made small for the neighbors again.
You're a good man. 👍
 
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You're a good man. 👍
Nah, I'm glad to be able to get rid of shorties, uglies, and other hard to stack stuff. I benefit as much as the do. Ideal situation.
 
Well, alright then, if you say so...but if anyone implies that you're a bad man, they'll have me to answer to! 😉😆
 
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Had to have some trees cut down. Too close to buildings so I left it to professionals.
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Then came the cleanup. Ended up with 5 dump trailers full. Ash and 1 hickory.
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This should keep me out of trouble for a while...
Hard to judge how much is there, would guess 4-6 full cord.
 
Had to have some trees cut down. Too close to buildings so I left it to professionals.

Ended up with 5 dump trailers full. Ash and 1 hickory.
This should keep me out of trouble for a while...
Hard to judge how much is there, would guess 4-6 full cord.
Yeah, you don't want one of those knocking down your stacks, not to mention destroying your shed. 😉
What had that dark (rotty?) center, the Hickory? What kind of Hickory--doesn't look Shaggy..?

Good work, take a break and go fishin'! And don't forget to take along a Spotted Cow.😏

I have to say, that fella in the third pic is about the youngest tree guy I've ever seen! ;)
 
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Om April 13, I got this load of locust. (And a bit of maple.)
Today I finished splitting it. All with the fiskars.

2.6 face cord of locust for me (and at 18" that's almost a cord). And one facecord of maple for me.

And 17 wheelbarrows full of small stuff (generally less than a foot long and 2*3" or so) for the neighbors (they are old and can't split and get crappy wood from someone - they pile it on pallets in a tent, at least the small.splits will make this drier than what they get normally).

The neighbors across the road had a large red oak taken down. I got the trunk. About 20" dia.
A pick up full to a friend (he splits it), a round or 6 for me,.and the rest is going to be made small for the neighbors again.

I couldn't store more as.my shed is full. But I couldn't let a nice quality oak trunk across the street go either... So I'll put it on a rack on the downwind side of my shed under the overhang. And it'll get.moved into the shed after.next season.

View attachment 312558
Just to show I'm not bullsh*tting, I sneaked a pic. The neighbor was standing to the left, and I did not want to include her.

You can see vertical pallets in the left corner, so it's about a pallet high at the lowest point. There are 7 or 8 pallets on the ground on which the wood is piled.
I hope it dries a bit - at least it'll be better than the stuff they get from those 20 ft high piles of wood dealers out in the open, I hope.
There is also one of those 7x3 ft racks outside with some of the longer splits that's almost full.

Next is some oak from across the street. Not nearly as much - which is good, because it's getting warm for the Fiskars to operate on its biological machinery.

IMG_20230508_143545741-1.jpg
 
Yeah, you don't want one of those knocking down your stacks, not to mention destroying your shed. 😉
What had that dark (rotty?) center, the Hickory? What kind of Hickory--doesn't look Shaggy..?

Good work, take a break and go fishin'! And don't forget to take along a Spotted Cow.😏

I have to say, that fella in the third pic is about the youngest tree guy I've ever seen! ;)
Not sure what kind of hickory, didn't have the typical bark of a shagbark.

He is the second youngest on my tree "crew".

I had a few Leinie's that evening...
 
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Well, alright then, if you say so...but if anyone implies that you're a bad man, they'll have me to answer to! 😉😆
Not sure what kind of hickory, didn't have the typical bark of a shagbark.
Pignut is common here, and some maps show southern WI in its range. Bitternut may be more common up there, I don't know.
Doesn't look like they had fully formed leaves yet, but maybe you can get some bark pics?
 
I finished the two face stack today, I grabbed some popple/poplar from a stack in the woods and another load of pine that finished it, two more and that's it for softwood.

The old tires on the trailer had been weather checked for about four years, I did get by with tubes until one went and formed a hole in it so we have new tires put on.

I did do some cutting today so I could open back up a walking trail the wife uses and called it a day until around 6 tonight when I washed the truck.

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Well, alright then, if you say so...but if anyone implies that you're a bad man, they'll have me to answer to! 😉😆

Pignut is common here, and some maps show southern WI in its range. Bitternut may be more common up there, I don't know.
Doesn't look like they had fully formed leaves yet, but maybe you can get some bark pics?
Not sure why i was thinking Hickory. It was Chestnut. That would explain why the bark didnt look like Hickory.
 
Not sure why i was thinking Hickory. It was Chestnut. That would explain why the bark didnt look like Hickory.
Chestnut, huh? I thought that since the blight wiped those out, they didn't get all that big anymore, before they died. It was a very common specie before the blight was introduced from Asia.
Fascinating history on Chestnut blight, and what a disaster it was. I saw a PBS show on it, with old pics of railroad cars filled with nuts, that were sold and shipped around the US. When the nuts fell, folks would let their hogs out to forage on the incredible amount of them, and people ate them as well. Some other pics showed the nuts piled up against downed trees on slopes in the woods, like drifting snow.
The blight rocked the rural economy and caused unimaginable hardship for those that depended on the nut crop.
The old tires on the trailer had been weather checked for about four years, I did get by with tubes until one went and formed a hole in it so we have new tires put on.

View attachment 312590
You call that "checking?" Here is some serious checking, my friend. I keep my portable air tank next to the quad because I have to air the tires every time I want to use it. 😆 Those tires ain't too cheap either, I can tellya. 😮
I got a manual tire changer a couple years back...can't believe I didn't do that 30 yrs. ago. 😣💸
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The annihilation of the chestnut is arguably the biggest ecological disaster in N. America since the end of the Ice Age. Here in the NC mountains Chestnuts were about 20 percent of the trees in the forest. Humans, deer, bears and hogs all feasted on the nutritious nuts.
 
Methinks the arrival of folks like me (Caucasian from Europe) was the biggest ecological disaster in the Americas...

But that's water under the bridge.

So now it is up to us to prevent and mitigate any subsequent resulting disasters, such as the chestnut one.
 
Chestnut, huh? I thought that since the blight wiped those out, they didn't get all that big anymore, before they died. It was a very common specie before the blight was introduced from Asia.
Fascinating history on Chestnut blight, and what a disaster it was. I saw a PBS show on it, with old pics of railroad cars filled with nuts, that were sold and shipped around the US. When the nuts fell, folks would let their hogs out to forage on the incredible amount of them, and people ate them as well. Some other pics showed the nuts piled up against downed trees on slopes in the woods, like drifting snow.
The blight rocked the rural economy and caused unimaginable hardship for those that depended on the nut crop.

You call that "checking?" Here is some serious checking, my friend. I keep my portable air tank next to the quad because I have to air the tires every time I want to use it. 😆 Those tires ain't too cheap either, I can tellya. 😮
I got a manual tire changer a couple years back...can't believe I didn't do that 30 yrs. ago. 😣💸
View attachment 312686View attachment 312687
My fault, the picture of the tire was the new tires, the tubes did get me an extra two years.

Weathered checked equals a working rig. 👍
 
I started on a pile of pine logs today, they're from the clearing we did for the new garage in 2018. Most will make it in the stacks for burning in the wood stove and some will go in the outside fireplace.

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Man, that Maple trunk is a pain, but I knew that when I told her I'd clean it up.
Had to rip-cut a bunch of it because the grain is too twisty to split by hand. Noodle hell over there, I tellya! 😖
I should be able to finish it up today.. PXL_20230513_203139440.jpg
 
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. I don't like to split maple.
 
I did some splitting and stacking of the pine I bucked up, a little over a face cord. My plan was to have this stack done by the end of the week and then it's off to some hardwood.

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Finally no rain and I was able to get this load of logs bucked. Have to stain the boat dock tomorrow so splitting will have to wait a week. View attachment 312537
split this load up this weekend.

Also had our first backyard fire pit last night. IMG_6360.jpegIMG_1657.jpeg
 
Jealous... I was too tired to have a campfire last night and today we're on burn restrictions so no campfire tonight either 😭.
 
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Jealous... I was too tired to have a campfire last night and today we're on burn restrictions so no campfire tonight either 😭.
Yesterday was the first day our burn ban was lifted. The weather was so nice my wife and I couldn’t resist. I too was exhausted from splitting all day plus mowing the yard. But I’d rather sit and relax in my backyard rather than in front of TV. Love just disconnecting from everything as much as possible.
 
I took the boss for a ride today around the property, we had a cherry branch split off of the tree (1st two pictures) and once we came home I started s/s some of the maple I cut three or four weeks ago.

In the second picture you can see the spot the cherry broke off.

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