Work Done 2025

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Was it hard to split?
 
Crane work of 5 trees and a 6th from the neighbor yesterday. The 5 were norway maples and box elder along a fence line. All fairly straight forward and went well. The neighbors was a mulberry on the rear fence line and 95' away from the crane's turret. One leader grew around a steel clothes line pole, completely engulfing a gusset for the old horizontal steel for the pulleys. It was also wrapped around the 3-4'' pole. Took the top out and then the second set of leaders on the other side of the crown, leaving the base. Cut a bunch of sucker growth out of the primary power lines. Lastly cut the deformed piece from the base and craned the base out as the last pick. This left a 5' long chunk of mulberry with a 16'' diam, hugging the top of the pole.

A full day of work, with no wood score for myself. I would have taken some norway and mulberry but a neighbor had first dibs. It was city work and the work zone was tight anyways.
 
Ripped some rounds with the saw then started running low on bar oil so quit for the day. I have about 95% done so far of the previous haul. Only 5-6 rounds left of knarly ash, and 1 big cherry round. They’re probably around 14-18” diameter.

Out of pure curiosity checked some of the cherry rounds that wouldn’t split by hand. Probably about 12-14” diameter. Fresh split burying the pins in I get 22% MC. Not bad at all for sitting in rounds out in the weather. Had to have been a dead limb or dead standing tree. All the rounds that looked like this were pretty light.

This stuff will probably sit for at least 2 years before it’s burned anyway so it’ll be “cherry” by then.
 
Work to be done, that is.

Got a delivery. A few sticks of cherry, and one or two of white oak. The rest is red oak. 26" dia, 7 ft long or so at the bottom.

[Hearth.com] Work Done 2025
[Hearth.com] Work Done 2025



This'll be for the winter of 27/28 or later.
 
Nice!! Freebies ?? Looks like at least 2.5- 3 cord there!
Yes, freebies nicely unloaded (not dumped) on my driveway.

Largest is 31" dia...

Freebies. But I did give the guy $50 because it was a large truck, and he spent time with his crane unloading.
 
Yes, freebies nicely unloaded (not dumped) on my driveway.

Largest is 31" dia...

Freebies. But I did give the guy $50 because it was a large truck, and he spent time with his crane unloading.
That’s awesome. I wish I could find someone that could do that for me around here. Everyone around here wants $500 or better for a tree truck load. I do know an arborist, but I have to go cut it and load it wherever it is. And it’s not consistent it’s not his full time gig
 
I save them that money by taking it off their hands. They have to pay to get rid of it here.
The only benefit of being on Long Island, I guess (..)
 
Work to be done, that is.

Got a delivery. A few sticks of cherry, and one or two of white oak. The rest is red oak. 26" dia, 7 ft long or so at the bottom.

View attachment 336319View attachment 336320


This'll be for the winter of 27/28 or later.
Nice tree service truck with a prentice loader. Wish I could read the cab door. I may know who it is ..... from online that is.
 
Nice tree service truck with a prentice loader. Wish I could read the cab door. I may know who it is ..... from online that is.
I don't know their name. I only have their phone number - got it from a friend of a friend.
The sweater of the guy who drove the truck had a name, but when I google the phone number it's a different company. So I don't know.
He's reliable. He delivers good stuff when I ask. I never push; I'm fine waiting a few weeks until some good stuff comes around.
And he unloaded rather than dumped. My driveway likes that.
He happy, I happy.
 
A lot of services out there like that. No name trucks and mix matched clothes. It's a tuff gig and employees stray. Especially this time of year when things are a bit slow. No name trucks can be good. It allows 2 services to team up and get a big job done together without conflicting company names. That's a big tree service type log truck being a triaxle.
 
Loading 31" oak 7 ft long. It has to be big...
My shorties I burned earlier this season was from a service with no loaders. So that 2 ft diameter red oak was cut into 8" cookies otherwise they could not lift it (by hand!) in their truck.
Sucked for me, but I took what I could get back then.

I just cut up a bunch of the stuff that was a bit precarious on top. Safety first. But I stopped when it got dark, and the d*mn wind blew everything in my face. Safetyglasses were not enough.
Then I split 8 rounds or so. Fresh red oak is heaven...
 
Loading 31" oak 7 ft long. It has to be big...
That 29,900lb pick I did with the crane was red oak. About 5-6' in diam. It was 30-35' long when we picked it. Cut it up in 5' lengths for my buddies log truck. He's got the same loader on a tandem truck. Sides are caged though instead of solid.
 
Last night we received 6 - 8 inches of wet heavy snow so today I pushed my luck plowing with the tractor, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., two driveways and then a bunch of trails and then I put the tractor away. I see we have a new storm coming in on Saturday and Sunday with a possible 8 to 12 inches. Another system is coming in Thursday but I don't think we'll get much snow from it.
 
Work to be done, that is.

Got a delivery. A few sticks of cherry, and one or two of white oak. The rest is red oak. 26" dia, 7 ft long or so at the bottom.

View attachment 336319View attachment 336320


This'll be for the winter of 27/28 or later.
I'm curious. Once they are dropped onto your driveway are you splitting them there or do you have machinery to move them?
 
I buck them, and then split them, either into proper splits or quarters (or smaller for these big ones) for storage if my firewood shed is full.
All manual here, so gotta break things down before I can move it.
 
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I buck them, and then split them, either into proper splits or quarters (or smaller for these big ones) for storage if my firewood shed is full.
All manual here, so gotta break things down before I can move it.
Ah ok. I know I have seen some here have tractors and what not to move things. The recent tree we cut into rounds was uphill from where we split and store our wood so it wasn't too bad rolling the rounds down to where they needed to be to split. Years back we had an Oak come down in an ice storm and it was way downhill from our wood stacks. Pretty steep. We had to split the rounds into smaller pieces to be able to move them. The down side to living on the side of a mountain with very little flat ground.
 
Yesterday's crane job was a black ash. Dead and rotted at the base. It failed and was caught up in a tree while leaning towards a house. Single pick with no cut at the base needed. Moved the crane down the road to a second set up a few houses away. This job was for a rotten silver maple leader leaning towards a house. Single pick with the cut made at the ground. Then a second dead ash was picked apart. Much bigger than the first ash with a total of 4 picks. Could have been less but the drop zone was in the road for processing, so we kept the picks smaller. The trunk was a good sixed diameter and bark less with a 40'ish height. Only the very tops still had any bark. This job netted me a good heaping pickup load of limb wood. All in the 2-4'' range. Everything was uneventful and smooth.

Got home in mid afternoon and backed up to the basement bilco doors. My plan was to cut it all up and toss down into the dragon's lair. I have a heavy duty tarp and 2 layers of EDPM roofing rubber covering the doors. Purpose is to help shed water and block some wind drafts. With the recent light snowfall, then a melting period with a refreeze, I couldn't get the entry open. Tarped my truck off for todays nasty weather. Snow squalls, ice, and wind.
 
That’s awesome. I wish I could find someone that could do that for me around here. Everyone around here wants $500 or better for a tree truck load. I do know an arborist, but I have to go cut it and load it wherever it is. And it’s not consistent it’s not his full time gig
Have you tried chip drop? I’m too cheap to offer them money (since I almost always get it free), but I’ve heard if you offer to cover there fees ($20) or slightly higher you get much faster response…. It’s a bit of a crap shoot, but seems like most drops are at least a truck load of big pieces.
 
Have you tried chip drop? I’m too cheap to offer them money (since I almost always get it free), but I’ve heard if you offer to cover there fees ($20) or slightly higher you get much faster response…. It’s a bit of a crap shoot, but seems like most drops are at least a truck load of big pieces.
Not familiar with that I’ll have to look into it, thanks!
 
Not familiar with that I’ll have to look into it, thanks!
👍

It’s a website, where you just make a quick account and can request “chips” or just logs. You can specify notes too (e.g. hardwood only).

Best of luck, post up if you get a delivery!
 
You can specify notes too (e.g. hardwood only)
As long as they know what kind of wood they're delivering. LOL

Seriously, I find many who do not know the value of the wood. It's best to have one or two who you know and trust.
With chip drop, every tom, dick, and harry could wind up in your yard. Like you said, it IS a crap shoot.
 
As long as they know what kind of wood they're delivering. LOL

Seriously, I find many who do not know the value of the wood. It's best to have one or two who you know and trust.
With chip drop, every tom, dick, and harry could wind up in your yard. Like you said, it IS a crap shoot.
Ha! My recurring note says “no pine”, but realistically I burn outside in the summer, so I really don’t care if they drop some crap wood. I can also dump it at the yard waste dump for free.

But defiantly can be a crap shoot!
 
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Pine is great. I've burnt it quite a bit.

Chipdrop is a scam here. I tried it. Paid. Never heard anything. Money out the door no delivery. Twice.
Never again.
And I advice others that this can happen. Try if you like, but you've been warned.