Work Done in 2021

[SpaceBus]

Yikes it's the total opposite for me! Felling the tree is the scariest part. Anything can happen with a chainsaw but I'm much more relaxed when bucking. Less worried about being squished!

I do have a skidding winch on my tractor, so any trees that are so large I can't push them over the hinge will get guided down with the winch. Really at this point only dead trees scare me. A few days ago I was cutting a 10" spruce and it jumped off the stump perpendicular to the hinge, definitely got my heart rate up. I think another tree was tangled in with the crown, because the tree is now leaning into another canopy and the butt is on the ground. Before the skidding winch any tree more than 10" diameter was "above my paygrade" and I just left them alone.

 

[MissMac]

That’s a nice pile of BTU’s, you did it right, not having to limb it & toss it the pickup/trailer.

Ya it was a good compromise for me for my health and my time for sure. It feels really good to have found a way to carry on with my hobby that still gives me some independence too.

 

[kennyp2339]

Well, as the saying goes, when it rains it pours, my co-worker who is our forester on the job called, they were clearing out a bunch of danger tree's from a public right of way in a congested area, the township signed off on leaving the wood, chipping the branches, they did all the work but the residents complained that the wood on the ground was an eyesore, so the town called back asking to haul the wood out, its a lot, since we want to keep good faith, the forester agreed to the removal, but were not going to pay for it to be dumped either (normally removals are figured with dumping cost to) so I got the call seeing if I wanted a few log truck loads of oak, ash, and I think some locust. I'm getting the 1st truck this morning and I hope the loads keep coming my way. I cleared my log landing with the tractor and snow pusher yesterday evening, left a film of snow on the bottom and luckily the ground is still rock hard underneath. I'll post pics after the loads are delivered.
Edit: 1st load

 

[JimBear]

I got a couple more loads from the State Park today

Load #1 was Hickory & Ash, the sap is starting to flow in the Hickory’s


Load #2 Oak & Ash, started to noodle the main fork & hit a fargin screw/nail

 

[JimBear]

Another load of Ash from the State Park

 

[MissMac]

Another load of Ash from the State Park
View attachment 276210View attachment 276211View attachment 276212View attachment 276213

You really do come into an amazing amount of good quality wood. Another good day's worth of work. How many cords do you burn in an average year?

 

[JimBear]

You really do come into an amazing amount of good quality wood. Another good day's worth of work. How many cords do you burn in an average year?

I am fortunate that the state park is taking all these trees down , it is close & I have time to get it.
I burn about 2 - 2-1/2 cord a year.

 

[JimBear]

I got a bit more before it starting getting too dark.

 

[Caw]

@kennyp2339 You have a nice chunk of land there...my mom's family is from just outside Elizabeth and I never see that much open land in North NJ! Nice haul. I can only do one truck like that at time here as my driveway is my log landing.

 

[MissMac]

I am fortunate that the state park is taking all these trees down , it is close & I have time to get it.
I burn about 2 - 2-1/2 cord a year.

My goodness - so you must have many, many years of firewood on hand then?

 

[JimBear]

My goodness - so you must have many, many years of firewood on hand then?

I have tried hard to get ahead. I have sold 12-1/2 cord this winter, not because I advertise but just simple word of mouth that I have a chitload of wood so people call & ask. Most don’t comprehend that dry wood is preferable. This Ash is great some of it will be ready this fall most will be ready next year.

 

[JimBear]

I got a jag of Shagbark along with some Ash to finish out the load after dinner I will go get the rest of the trunk.

Edit: I clearly was thinking about something else that first jag is Honey Locust.

 

[JimBear]

I got what will likely be my last load from the state park. All Ash

 

[SpaceBus]

Do you normally sell firewood?

 

[kennyp2339]

2nd load, some hickory, locust and cherry

edit : load #3

Driver said one more load coming today then its quitting time, it takes a while to load the truck, they are using a chipper with a winch to bring the logs to the road, but the shoulder is tight so they can only bring so many logs up before it gets congested so essentially they need to load the truck as they drag the lengths out of the wooded area.
@heavy hammer this is the ultimate I get my logs from work, they are literally dropping the lengths pretty much at my front door.

 

[JimBear]

Do you normally sell firewood?

Short answer yes, long answer is my intention was to sell a bit but not at this scale the sequence is as follows.

I used to sell a couple cord to my neighbor but he passed away three years ago, then I got started on trying to get ahead 3-5 year plan.

My son-in-laws father inquired about buying some a couple years ago, he isn’t comfortable running saws much anymore: 4 cord a year. He comes & gets his, usually loads it himself: 1/2 cord a trip.

Then I had an uncle give some folks my number they were looking for firewood, they have been buying 3-4 cord year over the last 2 years, These folks just buy 1/2 cord a time, deliver & stack.

They gave their neighbor my number 1-1/2 cord this last winter. This guy buys 1/2 cord at a time. Deliver & stack.

One of my brothers friends called wanting some firewood: 2 cords this winter. This fella brings his trailer by & gets a cord @ a time.

A fella I know saw me with a load in the pickup last year & inquired, 5-cord over the last two years. 3 cord last year, 2 cord this year. Deliver & dump

My sister-in-law has gotten 1/2 cord year each of the last two years. Deliver

My sister has/will get 1/2 cord each year.
Delivered

A cousin has bought 1/2 cord each of the last 2 years. It’s delivered.

And some miscellaneous firewood sales.

I have sold about 15 cord this winter, I fully expect some of them to back off or try to get it somewhere else next season as I am upping the cost by $50 -$75 cord for next year. None of the people that buy wood from me understands about dry wood no matter how much I ramble & babble on about it. My sister is starting to, most think cut in the spring burn in the fall.

All this Ash is blessing as some of it will be ready this fall. If I continue at this rate a bigger/faster splitter is definitely in the cards for me. Help is hard to come by as my nieces are always busy & my nephews are just too lazy.

 

[SpaceBus]

Short answer yes, long answer is my intention was to sell a bit but not at this scale the sequence is as follows.

I used to sell a couple cord to my neighbor but he passed away three years ago, then I got started on trying to get ahead 3-5 year plan.

My son-in-laws father inquired about buying some a couple years ago, he isn’t comfortable running saws much anymore: 4 cord a year. He comes & gets his, usually loads it himself: 1/2 cord a trip.

Then I had an uncle give some folks my number they were looking for firewood, they have been buying 3-4 cord year over the last 2 years, These folks just buy 1/2 cord a time, deliver & stack.

They gave their neighbor my number 1-1/2 cord this last winter. This guy buys 1/2 cord at a time. Deliver & stack.

One of my brothers friends called wanting some firewood: 2 cords this winter. This fella brings his trailer by & gets a cord @ a time.

A fella I know saw me with a load in the pickup last year & inquired, 5-cord over the last two years. 3 cord last year, 2 cord this year. Deliver & dump

My sister-in-law has gotten 1/2 cord year each of the last two years. Deliver

My sister has/will get 1/2 cord each year.
Delivered

A cousin has bought 1/2 cord each of the last 2 years. It’s delivered.

And some miscellaneous firewood sales.

I have sold about 15 cord this winter, I fully expect some of them to back off or try to get it somewhere else next season as I am upping the cost by $50 -$75 cord for next year. None of the people that buy wood from me understands about dry wood no matter how much I ramble & babble on about it. My sister is starting to, most think cut in the spring burn in the fall.

All this Ash is blessing as some of it will be ready this fall. If I continue at this rate a bigger/faster splitter is definitely in the cards for me. Help is hard to come by as my nieces are always busy & my nephews are just too lazy.

I have mad respect for folks that sell firewood. It's hard work for minimal pay, but it's a blessing for those in the market for cut and split firewood.

 

[kennyp2339]

4th load and there done for the weekend

 

[JimBear]

Today all the Hickory got split up, roughly 1.5 cord. All the debris got raked up, loaded up 2 cord for a fella, 1.5 cord of 3yo Honey Locust & 1/2 cord of Mulberry.

That’s when the day went to chit. About 8 miles into my 15 mile trip the pickup started missing & coughing pretty bad ( I believe it’s the fuel filter ) , then a tire blew out on the trailer. We limped into unload & the pump on the dump trailer wouldn’t work, so we unloaded by hand. I got the rim& remnants of the tire off, then we headed home @ 25-30mph, we got within 2 miles of home & a deer charged out of the ditch & ran into the drivers side of my pickup. Hit right on the edge of the front bumper & flopped around into door/fender seam. Now my door won’t open & my bumper is folded around to my tire.

I have never hit a deer or had one run into me when I have been exceeding the posted speed limit but have hit/had several run into to me when driving at or under the posted speed limit. This seems to give credence to the philosophy that the faster one drives the less time you spend on the road therefore limiting your exposure the the stinking varmits.

 

[heavy hammer]

JimBear sorry to hear about the truck. Just bad luck all the way around no one seemed like they were hurt so you at least have that. Kennyp2339 I will agree that is a way to get wood from work I have had that happen only a few times. You know most of the time with our job no one wants the stuff and if you just ask it will work out in your favor. I had a couple years back the tree guys were clearing out all the trees in this city and bringing back all the logs to the garage and storing them in a gravel area till they had dumpsters dropped off then had dumpsters filled and taken to the dump. I was able to get my hands on a lot of dump truck loads from that garage since they were just throwing it all away, such a shame to see that happen.

 

[SpaceBus]

Today all the Hickory got split up, roughly 1.5 cord. All the debris got raked up, loaded up 2 cord for a fella, 1.5 cord of 3yo Honey Locust & 1/2 cord of Mulberry.

That’s when the day went to chit. About 8 miles into my 15 mile trip the pickup started missing & coughing pretty bad ( I believe it’s the fuel filter ) , then a tire blew out on the trailer. We limped into unload & the pump on the dump trailer wouldn’t work, so we unloaded by hand. I got the rim& remnants of the tire off, then we headed home @ 25-30mph, we got within 2 miles of home & a deer charged out of the ditch & ran into the drivers side of my pickup. Hit right on the edge of the front bumper & flopped around into door/fender seam. Now my door won’t open & my bumper is folded around to my tire.

I have never hit a deer or had one run into me when I have been exceeding the posted speed limit but have hit/had several run into to me when driving at or under the posted speed limit. This seems to give credence to the philosophy that the faster one drives the less time you spend on the road therefore limiting your exposure the the stinking varmits.

I hit a deer going 35-40 in my 2003 Mach 1 Mustang back in 2018. It ruined the fender, bumper, hood, headlight, and sent the young buck somersaulting across the road to live another day.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

You fellows have some really amazing hauls of wood (and some unnerving deer stories). I’m glad you’re safe, JimBear, even if the truck isn’t. My husband always tells me that deer are the most dangerous animal in America statistically because of traffic accidents involving them.

Today (as with many Saturdays) was an all day work outside day. Some of it was moving compost. Most of it was clearing damage from the big freeze that hit Texas last month. Of course, for this thread, there has to be some firewood.

We’ve been gradually pruning an old, overgrown peach, and this unproductive wood needed to come off so that it could focus more energy on new shoots. That was our total of (future) burnable wood for the day.



Most of our time was spent cutting out dead oleander that used to line our driveway. It’s quite toxic, so we can’t burn it or chip it. We’ll be cutting it gradually and adding it to the trash for disposal. We really prefer to return organic matter to the soil, but we also can’t leave piles of brush around for years because of wildfire risk.

Our other large task was taking care of a fan palm tree, the fronds of which had all been killed and needed to be cut off. Each frond is about five and half feet tall, and the stalks are covered with vicious thorns. My children have been gradually cutting away the sago leaves, but this huge beast was an all-afternoon project for adults. We ended up taking down six trunks as well. We’ll have to see what we can do with these as well.


I would much rather have been splitting and stacking wood!

 

[Kamiobi]

I took down this chestnut tree next to my garage on Jan. 11.

This will be ready for the burning season in 2023 or 24.

This stack of larch, which has already tipped over, was done on Jan 24.

I will split it this spring and it should be ready for the 2022 season. Larch dries really fast.

Once nice thing about cutting in the snow is you don’t have to worry about hitting rocks with your chain.

This birch and the larch had been dead for a couple of years and I was worried they might blow down and block my access road.

This birch (cut on Feb.27 ) had me a little worried because I could see that it was possibly hollow inside.

After I stacked it it made a nice windbreak for when I was cooking my lunch and having my coffee.

These two birches were cut down yesterday March 13.

This one was a little tricky and didn’t fall the direction I had planned, but luckily I have a lot of space.

This will be the last one I will do until the snow melts. I have been snowshoeing in and pulling a sled with all my gear. The snow is melting quickly, so it will be to hard to get in snowshoes. I probably won’t be able to get into to the area with my truck until the middle of April.

 

[SpaceBus]

Some pics of my project.

I started clearing this area in spring 2019 to make more room for parking and future structures. Now I am running a corridor through the woods to connect with a loop I am working on. 0082 is shot from the open area showing the start of the corridor. I am going to thin all the forest on the inside of the loop, and that area is the left hand side when traveling counter clockwise around the loop. The successive photos show the start of the trail. I've felled most of the trees along the path and have been dragging them out with the tractor. I may grind some stumps out tomorrow, trying not to be loud today. I'm converting everything under 6" round into a fence post with the larger post being for corners, gates, etc. The smaller round posts will be horizontal braces and intermediate posts. All of the posts visible from our house will be rough milled 4x4's and 5x5's. The total area that I will be fencing in will be roughly two acres, going to find out for sure once our measuring wheel comes in.

0078 shows the pile of fence posts accumulating, 0079 shows the mill sized logs, and 0080 shows the stuff that will be firewood. I'll upload more photos of the trail in a second post.

 

[SpaceBus]

I cleared all of this with my MS150 so far. The path isn't super straight at the moment, but once I grind out the stumps I can really get the tractor in there to make it better. Plenty of snags still yet to get pulled out and a lot of work to do. I also included some pics of the largest trees I took down with my tiny 25cc saw. In the next few weeks I'll be getting all of the logs and stumps ground out and then I'll clear the future pasture/paddock inside of the "loop".


This area of the forest is mostly spruce and fir with some birch and tamarack scattered throughout. There are some pin cherry shrubs and what might be black cherry in the undergrowth, but they are too shaded right now and dying. I'm going to thin the growth so that there is at least 20' between healthy mature trees. I'm going to primarily keep the birch, tamaracks, and cherry around and leave a few evergreens near the edge of the wood line and in the canopy. Should allow for areas of sun and shade for livestock and create an environment that will allow for the growth of willow, alder, tall grasses, and goldenrod to propagate and provide food for browsing animals like my alpacas and future goats.