# Splitting oodles of cottonwood, renting splitter -- any tricks I need to know?



## annette (May 3, 2012)

Hi all, it's been a long time.  Fancy new forum!

We're about to have 4-5 cottonwood trees cut down, and the affordable price will have us dealing with the wood ourselves.  The guy says he'll cut everything to 16."  It will suck enough even with that!

At this time of year, the wood is going to be really wet--does this affect its ease in splitting?  (better or worse?)

I own an electric splitter that can do straight-grain oak fine, can't do knotted oak or wet black gum.  I think we need to rent a "real" splitter, and I was thinking one that will sit upright, so we can push a round into place rather than lift it.  I haven't done this, though, so IS that actually easier?

Are those big splitters easy to move around, or hard?  We would want to take it by hand over grass into the backyard for 2 of the trees.  

Any other tips for renting & using that splitter that I should know, or for this project in general?

Lastly--anyone want some cottonwood????


----------



## chuckie5fingers (May 3, 2012)

hi Annette
how big in diameter is the tree?
prolly wont be able to move the rental splitter around by hand unless theres 2 of ya.
others will chime in as far as ease of splitting.
I would say try your electric first, if it doesnt do the job or the rounds are monsters, then rent the gas one.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 3, 2012)

Annette. We have a 20 ton MTD that we've had over 20 years. Yes, I can move it by hand a short distance but usually move it to the splitting area with the atv. Splitting in the vertical position is for sure the easiest (see my avatar). That way you do not have to lift every piece of wood before splitting. I roll the big ones on, not by laying them down to roll but just tipping them a bit and rolling them that way.

One thing you may find right way is that you usually do not have to take the wedge all the way through the log before it is split nor do you have to let it go all the way back up. If renting, this can be a huge time saver. Another thing is that you do not have to split every piece in half. I like to split in such a way that I end up with lots of rectangular pieces rather than triangles. It makes building the ends of the wood piles much easier and they stack in the stove very nicely.

Also, do not think you have to have a huge splitter. Many think they have to have 35 ton or more. Our 20 ton does very well even on elm and on knotty stuff.


----------



## StihlHead (May 3, 2012)

In my experience, you cannot split cottonwood (with a splitter or maul) very well if it is green. It also takes a really long time to dry. The stuff I cut last year is still green... and on my stacks. I no longer try to get cottonwood, even though I could get all I want around here for free. It is light wood that has low heating value for the same time and space as other denser woods is just not worth it. It also smells funky if burned anywhere on the green side. Shoulder season and fire starting wood at best... same for poplar and aspen, all in the same family, same type of wood and heating and splitting.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 3, 2012)

There must be a difference in the cottonwood out there StihlHead. Here the cottonwood dries quite fast. It does stink!


----------



## bogydave (May 3, 2012)

When you go/call  the rental place, let them know what you need to do with it.
They may have a small unit that you can move around with reasonable ease.
If the trees are big, you want to split "vertical", (like Dennis mentioned) so you don't have to lift the big rounds up to the splitters beam.
Cottonwood here splits fairly easy, it's a little stringy,  but I've always split it in the fall after the leaves are gone, now it will be wet & heavy.
Got any local young men that want a few bucks to help?


----------



## StihlHead (May 3, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> There must be a difference in the cottonwood out there StihlHead. Here the cottonwood dries quite fast. It does stink!


 

Its the same species, nation-wide. Weather is likely different though.


----------



## Woody Stover (May 3, 2012)

The ground that you're moving the splitter over had better be pretty flat or it will be a struggle, even with two people...


annette said:


> Hi all, it's been a long time. Fancy new forum!


Ya, this thing is da bomb!


----------



## annette (May 4, 2012)

Hmm.  The ground we have to roll the splitter over is mostly flat, except a bit of a rise as we turn a corner.  That corner may suck.  I will have my guy to help me with some of this, until his weekend ends.  Then it's just me!  I guess we need to do the trees in back, then get the splitter moved back up front before he zooms off.

Are these upright splitters stable enough on relatively flat dirt?  Or will it be scary-tippy?

If springtime-wet cottonwood is about the same as wet oak, I can move anything 14" and under on my own, maybe bigger.  The biggest tree is a V, and about 2.5' by 4' right at the base.  Then the two trunks are only 2' diameter, the other trees a touch smaller. :O

My tentative plan is: 
Tree guys create carnage
I do branches and small stuff with my own splitter until the weekend
My guy comes, we rent  the splitter and split a lot of wood
He leaves, there are still millions of chunks I can't move, I post for labor help on CL
Does that sound about right?

By the way, for moving a huge wet round with two people, even for just getting it into a wheelbarrow, is it useful to have something like a sling/loop of rope?  Or anything else?

Thanks!


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 4, 2012)

Annette, no worry about these things being unsteady for what you are doing. I know the newer models are built narrower than our older unit but that only bothers if one goes thought the woods in extremely unlevel terrain or goes too fast. I know of only one fellow though who has tipped one over. His own fault though.

Some like to make some type of sling but I've never tried that and don't think it would gain you much. Have you considered buying a cant hook? Sure makes rolling big logs easy. It also works great when cutting up the tree. Picture the log on the ground. You can't cut all the way through without coming into contact with the ground. That will dull the chain super fast; like right now. But if one cuts 3/4 or a little more through the log, then rolls it with the cant hook to finish the cut, that works great.


----------



## annette (May 4, 2012)

Thanks for the info, Dennis.  I wonder if that hook may be handy for cutting big branches, which we will have to deal with on our own.  (I definitely know I don't want my chainsaw blade to touch dirt!)  Otherwise the tree people say they will cut everything to 16."  

How hard/dangerous is it to do an up-down cut on a huge round, to make two half-rounds?  I could see us considering that once our backs get sore.


----------



## Iembalm4aLiving (May 4, 2012)

I'm working on splitting up a monster cottonwood that used to live in our back yard.  It's tougher to split than most, but it can be done.  I've found that larger rounds go easier if you split an edge off (like 4 or 5 inches) first, and then go from there.  It's kind of stringy and will give you a work out.  But once dried it will burn. 

I'm using a 12 ton gas splitter.  Certainly not a monster.  But it does just fine.  Like the others have said, give your electric a shot and see what happens.  You may be surprised.

Good luck!

Greg


----------



## Ashful (May 4, 2012)

annette said:


> How hard/dangerous is it to do an up-down cut on a huge round, to make two half-rounds? I could see us considering that once our backs get sore.


 
Since I normally do all my splitting by hand, I often end up ripping large or difficult rounds in half, and then splitting pieces out of each half with the maul.  It's very easy, and very quick, if you rip with your bar parallel to the grain.  It goes so fast and easy, that some saws have trouble clearing the chips fast enough, and may frequently clog.

That said, I have a rental splitter in my back yard right now.  Trying to get a jump start on next year.  Pounded thru almost one full cord in about 1.5 hours this evening.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 5, 2012)

annette said:


> Thanks for the info, Dennis. I wonder if that hook may be handy for cutting big branches, which we will have to deal with on our own. (I definitely know I don't want my chainsaw blade to touch dirt!) Otherwise the tree people say they will cut everything to 16."
> 
> How hard/dangerous is it to do an up-down cut on a huge round, to make two half-rounds? I could see us considering that once our backs get sore.


 
Some do that but I don't like it so just will not cut that way. When I split by hand, the big ones got split with sledge and wedges. I think that is still easier than doing it with the saw.Here is a picture of our atv and trailer. That was taken a year ago December when we just started the annual cutting. Notice the cant hook in the trailer.





Do you like cottonwood? Check this one out. That is my wife in the pictures.




.


----------



## annette (May 7, 2012)

Holy schmoly, Dennis!  It looks like she thought about that tree falling on her house, and passed out.    I would, too.

My electric splitter is a whopping 5 tons, so I don't think it's going to do a lot for us.  It also moves pretty slowly, even with using a spacer block.  It's always been fine for me before, especially since it's what I could afford (and no gas engine to fuss with!).  But for trying to split 5 trees worth of wood, I think we need a little more power and speed!

Sigh.  I can see us filling up the yard with racks of wood, then once we run out of room we'll be stacking cut and split firewood on the street to try to give away!  :'(


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 7, 2012)




----------



## nate379 (May 7, 2012)

I'd be be knocking those stacks over with an excavator if that was my neighbor!


----------



## annette (May 8, 2012)

I don't think I'd park my car there.  Isn't there a limit on how high it's safe to stack wood?  

I just set up our dates with the tree guy, and for a couple hundred more he'll take away a lot of the big chunks from the front yard.  Hooray!  So our stack will only be 1/2 the height you see in the photo


----------



## Jags (May 8, 2012)

Annette - (welcome back) get those pros to do as much for you as you can.  If you have huge rounds that you just can't hardly deal with, then have them hauled off.  Let them do the bucking to your 16-18" range (what ever your stove will take).

For your purpose - a vert/horiz machine will definitely be the way to go.  They are stable, so you shouldn't have a problem there.  As Dennis said, a cant hook may be very helpful in moving those rounds to the splitter.

Your question about cutting a round into two halves is referred to as "noodling" a round.  It can be done, but is usually reserved for bigger sized saws, otherwise is can be painfully slow (if I remember correctly, you have a smaller CC saw (not sure that I am remembering correctly, though)).

When you have your "guy" help - get the big stuff done, then you can work on the smaller/easier stuff.  Concentrate on the big stuff while you have the help.  Stacking can always happen later.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 8, 2012)

nate379 said:


> I'd be be knocking those stacks over with an excavator if that was my neighbor!


 
Why?


----------



## Realstone (May 8, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Why?


I'd hollow it out & live in it.


----------



## bogydave (May 8, 2012)

[quote="Backwoods Savage, post: 1118346, member: 1624"[/quote]

"househausen" stacking technique?
The bottom 4' row is the one I want to burn first, Now what?  LOL 
Cool pic.
I'm guessing the white sign says "Wood for sale" , "you load",  "top first please"


----------



## nate379 (May 8, 2012)

It's beyond ridiclous, looks to be easily 25-30ft high!  I can see a storm come through and wood is falling over my cars, children, me, etc.



Backwoods Savage said:


> Why?


----------



## annette (May 8, 2012)

"Noodling" was just an idea I had, if case even the 16" lengths are too heavy to easily move.  We would have to rent a bigger chainsaw, since mine is a mighty 12".  (0 CCs, actually   )  And if I'm renting a big chainsaw, I guess I could just cut it into slices.

The tree people will be here the beginning of next week, so until the reinforcement arrives for the weekend I'll just be doing the branches and chipping the twigs.  I don't think I'll split any of the branches, since I don't need to burn this wood anytime soon.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 9, 2012)

Rather than noodling, I'd simply split it by hand. A sledge and wedge can do wonders and I hate noodling.


----------



## cptoneleg (May 9, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Rather than noodling, I'd simply split it by hand. A sledge and wedge can do wonders and I hate noodling.


 


Don't forget Moisture Meters you hate them also.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 9, 2012)

Nope. Don't hate them. Just can't see any sense in wasting dollars on buying one.


----------



## woodsmaster (May 9, 2012)

noodling isn't bad with a large saw.


----------



## annette (May 10, 2012)

I'm not a fan of swinging a sledgehammer, (I need to keep my back from getting any worse) but I'm not a fan of moisture meters either. I did buy one, and found having to resplit to get a reading was kind of annoying, and then I dropped it and couldn't trust the reading anymore.  Then I learned how to do the "chin test," and life is good.  Yes, the meter was wasted money.  But everyone on here was talking about moisture meters, and not the chin test, so I bought one


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 10, 2012)

Annette, swinging a sledge hammer need not be that difficult. Many moons ago after injuring my back pretty bad and 3 surgeries, I was left with a choice. I had tried buying some wood from someone who I thought would give us some good wood but his idea of good wood was right off the stump. Fortunately it was ash and we got through but barely. Then I got some big ash rounds. What to do? Hire someone to split it? Nope. Daily I would split a couple using sledge and wedge....and this with a very sore back. It was work just dragging my body out to do the work but it needed done. So what I did was stand one round up, put a hot seat on it and sit my body down. Using sledge and wedge, I split the wood! All I did was tap the sledge onto the wedge and although it took a while, I got the splitting done. I could not pick the wood up but I got the danged stuff split. That is just one way of getting the job done but one that worked great for that condition. Fortunately we came to our senses and purchased a hydraulic splitter. I've been smiling every sense!


----------



## bogydave (May 10, 2012)

I would love to have a tree big enough to "have to noodle it" to load it.
So far a 22" round, biggest so far, I was able to roll onto the trailer & split vertical when I got it home.

I don't have a MM either, if I did I'd still burn the oldest driest wood I have. Gotta burn what you got , regardless of what moisture content it is.
I don't like or dislike a MM, just don't see the need for one in my situation.
But if I start buying C/S/S wood that is said to be "seasoned". I might get one to test it "just to prove a point".
But I'd buy wood this year to burn next year (knowing it would need to be drier than most wood sellers here deliver) .

annette: so now you have to rent a big saw & a log splitter. Then taste the splits.  LOL   We'll need pictures


----------



## annette (May 11, 2012)

Is that some sort of "first blood" thing?  But I might get Cottonmouth from tasting it!  But at least my trees aren't dogwood.  And no, I would not like a little taste of Heaven (as in "Tree of")!

Maybe we can start a rumor on here that chewing on the wood will tell you how seasoned it is.  :D


----------



## Mr A (May 11, 2012)

In my neighborhood, renting a wood splitter is is $100 per 24 hours. Tow behind, and tilt up to split vertically. Make sure you get all the pins in solid when tilting up and no chance it will tip. Keep your hands away from the steel rail that the splitting wedge operates on. The one I rented had a back plate perpendicular to the splitting wedge. I always pay attention when working with tools, and good thing. While holding a not so straight cut across round, and operating the levers for the wedge to come down, I barely missed my hand being caught between the back plate and the round, I was only looking out for the wedge. I have a Stickler wood splitter from Ebay, $300. Yea, I know, it looks dangerous, a lot of things are. I have split a lot of  huge knotted oak rounds with it no problem, and it is not so scary once you use it a while. Best part is, it is cheap, it works, and I dont have to rent a splitter.


----------



## Ashful (May 11, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Rather than noodling, I'd simply split it by hand. A sledge and wedge can do wonders and I hate noodling.


 
In my case, it depends on the circumstances. I do more than 90% of my splitting with a maul, and the rest with the sledge and wedges. I was recently working a whole pile of cedar, and this stuff was so nasty full of knots it wouldn't come apart even after splitting with wedges, but my saw went thru it rip-style like a hot knife thru butter. It was a hell of a lot easier to split half-rounds after ripping the rounds once with the saw, than wearing myself out trying to drive the halves apart with a sledge.



Mr A said:


> I have a Stickler wood splitter from Ebay, $300. Yea, I know, it looks dangerous, a lot of things are. I have split a lot of huge knotted oak rounds with it no problem, and it is not so scary once you use it a while. Best part is, it is cheap, it works, and I dont have to rent a splitter.


 
This is what he's talking about. http://www.thestickler.com/article7d4c.html?id=5842

As someone often enough accused of doing crazy dangerous stuff, that thing even scares me a little.


----------



## Jags (May 11, 2012)

Mr A - I am glad to see that you finally got that dang pig from the insurance commercial.. ... Weeeweweweeeeeee.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 11, 2012)

Joful said:


> In my case, it depends on the circumstances. I do more than 90% of my splitting with a maul, and the rest with the sledge and wedges. I was recently working a whole pile of cedar, and this stuff was so nasty full of knots it wouldn't come apart even after splitting with wedges, but my saw went thru it rip-style like a hot knife thru butter. It was a hell of a lot easier to split half-rounds after ripping the rounds once with the saw, than wearing myself out trying to drive the halves apart with a sledge.


 
Well I can agree with cedar as that cuts pretty darned easy. It also doesn't try to break your back when you pick it up.


----------



## dorkweed (May 11, 2012)

annette said:


> I'm not a fan of swinging a sledgehammer, (I need to keep my back from getting any worse) but I'm not a fan of moisture meters either. I did buy one, and found having to resplit to get a reading was kind of annoying, and then I dropped it and couldn't trust the reading anymore. Then I learned how to do the "chin test," and life is good. Yes, the meter was wasted money. But everyone on here was talking about moisture meters, and not the chin test, so I bought one


 


What is this "chin test"????


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 12, 2012)

dorkweed said:


> What is this "chin test"????


 
This is usually performed by young lads attempting to establish the pecking order.


----------



## whatisup02 (May 12, 2012)

Joful said:


> In my case, it depends on the circumstances. I do more than 90% of my splitting with a maul, and the rest with the sledge and wedges. I was recently working a whole pile of cedar, and this stuff was so nasty full of knots it wouldn't come apart even after splitting with wedges, but my saw went thru it rip-style like a hot knife thru butter. It was a hell of a lot easier to split half-rounds after ripping the rounds once with the saw, than wearing myself out trying to drive the halves apart with a sledge.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
I think I would pass on that one to.


----------



## annette (May 13, 2012)

The "chin test:"  Only works on wood at general room temp, not out in the snow.  But it will save you from putting a hisser on the fire, or tell you if the whole stack is good to go, or not.  You touch the end of the split to your chin, or cheek.  If it feels cool, it's going to hiss or smolder.  It takes about 3 pieces of wood to get a properly calibrated chin, and hitting your chin on the ground will not make the tool unreliable (unless you hit it really, really hard)


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 13, 2012)

What about banging the head on the wall.....


----------



## annette (May 14, 2012)

Any tool can be broken if you try hard enough.  Of course, you must already be soft in the head to want to, so will you really get anywhere bashing a pillow-noggin into the wall?


----------



## Punky (May 14, 2012)

Now let me say a thing or two about Cottonwood from the state of Massachusetts. I had a 4 foot diameter tree delivered in a grapple load. It was easy cutting, but MISERABLE splitting. My 27T Troy Bilt splitter moaned, groaned and strained on those rounds, worse than twisted Beech. They STANK like a failed septic system. The wood was so stringy, nearly every split required complete wedge travel to "tear" the wood apart.

The wood had so much water in it, the stacked and top-covered splits grew huge plumes of mold and Fungi. They dried very quickly and burned hot.

This wood leaves NO coals and tons of ash, it's very hard to start a new fire. It's great for shoulder season, but for all the work I would insist grapple loads from now on are *COTTONWOOD FREE*. That one tree yielded over 2 cord. Live and learn.


----------



## annette (May 15, 2012)

Wow, I really hope my trees won't be stinky or stringy.  So far I have only split the dead stuff that puts holes in my roof, and it was easy.

If having the wood hauled away was free, I'd have them do it.  I actually like maple enough to drive down the street to get it, then split and stack it.  But I would rather not do all this work for it to be cottonwood that I put in the stove.

They're coming tomorrow, hopefully all will go well!


----------



## Crane Stoves (May 16, 2012)

dont allow any young children to try it! it seems every year we have injury's or fatalities from some "wing nut" dad letting his children near a splitter or chipper that he rents! its one thing to have a 17 year old learning and helping but for the love of god keep the entire area clear and off limits of any 7 or 8 year olds while your working.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 16, 2012)

annette said:


> Wow, I really hope my trees won't be stinky or stringy. So far I have only split the dead stuff that puts holes in my roof, and it was easy.
> 
> If having the wood hauled away was free, I'd have them do it. I actually like maple enough to drive down the street to get it, then split and stack it. But I would rather not do all this work for it to be cottonwood that I put in the stove.
> 
> They're coming tomorrow, hopefully all will go well!


 

Ah, hum.... Cottonwood, when freshly cut, is not the sweetest smelling wood for sure. Once dried it is fine.


----------



## annette (May 17, 2012)

The cottonwood hasn't been too stinky so far.  I also got a limb trimmed off an oak (it was shading the veggie patch) and that oak was pretty strong-smelling too--and I've been around a lot of oak while it was cut down.  It was also a bit stringy as I split it (the oak--haven't touched any cottonwood yet) so I wonder if it's a different species than the few I've done already.  Or if splitting it within an hour of being cut makes things different.

I filled up one wood rack just with the upper branches of one cottonwood.  This yard is going to be SO full of woodracks...


----------



## Freeheat (May 17, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> View attachment 66654
> 
> 
> View attachment 66655


 
Is  that photo shopped????


----------



## hobbyheater (May 17, 2012)

annette said:


> Lastly--anyone want some cottonwood????


 
Cottonwood ,ugly stuff to split ,sledge and wedge ,and not since my teen years on the farm. A word of caution on burning , it is really bad for large flying embers , so only burn in damp weather if you have a cedar roof!


----------



## clemsonfor (May 17, 2012)

I can move my buddies splitter pretty easy by hand, assuming ground is not soft or your not going up a pretty steep hill.  Its a 20ton unit and is at my house as i speak.

Um a 12" saw, yea your gonna have to get a bigger say to cut those rounds up. And yea it will be way quicker to split with wedges than try and cut it length wise. But i have a larger Stihl ms390 saw and i can rip even a pretty big log lengthwise in not much time with way less effort that banging my brians out with hard splitting wood. The trick is only going like half way through then hand splitting it the rest of the way.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 17, 2012)

annette said:


> The cottonwood hasn't been too stinky so far. I also got a limb trimmed off an oak (it was shading the veggie patch) and that oak was pretty strong-smelling too--and I've been around a lot of oak while it was cut down. It was also a bit stringy as I split it (the oak--haven't touched any cottonwood yet) so I wonder if it's a different species than the few I've done already. Or if splitting it within an hour of being cut makes things different.
> 
> I filled up one wood rack just with the upper branches of one cottonwood. This yard is going to be SO full of woodracks...


 
With oak, many do not like the smell of red oak but most like white oak.  There are many types of oak trees (someone told me there are like 50 types) but mainly you'll find the ones with leaf that pointed and others that are more rounded. The pointed are in the red oak family and are the strong smellers. The rounded are the white oaks. One curious thing is that deer love acorns....from white oaks mainly. They will eat some red oak acorns but only after the whites are gone. However, another curious thing is that every fall we see deer picking up the acorns from a pin oak (red) and that is a bit puzzling.

Splitting within an hour or a month won't make much difference. We do all our cutting from December through February and then do all the splitting after snow melt. This year we did not have to wait a bit for snow melt. lol


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 17, 2012)

es332 said:


> Is that photo shopped????


 
Not really sure about that. Those pictures had been posted on this forum in the past. I make no claim to them.


----------



## dorkweed (May 17, 2012)

Is an "oodle" a standard unit of measure here on this site???   If so, I've missed it.  Can someone provide a conversion factor for me!!


----------



## nate379 (May 18, 2012)

All depends on the kid I'm sure. At 8 years old I was already running stuff not closely supervised such as tractors, skid loadors, snowmobiles, trucks, etc... and certainly the wood splitter. My Dad didn't let us mess with the chainsaw at that age though. Can't blame him, that pro mac 610 he has is a heavy beast!

I had a kid helping me out the last few weekends with some dirt moving and other yard work.  Up until then he had never used a wheelbarrow or yard tractor (ZTR type).  He did pick it up quickly but he's a junior in high school and drives a car.



doug crane said:


> dont allow any young children to try it! it seems every year we have injury's or fatalities from some "wing nut" dad letting his children near a splitter or chipper that he rents! its one thing to have a 17 year old learning and helping but for the love of god keep the entire area clear and off limits of any 7 or 8 year olds while your working.


----------



## Jags (May 18, 2012)

dorkweed said:


> Is an "oodle" a standard unit of measure here on this site??? If so, I've missed it. Can someone provide a conversion factor for me!!


 
Oodle - sometimes referred to as a pile or a bunch.  The oodle is exactly 1/3 of an asspile.  Common slang terms include but are not limited to: face oodle, Rack and bush oodle.

Hope this helps.


----------



## whatisup02 (May 18, 2012)

Jags said:


> Oodle - sometimes referred to as a pile or a bunch. The oodle is exactly 1/3 of an asspile. Common slang terms include but are not limited to: face oodle, Rack and bush oodle.
> 
> Hope this helps.


 
LMAO


----------



## lukem (May 18, 2012)

Jags said:


> Oodle - sometimes referred to as a pile or a bunch. The oodle is exactly 1/3 of an asspile. Common slang terms include but are not limited to: face oodle, Rack and bush oodle.
> 
> Hope this helps.


 

There are 5 gobs to an oodle, and 4 oodles in a s#!%load.


----------



## annette (May 19, 2012)

I have around 9 oodles of cottonwood all over my yard right now, or more likely, 10 s%^tloads of cottonwood in a 5 s^&tload yard.  I am so tired.  I've filled 5 woodracks so far (and built them too).  I've used my little splitter to split the smaller big rounds (what's the technical term for THAT??) and I'll be happy to have the big splitter so I won't have to lift the huge rounds into place.  Also, my little splitter can't do Vs.  The cottonwood usually splits pretty cleanly.  Not like maple, but OK.

Tomorrow we get the big splitter, AND I'll have my helper for 2 days!   We're renting it from a coworker, so we're getting it for a few days and not paying a lot.  I did have several toddlers lined up to help on the splitter--their tiny hands are so good at clearing jams!--but instead I'll just have them stack the wood.  (just kidding!)

I'll have to peruse some of the likely oak species.  The tree guy, in passing, said a different oak in my yard was a pin oak.  I think we may have some white, some red; the deer come for acorns, but I sometimes still slip around on acorns, there are so many left on the ground.


----------



## bogydave (May 19, 2012)

Got any pictures?


----------



## Backwoods Savage (May 19, 2012)

Annette, the pin oaks tend to have the lower limbs pointing down and they die off early. Pin oaks are also terrible with so many limbs, even when grown deep in the woodlot. As for those acorns and slipping, on a heavy acorn year it is like walking on marbles all the way up our driveway which is about 100 yards. Good that you are getting the bigger splitter.

I agree with Dave, it would be nice to have some pictures.


----------

