# Work Done  In 2020



## thewoodlands

I'm late but after some help with the thread title from @Woody Stover , the 2020 thread has started.

I have some American Hophornbeam ,Maple and Elm that needs splitting, that should be done by tomorrow afternoon. The attached picture is the A.H. that I'll be splitting.


----------



## Woody Stover

Sweeet, I got the first post!    Just a token amount of work to offer, though.
I pulled up some big-bore ammo..3/4 quad load, 2/3 BL and 1/3 Pignut to complete this on-deck stack near the door. It's the cleaner-looking wood on the top. It's just a question of time until some real cold arrives; Now I'm ready.


----------



## thewoodlands

Woody Stover said:


> Sweeet, I got the first post!    Just a token amount of work to offer, though.
> I pulled up some big-bore ammo..3/4 quad load, 2/3 BL and 1/3 Pignut to complete this on-deck stack near the door. It's the cleaner-looking wood on the top. It's just a question of time until some real cold arrives; Now I'm ready.
> View attachment 254863


It looks like some solid firewood, we're thinking the same on the cold coming in so we'll put two nice loads of sugar maple and whatever else is mixed in with it tomorrow.


----------



## EODMSgt

Dropped a standing dead ash yesterday afternoon. Cut it in sections, drug them down the hill, cut into rounds, loaded up and brought home. A little punk at the very top but otherwise a good score. Almost at the point where I'll have to switch from the ATV to the snowmobile to get to this area.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Dropped a standing dead ash yesterday afternoon. Cut it in sections, drug them down the hill, cut into rounds, loaded up and brought home. A little punk at the very top but otherwise a good score. Almost at the point where I'll have to switch from the ATV to the snowmobile to get to this area.



Nice work @EODMSgt , when I needed some extra traction when I was cutting in the winter, I put some chains on the back tires which did the trick.


----------



## SpaceBus

I prepped the tractor, but we haven't yet had enough snow to do anything about it yet.

Edit, I'm also thinking about putting the front chains back on as well. The dealer mechanic said he wouldn't recommend having the chains on the front unless I'm going to be in muck or deep snow. Apparently it's hard on the differential, which I assumed to be open. Do any of you more experienced tractor owners have any input on this? I don't take the forestry chains off the back, but the mechanic said that's fine.


----------



## EODMSgt

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @EODMSgt , when I needed some extra traction when I was cutting in the winter, I put some chains on the back tires which did the trick.



Sound advice Woodlands. I do have front and rear chains in the garage for the ATV, I just have been holding off putting them on. The chains will help on the main trails however some of the areas I'm hauling wood out of are at the point where it's just getting too deep. Add the weight of the loaded trailer and it gets bogged down quick. Besides, it's fun using the snowmobile and sled.

On a different note, I went out this morning and hauled a windblown maple out and then went back in the afternoon and took down a standing dead red oak. Everything was hauled out to the ATV by hand (as usual). Not a bad stack for today and yesterday's scrounge score (12' wide at the base and 6' high).


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Sound advice Woodlands. I do have front and rear chains in the garage for the ATV, I just have been holding off putting them on. The chains will help on the main trails however some of the areas I'm hauling wood out of are at the point where it's just getting too deep. Add the weight of the loaded trailer and it gets bogged down quick. Besides, it's fun using the snowmobile and sled.
> 
> On a different note, I went out this morning and hauled a windblown maple out and then went back in the afternoon and took down a standing dead red oak. Everything was hauled out to the ATV by hand (as usual). Not a bad stack for today and yesterday's scrounge score (12' wide at the base and 6' high).
> 
> View attachment 254926
> View attachment 254927


Very nice stack of rounds. I've used my sled a few times with the sled behind it but it was for trail clearing after a ice storm.


----------



## thewoodlands

Pictured is the first load of two that we put in today, it's a combo of sugar and soft maple.


----------



## Woody Stover

EODMSgt said:


> went out this morning and hauled a windblown maple out and then went back in the afternoon and took down a standing dead red oak. Not a bad stack for today


Hmmm, blue snow..do you live near the nuke plant?


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been hauling all my wood lately the manual way.  The yard is to wet and muddy to bring out the tractor.  My younger lab tears it up just running.  I do have some tractor work lights to install that my brother bought for me.  The temps have been mild lately I have not been burning through the wood like most January's.  I have a lot to cut and split and stack but I need some of my other wood burned to make room.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> I have been hauling all my wood lately the manual way.  The yard is to wet and muddy to bring out the tractor.  My younger lab tears it up just running.  I do have some tractor work lights to install that my brother bought for me.  The temps have been mild lately I have not been burning through the wood like most January's.  I have a lot to cut and split and stack but I need some of my other wood burned to make room.


Once we get the rain and melt, I'll keep the tractor of the trails until it freezes again too. We just started to burn some better wood that we burn near the end of December, last year mother nature made winter last too long.....hopefully that won't happen this year.


----------



## heavy hammer

Friday and Saturday has the temps close to 60 with rain, and even next week is not that bad for mid January.


----------



## EODMSgt

Woody Stover said:


> Hmmm, blue snow..do you live near the nuke plant?



Yeah, the cool, soothing glow of living near Chernobyl.

Didn't get out of the woods until the sun was going down (which right now is around 1630). Pic was low light.


----------



## shortys7777

Almost finished stacking my oak. Ran out of room. There's another full cord to the left of the pic. hopefully finish tomorrow if the rain holds out. The stuff on the right is some soft stuff the neighbor gave me. Probably use it for camp fires next summer.


----------



## Gearhead660

Had some clean up to do after the ice storm last night.   Got about a half truck load of pine from the trees in my yard.


----------



## SpaceBus

Lots of rain and most of the ice is gone. I suspect there will be no ice at all if the temps stay high tomorrow. Hopefully it gets cold Sunday night so I can fell some trees on Monday.


----------



## heavy hammer

Rain and 60 here I stacked wood in the garage today and was outside most of yesterday and today.  It is rainy and muddy but had to stay inside when it is this warm in Jan.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.5 at the moment with rain, lots of trucks from different power companies went north of here today, the online report says there's over 100  trucks up here so they can help if needed.

All the rain today with the temp hitting 54 removed what ice was left on the driveway.


----------



## SpaceBus

We are now free of any ice near the house and it should stay above freezing until the rain stops.


----------



## thewoodlands

Looking at the long range forecast, the nights will start getting down to the single digits or even some minus temps so tomorrow we'll put in some American Hophornbeam .(Ironwood)

@SpaceBus , we were going to hook the sander up to the tractor yesterday but they kept dropping the ice accumulation for our area, we didn't get any. I'm glad your area didn't get hit hard.


----------



## sweedish

Indiana wood said:


> rookie mistake. Don’t ever try and “help” the wood splitter. I have a splitter that came with a four way splitter. I was splitting some ash that was stringy and as the wedge passed I thought I’d “help” speed up the process by grabbing the split and pull it apart. Well that didn’t happen and as the wedge kept going the tighter the damn thing squeezed my stuck finger. I did have gloves on BUT they didn’t really help. I didn’t have anything close to pull it apart and the longer I waited the tighter it was getting. I finally just pulled it out. Damn that hurt. It was bruised and hurt a couple of days. The splitter is on its own from now on


----------



## sweedish

added onto the existing wood storage shed, did that about 2 weeks ago before frost got too deep, side and roof is in the trailer next to it, hopefully get that on this week. With this addition I should be 3 years ahead, each bay stacked holds about 6.5 cords. 
Been too muddy to do serious cutting, after Thursday there is supposed to be a cold snap so the ground can freeze. The Laying dead I’d like to go after is in a soggier area.


----------



## JimBear

I got some wood cut today, about 1/2 cord of Cherry in the pickup & thinking about 2 cord of Mulberry in the straight truck. I am thinking there is about another 2 cord of Mulberry yet to be split. It should help to fill up the wood storage & my brothers farm. 
Already about 1/2 cord of Hackberry & 3 cord of Cherry there.


----------



## SpaceBus

I cut a dozen trees on Monday and today I pulled most of them down. I'll post up some pics after I get the last few down with the winch.


----------



## thewoodlands

We put a small load of Ironwood (American Hophornbeam) in today


SpaceBus said:


> I cut a dozen trees on Monday and today I pulled most of them down. I'll post up some pics after I get the last few down with the winch.


I take it the wife is feeling better, what type of trees did you get?


----------



## SpaceBus

thewoodlands said:


> We put a small load of Ironwood (American Hophornbeam) in today
> 
> I take it the wife is feeling better, what type of trees did you get?


Mostly some small dying fir with a couple of decent spruce logs. Monday a friend came to help and yesterday my wife kept an eye on me while I pulled the trees down with the winch. Somehow I even convinced her to pull the rope and engage the winch. In a week or two she will be able to help me work a bit rather than supervise.


----------



## JimBear

I got a bit more Mulberry split up today before I had to go to work,  I’m not sure I will get the rest done before it gets snowed over Thursday night - Saturday. Hoping that the wind will take the leaner down, its cut at the base but held up in the Hedge trees.


----------



## thewoodlands

With our area in for some possible snow (the new forecast is 7 inches) I decided that it was time to check some of our trails. Everything was fine until the west end of our biggest ravine, mother nature took a cherry down so I opened it up and brought some of the rounds home.

Picture 9989 is one of our main trails, and the rest are of the ravine or looking down in it.


----------



## Gearhead660

JimBear said:


> I got a bit more Mulberry split up today before I had to go to work,  I’m not sure I will get the rest done before it gets snowed over Thursday night - Saturday. Hoping that the wind will take the leaner down, its cut at the base but held up in the Hedge trees.
> 
> 
> View attachment 255258
> View attachment 255259
> View attachment 255261
> View attachment 255262


That was a big Mulberry...


----------



## SpaceBus

648 is after Monday
649 is after Tuesday
654 is After dragging down the last few logs this morning. Most of the big logs are fir and have heartwood rot at the base. Most of these logs will probably end up as firewood. I'll probably get several dozen more by the end of winter.


----------



## SpaceBus

I'm thinking about using some of the 4-6" diameter stem portions from the top of the trees to make a log cradle.


----------



## Woody Stover

JimBear said:


> its cut at the base but held up in the Hedge trees.


I love the way the Hedge branches; They look spooky, like something that you would see on Halloween night that would send shivers up your spine.


----------



## JimBear

Gearhead660 said:


> That was a big Mulberry...


For the base being hollowed out it was surprisingly solid from there up. I have a couple on my brothers farm that have to come out due to a new fence being are pretty healthy also


----------



## JimBear

Woody Stover said:


> I love the way the Hedge branches; They look spooky, like something that you would see on Halloween night that would send shivers up your spine.



Those Witch’s fingers are pretty stout, they grab anything close & refuse to let go. The low hangers that I don’t see usually send a few curses up when they rake across my face.


----------



## thewoodlands

SpaceBus said:


> 648 is after Monday
> 649 is after Tuesday
> 654 is After dragging down the last few logs this morning. Most of the big logs are fir and have heartwood rot at the base. Most of these logs will probably end up as firewood. I'll probably get several dozen more by the end of winter.


How many stumps will you be grinding up when you're done felling?


----------



## SpaceBus

thewoodlands said:


> How many stumps will you be grinding up when you're done felling?


All of them, so about 15 currently. I'll probably wait until I can see them better before I try to grind them. We got 6" today.


----------



## thewoodlands

SpaceBus said:


> All of them, so about 15 currently. I'll probably wait until I can see them better before I try to grind them. We got 6" today.


We received about the same, ours was not a heavy snow.

AccuWeather is saying we could another 6-10 Saturday and Sunday.


----------



## shortys7777

Jealous of that land and equipment.


----------



## SpaceBus

thewoodlands said:


> We received about the same, ours was not a heavy snow.
> 
> AccuWeather is saying we could another 6-10 Saturday and Sunday.


Yeah, I saw that we are probably going to get another 6" on Sunday. I was hoping to get some more trees, but I have to put the blower back on.


----------



## EODMSgt

Didn't get anything cut, split or stacked but did redo how I'm carrying the gear on the ATV. Too much weight on the composite rack on the front of the Polaris (and a pain when accessing the compartment underneath) so everything is now secured on the steel back rack.


----------



## SpaceBus

EODMSgt said:


> Didn't get anything cut, split or stacked but did redo how I'm carrying the gear on the ATV. Too much weight on the composite rack on the front of the Polaris (and a pain when accessing the compartment underneath) so everything is now secured on the steel back rack.
> 
> View attachment 255366
> View attachment 255367


Did you fabricate the chainsaw holster? I need something like that for my tractor.


----------



## EODMSgt

SpaceBus said:


> Did you fabricate the chainsaw holster? I need something like that for my tractor.



The chainsaw holder is a Moose ATV product. There are a bunch of different ones out there for tractors. I'm looking at something like this for my Kioti:









						SawHaul Universal Chainsaw Carrier | GearHaul.com | Official Site
					

SawHaul is the original universal chainsaw carrier mount for Tractors, UTVs, Lawn Mowers, Man Lifts, and more. Proudly made in Kansas!



					www.sawhaul.com


----------



## SpaceBus

After blowing snow today with the tractor I am thinking very hard about a hydraulic top link.


----------



## thewoodlands

After scraping down the driveway with the plow on the tractor, we put in two loads of firewood before the possible 8 inches of snow we might get.


----------



## heavy hammer

Me and the labs filled the garage back up last night before the rain and snow hit.  Around 530 pm or so I noticed my electric fence for the dogs one of the red lights was out the one that shows you have a continuous loop.  They both pretty much know their boundaries but I didn't like that it was off, so me and the younger lab with my head lamp were able to find the break and had it fixed within a couple of hours.  Nothing better than looking for a a needle in a hay stack in the dark.  I'm glad I was able to find it and repair it before the four inches of snow then the freezing rain showed up, it would not have been a fun day.  Plus I have a garage full of dry locust for the coming cold this week.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> me and the younger lab with my head lamp were able to find the break and had it fixed within a couple of hours


spit fire? teaching cable splicing to the pup?


----------



## SpaceBus

We might be getting 8" here tonight and tomorrow morning. I'll be starting at 0500 tomorrow morning for getting it cleared. In anticipation I made sure my house is ready so all I will have to do is run the tractor blower and the walk behind.


----------



## SpaceBus

kennyp2339 said:


> spit fire? teaching cable splicing to the pup?


I wish my dogs could splice cable!


----------



## kennyp2339

got almost 3" of sneet - snow & sleet mix, cleared 4 driveways off with the kioti.


----------



## Woody Stover

kennyp2339 said:


> got almost 3" of sneet - snow & sleet mix, cleared 4 driveways off with the kioti.


Care to detail how you were able to domesticate the Kioti?


----------



## heavy hammer

*kennyp2339 I wish he could splice cable and help haul wood.  He was just running the perimeter with me to find the bad spot.  My older lab had enough of being outside after about three hours, but my younger never runs out of energy.  We are now getting snow with temps falling so we shall see what we end up with by tomorrow morning.*


----------



## shortys7777

nothing crazy but cut up some dead wood.  Maple, oak, cherry before the show came.


----------



## MMH

Hey guys I apologize this post probabaly doesn’t really belong here but not sure where to put it, for arguments sake I did some work cleaning my stove! I did a clean out on the stove today, last one was December 1st so it’s been about 2 months. This is what I got out of the pipe, very fine, powdery, thinking right about a cup maybe a smidge more or less. This is from December 1st 24/7 burning. I think this is pretty good but still a newbie so wanted to ask, is this a good amount or to much etc and also can I just burn this in next fire?


----------



## kennyp2339

MMH said:


> This is from December 1st 24/7 burning. I think this is pretty good but still a newbie so wanted to ask, is this a good amount or to much etc and also can I just burn this in next fire?


you looking good, you did drop the baffle board right? sometimes people forget and theres a bunch of crap on top of it. Yes burn away, that stuff wont cause any harm.


----------



## SpaceBus

We got 7-8" here today.


----------



## thewoodlands

Today I used the snowblower after doing some roof raking and then it was back on the tractor for some plowing of the trails around the property the house is on, we have some nice walking trails again.


----------



## heavy hammer

We ended up with about 8 inches or so and some cold temps.  After today we are supposed to get a warm up of temps in the 40's for awhile.  Just when I thought the mud might be done for a little.


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> We ended up with about 8 inches or so and some cold temps.  After today we are supposed to get a warm up of temps in the 40's for awhile.  Just when I thought the mud might be done for a little.


I'm not looking forward to this warm weather either. I'll probably end up with an ice sheet....


----------



## thewoodlands

SpaceBus said:


> I'm not looking forward to this warm weather either. I'll probably end up with an ice sheet....


We're in for above freezing temps this week with some possible rain coming in this weekend, it might be time the sander gets put on the tractor.


----------



## sweedish

Gathered about 3 cords today, green box elder in the first load, followed by 2 loads of laying dead cherry and quaking aspen. Stacking the box elder to season for another year before stacking it in the woodshed.


----------



## sweedish

sweedish said:


> Gathered about 3 cords today, green box elder in the first load, followed by 2 loads of laying dead cherry and quaking aspen. Stacking the box elder to season for another year before stacking it in the woodshed.



still trying to get 3 years ahead, have enough wood for this year and next, now working on following year. I bought a mini excavator and dump trailer so the gathering is going much faster.


----------



## Woody Stover

sweedish said:


> still trying to get 3 years ahead, have enough wood for this year and next, now working on following year. I bought a mini excavator and dump trailer so the gathering is going much faster.


I'm pretty sure all those wood can be dry by next fall, if you split and stack now..


----------



## thewoodlands

I cleaned some chains up and then sharpened them on the grinder, hopefully tomorrow I can find a damaged tree that needs felling. Tomorrow we'll put in a few loads of firewood, AccuWeather is saying we could get 6-10 inches of snow.


----------



## heavy hammer

I'm hoping to get some wood in this weekend in between the rain.


----------



## thewoodlands

We put in two loads of firewood today after I plowed the driveway, we still have six full face cord left that we had planned on burning this winter.

Looking at the temps for February, I don't think we'll even get to some of our better wood. About two years ago, I s/s some not so great wood, we've burned almost three face cord of that this year because of the warmer winter.

I did get two chainsaws ready for tomorrow which I plan using to fell some dead pine. I'll split it and then burn it in the outside fireplace this week, I have enough dry pine that I can get the fire going and then add the newer dead pine.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Finally got out to the splitter today.  Working on some big 26-30” white oak rounds so didn’t get a whole lot in the shed. Very time consuming noodling rounds into 1/4s just so I can lift them on the splitter. Kind of sucks actually but I’m not going to be picky when the tree guy pulls down the driveway with a dump trailer full of wood he is trying to get rid of. If I had someone to run the splitter I could use my my mini excavator to do all the heavy lifting, however, if I sat around waiting for help all the time nothing would ever get done.


----------



## thewoodlands

I felled a dead pine today and after bucking it up, I moved it over to the fireplace where I'll split it and then burn it.


----------



## heavy hammer

It has not been a bad winter at all so far.  I have been burning here and there but I'm not going through as much as I normally would this time of year.  It has been a tough winter to use the tractor since nothing will freeze, and I don't feel like tearing up my yard.


----------



## thewoodlands

I split that rotting pine I felled and bucked up yesterday, hopefully all this chit will be burned by tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## Woody Stover

thewoodlands said:


> I felled a dead pine today and after bucking it up, I moved it over to the fireplace where I'll split it and then burn it.


Even in the dead of winter, you chuck enough wood to put those TV woodchucks to shame.


----------



## SpaceBus

I had expected to burn much more and get more trees down. The mild weather keeps me from using the tractor.


----------



## Gearhead660

Got a couple loads of what i thought was all elm today.  No limbs or bark so hard to tell what it is.   Lots more where it came from...new cutting land.


----------



## thewoodlands

The dead pine I split the other day was put in the reducer today, by 12:30 this afternoon all the splits were in fireplace and throwing some nice heat. Picture 0017 is what I started with and the rest are from the start to finish.

Tomorrow I'll look for two Ash that I can fell on Monday, have a good and safe Super Bowl Sunday.

My best guess on a winner and score is,

San Fran - 24
K.C. - 17


----------



## Woody Stover

thewoodlands said:


> I think the over-under is over 50..did you get some skin in the game?
> San Fran - 24
> K.C. - 17


----------



## kennyp2339

The plan today is to move about 2 cords worth of splits from my back yard pallet stack and into the woodshed, its been pretty mild here and the yard seems dry enough to drive on with the machine, might as well take advantage of the weather and start my mid spring chore of loading up the wood shed early, I'll post pics later since I haven't done much posting recently.


----------



## thewoodlands

None at all, I think in the last four years the only game we watched is the Super Bowl and that's more for the commercials.


----------



## Hksvr4

Just started my wood pile.  Split with the Fiskerx27 and wheel barrel.


----------



## thewoodlands

Hksvr4 said:


> View attachment 256373
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just started my wood pile.  Split with the Fiskerx27 and wheel barrel.


Nice work @Hksvr4 , what types of wood did you get?


----------



## Hksvr4

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @Hksvr4 , what types of wood did you get?


No idea. I know it was fresh cut that someone delivered it to me free.  If anyone can ID them that would be great. Could be maple.


----------



## kennyp2339

Done, almost 2 cords brought to the shed, ended up hitting a lot of mud in the none grass areas


----------



## heavy hammer

Kennyp2339 nice pics!  I have been been carry all my wood lately since I just don't feel like destroying the yard.  Just me carry to fill the garage back up and running the younger lab my yard is taking a beating.  My daughters don't even like driving their new power wheel lately since everything is so muddy.  We got a couple of inches of snow last night just to have temps around 50 today.  I just washed vehicles and cleaned the garage.  Last night while working the younger lab in the woods he tore his right paw pad open real bad so it was a quiet day for the dogs.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> Kennyp2339 nice pics!  I have been been carry all my wood lately since I just don't feel like destroying the yard.  Just me carry to fill the garage back up and running the younger lab my yard is taking a beating.  My daughters don't even like driving their new power wheel lately since everything is so muddy.  We got a couple of inches of snow last night just to have temps around 50 today.  I just washed vehicles and cleaned the garage.  Last night while working the younger lab in the woods he tore his right paw pad open real bad so it was a quiet day for the dogs.
> 
> View attachment 256404


That sucks @heavy hammer , I hope your dog is feeling better.


----------



## kennyp2339

@heavy hammer wow, that's horrible, hope the pup can take it easy to heal up fast. that 66" snow bucket is the best, 9 loads got me almost there, needed 10 but that's all I had split and stacked so far, needed to empty the pallet rack, its been so wet the past 2 years here that the ground settled and my pallet stacks had a bad lean to them, time to make space in the splitting area and get ready to regrade if it ever dries out.


----------



## heavy hammer

I don't know if things will ever truly dry out.  He is a tough little guy he has torn his paw pads before working to hard.  Last winter I had to put him in little booties for a few weeks after a day of retrieving he opened up a couple pads on his paws.  It was very difficult to get him to heal since he is so active and the ice kept tearing them back open every time he ran outside so a set of little paw boots and he was good.  I appreciate the concern, in his 7.5 years he has tore him self up a few times.  He just doesn't have an off switch or an easy mode it is full go all the time.  I think he has a small diesel motor for a heart.


----------



## thewoodlands

I hand filed the rakers down on six chains and then sharpened two of those chains with a round file.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Nothing. Mud mud and more mud. I need to move a holtz hausen up to the shed but it’s to damn muddy to do anything. It’s February right?


----------



## SpaceBus

I've been putting off outdoor stuff, but today I have to cut some wood shorter for the cookstove. I guess it has been a weird winter everywhere.


----------



## heavy hammer

The forecast here for the next week or so doesn't have temps very cold maybe a little freeze but not enough to keep anything frozen just more mud and wet conditions.  I had to take the poor pup in today to get his paw sewn back together it just wouldn't close up and he was still limping.  Plus he has a couple of lumps one on the top of that paw and one on his back right leg by his knee that they want to remove.  Hope the results come back benign for the little guy.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> The forecast here for the next week or so doesn't have temps very cold maybe a little freeze but not enough to keep anything frozen just more mud and wet conditions.  I had to take the poor pup in today to get his paw sewn back together it just wouldn't close up and he was still limping.  Plus he has a couple of lumps one on the top of that paw and one on his back right leg by his knee that they want to remove.  Hope the results come back benign for the little guy.


I hope the test results come back with some good results for you.


----------



## heavy hammer

I appreciate it.  The results for my older lab a few months ago were good so I'm hoping for the same.  It sucks that my boys are getting up there in age, but they have had a good bill of health this far so I'm confident it will continue.


----------



## SpaceBus

I cut a few weeks of cookstove firewood to length. I can't wait to not need to deal with this next season.


----------



## SpaceBus

The cut ends make decent fuel once a fire or coal bed is established. They don't work well for starting a fire.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

SpaceBus said:


> The cut ends make decent fuel once a fire or coal bed is established. They don't work well for starting a fire.


It’s all btus. I save and burn pretty much everything that a log can offer. I use all the splitting scraps to start fires instead of super cedars or fat wood. It’s amazing how much energy a single log contains.


----------



## SpaceBus

RandyBoBandy said:


> It’s all btus. I save and burn pretty much everything that a log can offer. I use all the splitting scraps to start fires instead of super cedars or fat wood. It’s amazing how much energy a single log contains.


My cookstove is picky on start up so I use a product like super cedars. It's nice to warm the flue with a nearly smokeless product. I also have a few hundred lbs of cutoffs sitting around my property from cutting wood shorter to fit the cookstove.


----------



## heavy hammer

That's why I like the cedar poles they are very dry and you can start a fire from just the small pieces when splitting them up no paper needed and the pieces are thrown away every day at work  free kindling/ fire starter material.


----------



## shortys7777

Took care of 4 trees on the edge of my property.  3 completely dead and the 4th was showing some for. All oak. This was the base of one of them.  Glad it's gone now.  More pics to come.


----------



## heavy hammer

I filled the garage back up yesterday afternoon and filled the kindling barrel back up.  It was pretty cold last night I saw 4 at about 1 in the morning.  The house was very toasty throughout the night.  Were supposed to have temps back in the 30's and 40's now so back to mud.  My younger labs paw is healing nicely and his lump came back noncancerous.  It was quiet being out in the woods and carrying wood with them in the house.  But he should be good for the coming weekend.


----------



## mcdougy

Getting some done....maybe 4 cords total, not all in the picture.


----------



## thewoodlands

Since it was nice out today I decided the chimney/pipe would get cleaned on the wood stove inside and out. Tomorrow I'll do the same on the pellet stove.

While putting in a couple loads of wood today, I noticed one lug nut was missing on the utv trailer tire we use so we made a trip to Advance Auto and purchased three.

I'm hoping this week that I can fell two maples that are damaged that are just off a secondary trail on the house property.


----------



## Medic21

First day since December it’s been frozen enough to get back to the woods around here. Cut up and processed about three cords of red Oak. And then tried to kill myself hanging a walnut up that I had to wedge over against its lean in a birch tree.  Split it up for about a total of 4 cords to haul tomorrow and Saturday morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

Medic21 said:


> First day since December it’s been frozen enough to get back to the woods around here. Cut up and processed about three cords of red Oak. And then tried to kill myself hanging a walnut up that I had to wedge over against its lean in a birch tree.  Split it up for about a total of 4 cords to haul tomorrow and Saturday morning.
> 
> View attachment 257371
> View attachment 257372
> View attachment 257373
> View attachment 257374
> View attachment 257375


Nice work @Medic21 , we have some warmer weather coming in starting tomorrow so I plan on getting two damaged maples.


----------



## heavy hammer

Medic21 it seems like all of us are in the same boat as you.  We finally had temps cold enough for the ground to freeze these last couple of days but like thewoodlands said we are looking at 40's this weekend maybe even close to 50.  So back to mud.


----------



## shortys7777

Started splitting the rounds from the trees I cut down a couple weeks ago. Trying to get all my wood set before i start my kitchen renovation once it warms up a bit. My wife told me no wood while that's going on.


----------



## SpaceBus

I haven't been out doing too much. The weather has been chaotic to say the least. I'm hoping on Monday to get a few more trees down.


----------



## JimBear

Works not done but have made some progress. First 2 pics are Osage & what doesn’t make fence posts will be firewood. 3rd pic is Mulberry.


----------



## SpaceBus

Nice sunset!


----------



## heavy hammer

Looks good a good days work there.  I want to go and cut I either don't have time of the weather has not cooperated.


----------



## thewoodlands

I did a full clean on the pellet stove inside and out today, took the truck in and washed the salt off it and then took the 4540 Mahindra and cleared some snow,slush and water down in the woods away from the new garage.

We're expecting rain,wind with 3-6 inches of the heavy white stuff starting on Wednesday.


----------



## SpaceBus

Cleaned up some chains and shortened another few weeks of wood for the cookstove. Can't wait to be done cutting splits shorter.


----------



## BigJ273

JimBear said:


> I got some wood cut today, about 1/2 cord of Cherry in the pickup & thinking about 2 cord of Mulberry in the straight truck. I am thinking there is about another 2 cord of Mulberry yet to be split. It should help to fill up the wood storage & my brothers farm.
> Already about 1/2 cord of Hackberry & 3 cord of Cherry there.
> 
> View attachment 255250
> View attachment 255251


That’s beautiful


----------



## Woodcutter Tom

Medic21 said:


> First day since December it’s been frozen enough to get back to the woods around here. Cut up and processed about three cords of red Oak. And then tried to kill myself hanging a walnut up that I had to wedge over against its lean in a birch tree.  Split it up for about a total of 4 cords to haul tomorrow and Saturday morning.
> 
> View attachment 257371
> View attachment 257372
> View attachment 257373
> View attachment 257374
> View attachment 257375


Could you please tell me how long will it take for that walnut to season properly? What MC are you aiming before you burn it?  I have walnut that bubbles and smokes.  It was cut down 3 years ago. I cut into rounds and split last spring.


----------



## JimBear

After it’s split I would think 2 years probably 3 would be best. Everyone one I have spoken with said it’s slow to season.


----------



## Gearhead660

Woodcutter Tom said:


> Could you please tell me how long will it take for that walnut to season properly? What MC are you aiming before you burn it?  I have walnut that bubbles and smokes.  It was cut down 3 years ago. I cut into rounds and split last spring.


I burned through walnut this winter that I split 2 years ago.  Burned great, nice and dry after 2 years.


----------



## kvesi122

Had 4 large trees dropped this week. 2 oaks, 1 huge dead pine (30”+) and one live pine.

Busted out the Pro Mac 10-10 and 55. The main trunks of the 2 oaks are bucked and split with the Fiskars now. Shoulders need a rest.


----------



## shortys7777

Tackling some more ash this weekend.


----------



## shortys7777

Need to make another trip. It didn't fit.


----------



## JimBear

This is the last load of Mulberry I have down. I have to get some more landscape fabric & pallets down to finish stacking, then drive some steel posts & wire up some cattle panels.


----------



## Gearhead660

Another productive weekend in the woods.


----------



## Woody Stover

kennyp2339 said:


> Done, almost 2 cords brought to the shed, ended up hitting a lot of mud in the none grass areas
> View attachment 256394


Does the snorkel thingie on the the end of the shed roof measure wind speed, temp and dew point,  then predict how much additional drying will take place in the shed? Man, you guys are high-tech.


----------



## SpaceBus

Yesterday I prepped the tractor and saws. Today my wife and I are going to fell a few trees.


----------



## kennyp2339

Did a little more splitting this weekend, didn't get as much done as I wanted to because of the weather, what started off as a chilly but decent morning turned into a heavy snow shower and a stiff northwest wind that was blowing at 10-15, the temps dropped from 38 to 27 and it was just uncomfortable, to warm to wear a jacket, to cold for just a heavy sweatshirt and work bibs so after 4 hrs of bucking and splitting I hung it up, did get about a cord done, trying to mix the small logs and really big ones to keep flow going.


----------



## kennyp2339

Woody Stover said:


> Does the snorkel thingie on the the end of the shed roof measure wind speed, temp and dew point,  then predict how much additional drying will take place in the shed? Man, you guys are high-tech.


Its just a home weather station I got for x-mas one year, its actually pretty cool, all the info goes onto a main tablet which just sits on a coffee table, but it also gets re-linked to wifi and I can see the current conditions on my I phone, whats real nice is the indoor sensors, I can see what the temp is inside the house and get an idea of what the stove in the basement is doing.


----------



## kennyp2339

JimBear said:


> Works not done but have made some progress


Well my little pile isn't much lol. what you thinking 20 cords all said and done?


----------



## JimBear

kennyp2339 said:


> Well my little pile isn't much lol. what you thinking 20 cords all said and done?


I doubt there will be much over 4-5 cord of Osage after I cut the posts out or that’s what I’m hoping for. The post will pay more than the firewood. I got about 4 cord out of the Mulberry (pic with the sunset)


----------



## SpaceBus

SpaceBus said:


> Yesterday I prepped the tractor and saws. Today my wife and I are going to fell a few trees.


We are up to 8 today, probably 8 more after we take a break.


----------



## kennyp2339

JimBear said:


> I doubt there will be much over 4-5 cord of Osage after I cut the posts out or that’s what I’m hoping for. The post will pay more than the firewood. I got about 4 cord out of the Mulberry (pic with the sunset)


Either way that's some prime stuff, I had the pleasure of burning locust and mulberry, that stuff runs laps around my typical oak and ash.


----------



## SpaceBus

SpaceBus said:


> We are up to 8 today, probably 8 more after we take a break.


OK, we called it quits after 14 total. A few were more like bean poles, but a few were 16"+


----------



## heavy hammer

Me and the labs filled the garage back up yesterday.  Everything was just a mud pit with the temps close to 50 and melting all that snow.  Now with it raining today the yard  is a disaster.  Soon I'll be cutting into those log piles.  At least the temps are in the upper 40's and low 50's most of the week.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

SpaceBus said:


> My cookstove is picky on start up so I use a product like super cedars. It's nice to warm the flue with a nearly smokeless product. I also have a few hundred lbs of cutoffs sitting around my property from cutting wood shorter to fit the cookstove.


How is your cook stove working out for everyday cooking and baking?  I want one real bad but the wife is hesitant and would refuse to use it in the summer.


----------



## SpaceBus

RandyBoBandy said:


> How is your cook stove working out for everyday cooking and baking?  I want one real bad but the wife is hesitant and would refuse to use it in the summer.


Haha, we will probably use ours in the summer, but without baking and in the evening once the sun goes behind the trees. I love baking in it, as does my wife. Neither of us miss the electric range, until I fumble lighting the stove and smoke gets in the house. I can get the cooktop up to temp in about 10-15 minutes and the oven in 45-60 minutes. In milder weather the cooker can heat the house, which means it stays burning all day (if I'm home) and then the DHW needs very little electrical assistance. My wife also has mixed feelings on a cooktop that has no dead spots like a normal stove top. If you miss your pot or spill something, it's most likely burning to the top. The glass is easy to scrape clean and polish, but steel or iron can be more work in that department.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

SpaceBus said:


> Haha, we will probably use ours in the summer, but without baking and in the evening once the sun goes behind the trees. I love baking in it, as does my wife. Neither of us miss the electric range, until I fumble lighting the stove and smoke gets in the house. I can get the cooktop up to temp in about 10-15 minutes and the oven in 45-60 minutes. In milder weather the cooker can heat the house, which means it stays burning all day (if I'm home) and then the DHW needs very little electrical assistance. My wife also has mixed feelings on a cooktop that has no dead spots like a normal stove top. If you miss your pot or spill something, it's most likely burning to the top. The glass is easy to scrape clean and polish, but steel or iron can be more work in that department.


We currently have an electric range and we both hate it immensely. We have an app on our phones to where we can track our energy usage and holy crap. Our dryer is electric to so there is a double suck between the two. I will probably end up putting in a gas range (we have natural gas) however if I had my way it would be a beautiful wood cook stove.


----------



## SpaceBus

RandyBoBandy said:


> We currently have an electric range and we both hate it immensely. We have an app on our phones to where we can track our energy usage and holy crap. Our dryer is electric to so there is a double suck between the two. I will probably end up putting in a gas range (we have natural gas) however if I had my way it would be a beautiful wood cook stove.


The wood cook stove is better than a gas (nat or propane) stove in my experience. I do plan on putting in a small two burner electric setup during the kitchen remodel, but that might be a while. Either way I plan on cooking outside this year once it warms up. The electric range indeed used a lot of electricity and we also hated cooking in it, coming from a propane range oven previously. My wife was really on the fence, and likely would have said no, but she liked the bit of energy independence it brought us.


----------



## SpaceBus

We don't have AC, so we weren't baking in the summer anyway. It still got to 80df for a day or two here last sumer.


----------



## thewoodlands

We put a load of cherry in this morning,  we had stopped burning from this stack early on when the weather turned colder.


----------



## JimBear

Well here is 2020’s work thru today. I need to clean up some shorts & scraps.  I also need more pallets, steel posts & panels for the Osage that I get after cutting posts.  I have a few more Mulberry’s & Cherry’s that I can take down but I am sick of stacking @ the moment. This should dry well on top of the hill with hay on one side & pasture on the other. 
L-R
2/3 cord of Hackberry
3 cord of Cherry
8 cord of Mulberry


----------



## thewoodlands

It's not done yet but I'll start on this pretty soon. Pictures 0068,0069,0071,0072,0073 & 0074 are from a pine that Y'd about 15 to 20 feet up the tree, it started splitting earlier this winter and we lost one part of the Y (pic 0071) about three weeks ago and lost the other side last night when we had some pretty good wind gust.

North of here recorded 47 mph wind gust so I'm thinking we had some above 50 since our elevation is higher.


----------



## Woody Stover

Well, I made some kindling, does that count as work done? 
This is from a Pine beam out of an old barn. Who knows, could be over a hundred years old?? Solid heartwood of who knows what kind of Pine? Still smells very "Piney."I got about three times the amount shown in this pic.
I dig a hole in the clinkers I keep in the front of the firebox, drop a small, lit SC chunk down in there where it won't get smothered, then put a kindling or two on top.


----------



## thewoodlands

I did get enough of the pine that came down bucked up and out of the way so the trail is open.

While checking the snow depth in the gully in the back, I noticed this small maple that had some rot going on, I took care of that and brought the tops to an area so the deer can eat the buds.


----------



## Woody Stover

thewoodlands said:


> I noticed this small maple that had some rot going on, I took care of that and brought the tops to an area so the deer can eat the buds.


Yeah, the Sugar Maples here succumb to trunk rot sometimes. Not sure why.
Had to take down a big yard guard last year, and now this volunteer isn't looking too good, either.


----------



## heavy hammer

I put a little wood in the garage and filled up the kindling barrel.  I have not burning much with the warmer temps but I have been trying to keep the garage full with dry wood since it is only the middle of march.  Played with the girls practicing baseball yesterday and ran the younger lab doing goose and duck retrieves.  A cooler weekend but dry.


----------



## kennyp2339

Todays agenda is to clean the chimney real quick, then cut and split some more, still got about 4 cords worth of lengths, it will be nice to get at least a cord done.
I wanted to put the backhoe attachment on the tractor and dig out 2 stumps, but snow is forecasted Monday so I'll leave the rear plow on for now incase I need to do a quick scrape, actually I want a few inches of wet snow, I have so much fine silt / dirt in the driveway that the snow with the plow will pull that crap out and clean up the pavement.


----------



## SpaceBus

The skies are clear today so we will be working on trees today.


----------



## heavy hammer

I  cleaned the stoves last weekend and gave the chimneys a quick couple of sweeps with the brush.  I have not been burning much but, I have a lot of wood to cut just has been to wet to try and get to it yet.  Kennyp2339 how has work been are they splitting you guys up int small groups and putting you out of different locations till this blows over?


----------



## heavy hammer

I decided to take the saw and cut today it was muddy and messy but a good excuse to go outside for a little.  I barely touches my one log pile and I filled up one of my stacks from this winter burning.  Mainly locust but a little ash, maple, and cedar in there.  Chase and Copper were there to keep me company and hang out.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> View attachment 258442
> View attachment 258443
> View attachment 258448
> View attachment 258446
> View attachment 258447
> View attachment 258449
> 
> I decided to take the saw and cut today it was muddy and messy but a good excuse to go outside for a little.  I barely touches my one log pile and I filled up one of my stacks from this winter burning.  Mainly locust but a little ash, maple, and cedar in there.  Chase and Copper were there to keep me company and hang out.


Nice work @heavy hammer , I heard it rained pretty hard out in your area.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had a lot of rain Thursday into Friday.  Yesterday was a dry day just cold and muddy.  Kennyp2339 gave me the idea to go and cut plus it was an excuse to get out of the house.  My two little e girls have been stir crazy with all shut downs and closures.   I feel for them they are to young to understand what is happening.  They just know that they can't really go anywhere for a few weeks.  Hope everyone is staying healthy and not going insane.


----------



## SpaceBus

The pile so far. There's probably 8 more good sized logs left in the woods. I probably should have taken the photo from the butt end...


----------



## thewoodlands

This was my first time back in since the last wind event, most of my time was spent clearing branches from the trails.

Before I headed back in we put two loads of hardwood in, pic 0087 (11 this morning).

Picture 0088,0090 is a damaged ash in what we call the bowl, pic 0091 & 0092 is a small damaged beech up in the bowl and the last two pics are coming out of the bowl.


----------



## JimBear

My brother is going to build a new fence on a property they just bought so rather than let them doze everything into a huge pile I told him I would take the Cherry & 1 small Hackberry. I didn’t realize there were 3 Ash trees in the fence line. I will try to get them between rain storms this week.

Here’s my Cherry & Hackberry from today, now it just needs split.


----------



## Woody Stover

JimBear said:


> Here’s my Cherry & Hackberry from today, now it just needs split.


Nice get!  
Man, that's a big Hack!  I guess that's what happens when they get a lotta sun.
My nephew scored some more wood from his work buddy, who's been clearing a couple spots on his property. He didn't even know the pickup flatbed/dump load was coming; He pulled up at home, and there it was. 
Red Maple this time, so we hand-split it this afternoon. Looks to be 1/2-2/3 cord. Should be dry by fall, I think. The guy is bringing five more loads. I don't know if it will all be bucked to length like the first load was, but if so it won't take them long to get well ahead on dry wood.


----------



## Medic21

I would like to say I hate you all.  I would need a hovercraft to get back to the woods right now.


----------



## JimBear

Medic21 said:


> I would like to say I hate you all.  I would need a hovercraft to get back to the woods right now.


I was stunned I could get as close I did, it’s pretty mushy around here, rain every other day. We had 1/2” of wet snow yesterday morning then light rain all afternoon.


----------



## JimBear

Well the weather guessers were wrong, no rain today. I got the Cherry & Hackberry split this morning & all the Ash cut & most of it split. Just the big chunks left.


----------



## Woody Stover

Oooo, that Ash looks nice and clean, too.  
Those are some meaty splits; What are you burning 'em in? Can put stove in your signature..


----------



## JimBear

Woody Stover said:


> Oooo, that Ash looks nice and clean, too.
> Those are some meaty splits; What are you burning 'em in? Can put stove in your signature..


Century FW3000


----------



## JimBear

I even had an empty spot to put the Ash


----------



## Woody Stover

Holy carp, how many rows deep are those stacks??


----------



## JimBear

Some are 1, some 2 & most are 3. L-R
Small pile of Mulberry3 rows deep & 1 row high needs split, Mulberry 3 rows deep,  Osage 3 rows deep, American Elm 2 rows deep needs split, Oak 1-1/2 rows, empty spot is now Ash 1 row, Cherry 2 rows, Honey   Locust 3 rows, Osage 3 rows, Mulberry 3 rows cut off end off pick, then one row of Siberian/American Elm for another 45’.


----------



## NickW

I just split some 20"-22" long ash rounds I got from a tree service that were chainsawed into quarters... over 2'x2' on the flats. So wet I could barely lift them, didn't register on the moisture meter so I think that means over 50%. 89 years old. I'll post some pics of our recent activity to get ahead on the wood supply after we cut a tree down for a lady from church tomorrow... No personal contact though, she stays in we stay out. Pretty sure my piles don't compete with JimBear though.


----------



## Woody Stover

JimBear said:


> 3 rows deep


Slow going here when I stack three deep, with my stacks in the woods to varying degrees where there's not a lot of breeze in the summer.
Now in IA, where it's already windy to begin with and out in those bean fields, I bet wind rips through the stacks so hard that it peels the bark off and blows it into the next country!   Probably none of that "stack it for three years" nonsense for _you..  _


----------



## NickW

Bark here on Windy Acres sometimes ends up 20 feet from the nearest pile... 

Tree by the lady from church was way bigger than I remembered and had lines through it I didn't realize were there. Should have done a little more recon before saying I'd do it. 7 hours later the trailer is full, the truck is half full, made 4 runs to the village heap with brush and the trunk with 1 branch is still standing - branch is over the power line and neighbors driveway. Will go back with the chains and aircraft cable and pull it over with the old diesel.

Stacks in photo are beech, maple and ash - about 4 cord or so split and stacked. More ash in the truck and trailer. Not nearly what JimBear has, but a start on getting several years ahead. I expect to go through about 3 cord a season with the new stove. Plenty more to haul and split too.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> I  cleaned the stoves last weekend and gave the chimneys a quick couple of sweeps with the brush.  I have not been burning much but, I have a lot of wood to cut just has been to wet to try and get to it yet.  Kennyp2339 how has work been are they splitting you guys up int small groups and putting you out of different locations till this blows over?


Im working from home now, they gave me a truck, Toughbook, chargers ect… I wake up, check the truck, turn my phone on, sign in on the computer and wait for my orders, we can pair up if needed but need to keep 6ft away when possible, bigger jobs make it safe, standby and let a three man crew come in.


----------



## kennyp2339

NickW said:


> but a start on getting several years ahead.


I also use metal fence posts to hold my ends, they work great, for added strength I took a nylon rope, stacked wood about 3ft high, tied the rope even with the stack, then ran it to the other t-post on the other side of the pile, tied it off stacked more wood on the rope, as the weight increases it forces the rope down into the split groves tightening itself make that t-post super tight to the wood stack.


----------



## NickW

I find it interesting you guys talking about osage, mulberry & hackberry.  I don't think I've ever seen a hackberry or osage or would know how to ID them (other than I just googled osage). The only mulberry I've seen in WI was very small, although I recall a big one at a project house for a retreat workcamp in Ill or IA... It sounds like you have significant size and quantity of them... Although, I may not be well traveled enough or have enough connections here in WI? I just got my first beech last year from 2 different spots...


----------



## JimBear

I’m not sure but I don’t think that Osage Orange grows much north of I-80 in Iowa, I could very well be mistaken. Maybe some of the folks from northern Iowa/ Illinois & Southern WI can chime in.  Mulberry trees grow everywhere here, I have seen Mulberry trees around here up around 24”@ base but they usually are starting to get hollow/rotten at the base. Mulberries often grow in a clump type formation. Hackberry is a middle of the road firewood as far as btu’s, it seems to dry well. They can get rather large  36”+ @ base around here, I usually only cut them if they are in a fence row or due to be shoved out for land improvements. As far as Beech goes I don’t believe I have ever seen one or that they even grow around here.


----------



## NickW

Beech have a smooth bark. The opinions expressed here are that it is an excellent firewood but can take a little longer to season (like oak). I speed seasoned a couple of splits near the stove and they certainly burned hot and left great coals.


----------



## moresnow

JimBear said:


> I’m not sure but I don’t think that Osage Orange grows much north of I-80 in Iowa, I could very well be mistaken. Maybe some of the folks from northern Iowa/ Illinois & Southern WI can chime in.  Mulberry trees grow everywhere here, I have seen Mulberry trees around here up around 24”@ base but they usually are starting to get hollow/rotten at the base. Mulberries often grow in a clump type formation. Hackberry is a middle of the road firewood as far as btu’s, it seems to dry well. They can get rather large  36”+ @ base around here, I usually only cut them if they are in a fence row or due to be shoved out for land improvements. As far as Beech goes I don’t believe I have ever seen one or that they even grow around here.


Agree with you. I only wish I had some Osage Orange up here. Mulberry and Hack is thick up here. We only take either as a second choice as well. Zero Beech here that I have layed hands on.


----------



## NickW

Well, now you guys have piqued my curiosity about beech! Did a little research and they only grow into the easternmost edges of WI & Il. Farther south they range west a bit more. I've included a couple of photos next to pieces of ash and maple for comparison. You can see how smooth the bark is - almost aspen-like... inside has a nice pink tint almost similar to cherry I'd say, but it seems to lose the color more as it ages.


----------



## Gearhead660

NickW said:


> I find it interesting you guys talking about osage, mulberry & hackberry.  I don't think I've ever seen a hackberry or osage or would know how to ID them (other than I just googled osage). The only mulberry I've seen in WI was very small, although I recall a big one at a project house for a retreat workcamp in Ill or IA... It sounds like you have significant size and quantity of them... Although, I may not be well traveled enough or have enough connections here in WI? I just got my first beech last year from 2 different spots...


Lots of Mulberry near me in southern WI.  Once you have one, the birds eat the berries and spread the seeds like crazy.


----------



## thewoodlands

This was a wind damaged ash up in the bowl, all the rounds are back home and ready for splitting.

Pic 0096 is where I cut it away from the stump, 0097 is the first section I cut that rolled down the hill, 0098 ended up being 0099 after I pulled it down the hill and the rest are the two loads I brought home.


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> This was a wind damaged ash up in the bowl, all the rounds are back home and ready for splitting.
> 
> Pic 0096 is where I cut it away from the stump, 0097 is the first section I cut that rolled down the hill, 0098 ended up being 0099 after I pulled it down the hill and the rest are the two loads I brought home.


That bucked up wood in pic 102 looks a little green...


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> That bucked up wood in pic 102 looks a little green...


Yea, that was some soft maple mother nature took down that was very punky many years ago. I'll get that cleaned up before fall.


----------



## heavy hammer

*kennyp2339 they have us broken into three or four man crews, and same guys on a crew no switching.  No meeting unless in the garage bay six feet etc. between.  Putting a big switch station for two of our transmission lines so we are busy just out in the woods away from everyone.  Stay safe brother to you and all the guys out there we will get through it one day at a time.*


----------



## SpaceBus

My wife and I have been working on a rudimentary livestock fence and building a chicken coop. We've been wanting a few animals, chickens, a few alpaca, maybe some pea fowl for a few years, but it seems more pressing now. Maybe in a year or two we can be more self sufficient.


----------



## mrd1995

Hksvr4 said:


> View attachment 256373
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just started my wood pile.  Split with the Fiskerx27 and wheel barrel.


I am new at the whole ID thing but it sort of looks like at least some of it is tree of heaven.


----------



## NickW

Got the rest of the church lady tree down today, no issues. It's amazing how big ash can quickly get. This one was only 37 years but 24". Bet I'll get 1 1/4- 1 1/2 cord from it...


----------



## mrd1995

In my eyes this is about as primo ash as you can get we have probably a half acre of EAB killed Ash that are under 12" and crowded so nice straight poles. Haven't checked it with a M.M. yet but it feels cer light compared to some other Ash I've cut recently. Only downside is super muddy, briar, and Poison Ivy.


----------



## ChadMc

mrd1995 said:


> In my eyes this is about as primo ash as you can get we have probably a half acre of EAB killed Ash that are under 12" and crowded so nice straight poles. Haven't checked it with a M.M. yet but it feels cer light compared to some other Ash I've cut recently. Only downside is super muddy, briar, and Poison Ivy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 258716
> View attachment 258715


I have a spot on our property too it’s the same. Maybe an acre of all straight 12-16” dead ash. So much fire wood to cut in this one little spot. The odd part is aside from the dead ash there’s only a few cherry trees down there. It’ll be a thick jungle soon once those ash are down.


----------



## mrd1995

ChadMc said:


> I have a spot on our property too it’s the same. Maybe an acre of all straight 12-16” dead ash. So much fire wood to cut in this one little spot. The odd part is aside from the dead ash there’s only a few cherry trees down there. It’ll be a thick jungle soon once those ash are down.



Sounds like the same woodlot, we have a few cherry mixed in as well. Already getting thick with the reduced canopy.


----------



## shortys7777




----------



## Woody Stover

shortys7777 said:


> View attachment 258743


White Ash?


----------



## SpaceBus

mrd1995 said:


> Sounds like the same woodlot, we have a few cherry mixed in as well. Already getting thick with the reduced canopy.


Will cherry trees get thicker with more light?


----------



## mrd1995

SpaceBus said:


> Will cherry trees get thicker with more light?


In my experience with environmental science ( three years in high school) Black Cherry no they typically do not. This maybe in part that they are an early emergence species, one of the first trees to grow during a field regenerative growth. They are usually slightly ahead of the other species sot they are not struggling for light, so no need for heavy dense foliage. Although this theory falls flat on its face for other early emergence species...


----------



## SpaceBus

mrd1995 said:


> In my experience with environmental science ( three years in high school) Black Cherry no they typically do not. This maybe in part that they are an early emergence species, one of the first trees to grow during a field regenerative growth. They are usually slightly ahead of the other species sot they are not struggling for light, so no need for heavy dense foliage. Although this theory falls flat on its face for other early emergence species...


We have some very small diameter 50' tall cherry trees. One fell over because I cut down the spruce next to it. The stump revealed the tree to be 50 years old, but only 6-7" diameter. Our property was likely logged in the late 60's or early 70's and is now mostly spruce, fir, maybe 5% mixed birch and 1% sugar and red maple. Some of the spruce are quite large, 24"+ dbh. A 20" fir dead fall nearby to the tiny diameter cherry was about 50 years old as well. 

This is the most boring thing I've ever read


----------



## thewoodlands

Just some splitting and stacking that I did today, in the stack we have ash and maple.


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> Just some splitting and stacking that I did today, in the stack we have ash and maple.


Last pic looks delicious.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Last pic looks delicious.


It's the first time the boss made it, Skillet Chocolate Chip something. We'll have some tonight with a scoop (s)  of ice cream.

Once I get the recipe, I'll post it.


----------



## Diabel

Itching to go out there and buck. 1’ of snow on the ground at lake still.


----------



## NickW

Current project. One on right is my running '92 Big Boss 250 4x6 that my elder son has crashed too many times. Left is '92 350 4x4 that I bought to scavenge parts from. Planning to use beefier bumper from 350 and other misc. parts. Original plan was to get the left strut support, but they're different. Still might work if I do both sides, but I think I'll see how long my redneck repair lasts first. He broke the back of the support where the tie rod end connects. I fixed it with 2 steel plates and duct clamp. You can sort of see it if you zoom in on the front of the 4x6.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Last pic looks delicious.


@Gearhead660 , this is the site my wife found the recipe.








						Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
					

Made using 100% whole wheat flour and hand-chopped chocolate chips, this is a skillet-baked twist on chocolate chip cookies. Spread the dough in an oven-safe skillet, and bake into a single mega-cookie.




					www.101cookbooks.com


----------



## SpaceBus

NickW said:


> Current project. One on right is my running '92 Big Boss 250 4x6 that my elder son has crashed too many times. Left is '92 350 4x4 that I bought to scavenge parts from. Planning to use beefier bumper from 350 and other misc. parts. Original plan was to get the left strut support, but they're different. Still might work if I do both sides, but I think I'll see how long my redneck repair lasts first. He broke the back of the support where the tie rod end connects. I fixed it with 2 steel plates and duct clamp. You can sort of see it if you zoom in on the front of the 4x6.


That thing looks rad! I really want an Argo 6x6 or any kind of amphibious ATV, preferably with 6 wheels.


----------



## NickW

The box is great, but they don't turn worth a darn! We call her "The Beast", and she surely is...


----------



## JimBear

I got a load of Osage picked up & moved to the stacking area today, first load of many. Anything under about 6” isn’t getting split. I need to round up some more pallets & steel posts. Also got what I assumed was an Elm ( it had no bark) but turned out to be a Walnut and snagged an American Elm also.


----------



## shortys7777

Woody Stover said:


> White Ash?


Oak


----------



## JimBear

Load #2 of the Osage


----------



## mrd1995

Cut and split, thinking Ash. Not sure honestly these northern PA woods are so different then my Southern PA roots. Was Dead and down for a while. The splits sound like wooden baseball bats tapping together. Thinking they maybe ready this year. Weight is right for dry white ash, could this be?


----------



## NickW

Could be ash... any 'D' shaped exit holes in the bark from EAB?


----------



## mrd1995

I did not see any, plus there was no trails under the bark. That's the only thing holding me up, I do have a thread for I'd as well.


----------



## Woody Stover

JimBear said:


> Load #2 of the Osage
> 
> View attachment 258882


Yellow gold! 


mrd1995 said:


> thinking Ash


Yessiree.


----------



## JimBear

Hopefully I can get these split & hauled out tomorrow before the rain sets in.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had two wind damaged maples one was already bucked up by the splitter and the one in the picture, what was left standing is the first picture and the top that was snapped off in the second picture.

Both loads were stacked.


----------



## JimBear

I was finally able to get back to Project Osage. Here’s load #3 it was the biggest one so far. I am thinking probably 2 more will clean it up.


----------



## thewoodlands

After doing some trail clearing for the wife, I decided that this wind damaged beech would get taken care of. 

Picture 0091 is the downed beech,0134,0135 and 0136 is the beech bucked up and in the trailer heading home. The last two are a snake who was getting some sun, there were another three small heads sticking  out hole near the stump but I couldn't get a picture.


----------



## EODMSgt

Nothing to write home about but it's the first scrounge of the season. I scored a truckload of maple and then went back for some beech. Some minor punk but mostly good wood. Trying to scrounge about 12 cord this year so I can go into next burning season with 20 CSS (don't burn anywhere near that however that is my 3-year ahead goal).


----------



## kennyp2339

Cut and split about 2 & 1/4 cords, another 3 to go


----------



## Woody Stover

kennyp2339 said:


> Cut and split about 2 & 1/4 cords, another 3 to go


Looks like a high-clearance quad..wish I had that.


----------



## kennyp2339

Woody Stover said:


> Looks like a high-clearance quad..wish I had that.


Nah, I’m just much lighter then you


----------



## Woody Stover

kennyp2339 said:


> Nah, I’m just much lighter then you


I'll be getting skinnier...I'm about outta food and she says I gotta stay home for a week and a half.


----------



## JimBear

Load #4 for from Project Osage











Here’s what I have tossed in for load #5
and what’s left to be split & tossed in.











And here’s a nice sunset & a Super Moon on the rise


----------



## kennyp2339

@JimBear  - Im lending my quad to @Woody Stover, corn ends look a little high and I don't want to see him get splinters, Im taking the tractor, be forewarned, we are going to disable the splitter, your making all of us look bad


----------



## JimBear

kennyp2339 said:


> @JimBear  - Im lending my quad to @Woody Stover, corn ends look a little high and I don't want to see him get splinters, Im taking the tractor, be forewarned, we are going to disable the splitter, your making all of us look bad


It will be shut down & I will gladly be social distancing myself from it after I finish with load #5  . I’m tired of seeing it but if you guys are still planning on making the trip to sabatoge it you may as well stay & help stack all that Osage.  There will be plenty of room to maintain 6’ separation in the 50’ I have set aside to stack it in.


----------



## Woody Stover

kennyp2339 said:


> @JimBear  - Im lending my quad to @Woody Stover, corn ends look a little high and I don't want to see him get splinters, Im taking the tractor, be forewarned, we are going to disable the splitter, your making all of us look bad


No worries, my butt is getting tough..it's calloused from staying home and sitting on it every day, all day.


----------



## SpaceBus

That's a lot of Osage.


----------



## JimBear

Here is load #5 & the final load from Project Osage. I was really hoping to get  more fence posts but they just weren’t there. Now comes the monotonous job of stacking it all.


----------



## NickW

Not wood, but the "Beast" lives again! The large monkey on it is the one that did most of the damage over the years... Smokes like crazy still, but it will serve it's purpose a little longer...


----------



## thewoodlands

I started this yesterday before the American CLS f'd up after splitting the first load so today I used the 20 ton MTD, I split the ironwood and the beech last and then I stacked it.

Pictures 0142 & 0143 are loads of cherry I s/s yesterday, 0146,0148,0149 are some ironwood stacked on top of some hard and soft maple and the rest is some beech and ironwood stacked with some cherry.


----------



## heavy hammer

Looks  like everyone is getting all there wood cutting done.  Hope everyone is staying safe.  Kennyp2339 I heard about that warehouse guy I hope you guys in Jersey are staying safe working till this is all over.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> Looks  like everyone is getting all there wood cutting done.  Hope everyone is staying safe.  Kennyp2339 I heard about that warehouse guy I hope you guys in Jersey are staying safe working till this is all over.


Thank you, I’ve had the pleasure with meeting and talking with Ponch numerous times before the company transition stores to a more regional platform, I was shocked when I got the email yesterday and it really brought things into perspective, he really was a great guy, he would go through hurdles if you needed anything, for all reading 55 yr old man, passed from the virus left behind a wife and 4 kids, 3 older but 1 14yr old son. 
thank you for your support in these tough times, I’m taking things one day at a time, also working on the pile to get my mind off of things, thankfully for once we are being proactive and we have gotten some  necessary ppe like gloves, masks, eye protection along with proper sanitizers.


----------



## heavy hammer

I hear you Kennyp2339 my wife is a nurse and with us still working and some guys being sent home for family members getting it, it is hitting close to home stay safe out there and I'm sorry for your loss.  Hopefully everyone can help his family out through these times.


----------



## Medic21

Haven’t been taking any pictures but, between the ambulance shifts I’ve gotten a ton of wood processed.  Power company is dropping trees left and right.  5 on family properties so far.  4 loads of locust and three of Ash in the last three days home.


----------



## SpaceBus

I might be dropping some 16" fir trees today. From the ring count on the limbs I took down the other day one of them is at least 50 years old.


----------



## kennyp2339

In between fire calls I finally finished bucking up all the rounds I had, feels good. I did buy some new files for blade sharpening, reshaped all my teeth with 10 strokes per tooth, then hit the chain after every 3rd tank of fuel, can’t believe how easy it was cutting. Tomorrow’s job is to split and stack all of this, hopefully I have at least 2 cords of wood in the rounds.


----------



## thewoodlands

I stacked the Maple I c/s today on the stack of cherry,ironwood and beech I started the other day and the second load went on a 16 foot long stack of ash I started some time back. (not pictured)

In the first picture you can see where it had been damaged and that is why I felled this Maple


----------



## heavy hammer

I ended up in the woods most of the day yesterday but not for processing wood.  I cleared out a path to this pond in the woods and cleared around most of it to have an area to work the dogs on some water retrieves.  My neighbor has a nice sized pond in the woods right on the property line but the pond is on his side but he said I could use it he is an older gentleman and we have a good friendship.  The dogs love the water and both ended up in it yesterday.  It was not the plan but it was such a nice day, me and my youngest daughter were back there clearing and next thing we were doing duck retrieves.  Just a good day to be outside.


----------



## SpaceBus

We took down one tree and limbed it yesterday before noon. Today it's two more. Going to get some pics once we go back outside and cut the logs to mill length and break down the rest of it. The plan is to start a garden where these trees were standing and use the limbs and unusable parts to form the soil since there isn't much of any topsoil here.


----------



## SpaceBus

The photo with the red outline is from last summer and shows the three trees we felled. The photo with the saw is the largest tree I've felled at 19.5" at the stump, about 17" DBH. I took the bottom 18-ish feet from each stem and set them aside for later. The rest I bucked into rounds to split later.


----------



## kennyp2339

Got her done, ready for the wind @heavy hammer


----------



## thewoodlands

I did move some stuff out of the woods to a safer area, the bucket and forks. In the first picture I dropped the plow (it's back on) and then moved everything along with the splitter.

We also put in two smaller loads of pine and some chitty hardwood for at night, we had 28 this morning.

I cleaned the 310 along with the 311, I also fired up the 660 with the 25 inch bar with chain ready if needed. I also started up the generator so we should be set.


----------



## sweedish

Unrelated note, I made a hand tool woodworking bench out of a white pine i had taken to a sawyer from my sister and brother in laws house. 
I used the offcuts and planer shaving  as fuel.


----------



## SpaceBus

sweedish said:


> View attachment 259311
> 
> Unrelated note, I made a hand tool woodworking bench out of a white pine i had taken to a sawyer from my sister and brother in laws house.
> I used the offcuts and planer shaving  as fuel.


Whoever milled the lumber cares. I see a lot of quarter and rift sawn pieces!


----------



## heavy hammer

I just got home fro working storm Kennyp2339.  That wind was relentless today.  We didn't get hit to hard today the last two weeks we have had some pretty good winds so this blow through was not a bad one.


----------



## sweedish

SpaceBus said:


> Whoever milled the lumber cares. I see a lot of quarter and rift sawn pieces!



I was there milling with the sawyer, I didn’t want any heartwood at all in the bench since it usually cracks.


----------



## sweedish

sweedish said:


> I was there milling with the sawyer, I didn’t want any heartwood at all in the bench since it usually cracks.



also I wanted a knot free top


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> I just got home fro working storm Kennyp2339.  That wind was relentless today.  We didn't get hit to hard today the last two weeks we have had some pretty good winds so this blow through was not a bad one.


We had some strong winds till about noon time, then it fizzled out, took out about 14k of people here, worked a 16 and prob another 8 today, we picked up all our big stuff, now is the nitty gritty time consuming stuff. Up where I live we got some good 50 mph gusts off the mountain, lots of leaners came down from Decembers snowstorm, so it was a like mini round II


----------



## SpaceBus

I know the linemen were busy here. Several thousand homes went without power for 12+ hours here in Maine.


----------



## EODMSgt

The scrounge continues...made five trips yesterday, mostly dead red oak but also a standing dead ash and some decent birch as well. Great day to be in the woods.


----------



## SpaceBus

I'll have to post some more photos today. We've almost finished mulching up all the limbs and tops of those trees we felled. Got  a few more piles of to shred and then we will be placing stones for a retaining wall.


----------



## SpaceBus

Or maybe not, I just checked the weather and it's not looking good for today... You can't plan anything around here!


----------



## Gearhead660

SpaceBus said:


> Or maybe not, I just checked the weather and it's not looking good for today... You can't plan anything around here!


Sounds like WI...if you dont like the weather, wait 5 minutes.  We have had a 4 seasons in a week.


----------



## JimBear

Weather guessers are predicting 4”-6” of snow for us across Southern  IA & Northern MO tomorrow afternoon/evening.


----------



## SpaceBus

I ordered a Sawmill, it should be here in three weeks


----------



## thewoodlands

After the not so bad winds a few days ago, I decided that the trails would get checked, not a thing down on the trails I checked.

I went back to this Maple (I'm thinking Sugar) that the top was blown out of last year, about seven rounds weren't worth a chit. I split everything that was good and then stacked it with some Ash, I have some smaller rounds of Ash in the woods that I'll finish off the stack with.


----------



## EODMSgt

Out again early this morning and scrounged a decent red oak. Nice and cool, no bugs, just had to wade in the snow melt-off to cut the rounds. Went back out later and found a white birch that was starting to go so that came down. Had to drop a double beech to get to it so ended up with three trees about 100 feet up the slope. Got some of the sections down the slope by hand but was able to use a pully system and a long rope and skid the rest out using the ATV (I had cut the trees into 48" or 64" sections. It always amazes me how small the pile looks once it's all together. Sure looks like a lot more when the trees are standing and when they first come down. I'll head back out hopefully tomorrow and buck the rounds and bring them home.


----------



## thewoodlands

I finally felled a bunch of Ash today, five trees. The first was the biggest and the rest will be nice to work with. I did finish bucking up the first one.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had four Ash down from yesterday, I bucked up three today and rolled them down the hill. Not all rounds are in the pictures, after I get my next 16 foot area leveled off I'll start s & s.


----------



## thewoodlands

A porcupine did this years ago and the last two or three years it didn't have any leaves so I'll give my knees a break from working on the side of a hill and get this tomorrow if it doesn't rain.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had planned to fell this down the trail I came up on so I felled two Ironwood in the way but after giving the Beech another look it had a natural lean to the west so that's where I felled it.

Pictures 0208 & 09 are the Beech I felled, 0210 & 0211 is another Beech I noticed before I was leaving that will come down, 0213 is the Ironwood, 0214 & 15 are some of the Beech rounds and the last three are coming down from up top where I was cutting.


----------



## SpaceBus

I need to take some pics of the work I did today and post what the last week has been. Been busy with the tractor and saws!


----------



## SpaceBus

I snapped a few pics with my cell while I took the dogs out this morning


----------



## EODMSgt

On Thursday I bucked all the logs I had stacked from the three trees I hauled down the hill on Wednesday. Went back out Friday and took down three more trees that were dead at the top (2 beech and one birch). Got those bucked and brought the rounds home.


----------



## EODMSgt

The first two pics are the rounds I've scrounged over the last couple weeks. Mix of beech, white birch, silver maple and red oak. The stacks are about five feet high at the center so it's a good start to the year. The other two stacks of rounds in the third picture were bucked last Nov/Dec. Between what's in the shed and the four-plus cords that were CSS last fall, I have enough for this next season so all this is for future use. Just trying to take advantage of the cool days with no bugs to get as much timber back to the house as possible. I'll get all this CSS between May-Oct.


----------



## kennyp2339

Made an ugly bin


----------



## heavy hammer

I was out in the woods for a little cleaning up a pile of logs I had cutting here and there and stacking some of it to clean it up.  It is the last pile of logs I have not up on blocks or cross arms to keep it out of the mud.  I have spent two Saturday afternoon's on it and I'm only about half way through it.  There is definitely more wood there than I thought.  I'm hoping this weather breaks soon.  I'm ready for spring and not these cold rainy snowy days we had last week.


----------



## thewoodlands

SpaceBus said:


> I snapped a few pics with my cell while I took the dogs out this morning


Funny looking firewood,  nice work.


----------



## SpaceBus

thewoodlands said:


> Funny looking firewood,  nice work.


Indeed! There's a pile of rounds we still need to split, plus a pile of logs. Once I finish up with this retaining wall we will get hot and heavy into the firewood.


----------



## thewoodlands

Here are the pictures of the beech I split today. Picture 0220 is getting setup, 0222,0223 and 0226 are three beech that will be felled, 0225 and 0229 is the beech split and 0228 is what I need to buck up.


----------



## kennyp2339

Made a second one, for both I took out the x27 and had some fun, now it’s fire pit and miller time


----------



## SpaceBus

Here's the current progress. It's going to take a decent amount of wood chips/mulch/soil to back fill, but the basic structure of the retaining wall is done. The plan is to make this area into a vegetable garden.


----------



## kennyp2339

SpaceBus said:


> Here's the current progress. It's going to take a decent amount of wood chips/mulch/soil to back fill, but the basic structure of the retaining wall is done. The plan is to make this area into a vegetable garden.


Get some cloth behind those rocks before back filling


----------



## SpaceBus

kennyp2339 said:


> Get some cloth behind those rocks before back filling


What fabric do you suggest? We have a some clay and gravel that we can backfill against the large stones if that works instead of fabric.


----------



## kennyp2339

I just do a double layer of landscape fabric, keeps all the sediments from permeating through the gaps, clay works but the draw back is very slow drainage, you want the garden to be able to shed water once a certain moisture content of the soil is reached


----------



## thewoodlands

I felled three more Beech today, I promised the wife that I would cook some Braciole so the splitting will have to wait. I'm hoping we get three face cord out of all the Beech from this area.


----------



## kennyp2339

Started digging out a stump that’s been bothering me for years, paying attention not to stress my little machine I was digging around the stump with the intentions of rolling the stump over in the hole to scrape the bottom before dragging it out on a dirt ramp, I didn’t get that far, ended up snagging a hydro line and shearing it off the fitting connection, no big deal, just a delay of work.


----------



## SpaceBus

kennyp2339 said:


> View attachment 259542
> View attachment 259543
> 
> Started digging out a stump that’s been bothering me for years, paying attention not to stress my little machine I was digging around the stump with the intentions of rolling the stump over in the hole to scrape the bottom before dragging it out on a dirt ramp, I didn’t get that far, ended up snagging a hydro line and shearing it off the fitting connection, no big deal, just a delay of work.


That's a bummer. I am jealous of the hoe.


----------



## Medic21

Restoration from the boiler and patio install last summer and fall.


----------



## kennyp2339

SpaceBus said:


> That's a bummer. I am jealous of the hoe.


Its a great tool, but one to use in reason, its not a full excavator, or anything close to it.


----------



## Diabel

This sucker came down late last fall. I cleared what was blocking the laneway then. Last Monday i had a go at it. Bucked most of it with exception of a 15’ section. It was jammed between several small rocks (you cant see it). Almost impossible to roll over. Tue morning we got 4” of wet snow. Then last night it got cold (-8*C). Hopefully, i will finish bucking it today or tomorrow, then on to a massive hemlock that got blown over last fall as well.


----------



## kennyp2339

Won the war


----------



## kennyp2339

Round 3 commenced yesterday afternoon, decided that in the end I was going to take the box blade to re-level the whole slope, so first I would have to take a little rock out and then the sister stump about 25ft away from the original stump, ended up getting my monies worth of action, the "little rock" was a boulder, the second stump grew above more shallow mass rock and had huge Arnold Schwarzenegger roots.


----------



## SpaceBus

Judging by your retaining wall most of your yard is stone.


----------



## EODMSgt

Went to the 'gym' again Tuesday morning...60+ foot beech that came down in a windstorm a few miles up the road. This was a fun one as first you had to drop down a 50' embankment and then hump uphill another 200+ feet to get to the tree. Got about 45' worth of timber out of it for firewood. Not sure how much 45' worth of beech weighs however I carried it three times (cut it into rounds, carried them downhill and made a pile, carried them the embankment to the truck, and then unloaded at the house). Good dose of vitamin D and some cardio before the rain and snow came. And yes, everything hurt like hell when I was done however I enjoy this stuff and get some perverse pleasure out of thrashing my body to get my own firewood. Sooner than later, I'm sure I won't be able to do it anymore so some additional pain to be somewhat self-sufficient is worth it to me. Things are starting to get a bit tight in the yard though... Taking a couple days of from scrounging firewood but I did pick up and install a quick hitch on the tractor yesterday.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was a cold morning (17.2) but the sun was strong so I took the splitter up to split the beech....done.

The first four pictures are of the first rounds I split, 0249 is the part of the mess I cleaned up so I could haul the splitter down to the last rounds, 0250 is after the cleanup, 0252 is after I split the rounds that were left and the last picture is more beech I'll need to buck up and that will be a new trail to the main trail.

I'm hoping we get two face cord out of all the beech that is split.


----------



## EODMSgt

kennyp2339 said:


> View attachment 259499
> View attachment 259498
> 
> Made a second one, for both I took out the x27 and had some fun, now it’s fire pit and miller time



Kenny, just a comment on your use of garden/engineer stakes for the ends of your stacks. I used to do that for every stack (and still do it sometimes) however I can't dig more than a few inches without hitting some of our good NH granite, so a lot of my stakes were loose and would lean out when the stacks were made. I see in the pics that at least one of yours is canted out. Have you thought about running a line from one end to the other? You can use pretty much anything. When you build your stack, once you get up about halfway, run a line from one stake down the length of the stack to the stake at the opposite end. Continue to build your stack on top of the line. The weight of the wood along with the tied off line will help keep the stakes in place. Just an option I learned from many years of dealing with falling over stakes.


----------



## kennyp2339

EODMSgt said:


> Kenny, just a comment on your use of garden/engineer stakes for the ends of your stacks. I used to do that for every stack (and still do it sometimes) however I can't dig more than a few inches without hitting some of our good NH granite, so a lot of my stakes were loose and would lean out when the stacks were made. I see in the pics that at least one of yours is canted out. Have you thought about running a line from one end to the other? You can use pretty much anything. When you build your stack, once you get up about halfway, run a line from one stake down the length of the stack to the stake at the opposite end. Continue to build your stack on top of the line. The weight of the wood along with the tied off line will help keep the stakes in place. Just an option I learned from many years of dealing with falling over stakes.


That's exactly what I do, I guess I hammered in the stake crooked lol, but there are lines ran at the half way point and the stakes are held tightly to the wood pile due to the downward force of the splits on top.


----------



## kennyp2339

Called for 20 yards of topsoil since I have a lot of clay just under the surface of the grass, finished grading the back yard after (2) large stumps and an impressive boulder, top dressed and seeded, fixed my pathway I took when I pushed the one stump and rolled the boulder through, plus since I have R4 tires, I made a few ruts in the wet ground. Restarted expanding the back corner, the box blade was my savior, I had to make at 8" cut into settled ground to get the right pitch / level, going for flat but pitched towards the woods for drainage, still a work in progress but I did all the main stuff before todays rain, got about 11 hours of solid work outside yesterday, felt great.


----------



## heavy hammer

I finally got all my wood off the ground.  I was just hoping to spend the day in the woods cleaning and having the dogs in the pond but my younger lab cut his big pad on his right paw an hour into the day.  So I tore into the side of the hill where the previous home owners had thrown nothing but old garbage, mowers, metal barrels, glass etc.  In the one pic the metal bucket you see with all the stuff I pulled out of the woods that is filled with glass.  His cut was not bad enough for stitches but I was not happy.  That is the second time in just a few months he has opened his paw up.  But I was able to get everything cleaned, I cleaned the ravine area out the best I could and I raked the side of the hill and burned all the brush and sticks and fallen trees.  I finished cutting and stacking the pile of cedar poles and ash I had and cut up some of the long splits I had for easier burning.  My next project is to move a lot of this wood closer to the house for the coming winter and replace it with the piles of logs I have farther in the woods that need processed.  Other than my pup cutting his paw it was a good day I got it all done before the rain came in about 9 last night.


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> I finally got all my wood off the ground.  I was just hoping to spend the day in the woods cleaning and having the dogs in the pond but my younger lab cut his big pad on his right paw an hour into the day.  So I tore into the side of the hill where the previous home owners had thrown nothing but old garbage, mowers, metal barrels, glass etc.  In the one pic the metal bucket you see with all the stuff I pulled out of the woods that is filled with glass.  His cut was not bad enough for stitches but I was not happy.  That is the second time in just a few months he has opened his paw up.  But I was able to get everything cleaned, I cleaned the ravine area out the best I could and I raked the side of the hill and burned all the brush and sticks and fallen trees.  I finished cutting and stacking the pile of cedar poles and ash I had and cut up some of the long splits I had for easier burning.  My next project is to move a lot of this wood closer to the house for the coming winter and replace it with the piles of logs I have farther in the woods that need processed.  Other than my pup cutting his paw it was a good day I got it all done before the rain came in about 9 last night.
> View attachment 259671
> View attachment 259672
> View attachment 259673
> View attachment 259674
> View attachment 259675
> View attachment 259676
> View attachment 259677
> View attachment 259678
> View attachment 259679
> View attachment 259680
> View attachment 259681
> View attachment 259682
> View attachment 259670


Wow, that's a lot of trash. I have found some old lamps, an electrolux vacuum, an antique cast iron (I saved it) frying pan, and loads of rusty metal and glass. Good to see nothing serious, my dog accidentally stepped on a protruding stick and it broke off in his toe webbing. The wound closed almost immediately and there was even some balsam sap around the hole.


----------



## EODMSgt

Got some work done yesterday to take advantage of the last nice weather we'll have for a while. Supposed to get up to a foot of snow (latest forecast) between this evening and Tuesday with rain on Thursday and Friday. Just when things were finally drying out.

Went from the mess in the first pic to the cleaner yard in the second. Split and stacked a cord of beech and ash (the stack closest to the shed on the right) so that gives me 5 cord CSS and seasoning outside the firewood shed. I also moved all my oak rounds (about a cord) to the back. Not sure where I'm going to stack those once split so they can sit there for now. I'll keep the oak separate since it needs so long to season. Once I get the snowblower moved, I'll have some room to work again.


----------



## heavy hammer

SpaceBus I couldn't believe all the trash I pulled out plus there is still a riding mower in the woods that I'm going to pull out with the tractor.  I was more mad at the fact that my younger lab sliced his pad open again.  After looking at it and re wrapping it this evening it looks like it will heal nicely without stitches.  Hopefully he will be good to go by the weekend.  It was rough crating him yesterday while I was outside.  I could hear him barking inside while in the woods, a tough day to be stuck inside.


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> SpaceBus I couldn't believe all the trash I pulled out plus there is still a riding mower in the woods that I'm going to pull out with the tractor.  I was more mad at the fact that my younger lab sliced his pad open again.  After looking at it and re wrapping it this evening it looks like it will heal nicely without stitches.  Hopefully he will be good to go by the weekend.  It was rough crating him yesterday while I was outside.  I could hear him barking inside while in the woods, a tough day to be stuck inside.


Dogs heal quick, usually. We are all struck inside today due to high winds and rain. 

 A whole riding mower? That's wild, sounds like some rednecks owned the place before you!


----------



## thewoodlands

This beech should've been stacked days ago so today I got off my lazy arse and stacked four loads. With what is left in the woods, I'm thinking we'll get our two face cord if not more.

Before I started on the beech I checked the fluid levels on the 4540 and all were good. I used the tractor to move some chips that were used to level off an area that will hold two face cord of ash once I get it split.


----------



## Diabel

I am super envious of all the boy toys you guys have! It sure makes firewood processing jobs easier.


----------



## thewoodlands

I finished the two face cord stack of Beech today with more spits still in the woods, I'm thinking about felling three more Beech before everything gets green.

We have a bunch of damaged American Hophornbeam (Ironwood) not far from the Beech so I took three damaged trees with more rounds in the woods.


----------



## EODMSgt

thewoodlands said:


> I finished the two face cord stack of Beech today with more spits still in the woods, I'm thinking about felling three more Beech before everything gets green.



Woodlands, as usual you put us to shame. Since the weatherman lied and we didn't get any snow, I went out and got a few trees bucked. I decided to have some fun so I brought the tractor and skidding cone out to drag a couple dead red oak out of the woods. I'm always amazed how people pass by the dead red oak. I'll take all I can find. Went back out later and took down a dying ash (looking at it from the top in the pic). Not a whole lot today but at least a weeks worth of firewood once its all split. Every little bit adds to the final tally.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Woodlands, as usual you put us to shame. Since the weatherman lied and we didn't get any snow, I went out and got a few trees bucked. I decided to have some fun so I brought the tractor and skidding cone out to drag a couple dead red oak out of the woods. I'm always amazed how people pass by the dead red oak. I'll take all I can find. Went back out later and took down a dying ash (looking at it from the top in the pic). Not a whole lot today but at least a weeks worth of firewood once its all split. Every little bit adds to the final tally.


Nice work @EODMSgt , I planted some Red Oak years back since our lot didn't have any Oak at all.

I don't bring out much per trip but it all adds up, thanks for your comment but I should have more done but I got lazy.


----------



## thewoodlands

I felled two more Beech today, one hit the ground and the second Beech had to be dragged out of a small Basswood I thought it would miss.

I'm not sure what type of fighter jets fly out of Fort Drum but it looked like a Raptor F-22 that gave me a little wing flap while going over while I was pondering how to get the Beech down, glad it was ours.

Picture 0271 is the first Beech on the ground, in picture 0273 you can see the fresh dirt from where I dragged it out of the small Basswood. Both are bucked up ready for splitting once the rain and wind pushes through.


----------



## kennyp2339

@SpaceBus how do you like the log cone? I think that might be a simple solution for me.
I took the atv out yesterday, did a oil change, new sparkplug and air filter then then went  for a ride, really just poked around on the 8 acres behind the house, saw many different dead fall tree's and had a light bulb moment of what I want to do, the only thing is, I don't want to mark up the woods to much with tracks or drag marks, I also don't want to cut then load my atv trailer and do a million loads either, I just want to do a few cuts then drag out with the tractor closer to my log landing.


----------



## SpaceBus

kennyp2339 said:


> @SpaceBus how do you like the log cone? I think that might be a simple solution for me.
> I took the atv out yesterday, did a oil change, new sparkplug and air filter then then went  for a ride, really just poked around on the 8 acres behind the house, saw many different dead fall tree's and had a light bulb moment of what I want to do, the only thing is, I don't want to mark up the woods to much with tracks or drag marks, I also don't want to cut then load my atv trailer and do a million loads either, I just want to do a few cuts then drag out with the tractor closer to my log landing.


No log come, I have a Fransgard skidding winch. I'd like to get a cone since I'm down to no skidding since the ground is soft again. I only drag logs when it's frozen. Currently I move them in 18' lengths, if they are under 20" diameter, with the grapple and lots of ballast. A log arch to hold up the other end of the logs would be great.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had a few things earlier this morning we did but I was able to clear the back gully (first 2 pics) so the wife can use it for walking and I can get the splitter in there to split some ash.

After the above was done, I went up top where I had felled some Ironwood the other day and grabbed the rest.


----------



## thewoodlands

I hauled the splitter up the hills today and split all the rounds I had bucked up. I also have some left from the first four trees I felled and split & stacked but I don't think there's enought for another two face.

Attached are some pictures from today, it rained some when I was splitting the second tree today but it didn't last long.


----------



## thewoodlands

I did some cleanup in this spot where I stacked a face cord of Beech from the last two trees, there's still more up top from the last two trees and even more left from the first five Beech I c/s.

I'll get the Birch rounds out of the area to the left of the Beech I stacked today and stack what is left of the Beech and if I have to, mix some American Hophornbeam in with it to make a full face cord.

After I get this done I'll either be s/s the Ash off the backhill or before that fell another three or four up top so I have more work ready once everything leafs out.


----------



## thewoodlands

I picked up the splits that were left from the last two Beech I felled (0294) and then went over to the splits left from the first five Beech I felled (0295) and filled the trailer (0296) and stacked it.

I used some Ironwood that I brought off the hill to finish this stack.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was a day off today from any firewood related work since my upper back was tightening up so I made some spaghetti sauce for some stuffed bell peppers the boss will cook tomorrow.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get back up top so I can fell another three or four Ash which will give me some work once things start leafing out. I've had this up here before so hopefully this will happen but the back will need to loosen up some.


----------



## Gearhead660

Started last fall with what I thought was enough for the season(first year burning as main heat source).   Ended up burning it all and then some.  Been working little by little all year so far and as of this weekend I can say I am now set for the next 3 seasons.  5.5 cord elm, 2 cord pine, 6 cord locust and hickory,  5.5 cord oak/ash/maple/walnut mix.  Now to start on  2023-24...


----------



## SpaceBus

We are slowly working through the logs we cut a few months ago. I'm hoping the mill comes in soon, seems like I ordered it a month ago.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Started last fall with what I thought was enough for the season(first year burning as main heat source).   Ended up burning it all and then some.  Been working little by little all year so far and as of this weekend I can say I am now set for the next 3 seasons.  5.5 cord elm, 2 cord pine, 6 cord locust and hickory,  5.5 cord oak/ash/maple/walnut mix.  Now to start on  2023-24...


Nice work @Gearhead660 , I remember many years ago when I finally put up enough wood that we were three years ahead, it was a good feeling.

Congrats on your hard work.


----------



## thewoodlands

I felled three Ash today and bucked up two of them.

Picture 0302 is the first Ash, 0307 is the second, 0308 is after I cleaned up the area, 0311 is the third Ash and 0312 is what I'll have to buck up of the third Ash.

It's time I start splitting and stacking the Ash off the backhill first and then the Ash from today.


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> I felled three Ash today and bucked up two of them.
> 
> Picture 0302 is the first Ash, 0307 is the second, 0308 is after I cleaned up the area, 0311 is the third Ash and 0312 is what I'll have to buck up of the third Ash.
> 
> It's time I start splitting and stacking the Ash off the backhill first and then the Ash from today.


I live in "yard tree" country and am always jealous of you folks with your telephone pole straight trees.   One of these days I will get a nice big chunk of woods to call my own.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @Gearhead660 , I remember many years ago when I finally put up enough wood that we were three years ahead, it was a good feeling.
> 
> Congrats on your hard work.


Yes, that is an awesome feeling! But firewood work/exercise never stops


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Yes, that is an awesome feeling! But firewood work/exercise never stops


I was hoping for more time in the boat this summer but the water levels in our area are very low for this time of year.

But yes, I'll still have plenty of work to do in the woods or around the house.


----------



## heavy hammer

I will get some pics but I ended up cleaning up a large section of my woods where my wood is at and cleaned up and cleared more area to have grass and more places to stacks and store wood.  It was a busy weekend.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> I will get some pics but I ended up cleaning up a large section of my woods where my wood is at and cleaned up and cleared more area to have grass and more places to stacks and store wood.  It was a busy weekend.


If you're looking for some cleanup work, I can keep ya busy.


----------



## heavy hammer

Not really looking for more I just had the time since everything is still closed.  Nothing better than finally having the time to do the things at the house and good weather.


----------



## Diabel

Maple that came down last fall, plus a small ash that was dead and partly blocked the main access road. I will double this with some hemlock and yellow birch, then split it, stack it and it’ll be ready for 2023-24 maybe


----------



## EODMSgt

Since you can never move firewood enough times (insert sarcasm there), and @thewoodlands was making me feel lazy with all his posts, I decided to move about three cords of rounds about forty feet just for the heck of it (2nd pic). Actually, there is a method to the madness. I had started gathering the rounds when there was still a couple feet of snow on the ground, and I began stacking them in an easy-to-access spot out back. I kept gathering and adding to the stacks (1st pic) as recently as this weekend.

Well, plans change. The goal now is to get about five dump loads of fill to make the area behind the tractor useable (3rd pic). Difficult to see in the picture but it drops off about 3+ feet there so it's just been a wasted space filled with scrub brush. I will gain a lot of real estate once it's done and be able to hopefully store about seven cord of CSS firewood there, which will leave the center area open for processing.

Of course some will ask "why didn't you just split the rounds instead of moving them again?" Trust me, I thought about it, and I did split all the ash and a lot of the (dead) red oak, and added that to the existing stacks to the right (each stack is now roughly 1.25 cords). However, the goal is to put all of the splits from the rounds in the newly acquired area once that location has been filled and graded. So if I split the rounds now, I'll still have to move everything again. And besides, it was good exercise and having done a career in the military, I am also used to doing things which make absolutely no sense but sound good on paper.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Since you can never move firewood enough times (insert sarcasm there), and @thewoodlands was making me feel lazy with all his posts, I decided to move about three cords of rounds about forty feet just for the heck of it (2nd pic). Actually, there is a method to the madness. I had started gathering the rounds when there was still a couple feet of snow on the ground, and I began stacking them in an easy-to-access spot out back. I kept gathering and adding to the stacks (1st pic) as recently as this weekend.
> 
> Well, plans change. The goal now is to get about five dump loads of fill to make the area behind the tractor useable (3rd pic). Difficult to see in the picture but it drops off about 3+ feet there so it's just been a wasted space filled with scrub brush. I will gain a lot of real estate once it's done and be able to hopefully store about seven cord of CSS firewood there, which will leave the center area open for processing.
> 
> Of course some will ask "why didn't you just split the rounds instead of moving them again?" Trust me, I thought about it, and I did split all the ash and a lot of the (dead) red oak, and added that to the existing stacks to the right (each stack is now roughly 1.25 cords). However, the goal is to put all of the splits from the rounds in the newly acquired area once that location has been filled and graded. So if I split the rounds now, I'll still have to move everything again. And besides, it was good exercise and having done a career in the military, I am also used to doing things which make absolutely no sense but sound good on paper.


Very nice and neat area you have @EODMSgt , that fill will make that area even nicer.


----------



## thewoodlands

This is from todays splitting, all the stacked Ash is from the first tree I felled with about five more nice size rounds left. I'm not sure if it will fill out that two face cord stack but it still gave us some good firewood.

I still have three more Ash on the backhill that need s & s along with the three up top.


----------



## thewoodlands

I split two more loads and almost finished the stack, I never reset the t-post on the right side of the stack so I'll take some of the Ash off of that end and reset the stakes near the end of the splits.

I did get the next stack ready (two face cord) and then moved the splitter out of the gully to a new area. I loaded up the tub with a load of smaller rounds with the intent on s/s them but the wind gust were pretty good so I called it a day.

Picture 0331 is the splitter beam after I cleaned it off with some WD-40 Degreaser, 0332 is the first load, 0333 is the flagpole from the stacking area, 0334 & 0335 is the punky Cherry that is in the middle the gully I don't think I'll touch, 0336 are some damaged birch that need felling (bent over) , 0338 is a load of rounds heading out to the new splitting area at 0339.


----------



## kennyp2339

Everything is now topped off,  about 4 years  ahead now. Curious to see how my cylinders of shorties holds up, that 72” fencing from tractor supply.


----------



## EODMSgt

I've been eyeballing this (healthy) beech blowdown about a mile up the road from me for the last few months but wanted to wait for the snow to finally melt before tackling it. Someone already scavenged most of the smaller good stuff from the crown however they didn't touch the trunk. In all fairness, it's up a 35-45 degree incline (steeper than it looks in the picture) and the base was about 22 inches in diameter, so not something quick and easy to get. Luckily it was uphill for a change so the rounds were easy to roll to the trailer. Ended up with 21 large rounds and a few of the branches. Not a bad haul for a couple hours of work.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> I've been eyeballing this (healthy) beech blowdown about a mile up the road from me for the last few months but wanted to wait for the snow to finally melt before tackling it. Someone already scavenged most of the smaller good stuff from the crown however they didn't touch the trunk. In all fairness, it's up a 35-45 degree incline (steeper than it looks in the picture) and the base was about 22 inches in diameter, so not something quick and easy to get. Luckily it was uphill for a change so the rounds were easy to roll to the trailer. Ended up with 21 large rounds and a few of the branches. Not a bad haul for a couple hours of work.
> 
> View attachment 260001
> View attachment 260002
> View attachment 260003


Nice get @EODMSgt , that will make for some nice heat which makes it well worth the effort.


----------



## thewoodlands

Since the area where these rounds was pretty tight, I decided to haul the rounds out (3 loads) to the new splitting area and stack it.

Attached are some pictures, near the end of my stacking the wife came out with our dog (Australian Kelpie) we rescued from a kill shelter in another state through Helping Hounds out of Syracuse about three years ago.

Once this last stack is finished. we'll have 53 face cord up.


----------



## thewoodlands

I split two of the ash trees up top that I felled a few days back.

Picture 0350 is getting setup on the first ash (nice out) 0352 is the ash split,0353 is getting setup on the second ash,0354 it's split and I took 1.5 loads off the hill to finish the stack which was all the splits from the first ash.

It was a crazy weather day, we started out with some sun and some good wind gust with snow, the trees were talking.

I think that I posted we had 53 face cord up, it's actually 55. The area I'm stacking has 8 face cord stacked but will hold 12 so I'm thinking I'll fell a few more ash and go for the another 4 face.

We had 24.2 this morning.


----------



## SpaceBus

We were hoping to work outside today, but the rain turned to high winds turned to blizzard, so staying inside today.


----------



## heavy hammer

I hear you guys I worked right off the lake the last week and the wind and cold the last two days has been brutal.  Nothing fun about twenties and thirties in May.  Guys said the real feel this morning was 23.  Plus the wind 100' in the air is tough, makes for a long day.


----------



## Diabel

The plan was to process some wood today. Way too windy  to drop dead trees nor cut dead fall under canopy. Decided to bring the 40yr old utility trailer are replace the rotting floor boards.
Happy day!


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> I hear you guys I worked right off the lake the last week and the wind and cold the last two days has been brutal.  Nothing fun about twenties and thirties in May.  Guys said the real feel this morning was 23.  Plus the wind 100' in the air is tough, makes for a long day.


the wind here was brutal here today. we lost power for a few hours


----------



## kennyp2339

Snow day today, went on a fire call earlier and made a pot roast with potatoes and carrots, looked at the stove as she burned ash & oak


----------



## heavy hammer

Spacebus, kennyp2339, it seems everyone was having the same lousy weather.  Winter just doesn't want to let go yet.  Power back on Spacebus?


----------



## EODMSgt

heavy hammer said:


> it seems everyone was having the same lousy weather.  Winter just doesn't want to let go yet.



Snow in mid-May and extreme winds weren't optimal for doing much outside however I have to disagree that it was lousy weather. I'm one of those that if it snowed 12 months out of the year I would be ok with that. Will be checking for any new blowdowns today but just took in the scenery yesterday and enjoyed another day with the fire going.


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> Spacebus, kennyp2339, it seems everyone was having the same lousy weather.  Winter just doesn't want to let go yet.  Power back on Spacebus?


It came on after a few hours, no big deal. The snow has already melted.


----------



## EODMSgt

thewoodlands said:


> Nice get @EODMSgt , that will make for some nice heat which makes it well worth the effort.



Thanks @thewoodlands. I don't usually get a score like this when scrounging so I was pretty happy with it (especially since it's beech, my preferred firewood of choice). Since I'm still burning, I'm not really getting ahead however this load should finally get me in the right direction. Currently I should be at around roughly 8 cords CSS and 3 cords (+ or -) in rounds.


----------



## thewoodlands

Yesterday when I cleared some trails of dead pine, I noticed this maple mother nature topped off so I bucked it up today. I also bucked up an ash tree I felled a few days ago

Picture 0359 is part of the maple on the ground, in picture 0360 you can see what was left standing of the maple which I took care of, 0361 is the maple bud from the tree,0365,0366 and 0367 are some maple rounds and the rest are of the ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have one ash down that's not bucked up, two up top that are c/s so since nothing is leafed out yet, my plans are to fell 2 to 3 more ash tomorrow and call it a spring for the felling.

If I get another 4 face cord out of all that, that will give us 12 face cord of ash and another 6 face cord of beech,ironwood,sugar maple and some soft maple for this spring.

The boat batteries are in so we hope that the boat will get used more this year, the water levels are low for this time of year so some rain would be nice.


----------



## Medic21

Dropped a little pin oak yesterday.


----------



## Diabel

Will you bring the rounds to the splitter or the splitter to the rounds? Either way, it will be a workout!


----------



## Medic21

Diabel said:


> Will you bring the rounds to the splitter or the splitter to the rounds? Either way, it will be a workout!


I’m chunking them into quarters with a maul so I can handle them.  Yes, it’s a workout.


----------



## moresnow

Good stuff. My most challenging specie to get seasoned. It really takes full sun and wind, in no more than 2 split wide elevated stacks. Might just be my location. Dunno.
Don't hurt yourself loading it up. Heavy heavy!


----------



## SpaceBus

I would definitely use a tractor to aid lifting or noodle them with a saw.


----------



## Medic21

SpaceBus said:


> I would definitely use a tractor to aid lifting or noodle them with a saw.


I’ll get them small
Enough with the maul to split there.  I don’t like to handle more than I have to.


----------



## kennyp2339

A little more topsoil work after cutting the grass this afternoon, nothing to crazy, will finish the other half tomorrow. I did manage to sheet the quick attach handle for the front fel on the tractor, channel locks and a pipe wrench got me through, but I’m mad at myself, totally my fault that it broke


----------



## thewoodlands

I did fell two more ash today and then bucked up the trees, I also made sure the gully was opened back up for walking.


----------



## thewoodlands

If it wasn't for almost 3 hours I took off so we could go get a certain item, this two face cord stack would be done but I'll finish it tomorrow and then get the next row ready.

Attached are some pictures of where I split in the gully and the stack of ash.


----------



## kennyp2339

Built a medium size rock garden, continued with grading, should be done and seeded by noon tomorrow


----------



## EODMSgt

Didn't take any pictures but dropped five trees, cut them into four-foot sections and hauled them home. They were up a steep ATV trail and it was about a half-mile round trip back and forth. Got five trailer loads out of them so was pleased. One standing dead beech (no punk); two standing dead ash (small amount of punk); one maple (top dead but good wood and the bottom was good with no punk); and one live beech that had the top sheared off when the maple came down. I also dropped a good size beech that was downslope. I plan on trying out the new capstan winch tomorrow on that one. Unfortunately the black flies have arrived in force.


----------



## heavy hammer

I was going through my woods and noticed a few ash that were still alive this past couple of years that are now dead and some nice sized walnuts (I think) are dead as well.  Now with the weather changing I'll have time to drop them and start on my wood log stacks.


----------



## thewoodlands

The stack I had started yesterday is almost finished (forgot to take the picture) but I split what was left in the gully, that almost finished that stack. Since I had one ash down up top, I decided to run the splitter up and split the bucked up rounds.

The first two pictures are from the gully where I split the ash, 0396 is up top, 0397 & 0398 are the rounds split, 0399 is a bunch of dead pine I hopefully clean up so I can put in a new trail this summer and 0400 is some of what's left.


----------



## EODMSgt

Played around with the new capstan winch today pulling a beech I had cut yesterday about 100' up a slope. The capstan gives me access to wood I would otherwise have had to pass up but it is definitely a lot of work. Still, got quite a bit of decent beech out of it and had fun in the woods (despite the black flies). The big pile of 4-footers behind the trailer in last pic is the stuff I had cut yesterday.


----------



## kennyp2339

Planted bulbs in the rock garden, seeded the top dressed soil, now just being a sprinkler jockey, I also mixed starter fertilizer into the dirt, hopefully it will grow faster and stronger so I don’t have babysit it with the sprinkler so much.


----------



## thewoodlands

Today I finished off the stack from yesterday with some Ash from up top and then stacked another face cord of Ash which also came from up top.

Picture 0404 is some Ash from up top, 0405 is the stack I started yesterday and finished today, the rest of the pictures are the next face cord I stacked and some pictures coming down from up top.

I have one more Ash down on the backhill that should give us another face for a total of 12 in this area, since I started cutting Ash we have 26 face cord, we heat from the basement so I'm hoping it will give us enough heat that the upstairs will be toasty, if not we have the Pellet Stove in the opposite corner, this past heating season we burned 53 bags.


----------



## ChadMc

thewoodlands said:


> Today I finished off the stack from yesterday with some Ash from up top and then stacked another face cord of Ash which also came from up top.
> 
> Picture 0404 is some Ash from up top, 0405 is the stack I started yesterday and finished today, the rest of the pictures are the next face cord I stacked and some pictures coming down from up top.
> 
> I have one more Ash down on the backhill that should give us another face for a total of 12 in this area, since I started cutting Ash we have 26 face cord, we heat from the basement so I'm hoping it will give us enough heat that the upstairs will be toasty, if not we have the Pellet Stove in the opposite corner, this past heating season we burned 53 bags.


I see a lot of you use those stakes at the end of your stack. How far do you drive them into the ground? I definitely need something like that but I always thought the force would knock them down.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> I live in "yard tree" country and am always jealous of you folks with your telephone pole straight trees.   One of these days I will get a nice big chunk of woods to call my own.


We lucked out on getting the property I do most of the cutting on, the man who sold it to us lived next door and he wanted to spend the rest of his life knowing that it wouldn't get logged off while he was still living and there wouldn't be any hunting camps on it during his life, I did that part of the agreement on a handshake which we lived up to, he passed on in 2016 and we closed on the deal at the end of December 2006.

He also had an offer of $25000.00 more than what he ask us for but wasn't interested for reasons I won't post.

My MIL introduced me to him years back and we became friends about a year after that, his father owned most of the land along the river in our part of the town and made his money from working in the woods we own and he always had venison.

I hope you get your chance at some property, I see land up this way being bought up, clear cut and then the sand goes.


----------



## thewoodlands

ChadMc said:


> I see a lot of you use those stakes at the end of your stack. How far do you drive them into the ground? I definitely need something like that but I always thought the force would knock them down.


If I have six foot t-post, close to two feet which will give me a four foot high stack, we have sand here so that makes it easy pounding it in.


----------



## kennyp2339

ChadMc said:


> I see a lot of you use those stakes at the end of your stack. How far do you drive them into the ground? I definitely need something like that but I always thought the force would knock them down.


I put mine in about a foot or so, I then make a stack about half way up, tie a rope from stake to stake, stack the rest of the wood on top of the rope, the weight of the wood against the uneven top force the rope to get real tight and it sucks the T posts inward.


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> We lucked out on getting the property I do most of the cutting on, the man who sold it to us lived next door and he wanted to spend the rest of his life knowing that it wouldn't get logged off while he was still living and there wouldn't be any hunting camps on it during his life, I did that part of the agreement on a handshake which we lived up to, he passed on in 2016 and we closed on the deal at the end of December 2006.
> 
> He also had an offer of $25000.00 more than what he ask us for but wasn't interested for reasons I won't post.
> 
> My MIL introduced me to him years back and we became friends about a year after that, his father owned most of the land along the river in our part of the town and made his money from working in the woods we own and he always had venison.
> 
> I hope you get your chance at some property, I see land up this way being bought up, clear cut and then the sand goes.


Working on saving for some.  Dont think its too far off.  Decent country here, but not as beautiful as your neck of the woods.


----------



## kennyp2339

Gearhead660 said:


> Working on saving for some. Dont think its too far off. Decent country here, but not as beautiful as your neck of the woods.


I'm talking to one of my financial broker friends right now, originally my plans as of 2 weeks ago was to refi the house, I'm ten years into the 30 year loan, I got a quote for refi to drop it down to a 10 year fixed at 3% fixed, no points and only have to pay an extra $125 a month because I've been making a lot of extra principal payments, then a piece of property (150 acres) went up for sale for $350k, farm assessed w/ a small older house (needs a lot of repair, maybe a knock down rebuild) and a few out buildings for tools / machinery. Totally de-railed my plans here because I know in NJ at least, this is a once in a lifetime deal, for me its worth looking into, and I don't want to see the property bought by a developer, its needs to stay woods / hills.


----------



## Gearhead660

kennyp2339 said:


> I'm talking to one of my financial broker friends right now, originally my plans as of 2 weeks ago was to refi the house, I'm ten years into the 30 year loan, I got a quote for refi to drop it down to a 10 year fixed at 3% fixed, no points and only have to pay an extra $125 a month because I've been making a lot of extra principal payments, then a piece of property (150 acres) went up for sale for $350k, farm assessed w/ a small older house (needs a lot of repair, maybe a knock down rebuild) and a few out buildings for tools / machinery. Totally de-railed my plans here because I know in NJ at least, this is a once in a lifetime deal, for me its worth looking into, and I don't want to see the property bought by a developer, its needs to stay woods / hills.


Did that same refi last year.  I am looking in the 100 acre range.  Don't think I will be happy with less than 50.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Working on saving for some.  Dont think its too far off.  Decent country here, but not as beautiful as your neck of the woods.


When I started this firewood gathering after we purchased the land, it was fun but the hills can take a toll on the old frame.

Our house lot didn't have any trails so everything here we did but the 136 acre lot I do most of the cutting on had trails wide enough for a truck, I just take care of them.

A 100 acre lot will keep you busy but the woods is a nice place to work. I always enjoy listening or seeing the Owls.


----------



## thewoodlands

This was the last Ash I had felled on the backhill, I took two loads of the bigger rounds underneath a Pine tree for some shade when I split the rounds. I'll get the stacking area ready (one face cord) and then start splitting this week.

The other pictures are of a sundog, it had better color than what the picture shows.


----------



## kennyp2339

Gearhead660 said:


> Did that same refi last year.  I am looking in the 100 acre range.  Don't think I will be happy with less than 50.


Lol, I just called the realtor's office to put a bid in on the land that was for sale, I was pre-approved for the mortgage and was making plans with my father to take a loan out through him for the 20% down to beat the pmi, we were going to start an llc for farming, ie: hay / straw / alfalfa on 15 acres, then start one acre lots of Christmas tree's - the dream was 500 tree's per acre, one acre per year with a total of 7 to keep a rotation going cash crops, anyway I called to put a bid in and was basically laughed at since there were 2 listings for the properties involved, one listing was the farm as a separate deal, the other was the package deal of the farm with a house separate of each other at just over half a million, the lady said there were 3 high bidders for the combo offer and the seller wasn't interested in the separate sales. If anything I think I learned a good lesson here, its good to dream but you seriously have to be on top of your goals for when deals like this pop up, I think if I had my affairs in order 2 weeks ago, I would have been singing a different tune here, but I waited to make a decision and I waited to get my finances in order.


----------



## Gearhead660

kennyp2339 said:


> Lol, I just called the realtor's office to put a bid in on the land that was for sale, I was pre-approved for the mortgage and was making plans with my father to take a loan out through him for the 20% down to beat the pmi, we were going to start an llc for farming, ie: hay / straw / alfalfa on 15 acres, then start one acre lots of Christmas tree's - the dream was 500 tree's per acre, one acre per year with a total of 7 to keep a rotation going cash crops, anyway I called to put a bid in and was basically laughed at since there were 2 listings for the properties involved, one listing was the farm as a separate deal, the other was the package deal of the farm with a house separate of each other at just over half a million, the lady said there were 3 high bidders for the combo offer and the seller wasn't interested in the separate sales. If anything I think I learned a good lesson here, its good to dream but you seriously have to be on top of your goals for when deals like this pop up, I think if I had my affairs in order 2 weeks ago, I would have been singing a different tune here, but I waited to make a decision and I waited to get my finances in order.


With this market, you need to be the early bird and have your ducks in a row...crazy times.


----------



## thewoodlands

I split the Ash rounds that I brought out of gully yesterday, it gave us another face cord for a total of 12 face cord of Ash in that area. With the Beech,Ironwood,Maple and Cherry stacked out front, that was another 6 face cord for a total of 18 this spring. I still have some rounds of Ash in the gully so I'll get those before the end of May. Since I've been cutting Ash, we have 26 face cord up.


The wife ask me today if I could start on bucking up some of the Pine logs from the garage clearing, there goes my break.


----------



## heavy hammer

you know how it goes no rest for the weary.  Nice job on the work of getting so much wood processed!


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> you know how it goes no rest for the weary.  Nice job on the work of getting so much wood processed!


Do what we can when we can, I do plan on getting some damaged Ironwood down the hill to the stacks this summer.


----------



## thewoodlands

I took the day off from any firewood related activities and made a trip to the local Agway store for flowers, I then made a trip to my old hometown to plant some flowers on my grandparents' grave.


----------



## EODMSgt

Took advantage of the nice 43-degree weather this morning to scrounge a bit up a forest service mountain road. Not much, unfortunately, but did get three blow downs on the first trip and two on the second; one nice maple, three good beech, and one dead beech with minor punk (good for shoulder season). This is 21-22 firewood so pleased for a couple hours work with a nice drive, great views, and cool weather. (Only took a picture of the downed maple.) Would have gone back for more but had to spend the afternoon on the tractor helping a neighbor.


----------



## heavy hammer

I spent most of the weekend catching up on mowing grass and I did start moving this winters wood from the woods to the area by the house.  I only moved a few tractor grapple loads since we had some family stuff this weekend but it was good to get on the tractor and mow and move some wood.  My fuel gauge and temp gauge are on the fritz so I'll see what the dealer can do since it was just in a few months ago for this problem.  I thing I'm going to have to replace the dash completely but we will see.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> I spent most of the weekend catching up on mowing grass and I did start moving this winters wood from the woods to the area by the house.  I only moved a few tractor grapple loads since we had some family stuff this weekend but it was good to get on the tractor and mow and move some wood.  My fuel gauge and temp gauge are on the fritz so I'll see what the dealer can do since it was just in a few months ago for this problem.  I thing I'm going to have to replace the dash completely but we will see.


That stinks, do you leave your machine outside all the time? I have slots that switched can be installed on my dash, I have LED flood lights but have yet to install them because I'm looking for an all weather switch than can fit into the slot, my main concern is snow fall melting into the switch when I'm outside plowing, I will also admit that I haven't really been looking to hard to find that switch either so I cant really complain about not getting the right parts.


----------



## heavy hammer

No kennyp2339 my tractor has  not spent a day or night outside since I purchased it.  I'm not certain but they said hitting the dash is not a good thing and my 3 year old nephew loves climbing up on the tractor and hitting all the buttons and switches on the dash.  Who knows it might just be one of those thing as well.  I pulled the dash off after work today and ran it up to the dealer to see if they could fix it.  If not I'll probably just buy a new one since it is still new to me and I would like it fixed.


----------



## thewoodlands

I cleaned up some pine needles, splitter trash and small branches from around the fireplace and then took them to the trail that runs up top. That trail hasn't been worked on in a couple of years and with some of my firewood coming from up there this year, the trail took a beating.

Two loads didn't do much but I'll work on the rest during the summer.


----------



## SpaceBus

We took a break from wood for the last week and erected a quick fence. Some folks we know had to re-home an Alpaca and he came home today. Hopefully we can find two more alpaca, goats, or even a donkey that need a home, but he has taken nicely to our GSD.


----------



## SpaceBus

Forgot to post a pic of the critter yesterday! We introduced my 50 lb pit and she cried and begged the Alpaca to see her.


----------



## kennyp2339

@SpaceBus that's awesome! , my sister lives over by @begreen in Washington state and has / operates a horse rescue farm, jokingly I call it "the standby glue factory" due to some sibling rivalry (year 35yr old to 39 yr old, still exists, but out of love) but in all honesty when your able to take animals in and giver them a home, its always a rewarding experience for both, and usually the animal knows that they are given a second chance and will show appreciation for it, they are much smarter then we humans think.


----------



## SpaceBus

kennyp2339 said:


> @SpaceBus that's awesome! , my sister lives over by @begreen in Washington state and has / operates a horse rescue farm, jokingly I call it "the standby glue factory" due to some sibling rivalry (year 35yr old to 39 yr old, still exists, but out of love) but in all honesty when your able to take animals in and giver them a home, its always a rewarding experience for both, and usually the animal knows that they are given a second chance and will show appreciation for it, they are much smarter then we humans think.


He does seem to like it better here than at his previous residence where he got no contact with animals or people. We took our GSD into the paddock this morning and the alpaca ran right over to see the dog. I'm reaching out to a few local farms to see if they have any other alpaca that need homes. Also trying to find a forum for alpaca/llama but not really seeing much.


----------



## kennyp2339

SpaceBus said:


> We took our GSD into the paddock this morning and the alpaca ran right over to see the dog.


That's funny, my neighbors have 3 young dogs, the one is a year and a half big black german shepard, he is one of the biggest friendliest goof balls I know, but his claim to fame is that at 6 months of age he got and raised 2 kittens and there "his" cats, I'm allowed to touch, pet and carry them, but you better believe that one eye is on the fun and the other is to make sure his cats are safe at all times. Whats really funny is that he has a certain bark that he'll do and the cats come running to him when he does it, very smart animals.


----------



## EODMSgt

Took a drive Wednesday morning over a road that they just opened for the season and found a silver maple blow down right by the road. It couldn't have been any easier. Some minor punk at the center but overall a decent score for a few minutes work. The picture doesn't do it justice as the total amount filled over 3/4 of the truck. Slowly adding to the wood pile and getting closer to my goal of having 20 cord by the start of burning season. One tree scrounged at a time. My neighbor just told me I can go cut a standing dead beech behind his house so I'll tackle that today. He has a few more so it could be a good day for the score total.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Took a drive Wednesday morning over a road that they just opened for the season and found a silver maple blow down right by the road. It couldn't have been any easier. Some minor punk at the center but overall a decent score for a few minutes work. The picture doesn't do it justice as the total amount filled over 3/4 of the truck. Slowly adding to the wood pile and getting closer to my goal of having 20 cord by the start of burning season. One tree scrounged at a time. My neighbor just told me I can go cut a standing dead beech behind his house so I'll tackle that today. He has a few more so it could be a good day for the score total.


Great work @EODMSgt , you have the best looking firewood stacks and stacking area that I've ever seen.


----------



## EODMSgt

thewoodlands said:


> Great work @EODMSgt , you have the best looking firewood stacks and stacking area that I've ever seen.



Thanks @thewoodlands. It took me about ten years to figure out a system I was happy with to best utilize the space out back. It still looks like chaos to me however hopefully that will change soon. I spoke to the excavating company that I'm getting the fill dirt from and if everything goes right, they will start delivering this week. When I'm done, I'll almost double my workable area out back. The goal is to have seven more stacks in the new area for a total of 12 stacks (at approx. 1 1/4 cords each) total and eight cords in the shed. Then I'll be happy.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Thanks @thewoodlands. It took me about ten years to figure out a system I was happy with to best utilize the space out back. It still looks like chaos to me however hopefully that will change soon. I spoke to the excavating company that I'm getting the fill dirt from and if everything goes right, they will start delivering this week. When I'm done, I'll almost double my workable area out back. The goal is to have seven more stacks in the new area for a total of 12 stacks (at approx. 1 1/4 cords each) total and eight cords in the shed. Then I'll be happy.


Compared to where your tractor is in the picture, where is the fill going ?


----------



## EODMSgt

Took advantage of the nice cool weather today to go scrounging (thanks to a friend's generosity that I could get some dead trees on his property). It was in the low forties last night and never made it out of the fifties during the day today so awesome weather for getting firewood. We have a frost advisory tonight so I'm actually going to start a fire in the woodstove to take the chill out. Nice to have a fire going the last day of May!

So I got a late start but dropped two standing dead beech and a standing dead white birch this afternoon. The larger beech had been dead for a while but the wood is still good and it'll be great early season firewood. The birch and the other beech had recently died so the wood is all good (except for both bases that were hollow in the middle). I did find a standing dead ash on my last trip out so I dropped and marked it for 16" rounds. I'll buck it hopefully tomorrow. I also found two more standing dead ash while meandering about and if I can remember where I saw them, I'll try and grab those tomorrow as well.

It's somewhat difficult to really tell how much I have in the wood lot waiting to be split however with these additions, the trees I hope to get tomorrow, the 6+ cords already CSS and drying outside, and the 2 cords left over in the shed from last winter, I'm estimating to be at around 12 cords.


----------



## EODMSgt

thewoodlands said:


> Compared to where your tractor is in the picture, where is the fill going ?



It'll be the area outlined in red. I'll have to build a retaining wall along the back side but that's ok (plenty of stone here, we don't call it the Granite State for nothing). It's difficult to make out in the second picture with the leaves coming in however I already have about a dump load in place (thanks to another neighbor that did some excavating on his property). It'll be a lot of work but making use of an area that has been scrub brush and wasted space for the last eleven years will be worth it. Unfortunately I'll have to drop the oak that's in the new area but it won't go to waste.


----------



## SpaceBus

EODMSgt said:


> It'll be the area outlined in red. I'll have to build a retaining wall along the back side but that's ok (plenty of stone here, we don't call it the Granite State for nothing). It's difficult to make out in the second picture with the leaves coming in however I already have about a dump load in place (thanks to another neighbor that did some excavating on his property). It'll be a lot of work but making use of an area that has been scrub brush and wasted space for the last eleven years will be worth it. Unfortunately I'll have to drop the oak that's in the new area but it won't go to waste.


How much will that fill material end up costing you, if you don't mind? Are you using straight excavated material that hasn't been screened?


----------



## EODMSgt

SpaceBus said:


> How much will that fill material end up costing you, if you don't mind? Are you using straight excavated material that hasn't been screened?



Based on discussions with the excavating company, I'm estimating around $1,600.00. That's five dump loads of unscreened fill and two loads of ledge pack gravel to top it off (not all the gravel will go on top, some will be used for road and driveway repairs). A lot of the cost is delivery fees however that's just part of the game when you live in the middle of nowhere.


----------



## SpaceBus

EODMSgt said:


> Based on discussions with the excavating company, I'm estimating around $1,600.00. That's five dump loads of unscreened fill and two loads of ledge pack gravel to top it off (not all the gravel will go on top, some will be used for road and driveway repairs). A lot of the cost is delivery fees however that's just part of the game when you live in the middle of nowhere.


Not bad for 72 yards of material delivered. I was quoted $500 delivered for a 12 yard load of crushed 3/4 locally.


----------



## heavy hammer

[B]EODMSgt[/B]*, nice score,  wood piles look great.  SpaceBus I like the alpaca, I'm sure you will be able to fins another rescue.  My grandmother had a farm and she had a few rescue ponies, and goats.  Keep digging on the net you will find something.  Unfortunately there are plenty of animals out there people don't want anymore for one reason or another.  I spent the weekend mowing and today I moved three more grapple loads to the area close to the house.  I'm trying to free up room in the woods for the logs I have to cut.  The area I have near the house holds about 3 cords when full, plus it is nice and close to the house to keep the garage full.  I didn't get any pics since in between mowing and moving wood I was playing baseball with the girls.  My 3 year old is able to hit already from being pitched to underhand.  The dogs played ball retriever/ outfielder to help.  All in all a good weekend to be outside*


----------



## thewoodlands

I had planned on mowing the yard for the first time this year just before the hot weather hit but didn't, since we're on sand the lack of water and the heat would've done more harm than good so today I finally mowed the yard.

After I was done and cleaned the air filter out with air, it started to rain.


----------



## EODMSgt

Didn't get as much done as I had hoped today but did get two ash bucked and brought home. After using the woodstove last night and this morning (it was only 34 outside this morning), I'm still thinking about firewood (ok, I'm always thinking about firewood). Dropped a standing dead ash (the right side leaner) and then bucked the standing dead ash I cut down yesterday evening. There's another standing dead ash I want to get but ran out of time today (last pic, the one in the center with the long split up the trunk).


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Didn't get as much done as I had hoped today but did get two ash bucked and brought home. After using the woodstove last night and this morning (it was only 34 outside this morning), I'm still thinking about firewood (ok, I'm always thinking about firewood). Dropped a standing dead ash (the right side leaner) and then bucked the standing dead ash I cut down yesterday evening. There's another standing dead ash I want to get but ran out of time today (last pic, the one in the center with the long split up the trunk).


It looks like you had some nice days to be in the woods, we had 34.8 this morning. We talked about putting some wood in tonight but decided we would use the propane fireplace or the furnace if needed.


----------



## SpaceBus

I'm baking bread tonight so burning wood as well.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had 42 Monday morning and today we had close to 90.  Heat one day air conditioning the next.


----------



## JimBear

I was out spraying thistles today & ran across a couple of dead standing American Elms, a Cherry the top was rotting off & a limb on an Ash that needed trimmed. Elm is on the front, Cherry is on the back & the Ash is in front of the Cherry.  I still have to work up the second Elm.


----------



## EODMSgt

Was able to get out for a few minutes yesterday morning and took down a couple standing dead (ash and maple). Not sure how I missed the ash before as it was near a trail but it was a decent score. Still have another ash to take down and found a few more standing dead (beech and birch) but won't have time to tackle those for a while. Almost out of room for logs/rounds anyway and need to start splitting soon.


----------



## Gearhead660

Cleaned up a gift from mother nature.  Cottonwood...not on the top of my favorite smelling woods.


----------



## SpaceBus

The leaves and bark look just like Basswood, but then I saw your end grain which is way different. A guy on woodweb said it smells like "bovine urine"


----------



## Gearhead660

SpaceBus said:


> The leaves and bark look just like Basswood, but then I saw your end grain which is way different. A guy on woodweb said it smells like "bovine urine"


The smell reminds me of my childhood on the farm...  Got 3 of them in my backyard. Looks like it snows every summer.


----------



## EODMSgt

Cut up a large red oak stump yesterday in preparation for the first two loads of fill for my wood processing area expansion project. I took that tree down about 8 years ago and the stump was still a beast. Spread the two loads of fill yesterday evening and made the decision to take down an oak that I would have had to build a well around. Hated to drop it but it'll make using the area easier. Dropped the oak this afternoon and got some of it bucked. Will have to pull the rest out of the treeline for processing and cut up another stump. It'll be great firewood in three years. Hopefully I'll get some more fill next week.


----------



## Gearhead660

EODMSgt said:


> Cut up a large red oak stump yesterday in preparation for the first two loads of fill for my wood processing area expansion project. I took that tree down about 8 years ago and the stump was still a beast. Spread the two loads of fill yesterday evening and made the decision to take down an oak that I would have had to build a well around. Hated to drop it but it'll make using the area easier. Dropped the oak this afternoon and got some of it bucked. Will have to pull the rest out of the treeline for processing and cut up another stump. It'll be great firewood in three years. Hopefully I'll get some more fill next week.


That's a big boulder you have there...


----------



## EODMSgt

Gearhead660 said:


> That's a big boulder you have there...



I've got more of them around the property. We grow them up here (we are the 'Granite State' after all).


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Cut up a large red oak stump yesterday in preparation for the first two loads of fill for my wood processing area expansion project. I took that tree down about 8 years ago and the stump was still a beast. Spread the two loads of fill yesterday evening and made the decision to take down an oak that I would have had to build a well around. Hated to drop it but it'll make using the area easier. Dropped the oak this afternoon and got some of it bucked. Will have to pull the rest out of the treeline for processing and cut up another stump. It'll be great firewood in three years. Hopefully I'll get some more fill next week.


That will make for some nice firewood, your stacking area expansion is looking good.


----------



## EODMSgt

thewoodlands said:


> That will make for some nice firewood, your stacking area expansion is looking good.



Thanks. The things we do to support our obsession with firewood....

The oak will be great for the 22-23 season, like having money in the bank. I had hoped to finish dragging the rest of it out of the woods and buck it into rounds however after getting poured on twice with more storms in the forecast, called it a day. Got some of it done but still have the top to finish and then the expected mess of branches to chip at a later date. Not complaining though, that's some prime oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Thanks. The things we do to support our obsession with firewood....
> 
> The oak will be great for the 22-23 season, like having money in the bank. I had hoped to finish dragging the rest of it out of the woods and buck it into rounds however after getting poured on twice with more storms in the forecast, called it a day. Got some of it done but still have the top to finish and then the expected mess of branches to chip at a later date. Not complaining though, that's some prime oak.


After most of the rain/storms missed us we finally are getting some well deserved rain with the temps dropping to 58 from 77.

Some of the heavy rain is just south of us by 10 & 20 miles but we'll take what mother nature is giving us.


----------



## SpaceBus

Well, 99% of my sawmill finally got here yesterday, so I got to assembling it today. I've gotten the basic 4 meter setup fully assembled. The vendor forgot a couple of brackets, so I'll have to call them on Monday and then I can make it a full 6 meter mill once they get here. Tomorrow I'll post some pics once I get the saw mounted and get a log mounted.


----------



## JimBear

SpaceBus said:


> Well, 99% of my sawmill finally got here yesterday, so I got to assembling it today. I've gotten the basic 4 meter setup fully assembled. The vendor forgot a couple of brackets, so I'll have to call them on Monday and then I can make it a full 6 meter mill once they get here. Tomorrow I'll post some pics once I get the saw mounted and get a log mounted.


Yes we need pics or we are going to think you fibbing to us. Pics or it didn’t happen. Lol.


----------



## SpaceBus

JimBear said:


> Yes we need pics or we are going to think you fibbing to us. Pics or it didn’t happen. Lol.


I'll grab a few when I let the pups out.


----------



## SpaceBus

Got the 4m kit functional today and got the hang of operating the mill. Unfortunately the bar nose steering magnet fell off somehow, hopefully the vendor can get me another, or two. I made some rough 2x4's just to get a feel for everything. I ran about one tank of fuel today, the 395 is thirsty. The chains are Oregon ripping chains, but they aren't particularly sharp. I'll be touching them up soon. After getting the mill together I realized the Logosol emblem on the rail was meant to face the other way, but only after getting the rail assembled. First order of business is going to be making some barn flooring and then lots of 2x4's to make scaffolding. 

I'm not very good at figuring out exactly how much higher/lower the butt end needs to be. The manual just kind of says to make sure one end is higher and doesn't really elaborate. For now I'm not even annoyed I can't put it out to the full 6m yet since the curve for 4m is pretty steep.


----------



## heavy hammer

Nice mill Spacebus!  EODMSgt  nice work.  The area is comong along nicely.  I just ended up mowing yesterday and spent all morning helping a friend put in his electric fence for his dog.  Not and overly fun Sunday morning but it helped a buddy out.


----------



## JimBear

SpaceBus said:


> I'm not very good at figuring out exactly how much higher/lower the butt end needs to be. The manual just kind of says to make sure one end is higher and doesn't really elaborate


I think that it recommends one end be higher to help with feeding (downhill works better than uphill). More slope is better. My assessment is based on what the book I got with my Granberg & what other chain mill using have stated. That setup looks good, keep those chains sharp, milling is hard on saws no need to push it any harder than you need to. Also make sure you check your fuel after a cut to assess usage, it sucks to run out mid-cut. Most of the stuff I have read suggests to let your saw cool down for 15-30 seconds after each cut depending on air temps.


----------



## SpaceBus

JimBear said:


> I think that it recommends one end be higher to help with feeding (downhill works better than uphill). More slope is better. My assessment is based on what the book I got with my Granberg & what other chain mill using have stated. That setup looks good, keep those chains sharp, milling is hard on saws no need to push it any harder than you need to. Also make sure you check your fuel after a cut to assess usage, it sucks to run out mid-cut. Most of the stuff I have read suggests to let your saw cool down for 15-30 seconds after each cut depending on air temps.


I get plenty of breaks between cuts from adjusting the log beds or whatever. I wasn't worrying about speed today and could have turned the saw off while making adjustments and stuff. The reason for having one end higher than the other is because you get a lot of waste otherwise, at least that's what I discovered. They really weren't that sharp to start with, so anything is an improvement. I wish I had known a 25" bar would fit the bar nose steering a little better, I wouldn't have gotten the 24" if I had known better. I do have a 28" bar and cross cutting chain, but I might get a few extra 28" loops to convert to ripping chains for 24" diameter logs (mfg listed max log size).


----------



## JimBear

SpaceBus said:


> I get plenty of breaks between cuts from adjusting the log beds or whatever. I wasn't worrying about speed today and could have turned the saw off while making adjustments and stuff. The reason for having one end higher than the other is because you get a lot of waste otherwise, at least that's what I discovered. They really weren't that sharp to start with, so anything is an improvement. I wish I had known a 25" bar would fit the bar nose steering a little better, I wouldn't have gotten the 24" if I had known better. I do have a 28" bar and cross cutting chain, but I might get a few extra 28" loops to convert to ripping chains for 24" diameter logs (mfg listed max log size).


Several of the posts I have read about milling say they are just using standard chain to mill with. Those using it say the surface texture is just as good as milling chain, some of them change the top plate to 25* instead of 30* some don’t.


----------



## thewoodlands

SpaceBus said:


> I get plenty of breaks between cuts from adjusting the log beds or whatever. I wasn't worrying about speed today and could have turned the saw off while making adjustments and stuff. The reason for having one end higher than the other is because you get a lot of waste otherwise, at least that's what I discovered. They really weren't that sharp to start with, so anything is an improvement. I wish I had known a 25" bar would fit the bar nose steering a little better, I wouldn't have gotten the 24" if I had known better. I do have a 28" bar and cross cutting chain, but I might get a few extra 28" loops to convert to ripping chains for 24" diameter logs (mfg listed max log size).


I have a Alaskan Chainsaw Mill (36 inch) with the auxiliary oiler that runs down near the end of the bar, I use veggie oil for that.

This isn't my setup but the auxiliary oiler is the same.


----------



## SpaceBus

JimBear said:


> Several of the posts I have read about milling say they are just using standard chain to mill with. Those using it say the surface texture is just as good as milling chain, some of them change the top plate to 25* instead of 30* some don’t.


My milling chains are set at 10° on the X and Y axis for the cutters. I think a cross cut chain would be worse.


----------



## Country Living in VA

Ok folks, gotta start somewhere.  I'm a newbie and have been enjoying reading your posts.  I don't do to many forums, but it is very interesting to me to read posts about people who are like me in that I need to cut and collect firewood year round for use in my outdoor furnace.  I am very envious of some of your extremely organized and perfectly cut and stacked wood.  I can't say I have gotten to the point of even getting very well organized with my wood cutting to this point.

My story is that I moved way out in the country last August and inherited an outdoor wood furnace.  I really didn't know much about them, but definitely liked the concept and truly needed to use this thing since the house is a remodeled 1890's farm house with only a heat pump as alternative heat.  Electricity prices are steep in my area and really couldn't afford a $300-$400 a month electricity bill.  Even though the house has been remodeled somewhat, it never was insulated worth a darn and there are many drafts that come through.

I didn't have a truck to haul wood with when we moved in, so I purchased numerous loads of wood from local sources and got a few loads from family for Christmas.  That darn outdoor furnace really eats some wood.  I was able to get a truck in November and have been trying to find places to cut.  Even though I have five acres of land, very little of it is wooded.  There is National Forest land several miles up the road and I got a permit and was able to find some downed trees, but all of it was green.  Most of the easy to get to wood had already been gotten as many of the farms/houses in my area have outdoor stoves for heat.  

I made it through my first winter with some wood left over some how, but I am planning on trying to average cutting a pickup load every 10 days and hopefully have enough wood to get me through next winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

Country Living in VA said:


> Ok folks, gotta start somewhere.  I'm a newbie and have been enjoying reading your posts.  I don't do to many forums, but it is very interesting to me to read posts about people who are like me in that I need to cut and collect firewood year round for use in my outdoor furnace.  I am very envious of some of your extremely organized and perfectly cut and stacked wood.  I can't say I have gotten to the point of even getting very well organized with my wood cutting to this point.
> 
> My story is that I moved way out in the country last August and inherited an outdoor wood furnace.  I really didn't know much about them, but definitely liked the concept and truly needed to use this thing since the house is a remodeled 1890's farm house with only a heat pump as alternative heat.  Electricity prices are steep in my area and really couldn't afford a $300-$400 a month electricity bill.  Even though the house has been remodeled somewhat, it never was insulated worth a darn and there are many drafts that come through.
> 
> I didn't have a truck to haul wood with when we moved in, so I purchased numerous loads of wood from local sources and got a few loads from family for Christmas.  That darn outdoor furnace really eats some wood.  I was able to get a truck in November and have been trying to find places to cut.  Even though I have five acres of land, very little of it is wooded.  There is National Forest land several miles up the road and I got a permit and was able to find some downed trees, but all of it was green.  Most of the easy to get to wood had already been gotten as many of the farms/houses in my area have outdoor stoves for heat.
> 
> I made it through my first winter with some wood left over some how, but I am planning on trying to average cutting a pickup load every 10 days and hopefully have enough wood to get me through next winter.


Welcome, I'm not sure if they have a scrounging thread going but if they do, you could get some nice tips from them. I'm always amazed on how much wood they get without having a place to cut on.


----------



## Country Living in VA

thewoodlands said:


> Welcome, I'm not sure if they have a scrounging thread going but if they do, you could get some nice tips from them. I'm always amazed on how much wood they get without having a place to cut on.


Thanks!  I have noticed a new scrounging thread and I have been doing some scrounging this spring.  I just got an text from a Craiglist free wood listing that I am going to pick up this evening.  Already blocked up, just load and go oak-needs splitting though.


----------



## heavy hammer

Once you get the word out that you are looking for wood you will be amazed how often you get a hold of it.  Some times it is bug stuff or just a couple branches here or there but you will get a good amount if you keep at it.  Most here started with very little and the ones with the impressive setups and areas put in the time and work.  It doesn't happen overnight nut you will be amazed in a few years how much you have.  Welcome to the forum!


----------



## Riff

Country Living in VA said:


> Ok folks, gotta start somewhere.  I'm a newbie and have been enjoying reading your posts.  I don't do to many forums, but it is very interesting to me to read posts about people who are like me in that I need to cut and collect firewood year round for use in my outdoor furnace.  I am very envious of some of your extremely organized and perfectly cut and stacked wood.  I can't say I have gotten to the point of even getting very well organized with my wood cutting to this point.
> 
> My story is that I moved way out in the country last August and inherited an outdoor wood furnace.  I really didn't know much about them, but definitely liked the concept and truly needed to use this thing since the house is a remodeled 1890's farm house with only a heat pump as alternative heat.  Electricity prices are steep in my area and really couldn't afford a $300-$400 a month electricity bill.  Even though the house has been remodeled somewhat, it never was insulated worth a darn and there are many drafts that come through.
> 
> I didn't have a truck to haul wood with when we moved in, so I purchased numerous loads of wood from local sources and got a few loads from family for Christmas.  That darn outdoor furnace really eats some wood.  I was able to get a truck in November and have been trying to find places to cut.  Even though I have five acres of land, very little of it is wooded.  There is National Forest land several miles up the road and I got a permit and was able to find some downed trees, but all of it was green.  Most of the easy to get to wood had already been gotten as many of the farms/houses in my area have outdoor stoves for heat.
> 
> I made it through my first winter with some wood left over some how, but I am planning on trying to average cutting a pickup load every 10 days and hopefully have enough wood to get me through next winter.



We used to live a little south of that way. After big storms we generally found some luck scrounging around Roanoke city as people were more than happy just to be rid of it. Sometimes they would even post trees that the city had cut down.


----------



## Medic21

A little change up from the firewood.  Pouring New front porch steps Friday morning.  Never done steps before.


----------



## Country Living in VA

Riff said:


> We used to live a little south of that way. After big storms we generally found some luck scrounging around Roanoke city as people were more than happy just to be rid of it. Sometimes they would even post trees that the city had cut down.


I have had some luck in Salem, Christiansburg & Blacksburg.  There is some wood offered in Roanoke, but it is out of the way and one of the reasons for moving to the country was to avoid all the traffic.  I actually work in Salem and pass through Christiansburg & Blacksburg on my way home.


----------



## Gearhead660

Medic21 said:


> A little change up from the firewood.  Pouring New front porch steps Friday morning.  Never done steps before.
> View attachment 260860
> 
> View attachment 260861
> View attachment 260862
> View attachment 260863


I like to do some concrete work every now and then to remind me why I don't do it more often...
Looks like the steps will turn out nice.  Adequate bracing is essential.  Amazing how much force crete has.  Looks like you got it covered.  
I too am venturing from firewood for a bit.  Replacing the roof on my garage/shop.  3 layers of crumbly shingles, no fun.


----------



## Medic21

Gearhead660 said:


> I like to do some concrete work every now and then to remind me why I don't do it more often...
> Looks like the steps will turn out nice.  Adequate bracing is essential.  Amazing how much force crete has.  Looks like you got it covered.
> I too am venturing from firewood for a bit.  Replacing the roof on my garage/shop.  3 layers of crumbly shingles, no fun.


That’s my fear lol.


----------



## thewoodlands

The muggy weather has moved in with possible damaging winds coming in later on. When I called my neighbor the other day who has a small fireplace outside, I ask her if she needed any Pine for it and she said yes so today I brought down two loads with the tractor.

She has helped out a bunch of neighbor's throughout the years including us so I'm hoping they can enjoy it. The first three pictures are the two loads and what I started with and the last is what I'll be stacking for shoulder season wood for the years 2021 & 2022. This years has been stacked for over a year.


----------



## Country Living in VA

thewoodlands said:


> The muggy weather has moved in with possible damaging winds coming in later on. When I called my neighbor the other day who has a small fireplace outside, I ask her if she needed any Pine for it and she said yes so today I brought down two loads with the tractor.
> 
> She has helped out a bunch of neighbor's throughout the years including us so I'm hoping they can enjoy it. The first three pictures are the two loads and what I started with and the last is what I'll be stacking for shoulder season wood for the years 2021 & 2022. This years has been stacked for over a year.


Good for you thinking about your neighbor like that.  The world needs more people like you and your neighbor who think about looking after each other.   Now that I live in a very rural area, I really see this mentality more among people who live out.


----------



## thewoodlands

Country Living in VA said:


> Good for you thinking about your neighbor like that.  The world needs more people like you and your neighbor who think about looking after each other.   Now that I live in a very rural area, I really see this mentality more among people who live out.


She has alot on her plate (won't go into it) so I've been helping out in the winter plowing her driveway along with another guy. She always liked the outside work with a chainsaw and splitting.

I did see she just got her firewood for this year so I'll ask if she would let me help stack it.


----------



## enduring

Here is my little pile that DH and I started with our own cut wood, for the future, see the last picture. I used the 2x4 and concrete block stacking technique. Its about 3' high. I'm glad I had the 8' lengths of 2x4 cut in half, so the stack was shorter, for stability. It is filled with a small tree that DH took out of a new fence line on our farm. It was early spring when he took it down, so we couldn't tell what it was. It had alternating buds, so knew it wasn't maple. The bark wasn't quite shaggy enough for Hickory. We live in Central Iowa and there are plenty of Honey Locust. I think that is what this was, but without thorns. When we were splitting it, we would find very small thorns deep inside, as if when young, there were thorns that got surrounded by new growth over time. Weird. The bark is just like Locust, kind of a gray, and slightly shaggy plates. In this area there are plenty of thorned locusts as seen by the pods on the ground in the first picture.

Any comments on this wood?


----------



## Gearhead660

Looks like Locust to me.


----------



## JimBear

Definitely looks like Honey Locust to me, mine seems to take 2 years to get down around 20% moisture. Yes there are plenty of them around, them & Mulberry are a dime a dozen around here.


----------



## thewoodlands

After we had some pretty good winds yesterday, I checked the trails for anything down. I didn't have any across the trails I checked but some tops the wind took out of a Birch and White Ash.

I also split some kindling that had been bucked up for two years (3 loads) so it should be ready for this fall.


----------



## Medic21

I have steps.


----------



## JimBear

Medic21 said:


> I have steps.
> View attachment 260965
> View attachment 260966


Those steps look incomplete, I don’t see any initials, date or hand prints....


----------



## Medic21

JimBear said:


> Those steps look incomplete, I don’t see any initials, date or hand prints....


Lol, it was hard enough to keep up with them once they I was able to pull the forms.  I poured it at a 2” slump, probably should have used a 3-4.  2 hours start to finish.


----------



## thewoodlands

Tomorrow one of my jobs will be splitting this pine I had bucked up after mother nature put it on the ground late October or early November of last year.

After the pine is gone the Birch in the picture will come down, I think three of the four are damaged plus it will open up that area which will make plowing easier in the winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

There is still some cleanup that needs to be done but I did get more loads of Pine over to the fireplace. It looks like we'll continue our dry spell for the next week if the forecast holds so I won't be burning.


----------



## SpaceBus

Here's the current setup for the mill. Still waiting on a few more parts to make it six meters long. The stuff on top of the tarp is what I've milled, stuff under is shingles for the house. I think I've milled five logs, all about 8 -10" DBH, and the rest of the stack has a few of that size and a few larger ones. I think we will begin felling trees again here soon.


----------



## Medic21

Tried planting some trees.  How long to maturity for this species?


----------



## thewoodlands

Medic21 said:


> Tried planting some trees.  How long to maturity for this species?
> 
> View attachment 261069
> View attachment 261070
> View attachment 261071


They say after the first case is consumed on the deck, they really takeoff.


----------



## EODMSgt

Haven't had a chance to do much firewood-wise the last couple weeks but did get out today (it was only 91...). A friend dropped a few trees and said I could have a couple so despite the heat, I went over and bucked them and brought them home. One was a standing dead beech and the other was a dying silver maple. Lots of quality wood with some minor punk at the center.


----------



## NickW

Deer enjoyed the tops of some aspen I dropped starting to clear a building site for our hopeful cabin in the great northwoods. Not much "good" wood there, mostly aspen and pine; but a few small cherry. Plenty warm, more than plenty mosquitoes and wood ticks, boat won't run for crap... Now hopefully the builder comes back with the good news that he can hit the budget for the foundation, shell, septic & well! Working on plans B & C if he can't...


----------



## SpaceBus

Two more alpacas are coming tomorrow to join lonely Lightning. I'm hoping to get sawmill assembled out to the full 6m this weekend. I think we will be felling trees again on Sunday, so I'll probably touch up all of my chains today or tomorrow. I've got plenty of log cut offs to break down into firewood. This year has been so dry that my logs cut a few months ago are already checked and cracking. Even stuff I split a few weeks ago is already dry enough to burn in the wood stove. Totally different than last year.


----------



## Medic21

I just wanted to wait till it was 90 by noon to go back to firewood.


----------



## Gearhead660

Medic21 said:


> I just wanted to wait till it was 90 by noon to go back to firewood.
> View attachment 261083
> View attachment 261084
> View attachment 261085


Where's the marshmallows?


----------



## Medic21

Gearhead660 said:


> Where's the marshmallows?


They melted in the front seat by 7am today lol.


----------



## moresnow

Medic21 said:


> They melted in the front seat by 7am today lol.


To funny! Oh my. Weight loss program... all that heat. No marshmallows.


----------



## Medic21

moresnow said:


> To funny! Oh my. Weight loss program... all that heat. No marshmallows.


And I’m heading to the gym in a bit on top of that.


----------



## SpaceBus

We were able to get Lightning partially shorn before it got super hot and his friends BB and Hans (the other cinnamon) arrived today. Thankfully today wasn't hot, but Hans was still pretty stressed out. BB is super friendly and handles very well. Lightning immediately started calling out to BB at first sight. They greeted through the fence and immediately got along. Hans and Lightning are very chatty with each other and seem to be playing. My GSD got pushed around by BB a bit when we introduced them, but Seamus is pretty pushy.... I've never seen Lightning so happy and I hope the good manners of BB will rub off on him. 

Hans and BB really seem to miss their old home and handlers, but I am confident they will settle in just fine.


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't take any pictures but today I limbed up a bunch Pine, 1 Elm and 1 Sugar Maple along the side of the driveway. I won't have to worry about getting face slapped when plowing this winter, it will also give the business we bought the RTV-X1100C plenty of room when they deliver it.


----------



## thewoodlands

Here are the limbs from the work I did along side the driveway.


----------



## heavy hammer

I want to see some pics of the new RTV-X1100C when delivered.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> I want to see some pics of the new RTV-X1100C when delivered.


Will do @heavy hammer , I'll be limbing up some trails around the house so I'm not breaking any of the lights on the outside of the cab and a bunch on the property I do most my cutting on.

The wife wants to keep the Rhino too so I'll need to make room in there for both.


----------



## JimBear

thewoodlands said:


> Will do @heavy hammer , I'll be limbing up some trails around the house so I'm not breaking any of the lights on the outside of the cab and a bunch on the property I do most my cutting on.
> 
> The wife wants to keep the Rhino too so I'll need to make room in there for both.


His/Hers UTV’s???   Lol


----------



## thewoodlands

JimBear said:


> His/Hers UTV’s???   Lol


That surprised me too, I have a feeling the new one is hers.


----------



## mrd1995

Got all of the wood we have cut gathered up by our storage shed mostly dead standing ash, few junk trees (willow and sassafras, mostly for the fire ring) that were easy pickings, and some red oak. Picked up free pallets to stack the remainder of the wood that is outside. People laugh when I tell them I don't have a stove in the house yet, but will actually start that next weekend. approx. 16' X 20' car port.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was pretty windy yesterday so I decided to check the trails, nothing down which is good. I did clear some face slappers from a few trails, for some reason I never took a before picture.


----------



## SpaceBus

Very close to ordering a hydraulic post hole digger. I'm looking at getting two augers, a 24" for placing 8x8 posts and a 9" for placing 4x4 fence posts. Here on the coast it's all packed clay with lots of gravel, rocks, and boulders. I'm thinking a round carbide tipped rock auger due to the ledge and granite, but I'm not sure it's 100% necessary. There are carbide tipped augers that have flat teeth which cost much less, but I think I will really hate myself if they don't work out.


----------



## SpaceBus

I just placed an order for a Danuser EP10 offset PHD. Working with a different vendor for the rock augers, they have a much better price.


----------



## thewoodlands

My plan was to remove four stumps but one is near a nice Maple tree so I'll zip that off closer to the ground, the first two were smaller and the third stump I zipped off the top some so I could plant it right back where it came from.

This will give us a small trail in that area for walking or running the four wheeler on it.


----------



## JimBear

I almost wore myself snagging this gigantic haul yesterday. I thought they were just a couple of little dead American Elms but they were Reds.


----------



## JimBear

Cut up some Osage that wasn’t going to make the grade for fence posts, about 2/3 cord this load,  some of it needs split but that’s a project for a cooler day. I think I have about another 1/2 cord to load up, haul & stack with this stuff.


----------



## heavy hammer

All you guys doing wood, all I did yesterday was mow.  I did get the place looking good for my daughters 7th birthday party.  I even mowed around all my log piles one of these weekends I'll cut them.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

As of right now I'm done untill January. this is this years work
I split and stacked this.. this is 12x4.5x7




I went on the scrounge for all this .. free wood.. cherry ,white oak, red oak. the pile is 8x6x24







I'll be back at it.. come January.. ill start processing the log lenth and filling the woodshed..


----------



## JimBear

Here’s the last bit of Osage. Always seems pleasant temp wise when I start  then the wind stops blowing right after I start & the pleasantness immediately disappears....


----------



## heavy hammer

The first pic is the stuff I moved with the tractor. I have a few more loads to move to continue filling it in. the second pic is the rest of the ash tree I dropped last year everything over 8 inch diameter is now split.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> View attachment 261353
> View attachment 261354
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first pic is the stuff I moved with the tractor. I have a few more loads to move to continue filling it in. the second pic is the rest of the ash tree I dropped last year everything over 8 inch diameter is now split.


Nice work @heavy hammer , how's the weather out your way, wet or dry?


----------



## heavy hammer

Been pretty dry lately.  Hot during the day but it cools off nicely at night 80's for the most part.


----------



## SpaceBus

Placed an order for a 9" and 24" x 48" rock augers today. Combined with the 36" extension I should be able to get below the frost line. Thinking about a top and tilt kit and a mortar mixer next.


----------



## heavy hammer

Spacebus post some pics of the new attachments.


----------



## JimBear

I knocked down a bunch of dead elms today & will probably get a few more tomorrow. Hoping by the time it’s all said & done I will have a couple cord but it’s hard telling by the time I cut out the punky sections. My son-in-laws father loves him some Elm. Anything under 8” doesn’t get split so it’s not as time consuming.


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> Spacebus post some pics of the new attachments.


Well, it will probably be three weeks until I see the augers, but the FEL post hole digger should be here by the end of the week, not that I'll be able to use it.


----------



## JimBear

I cut & picked up about 1/2 of the Elm I had down,  probably around 1-1/2 cord in there 





And as a result I am going to treat myself to some prime rib & ribs.


----------



## shortys7777

Dead ash. Bark was falling of the bottom. Found a few mice living under it.


----------



## thewoodlands

shortys7777 said:


> Dead ash. Bark was falling of the bottom. Found a few mice living under it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 261473
> 
> View attachment 261474


Nice work @shortys7777 , how hot was it when you did the work?


----------



## shortys7777

Upper 70s. Not to bad. Did it before lunch time. Biggest tree I've dropped. Landed right where I wanted to.  Knocked out a few smaller ones but it was the only place it wouldn't get hung up on other big trees. First wood I've cut in over 5 months. Got stuck doing a kitchen remodel.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had decided that we would work one hour at the most removing some Hemlock,Elm and a Pine. It was the first time that I can say that the Brook water wasn't cold. The worst part of this job was all the rocks but I didn't hit one on this trip so all was good.

This was the first time the Kubota had saws in the back, we took the 028 Wood Boss and the Stihl 311 which I used, I ran Canola Oil in it instead of regular bar oil.

The wife was in the Brook helping out which is always nice, we'll go after the Hemlock that's left another day. There was and still is a chit load of dirt on the Hemlock so I'll bring an extra mudder chain plus a small broom too clean off the log, today I just brushed everything off with my hand.


----------



## heavy hammer

This was my fourth weekend. I worked on the log pile a little. As you can see it hardly made a dent in it and I filled in two more stacks that I have moved closer to the house with the tractor. In between cutting an stacking copper did some pond retrieves with his duck and his new snow goose decoy. In a couple of the pics even my older lab went in for a quick swim to cool off. On Friday I worked about ten time harder than I had to. I cut down this small dead walnut about 8 inch diameter. It fell into this hickory tree so I figured no big deal I just pull it out with a 3 ton hoist. About three hours later after pulling the half dead and rotted hickory over I had to cut that one down and then clean that giant mess up. A quick tank through the saw turned into a three plus hour adventure in the heat but still a good day and weekend I cut all three days and the dogs swam/retrieved ducks and geese. The girls were gone most of the day everyday swimming at a friends house so a good weekend for all.


----------



## thewoodlands

@heavy hammer , at least the dogs had a good time.  Nice work on a hot day.


----------



## heavy hammer

I like the heat it has been a great summer.  Other than all the stuff happening in the world lately, this summer has been pretty good.  My wife and two daughters have been spending a lot of there free time at their friends just down the roads pool so me and the dogs have been doing plenty at the house.  It might sound boring or like a lot of  work to others, but mowing, processing firewood and having the dogs in the woods for a little retrieving work is not a bad weekend to me.  I have worked so much these last six years and now with the girls involved it seems with everything.  The time at home is limited, so any weekend like last weekend is a good one.


----------



## Country Living in VA

Medic21 said:


> Tried planting some trees.  How long to maturity for this species?
> 
> View attachment 261069
> View attachment 261070
> View attachment 261071


It looks like you will have a good water supply to keep them growing.  The plant food you are using (quickcrete) should keep your new trees growing straight!


----------



## SpaceBus

The Danuser EP10 auger drive came in, but it has skid steer style flat face fittings.

Could I use this adapter set? - Amazon product

I'm not very savvy on the hydraulics.

Does anyone have advice on how to park it when not in use? I was expecting a manual of some sort, but no dice. I was thinking about building a parking stand out of wood, but I'm pretty sure I'll bust that up with the loader.

Edit: Connect under pressure flat face couplings aren't too bad and would probably be good for the long term for my tractor. Eventually I'd like to replace my remotes with flat face as well after reading about how much cleaner they are.


----------



## JimBear

SpaceBus said:


> The Danuser EP10 auger drive came in, but it has skid steer style flat face fittings.
> 
> Could I use this adapter set? - Amazon product
> 
> I'm not very savvy on the hydraulics.
> 
> Does anyone have advice on how to park it when not in use? I was expecting a manual of some sort, but no dice. I was thinking about building a parking stand out of wood, but I'm pretty sure I'll bust that up with the loader.
> 
> Edit: Connect under pressure flat face couplings aren't too bad and would probably be good for the long term for my tractor. Eventually I'd like to replace my remotes with flat face as well after reading about how much cleaner they are.



I am guessing that unit mounts on the loader? I have seen them for skid steers & 3 point mount. Our 3point mount we hang from a tree limb or can be hung from rafters/trusses in a shed. That unit I would probably just set on a pallet to keep it off the ground.


----------



## SpaceBus

JimBear said:


> I am guessing that unit mounts on the loader? I have seen them for skid steers & 3 point mount. Our 3point mount we hang from a tree limb or can be hung from rafters/trusses in a shed. That unit I would probably just set on a pallet to keep it off the ground.


It's a FEL mounted drive, like for a skidsteer, but offset to the operators right. In the photo the side of the mounting plate that attaches to the loader is facing down.


----------



## JimBear

Yes, that’s what I was thunking. That attachment plate should pivot up to vertical. Maybe if you need to you could
cut a couple pallets in 1/2 or 1/3, stack them on a larger pallet & make an L shape to allow the auger head to pivot down, helping to keep the attachment plate vertical for easy on/off. If that babbling mess makes sense.


----------



## SpaceBus

How do I determine which fittings I need and what size?


----------



## JimBear

I am guessing that hydraulic couplings for your loader unhook from the tractor with snap-couplers? There should be marking on them telling you what brand name & a serial/model number on them. You should be able to cross reference to see what will work. I am unaware what type they are for your particular tractor. Most of what we use are Pioneer ends, John Deere are different & so are Case IH. Pioneer are a pretty universal end, at least in my experience. I would just take off the ends that came with the unit & thread new snap ends on. When you start getting things all stretched out/extended with couplers/adaptors they are easy to break off especially on skid steers & loaders.  They often leak from excess slop/wobble.  Does that babbling make sense?


----------



## SpaceBus

JimBear said:


> I am guessing that hydraulic couplings for your loader unhook from the tractor with snap-couplers? There should be marking on them telling you what brand name & a serial/model number on them. You should be able to cross reference to see what will work. I am unaware what type they are for your particular tractor. Most of what we use are Pioneer ends, John Deere are different & so are Case IH. Pioneer are a pretty universal end, at least in my experience. I would just take off the ends that came with the unit & thread new snap ends on. When you start getting things all stretched out/extended with couplers/adaptors they are easy to break off especially on skid steers & loaders.  They often leak from excess slop/wobble.  Does that babbling make sense?


Thanks, I looked at the fittings and they are 1/2" pioneer snap fittings. I'm going to swap out to the new flat face style and keep my old fittings just in case. From what I've read the flat face couplings do a better job of keeping dirt out and the fluid from leaking. I swap the grapple on and off frequently, sometimes multiple times in one day. Eventually I'll replace the remotes with flat face as well.


----------



## JimBear

They are a bit cleaner but if a fella uses covers over you outlets & wipe the tips off with a rag the old style tips are good. I drew a circle around the coupling slip ring. If that gets hit it, you can get a flat spot & they are a real PIA to get apart, the same for the slip coupler on the other connector that will be on the machine. On my brothers skid loader those get whacked occasionally when the grapple is on it. It may not be a problem on the tractors with loaders since the couplers aren’t sticking right out the front.


----------



## SpaceBus

JimBear said:


> They are a bit cleaner but if a fella uses covers over you outlets & wipe the tips off with a rag the old style tips are good. I drew a circle around the coupling slip ring. If that gets hit it, you can get a flat spot & they are a real PIA to get apart, the same for the slip coupler on the other connector that will be on the machine. On my brothers skid loader those get whacked occasionally when the grapple is on it. It may not be a problem on the tractors with loaders since the couplers aren’t sticking right out the front.
> View attachment 261576


Even with the covers on there is always liquid and/or dirt on the fittings when I got to connect them. This style is just easier to clean before I make the connection. I do need to get some caps on the attachment side of things for sure.


----------



## shortys7777

Starting splitting the ash I got last week. It's much more stringy than the cord I split last year. Atleast some of it is sounding like a baseball bat when smashed together.  I'll be burning it around February. About 40% done. Hoping to get the rest split and stacked by next weekend and top covered.


----------



## Country Living in VA

shortys7777 said:


> Starting splitting the ash I got last week. It's much more stringy than the cord I split last year. Atleast some of it is sounding like a baseball bat when smashed together.  I'll be burning it around February. About 40% done. Hoping to get the rest split and stacked by next weekend and top covered.
> View attachment 261583


I recently split up some large rounds of ash and it was extremely stringy as well.  After the splitter went all the way through, almost every split had to be separated with an axe.  I am working up a load of mostly oak right now and it is a nice change from the ash.


----------



## Riff

Got in my National Forest permit so decided to take a trip. Not entirely sure of the species but good times either way!


----------



## Country Living in VA

Riff said:


> Got in my National Forest permit so decided to take a trip. Not entirely sure of the species but good times either way!
> 
> View attachment 261705


I cut a lot in National Forest last winter.  Looks like you got some nice oak.


----------



## SpaceBus

Swapped the fittings from pioneer to flat face connect under pressure on the third function, and I already like them much better. I don't have to turn the machine off and release pressures to connect/disconnect and very little if any fluid comes out when I pop them off. Eventually I will retrofit the remotes as well, but I'm not in as much of a hurry. 

Also I had a small fluid seep on the old pioneer fittings anyway, and the shop that installed the third function used very little tape when they installed the fittings. I have some strong opinions about my local dealer, but that's a whole separate topic.


----------



## shortys7777

Got most of the ash split stacked and top covered. Have a few more wheel barrel loads to split. I'll stack that on a pallet next to this stack.


----------



## mrd1995

Helped a friend get a decent sized Silver Maple(22" approx. 25" bar just punched through below the union at stump height) down last weekend, more for the reason of enjoying tree work. Turns out the homeowners we did the job for didn't want the wood. After we all got to talking there is another 20" plus Silver Maple that has been down since last fall limbs have been cut off needs bucked, probably a cord of ash that is cut to 6' lengths ranging from 3"-16" and a standing dead ash probably pushing the 30" mark ( its in the brush but an easy drop and retrieve). I think between the three trees and the piled ash may get close to 4-5 cords!   Brought a pickup load home last weekend and then decided it was time to get a trailer so after picking the trailer up last night got another load to the house. Wife is starting to question where I am going to put it...good question!


----------



## Country Living in VA

mrd1995 said:


> Helped a friend get a decent sized Silver Maple(22" approx. 25" bar just punched through below the union at stump height) down last weekend, more for the reason of enjoying tree work. Turns out the homeowners we did the job for didn't want the wood. After we all got to talking there is another 20" plus Silver Maple that has been down since last fall limbs have been cut off needs bucked, probably a cord of ash that is cut to 6' lengths ranging from 3"-16" and a standing dead ash probably pushing the 30" mark ( its in the brush but an easy drop and retrieve). I think between the three trees and the piled ash may get close to 4-5 cords!   Brought a pickup load home last weekend and then decided it was time to get a trailer so after picking the trailer up last night got another load to the house. Wife is starting to question where I am going to put it...good question!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 261763
> 
> View attachment 261764


Nice!  Seems like "when it rains, it pours".  When I get access to a lot of wood like this, it seems like it happens when I am very busy and don't really have time to get it and when I have plenty of time, no one has wood to cut.


----------



## mrd1995

Country Living in VA said:


> Nice!  Seems like "when it rains, it pours".  When I get access to a lot of wood like this, it seems like it happens when I am very busy and don't really have time to get it and when I have plenty of time, no one has wood to cut.


I agree, the homeowners are a very sweet couple who have been together 56 years. They said to get it as time permits no rush, so I lucked out a little bit there.


----------



## BIGChrisNH

This thread is giving me the itch to split. But it's way too hot and humid and I don't have any more room on my property. Love seeing all these pics of everyone's hard work though!


----------



## EODMSgt

BIGChrisNH said:


> This thread is giving me the itch to split. But it's way too hot and humid and I don't have any more room on my property. Love seeing all these pics of everyone's hard work though!



I agree with you, this was one of those years where we went from frost warnings on a Monday to 90-degree temps by Friday (no Spring, straight from Winter to Summer). The humidity is ridiculous as well. I was going to wait until it cooled off a little before tackling the 4-5 cords of rounds out back (first pic) but with all the rain we've had lately, I'm concerned about some of it going punky (especially the birch). There's no rush as this is all for the 21-22 season and beyond, so I'll just do a little at a time in between the rain storms. Got four trailer loads split and stacked yesterday (second pic) and it sucked. I can't wait for temps to go back below 50 (I hate summer). The good news is that out of all the  rounds split yesterday, I only had one that had gone partially punky (beech) and only two with ants (birch), so I cant complain about that (these were all scrounged and cut into rounds late March into late May).


----------



## BIGChrisNH

Yeah man I wouldn't split in this heat. You're a brick for splitting anything recently in this state. Looks like a nice pile of rounds though.


----------



## Country Living in VA

I have been consistently working on a truck load of logs over the past 3-4 weeks mainly working in the early mornings on my days off and in the late evenings before dark.  I am not as bothered by the heat as most.  Also, I keep reading posts where people have their wood cut for 1, 2, 3 years in advance.  My outdoor furnace is a real beast on wood and I would estimate I burned 10+ cords last winter.  I have only lived at my house for 11 months, so I am trying to get enough just to get through the upcoming winter.  I don't know what it is, but when I sit on my porch and look at that pile of logs, something inside me can't stand for it just to sit there.  I want to be working on it until it is totally processed.  When that happens, I will want another load no matter what the weather is.


----------



## BIGChrisNH

I feel the same way when I have logs here. I have a compulsion to cut them up as soon as I can, split them, stack them, and cover them. Luckily I burn around 5 cords per winter here, so with 16 cords I'm set for 3 years.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> I agree with you, this was one of those years where we went from frost warnings on a Monday to 90-degree temps by Friday (no Spring, straight from Winter to Summer). The humidity is ridiculous as well. I was going to wait until it cooled off a little before tackling the 4-5 cords of rounds out back (first pic) but with all the rain we've had lately, I'm concerned about some of it going punky (especially the birch). There's no rush as this is all for the 21-22 season and beyond, so I'll just do a little at a time in between the rain storms. Got four trailer loads split and stacked yesterday (second pic) and it sucked. I can't wait for temps to go back below 50 (I hate summer). The good news is that out of all the  rounds split yesterday, I only had one that had gone partially punky (beech) and only two with ants (birch), so I cant complain about that (these were all scrounged and cut into rounds late March into late May).


Nice work @EODMSgt , I agree with you on the humidity but once I'm done painting, there will be something coming down in the woods. 

We have what I think is Yellow Birch that are damaged or just growing on an angle so they'll come down first, this will also give me more room back there to store some snow.


----------



## SpaceBus

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @EODMSgt , I agree with you on the humidity but once I'm done painting, there will be something coming down in the woods.
> 
> We have what I think is Yellow Birch that are damaged or just growing on an angle so they'll come down first, this will also give me more room back there to store some snow.


I wish we had more Yellow Birch, they are beautiful and great firewood.


----------



## EODMSgt

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @EODMSgt , I agree with you on the humidity but once I'm done painting, there will be something coming down in the woods.
> 
> We have what I think is Yellow Birch that are damaged or just growing on an angle so they'll come down first, this will also give me more room back there to store some snow.



I hear you @thewoodlands. It's been around a month since I felled or bucked a tree and I need to get out in the woods and scrounge some timber. 

We had severe thunderstorm warnings for this afternoon however I did manage to get a couple more trailer loads split and stacked. I'm not thrilled with where the stack is located but the area I was working on to expand my firewood processing has been put on hold. The dealer has had my tractor for a month now so that has set me back from working on that project (not the dealer's fault, they're just like everyone else and scrambling with parts and employee shortages). 

As for looking at the unprocessed stacks of rounds, it has never bothered me at all. I can't see them from my front deck and what I can see from my side deck makes me happy. Rounds and logs are like money in the bank and I look forward to processing them when it's cooler. All the rain this year has just made it more prudent to get them split and stacked sooner to prevent possible rot. If it was a typical year, they could sit there until October since I already have over 7 cords CSS and seasoned for this coming burning season. Firewood processing is always a year-round cycle for me so a little at a time and it all adds up.


----------



## heavy hammer

The last few weekends I have been cutting a little here and there.  Last weekend We cut up the rest of a large maple my brother had at his place and I ended up with a truck load.  I did help a friend of mine extract honey last weekend he ended up with 70 lb.  It has been a hot summer I still have some wood to move with the tractor but with it being in the 90's most days I just don't feel like moving wood I would rather be doing other stuff.  But this weekend I have a couple truck loads to cut up for a friend who wants some wood and I could see using the tractor to finish filling in the stacks close to the house.


----------



## Riff

Having to split in this weather due to this being our first year in the house. Slowly finishing off the cherry I got from the last scrounge, which would put us up to 2/3 of a cord of mostly cherry and pine aside for next year. Then will start to work on the oak. Also have a small stack for this year of stuff that was dead and dried out, working up to a 1/3 of a cord of that.


----------



## SpaceBus

Our 25 chicks completed their long journey from MN today. From initial impressions there are about half and half hens and roosters.


----------



## mrd1995

Second load of silver maple and Ash, probably another 3 maybe 4 off of what is on the ground. There is another maple laying just off the yard been down a year or more from what the homeowner said. I think this property will yield almost a full winter of wood. Time will tell we got our final quote for a chimney install and stove from our local dealer, expecting to burn 2 to 3 cords a year. If that number holds true this maple and ash will put me 4 years ahead! That's my ms291 with a 18 inch bar for comparison. 
We cut the maple down cause it was about leaning hard about 15ft over a couples home and they were starting to get nervous.


----------



## SpaceBus

SpaceBus said:


> Our 25 chicks completed their long journey from MN today. From initial impressions there are about half and half hens and roosters.


I found one chick had passed after coming inside after chores, unknown cause of death, but I did expect to lose a few.


----------



## thewoodlands

SpaceBus said:


> I found one chick had passed after coming inside after chores, unknown cause of death, but I did expect to lose a few.


Hopefully you don't lose anymore.


----------



## heavy hammer

Sorry to heat that Spacebus.  My grandmother hatched chicks and ducks for many years unfortunately it happens.  Still a crappy feeling when it happens.  I hope the other 24 do well.


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> Sorry to heat that Spacebus.  My grandmother hatched chicks and ducks for many years unfortunately it happens.  Still a crappy feeling when it happens.  I hope the other 24 do well.


Indeed. The rest look fine and all were all doing well this morning. At first I thought these 8 week might go very slowly, but with all the work to do around here it might go pretty quick.


----------



## thewoodlands

Depending on the weather tomorrow, I'm hoping I can take the Rhino back in the woods to widen some trails for the RTV. If that does happen, I'll come home with some American Hophornbeam or Ironwood.


----------



## heavy hammer

My phone was dead but I ended up cutting a few truck loads of firewood for a buddy at work for his outdoor fire pit.  It was a hot weekend but I'll take it.  Spacebus are you planning on getting and ducks or other birds?


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> My phone was dead but I ended up cutting a few truck loads of firewood for a buddy at work for his outdoor fire pit.  It was a hot weekend but I'll take it.  Spacebus are you planning on getting and ducks or other birds?


I want some palm turkeys or pea fowl next year. If I'm able to make a permanent pond on the property ducks or geese would be nice, but geese are kind of scary.


----------



## heavy hammer

Look up runner ducks they produce a lot of eggs and they are pretty cool to have running around, they look like a bowling pin with legs.  There are a few different varieties out there.  Duck eggs taste a little different but in cooking and baking you won't notice a difference.  Plus they require little maintenance.
*Indian Runner duck - The Livestock Conservancy*
livestockconservancy.org › heritage › internal › runner


----------



## SpaceBus

heavy hammer said:


> Look up runner ducks they produce a lot of eggs and they are pretty cool to have running around, they look like a bowling pin with legs.  There are a few different varieties out there.  Duck eggs taste a little different but in cooking and baking you won't notice a difference.  Plus they require little maintenance.
> *Indian Runner duck - The Livestock Conservancy*
> livestockconservancy.org › heritage › internal › runner


I pretty much only bake with duck eggs, but I buy them locally.


----------



## EODMSgt

Managed to get out and split/stack four more trailer loads. It was 72 and raining when I started and 81 and sunny when I finished, so not too bad. Finished the cord stack on the left and went to work on the one on the right (probably can't tell from the pictures but they're double rows). The left stack is mostly beech, white birch, and some silver maple. The right stack (so far) is mainly ash, beech, and (long dead) red oak. Judging by what I have stacked so far, I have about 4+ cords left in rounds/logs to split and stack. Added to the 8 cords I already have CSS and seasoned, it's not a bad place to be in late July and it looks like I'm closer to my goal of 20 cords than I thought.


----------



## thewoodlands

EODMSgt said:


> Managed to get out and split/stack four more trailer loads. It was 72 and raining when I started and 81 and sunny when I finished, so not too bad. Finished the cord stack on the left and went to work on the one on the right (probably can't tell from the pictures but they're double rows). The left stack is mostly beech, white birch, and some silver maple. The right stack (so far) is mainly ash, beech, and (long dead) red oak. Judging by what I have stacked so far, I have about 4+ cords left in rounds/logs to split and stack. Added to the 8 cords I already have CSS and seasoned, it's not a bad place to be in late July and it looks like I'm closer to my goal of 20 cords than I thought.


Nice job @EODMSgt , the way you work that 20 cord will come quick.


----------



## EODMSgt

Thanks @thewoodlands. Only got three trailer loads done yesterday before the heat got to me (and one load was nothing but uglies).


----------



## Gearhead660

Havent done much wood this summer, been hot and humid. Cut a load to clear a spot for a hunting blind.  Also got a "free" load from a friend, already cut up.  Now I remember why I prefer to cut it myself...


----------



## thewoodlands

I felled two Yellow Birch to make room for plowing snow and it will make the entrance to the small gully bigger and easier.

Picture 0626 is the first smaller Yellow Birch, 0627 & 0628 is the rounds from the Birch, 0629,30,31 is the second Birch that I felled today and the rest of the pictures are what I plan to fell so that whole area is open.


----------



## SpaceBus

I was excited to mill a big Balsam fir log today only to dull up the chains several times on hidden bark debris to find half the log rotten. It went smoothly once I had it slabbed up, but the second log was just as bad with dulling the chains. I'll be spending a lot of time with the grinder tomorrow, I should get pretty fast!


----------



## thewoodlands

Just some pictures of the Yellow Birch (3 separate trees) that I felled today, there is still more bucking left but once I ran out of water, I called it a day. One part of this Yellow Birch was very small like a branch and the first part I felled, I forgot to take a picture.


----------



## SpaceBus

Was finally able to get that log cut open after getting the dirty bark off. I'm wondering if the grey staining is from old nails or screws that just dissolved over the past 40-50 years. It always seemed like my chainsaw bar wanted to climb in the cut right as I got to the area with the staining.


----------



## thewoodlands

Today I took care of the tops from two Yellow Birch,  there isn't any big wood but these rounds will burn. I did get all the small branches off to the side with some on the backhill but I can get through the trail after I cleared everything that was down. I did drag one top out of an old trail using the rhino, it also put me cutting in an area that had some shade.

One of the pictures is the gully at the base of backhill that will need limbing up more for our RTV.


----------



## axisx

nice work !!


----------



## mrd1995

Another couple loads of rounds, Norway Spruce, Red Pine, Silver Maple, and Ash. I think White Ash but could be wrong was growing along a stream. All free plus a little shipping and handling of course. All in I think I got close to 3.5 cords free. Trailer is just about a half cord. 6.5' x 10'


----------



## alivegas99

Mid August and with all the heat i’m starting to long for winter when I can start burning this stack (~5 cords)!


----------



## Medic21

Put down a nice Hickory in the neighbors yard a couple weeks ago.  Finally cooled off enough to work on it on my days off this morning.  

about a Cord of wood for this trailer.


----------



## Medic21

Getting the processing area cleaned up for fall.  Gonna be time to hit it hard soon.


----------



## heavy hammer

Cut till about 9 last night helping my brother get these large ash trees at a friends of his cut up.  It saved him a couple grand to not have the tree guys remove it plus we get all the wood.  I'll get some pics this weekend when we start hauling it.


----------



## EODMSgt

Finally making progress despite the heat. The front pile of rounds is almost finished being split and stacked. Going by the cord calculator, so far I've gotten just over 4 1/4 cords out of the pile (each of the new stacks is 1.25 cords and the 1 1/2 bins of uglies is just over 1/2 cord) . Based off that, I'm estimating I have around 3 cords left to split and stack between what's left in the front pile and all the rounds and logs in the back. Not bad for scrounging late winter/early spring. (First pic is where it started.)


----------



## Gearhead660

EODMSgt said:


> Finally making progress despite the heat. The front pile of rounds is almost finished being split and stacked. Going by the cord calculator, so far I've gotten just over 4 1/4 cords out of the pile (each of the new stacks is 1.25 cords and the 1 1/2 bins of uglies is just over 1/2 cord) . Based off that, I'm estimating I have around 3 cords left to split and stack between what's left in the front pile and all the rounds and logs in the back. Not bad for scrounging late winter/early spring. (First pic is where it started.)
> 
> View attachment 262202
> View attachment 262203
> View attachment 262204
> View attachment 262205


Very nice.  Your stacks are always impressively clean looking.  What is that last pic?  Custom wood crate?


----------



## EODMSgt

Gearhead660 said:


> Very nice.  Your stacks are always impressively clean looking.  What is that last pic?  Custom wood crate?



Thanks. The last pic is just a homemade pallet bin that I use for uglies. I have one and a half filled so far (lots of uglies with beech). Easy to move around with the forks on the tractor.


----------



## gleblanc1783

Getting super excited for this season. It's been a while, my wife and I just moved into our new home and were living in a 800 sqft apartment while it was being built... Absolute torture but worth the wait.

Since winter is quickly approaching I had 3 cords of wood delivered for this year. By my eye it's mostly oak, some birch and other misc hardwoods. We own ~4 acres which is mostly Hemlock, but I spy some decent trees that I'll probably harvest either this fall or next year. I have a tractor on order that will be a huge help in all this. 

Don't have many good pictures but I can post more eventually... Feels good to be back!

Since I plan on burning these 3 cords this year they are currently sitting directly on a layer of woodchips, I know I might sacrifice a layer but I needed to get this stacked ASAP.


----------



## MissMac

thewoodlands said:


> Just some pictures of the Yellow Birch (3 separate trees) that I felled today, there is still more bucking left but once I ran out of water, I called it a day. One part of this Yellow Birch was very small like a branch and the first part I felled, I forgot to take a picture.


hope you took another round out of that stump!  good looking wood right there


----------



## mrd1995

Got another few rows stacked under the car port. By my calculations I am sitting on 6.5+ cords of CSS. Most of it is under the roof! 3/4 Ash think mostly White Ash and the remainder Red Oak, Black Cherry, Black Willow, Sassafras, and Silver Maple. Still Sitting on another 1.5 cords of Spruce, Red Pine, and Silver Maple Rounds. Should have the old Black Hawk 16 Ton splitter back in operation this week. Everything CSS has been done with the Fiskars X27, just got the splitter from my dad needed a little TLC.


----------



## thewoodlands

MissMac said:


> hope you took another round out of that stump!  good looking wood right there


Not yet but that should happen at the end of the last  week of August, I'm shutdown until then.


----------



## heavy hammer

Last week Me and my brother cut one night for about 3-4 house to get all this ash from a friends of his. It was over a few days after work we hauled it home I ended up with the big stuff. It saved his friend about 2k with the tree guys leaving it so everyone was happy about the ordeal. I spent about 4 hours yesterday moving it all to the woods to be stacked some of the rounds have to be over 3+ foot diameter.


----------



## mrd1995

More wood split and ready to stack, Norway Spruce, Red Pine, Tulip Poplar, White Ash, and Silver Maple. All Free! Got a splitter and the wife working with me now!


----------



## thewoodlands

I finally started stacking pine after getting the ok from P.T., I did one small load today and three small loads on Monday.


----------



## thewoodlands

I started making a trail wider and higher so the RTV won't get a light taken out by some branches. I took a total of three American Hophornbeam from up top and one more that fell across a trail we use for walking.


----------



## thewoodlands

A few more pictures, the Brook is pretty low which is normal for the end of August.


----------



## Riff

Load from today off of Facebook Marketplace. My best guess is catalpa, so planning on it as shoulder season wood, which we actually needed to start putting aside.


----------



## thewoodlands

I started some cleanup of a pine mother nature brought down months ago, the chitty rounds were split and taken to the outside fireplace and the better rounds will get split and stacked for shoulder season wood.

I have a chit load of branches which might get hauled to the wood dump. The area in picture 0736, I would like that all cleaned up before the end of September, a possible new trail could go in there and it would allow me more room for snow storage in the winter if needed.


----------



## JimBear

I got a little over a cord cut up over the weekend, just some fence line stuff, some Cherry, Mulberry, Ash & American Elm.


----------



## thewoodlands

I started cleaning up this area today for another area to push or keep snow if needed and with the goal of putting in another trail.

Picture 0747 is what some of the area looked like before the start of the cleanup, 0750 is what will be hauled away, 0751 is some dead pine,0752 is part of a pine mother nature put down that I limbed up, 0753 is more junk pine, 0755 is where part of the trail might go through  and 0756 has two more dead pine that will come down,


----------



## shortys7777

Can't turn down free wood 7 minutes from my house. Going to try and take all of it if I can roll those big boys up my trailer. All maple I think. Some seem much harder than the others. 2 different type of bark.


----------



## heavy hammer

I ended up splitting one of the new stacks of ash I had yesterday.  Not much going on so between the dogs swimming and splitting I spent a few hours in the woods.


----------



## JimBear

Cherry in the the trailer was taken down last year, I forgot about it. Cut it up a couple days ago, some Elm on the back. 






Cherry in pickup was taken down today it came from the same tree as the logs on the ground,  I am planning on milling some boards from them.








Log on left is 8’ long & 18” x 15” oblong at base
2 center logs 7-1/2’ & 9’ long & 11” dia
Log on right is 8’ long & 15” dia.


----------



## thewoodlands

I started off with a little stacking of some pine for a total of just under two face cord, only needed 1.5 loads to finish it today.

I was running low on kindling for the outside fireplace so I split a trailer load out of some dead pine and brought it over to the fireplace and covered it.

Picture 0777 is the area I took three utility loads of branches to the wood dump on Saturday, today I brought more branches and junk wood to the fireplace along with splitting some junk rounds.  Hopefully by the end of this week, the area in picture 0777 is pretty much all cleaned up. That includes c/s/s the pine that is down.


----------



## mrd1995

This started out as free wood on the way home from work, even though it was tulip poplar. Figured what the heck free is free,  trailer gate dropped on the stump free wood! Come to find out the family that lives there had multiple people attempt to cut these up and failed...one guy she kicked off due to safety issues. So decided to do the right thing cut up everything and left it open to anyone to come get some, figured during the tough times someone may real enjoy prebucked logs that are easy access. Largest piece measure just shy of 35" at the widest point. And yes they did try burning them... this is the back half of their lot.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a nice drizzle going on today so it was a perfect time for reducing the dead pine branches on the property. I did five loads after coming back from an appointment.


----------



## thewoodlands

I spent a few hours getting some dead pine off the floor of the woods which will open up a few more trails into that area, all the pine is over by the fireplace waiting for our next rain which I think is Sunday. The tree in picture 0792 will come down tomorrow since it is dead which will make that turn off the main trail much easier, especially in the winter.


----------



## kennyp2339

thewoodlands said:


> We had a nice drizzle going on today so it was a perfect time for reducing the dead pine branches on the property.


I will be doing the same thing today, time to get my perimeter cleaned up before the leaves fall.


----------



## thewoodlands

kennyp2339 said:


> I will be doing the same thing today, time to get my perimeter cleaned up before the leaves fall.


We have a plenty of White Pine on the house lot so I have a ton of work but once you get a few  trails opened up in the area you are  working in, it's well worth the effort.


----------



## thewoodlands

I took care of a dead standing pine near the entrance to a new trail (pic 0799) and then went just above the gully to start clearing a new walking trail for the wife (pics 0800,0801 & 0802) pics 0803 & 0804 are some dead pine rounds from above the gully and the dead pine I felled. All the pine branches and the rounds are over near the fireplace waiting for the rain coming in tomorrow. 

Pic 0798 is the first of two loads of pine we put in for shoulder season wood, we had 37 this morning. Everything thing was cleaned this morning so we'll have our first fire tonight after some pork chops and pasta.


----------



## SpaceBus

mrd1995 said:


> More wood split and ready to stack, Norway Spruce, Red Pine, Tulip Poplar, White Ash, and Silver Maple. All Free! Got a splitter and the wife working with me now!


My wife has taken over splitting and stacking. She doesn't like the way I stack anyway!


----------



## JimBear

Found a Slippery Elm today


----------



## thewoodlands

The last load of the day, I made the sauce yesterday after supper and grilled the chops tonight with some pasta.


----------



## Gearhead660

Finally finished up the stove upgrade.  Checked all 3 chimneys, filled some cracks to prevent more damage before i can do correct mortar fixes next summer.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'll put this here since I burned a bunch of it. The first two pictures are a small dead pine I got sick of driving under so I cut it up, the second picture is taken from the backside. I basically ran around some of the trails and cleared some dead chit and then had a nice fire after it rained hard.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> The last load of the day, I made the sauce yesterday after supper and grilled the chops tonight with some pasta.


Looks great! Where are the greens, however?


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Looks great! Where are the greens, however?


I don't think I took a picture but the recipe we use is posted here, post #262... I think.




__





						Cooking thread, anyone?
					

Temperatures forecast in the 90s the next four days starting tomorrow.   Making a large batch of gazpacho this afternoon.   Won't cook for a few days.




					www.hearth.com


----------



## EbS-P

A tree tree crew took down this dying laurel live oak across the street.  Not to be confused with the southern live oak, laurel is a red oak. I got as much of it across the street as I could maybe 1/2 cord or a bit more. I was able  to roll the two butt rounds across the road. Had to get some help with the biggest one. The flare kept it rolling in a circle and my peavy could not get a decent bite due to the size.  Had to leave the big crotch. Splitting it all by hand with my fiskars maul and x27.  
Evan


----------



## thewoodlands

The Rhino went in for it's yearly checkup (all good) and we had the filters and the oil changed along with it getting greased. I think tomorrow I'll get all the gear in the back and hit some areas for damaged Ironwood. Once the leaves come off the trees I'll get going on felling some Ash before the EAB gets it.

We'll decided this spring if we'll sell it and just keep the RTV or keep both.


----------



## hockeypuck

EbS-P said:


> A tree tree crew took down this dying laurel live oak across the street.  Not to be confused with the southern live oak, laurel is a red oak. I got as much of it across the street as I could maybe 1/2 cord or a bit more. I was able  to roll the two butt rounds across the road. Had to get some help with the biggest one. The flare kept it rolling in a circle and my peavy could not get a decent bite due to the size.  Had to leave the big crotch. Splitting it all by hand with my fiskars maul and x27.
> Evan


Red oak is my favorite.  It has an "acquired" smell to it.  Splits easy when wet and burns hot as anything.


----------



## thewoodlands

I decided this morning that I would finish s/s some Pine, the finished stack is two face cord. I then started cleaning up a few trails that had Ash tops in them along with dead Pine.

Picture 0825 is the first load of Pine, 0826 is what I started with today and 0828 is the finished stack of Pine. Picture 0829 is what I started clearing today after stacking, it's Ash, 0830 will be a trail once I take the Ash tops to the wood dump, 0832 is when I finished today, 0833 is another Ash top and 0836 is a dead Pine that will come down and 0837 is a dead Maple.


----------



## Stelcom66

Gearhead660 said:


> Finally finished up the stove upgrade.  Checked all 3 chimneys, filled some cracks to prevent more damage before i can do correct mortar fixes next summer.



What kind of roof is that, and is that a directional TV antenna?


----------



## thewoodlands

Just a few pictures of some trails I cleared today along with getting a dead standing Maple that will be split tomorrow, I'll get a moisture content reading on the Maple after I split it.


----------



## Stelcom66

Nice wood. If it's what I'm thinking of (thin bark) maple is one of the easier woods to split.


----------



## JimBear

I rounded up some more Cherry today & mowed around the pasture/hayfield stack for the final time this year.


----------



## Stelcom66

Holy smokes that's a lot of split wood! Must season well out in the open.


----------



## JimBear

Stelcom66 said:


> Holy smokes that's a lot of split wood! Must season well out in the open.


This was all C/S/S this spring so its the first year for this stacking. area. I just took the moisture meters out of the pickup yesterday. I was walking along the pile thinking I should of brought them with & checked a few splits. The Hackberry still felt pretty heavy, as did the Cherry but some of the Mulberry felt lightened up. I didn’t grab any of the Osage.


----------



## SpaceBus

I am 95% done with the chicken coop. Aside from the old windows from the house, the old door from the house, the hardware cloth, and some fasteners every part  of the coop was made from trees I cut and milled. After I've taken a little break I plan on putting trim on the edges of the hardware cloth and adding a few other finishing touches.

Edit: Forgot some of the pics.


----------



## Gearhead660

Stelcom66 said:


> What kind of roof is that, and is that a directional TV antenna?


Standing seam metal roof.  Fixed position antenna.  No need to move.


----------



## thewoodlands

The back lane above the gully along with the entrance is getting wider and cleaner, pic 0850 is one of the entrances that I made wider by taking down a dead pine and 0855 is after, 0857, 0858 and 59 are the dead standing Maple I felled yesterday after I split it and took a moisture content reading,0862 is one of the loads of dead pine I split that is by the outdoor fireplace and 0863 is more pickup of a dead pine that was taken down from the back lane. The last picture is the last dead pine that will be taken down in that area this fall.


----------



## thewoodlands

I cut up some of the biggest of the Ash tops in the back gully, I still have more left but they'll have to wait. Today I grabbed two loads of smaller rounds.


----------



## heavy hammer

All the ash I brought home about a month ago is split and stacked a lot more wood than I thought. Me and the dogs have been busy these last couple weekends.  I even had my youngest this past weekend keep me company.


----------



## mrd1995

Found a good score of Black Locust on FB Market Place I will try to get some photos up today or tomorrow. Probably 1-1.5 cords, was a power company removal!


----------



## heavy hammer

Definitely can't go wrong with some black locust.  nice grab!


----------



## mrd1995

Going to get the pics tonight, think this is the biggest locust I have ever seen. It's over 4' on the root flare.


----------



## mrd1995

In total three 7'x10' trailers loaded up probably over the GVWR, and one and half short boxes level loaded all from a single tree. Will be premo wood in two or three years! Thinking 1.5-2 cords total, tree was 5ft at the widest point on the flare.


----------



## heavy hammer

Now that is a nice score!


----------



## mrd1995

heavy hammer said:


> Now that is a nice score!


Wasn't an easy one but I am excited to try black locust. Parents always used it for fence post and burn piles. Their furnace eats a well balanced diet of oak and hickory only.


----------



## heavy hammer

once dry you will not be disappointed.  I burn a large amount of locust, probably my most abundant amount in my stacks and logs.  It will burn very hot last a long time and takes forever to rot.


----------



## thewoodlands

Just another day dealing with dead White Pine, I split two trailer loads of the better stuff which is over by the outside fireplace waiting for a good hard rain and the bigger rotting stuff against the White Pine and on the ground is cut up enough so I can bring that over to the fireplace.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm still cleaning up dead pine, over by the fireplace is full so I'm waiting for a good soaking rain and then I'll start burning all the junk pine.

Picture 0894 is from a ride yesterday, 0895 is where I started , 0898 is after most of it cleaned up and the rest is dead [ine going over to the outside fireplace.


----------



## mcdougy

Had some help today.....hauling some of last winters  css out of the woods behind the house.
The help was appreciated  and  felt great to have them all out there with me


----------



## thewoodlands

I had dead pine by the fireplace but once it started to rain hard, I started the fire and ran around the house property cleaning up certain areas. I hauled 10-12 loads of dead pine from just off the trails I've been working on.

The rain came down hard for most of the day but we needed it.


----------



## thewoodlands

Mother Nature came through with some heavy rains again today so the cleanup continued, I've gotten rid of a bunch of dead pine in the last two days so the area I've been working is looking much better.

Pic 0933 is a before and 0938 is after and 0936 is some smaller Ash that will be stacked.


----------



## thewoodlands

Just some before and after pictures of the area I've been cleaning up. Picture 0887 is before and 0944 is after, 0888 is before and 0945 is after.


----------



## thewoodlands

I switched to working a different area but I'm still dealing with dead White Pine branches, some of it was smaller dead standing with most of it coming from limbing up some old Pines with the Stihl Pole Saw. I hauled 7-8 loads over to the outside fireplace and got rid of them, we also had more rain today. 

I must've forgot to get some after pictures which I'll get tomorrow.


----------



## MMH

You’re putting me to shame as usual; lost most of the summer to exams so getting a late start. Moved all my splits finally, measures 4.3 cords. Leaving the front open for juniper and mahogany if I can ever get out and cut. Built the end caps after seeing some ideas on here of course. Did some tractor work and cleared a spot to stack the rest of the rounds. Sorry last one is crooked


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> You’re putting me to shame as usual; lost most of the summer to exams so getting a late start. Moved all my splits finally, measures 4.3 cords. Leaving the front open for juniper and mahogany if I can ever get out and cut. Built the end caps after seeing some ideas on here of course. Did some tractor work and cleared a spot to stack the rest of the rounds. Sorry last one is crooked
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 264111
> 
> View attachment 264112
> View attachment 264113


Very nice, when do you usually start heating with wood?


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> Very nice, when do you usually start heating with wood?



If I remember right last year it was mid October ish, but we weren’t burning 24/7 until mid-late November; the way the weather has been it’ll be the same. Currently 30-40s at night still 80s in the days, haven’t even had our first fire yet. How about you?


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> If I remember right last year it was mid October ish, but we weren’t burning 24/7 until mid-late November; the way the weather has been it’ll be the same. Currently 30-40s at night still 80s in the days, haven’t even had our first fire yet. How about you?


We have been burning, we had an early cold snap with the temps at night hitting 28 and the temps during the day in the low 50's. After that we had warmer weather move in so we stopped burning but this week we would have a fire at night or in the morning with some shoulder season wood, White Pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had more rain overnight and today so I did more limbing up of the old White Pines and took down some smaller dead White Pines that made for some nice fires.

In picture 0958 is a smaller dead pine I removed, 0959 & 61 were Pines I limbed up yesterday, 0962, 0965 and 0966 are the Pines I limbed up today and there were three more dead Pines not in the picture that I also removed and then burned.


----------



## thewoodlands

I have a wind damaged Beech back by the Brook I need to deal with since it's near the trail, the last picture is the Brook which hasn't had much water in it this year so the rain this week has helped some .


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> We have been burning, we had an early cold snap with the temps at night hitting 28 and the temps during the day in the low 50's. After that we had warmer weather move in so we stopped burning but this week we would have a fire at night or in the morning with some shoulder season wood, White Pine.



Trusty ol pine. Yeah the last couple years have been strange for winters, extremely mild. Hoping for a good winter this year


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Trusty ol pine. Yeah the last couple years have been strange for winters, extremely mild. Hoping for a good winter this year


When we get snow here during the winter, it seems the rain comes in a week or two after. When we moved here just under 17 years ago, we would get a chit load of snow which would stay for the whole winter but not anymore.

We do get some cold winters still, -20 or -30 for a week straight during the coldest stretch, Recently our springs have been cold and longer when they use to be warmer.


----------



## heavy hammer

The winters here lately are kinda the same a cold spell with some snow then by the weeks end temps are well over freezing with some rain.  I would like a cold winter to freeze things up for awhile.  I'm not looking forward to another muddy winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> The winters here lately are kinda the same a cold spell with some snow then by the weeks end temps are well over freezing with some rain.  I would like a cold winter to freeze things up for awhile.  I'm not looking forward to another muddy winter.


They have wet and wild this winter for our area, whatever that means.


----------



## heavy hammer

They are calling for the same here.


----------



## thewoodlands

Today I took the day off from the dead pine cleanup around the house and grabbed some damaged but good rounds of Ironwood back on our other lot.


----------



## heavy hammer

I only mowed and did some leaf cleanup.  I still have a lot of wood to cut but I'll probably wait till I start burning to cut.  My brother has three large locust trees in the front of his place he wants taken down since when trimming for the power lines they kind of mangled them.  He said he will get the JLG and I can have all the wood.


----------



## thewoodlands

I went back to cleaning up the lot around the house today.  0987 is a dead pine on a trail near the back gully, 0989 is the pine on the ground, 0990 & 91 is the splitter setup and the first load, 0992 & 93 is looking the other way on that same trail which I started to clear for a walking trail but every time you get around the corner there's another two or three dead pine.


----------



## NickW

Finally got the cabin building site cleared last time up north but forgot to get pics. Last time up to finish burning brush & debris and clear some trails until excavation starts (hopefully) in spring. I could come up for deer season, but I never see anything... do better at home. 

Figure 13 cord of logs or so. Mostly pine & Aspen, but about 1 1/2 cord is birch & cherry. Been hauling the Aspen home for shoulder season, keeping the pine for campfire wood. Planning a ZC fireplace in the build so the birch, cherry & dead ash from the swamp will stay for cooking outside and the fireplace.

Slowly making progress at home moving the css into the garage to make room to start processing more. Changing my stack layout from north south to east west to get better air flow. Gotta really focus this fall on getting 2-3 years ahead. Not everything I have for this year is as well seasoned as it should be. I've got fans on it in the garage to help it along. We had a fairly wet summer and not a lot of high temps, so that didn't help.


----------



## thewoodlands

I helped the wife with some grocery shopping along with a stop at Lowes and Walgreens for a flu shot. Once we got home we put the groceries away and two more cups of coffee for a boost and outside I went.

I cut up some junk pine that was on ground and then moved that with some old branches over to the fireplace with the tractor, I'm hoping it rains overnight so I can have a fire but it sounds like we could have some pretty good wind gust.

Just in case we get some high winds, I moved the splitter, pallet forks and the snowplow for the Mahindra out of the woods.


----------



## thewoodlands

After it rained for an hour this morning, I started burning. I did get rid of all the dead pine I've taken down or picked up over the last two weeks or so. It rained real hard twice while I was burning so that was nice, after supper, I dumped six five gallon pails of water on what was left.


----------



## NickW

Tonight will be the 30th night of burning brush & debris this year. Burn permit only allows burning from 6pm to midnight, so I will be up until 2:00 again... Should have things pretty well cleaned up after tonight. 

Put in some trails the last couple of days to have better hiking and ATV access on the top end of the property. Can't find any dry enough areas to put more in on the lower end to haul out dead ash tree's during the summer. Sucks in winter in a swamp with 2 feet of snow like we did last winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm still in the dead pine reduction mode around the house lot, another three were taken care of today. I split four loads which went over to the fireplace for the next wet day.

The small tree in picture 1005, 1007 is the second dead pine, 1008 was the last dead pine taken out of that area, 1013 is getting setup near where the third dead pine was,1014 was a load going over to the fireplace and 1017 is an after picture of 1008.


----------



## thewoodlands

I took the day off from any dead pine clearing and sharpened some chains that have been hanging near the grinder since I cleaned them.

I have two chains that are near the mark on the top plate when you end up throwing them away which didn't go on the grinder but will get hand filed for a few more uses before throwing them away.


----------



## kennyp2339

thewoodlands said:


> I have two chains that are near the mark on the top plate when you end up throwing them away which didn't go on the grinder but will get hand filed for a few more uses before throwing them away.


I use to use a grinder for my chains but now I just stick with the hand file, I get much more longevity out of the chains, about 8 full cords of wood before the chain gets to stretched out for the saw.


----------



## Gearhead660

Cut down a messy spruce to make room for a new wood shed.  Finished the day with a cocktail by a fire from said tree.


----------



## thewoodlands

I did some limbing up of some old White Pine on a main trail and then brought four loads over to the fireplace, I still have more down but the sky was darkening up with the winds picking up so I called it a day.

I took down some smaller Maple in picture 1025 and in picture 1028 at the opposite end, you can see the difference.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Cut down a messy spruce to make room for a new wood shed.  Finished the day with a cocktail by a fire from said tree.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 264516
> View attachment 264517
> View attachment 264518


Nice work @Gearhead660 , how did the limbing go?


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @Gearhead660 , how did the limbing go?


Messy.  Twigs, needles and sap galore.


----------



## mcdougy

Its not all firewood.......


----------



## thewoodlands

The first three pictures should be some American Hophornbeam (Ironwood) that I split and stacked today, the last pictures are of some Yellow Birch and one White Birch that I split and stacked.


----------



## shortys7777

Got sick of bringing in wood everyday. Should hold 4-5 days worth.


----------



## heavy hammer

I ended up splitting kindling and filling the 60 gallon barrel I have in the garage and I have started filling the garage with some wood.  They are calling for temps to be  in the 30's at night by the end of the week.


----------



## MMH

Went for a quick cutting day to get some juniper. Will hopefully be making a few more trips for more of it and some mahogany. Envy you all with wooded lots at your disposal! Planning on stacking the rest of the pine rounds this week, a quick mow and the outside should be ready for winter. I’ll throw some pictures up when everything’s completed.


----------



## thewoodlands

I split two loads of Yellow Birch and stacked it with what was started yesterday.


----------



## thewoodlands

I haven't been taking the camera out but this week has been more of limbing up of Pines for future trails and for access  to more dead Pine. Hopefully we get the rains they're forecasting for tonight so I can get rid of everything by the outside fireplace.


----------



## MMH

Finally got some outside stuff done; got all the rounds moved and stacked, haven’t measured but thinking 6-7 cords there, 4.3 css under the shop, stacked the flag stone and cleaned up the area. The now bald spot in the middle of pic 3 is where there was a giant pile of wood stone bark and dirt. Debating about a final mow for the year. Next project is building sides for the trailer and hopefully 2 more cutting trips for a cord of
Juniper and a cord of mahogany. Also got the inside projects done changed a dozen light bulbs, changed some filters and snaked a couple drains.. I’ll spare you those pics


----------



## heavy hammer

I decided to fill the garage up it was supposed to rain and the temps are starting to drop so I figured I would get some dry wood under cover.


----------



## mcdougy

More coats of finish, colors are looking


----------



## Dustin

Today’s action. 5 trees were dropped this weekend, half done with the cleanup


----------



## thewoodlands

Nice work @Dustin, what type of trees are in that pile?


----------



## Dustin

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @Dustin, what type of trees are in that pile?




Dour fir and maple. Didn’t quite have time to start the cutting, splitting and stacking part of this project. I decked the logs on some skids with the hope of keeping dreaded rot away. I’ll probably start bucking to firewood length and splitting sometime in January


----------



## thewoodlands

I did some trail clearing today (didn't take a picture of everything} I hadn't been to the area in picture 1052 in years but on the way to it, I cleared out two dead pine and up the hill was a dead Hemlock, 1053 is a rotten Basswood that came down across the trail,1054 is a dead rotten Maple that I cleared , 1055 is the after picture of 1054, 1058 is coming back home down 1052.


----------



## Dustin

thewoodlands said:


> I did some trail clearing today (didn't take a picture of everything} I hadn't been to the area in picture 1052 in years but on the way to it, I cleared out two dead pine and up the hill was a dead Hemlock, 1053 is a rotten Basswood that came down across the trail,1054 is a dead rotten Maple that I cleared , 1055 is the after picture of 1054, 1058 is coming back home down 1052.




How do you like your side by side? We’re looking at picking one up on a year or so. Kinda leaning toward a Kubota RTV.

Main reason is, I can’t get my MX5200 tractor down onto my lower 15 acres unless it’s fairly dry out. Once I get down in the woods it’s flat and nice, but the hill getting down makes me worry about losing traction and sliding to my death. Tractor = heavy.


----------



## Woodsplitter67




----------



## thewoodlands

Dustin said:


> How do you like your side by side? We’re looking at picking one up on a year or so. Kinda leaning toward a Kubota RTV.
> 
> Main reason is, I can’t get my MX5200 tractor down onto my lower 15 acres unless it’s fairly dry out. Once I get down in the woods it’s flat and nice, but the hill getting down makes me worry about losing traction and sliding to my death. Tractor = heavy.


Our Rhino has over 7600 working miles on it without any problems, once we bought the bigger piece of property, we bought the Rhino. We did just buy a RTV-X1100C and the Boss V-Plow will be installed this week, hopefully the RTV is a good vehicle for us like the Rhino is.


----------



## thewoodlands

Woodsplitter67 said:


> View attachment 265037
> View attachment 265038
> View attachment 265039


I see your young man likes helping out, what type of wood are you haulin, Oak?


----------



## thewoodlands

Dustin said:


> How do you like your side by side? We’re looking at picking one up on a year or so. Kinda leaning toward a Kubota RTV.
> 
> Main reason is, I can’t get my MX5200 tractor down onto my lower 15 acres unless it’s fairly dry out. Once I get down in the woods it’s flat and nice, but the hill getting down makes me worry about losing traction and sliding to my death. Tractor = heavy.







__





						RTV-X1100C FULL-SIZE DIESEL UTILITY VEHICLES
					

How are these on steep hills in low, we're looking at one with a cab, a/c and heat with a Boss V-Plow. The motor is in the back compared to the front on the Rhino. The rtv is also an HST so you'll lose some power.  The Rhino takes the hills without a problem but since it has high mileage (just...




					www.hearth.com
				




The above thread I started when we bought our RTV, the shifting can be tricky but it seems to be getting better. There are times when putting it in H might not go but if you back up some it works fine. It also helps the shifting when you hardly apply any pressure on the brakes. When it goes in for the 50 hour checkup and the plow install, I'll have them check anything related to shifting.

It's a little tank so it does more trail damage when it's wet out than the Rhino.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

thewoodlands said:


> I see your young man likes helping out, what type of wood are you haulin, Oak?


All oak.. Iv gotten over 3 cords of log lenth from this lady. She keeps having trees blow over and the wood is straight. Im lucky.. My son says we are wood magnets...


----------



## JimBear

Got some Osage & a few rounds of some 3 year old Cherry.


----------



## Riff

Awesome scrounge on Facebook. Red maple already cut to length, just a short carry over level ground. Got there and he was splitting some of the rounds for fun and told us to take the splits too. Got one load tonight and we were told that he'd hold the rest for us because he's tired of dealing with people who didn't show. Looks like another load or two of red maple and a load of chestnut oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

I think this week after the rain stops, we'll put in two more loads of pine and make the switch over to hardwood. We should have close to three face cord of pine left for the spring of 2021.


----------



## Country Living in VA

Riff said:


> Awesome scrounge on Facebook. Red maple already cut to length, just a short carry over level ground. Got there and he was splitting some of the rounds for fun and told us to take the splits too. Got one load tonight and we were told that he'd hold the rest for us because he's tired of dealing with people who didn't show. Looks like another load or two of red maple and a load of chestnut oak.
> 
> View attachment 265122


Yes, that is a jackpot scrounge for sure.


----------



## mrd1995

We moved wood from the carport to the rack outside our basement door in anticipation of our stove install by the beginning of December. I realized that I have learned a lot since I started cutting firewood last February. We got lucky, we had a mix of Ash, Red Oak, Sassafras, and maple I split the largest piece of oak and took 7 measurements across the new split face highest measurement was 20.5%. I wish I would have learned to separate and store wood a little more cautiously. Thank you for reading and providing feedback since I joined.


----------



## Riff

Country Living in VA said:


> Yes, that is a jackpot scrounge for sure.



Yeah, it's been great. In return I noted when he and I were chatting that he had a downed maple that he's been slowly working on, so I've offered to him to come back, cut and stack it for him (he does burn some wood in a wood stove and a firepit) and do some other work around the property to help him clean up.


----------



## thewoodlands

I spent the day checking certain trails and getting some American Hophornbeam. Picture 1059 is what we call our small ravine, 1061 is our bigger ravine and both didn't have anything down across the trails, 1062,1063 and 1066 is a Maple that came across our trail from another person's property so I cleared our trail and then bucked a bunch of it up and left everything, I'll call the guy this week, 1068,69 & 70 are some American Hophornbeam I brought home that finished a face cord stack and the last two are from one of the highest trails we have on our property.


----------



## JimBear

Got some more Osage cut today


----------



## thewoodlands

JimBear said:


> Got some more Osage cut today
> 
> View attachment 265325
> View attachment 265326
> View attachment 265327


We'll feel the heat here when you burn it.


----------



## mrd1995

JimBear said:


> Got some more Osage cut today
> 
> View attachment 265325
> View attachment 265326
> View attachment 265327


I can't wait to find some osage, not sure if it grows up near the lake. Nice Haul!


----------



## heavy hammer

Nice score it seems like you come across a lot of the Osage.  Not a bad problem to have!


----------



## JimBear

heavy hammer said:


> Nice score it seems like you come across a lot of the Osage.  Not a bad problem to have!


 Todays load was remnants of a fence row I took out for a friend a couple years ago. All stuff that didn’t make posts. I think there are a couple more loads there. I left it alone the last couple years, I thought another fella was going to take it but apparently not.

The load I posted a couple days ago was a pile of old posts I tripped over while helping the same fella moving some cows.

 I should have several loads on my brothers farm, I have a bunch of posts to cut for him. They are already dozed out & I have the rootballs cut off, just waiting on harvest to finish up & either dry up or freeze up to get started there.


----------



## JimBear

Another load of Osage today


----------



## MMH

Built some sides for the trailer, not the greatest but it’ll do. Went and finally got some mahogany, found some bigger ones, 6-12 of them measure 10-12” diameter, all total little under half cord hopefully can make a few more trips before it’s snowed out.


----------



## johnny_pierogi

Dad and I borrowed a splitter this weekend to process a Black Gum he had taken down and two Norway Maples I had dropped back in May.  The Gum was tough but nothing compared to the Norway. 35 ton splitter had some trouble with it but we got it done. 

The only Norway Maple I'd ever take again is from one of my neighbors because I don't have to move it far. These trees are all around junk if not for the decent BTU's


----------



## thewoodlands

With the help of the wife on the Rhino, we put this dead pine by the storage shed on the ground, since it was leaning back toward the shed and rotting, we put the cable on it hooked to the winch on the Rhino.

I split most of it and then took 6 or 7 loads over to the outdoor fireplace, plenty of rain coming in tonight that I'll have it gone by tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had another good hard rain early this morning so I bucked up and split what was left of the pine we took down yesterday. I had enough dry pine covered with a tarp that once I got the fire going, the rest of the pine was easy burning.


----------



## thewoodlands

My plan was to get the pine in picture 1084 bucked up but the soft maple in picture 1082 just south of it came down, I think that I'll still get the pine first. The pine was taken down by some winds around the spring of 2020 from the tree in picture 1085. In picture 1086, you can see the other part of the soft maple that will need to come down and the last picture is a different angle of the downed pine.


----------



## lfunk11

Been working to get through the wood at our new house that is being built.  Cannot wait to sit by a fire again, but I still have a lot of work to do.  Although some of the wood is already getting dry, I still have some seasoned wood that will work once the house is completed (~Jan 21).


----------



## NickW

Nice lfunk11! I've posted the piles of birch, cherry, aspen & pine logs from clearing a cabin building site in northern WI. Probably 12 cord total. What zc fireplace are you putting in there? We are looking at the Osborn Stratford II for the cabin. Excavation starts in spring.


----------



## lfunk11

NickW said:


> Nice lfunk11! I've posted the piles of birch, cherry, aspen & pine logs from clearing a cabin building site in northern WI. Probably 12 cord total. What zc fireplace are you putting in there? We are looking at the Osborn Stratford II for the cabin. Excavation starts in spring.



Superior WCT6940 (same as Montecito Estate - I think).  I wanted something that can also duct the air to the basement.  That is what that supply line laying in the firebox is for.  I have a blower in the ceiling of the basement to pull hot air down there.  Anything to cut down on the propane use.  Good luck on your build, it is an adventure.


----------



## shortys7777

Got some splitting and stacking of 2 cord or so of maple. A bunch was split in the driveway a month ago because it was to big to transport out back. Stacking next to the oak that was stacked last spring. I'll be top covering hopefully before any real snow comes.


----------



## thewoodlands

I bucked up the punky Maple in my above post #646, I split it and brought another 4 or 5 loads of junk wood to the outdoor fireplace, hopefully we get some snow and rain so I can burn everything.

The last picture is the only good wood I kept form the Maple.


----------



## ClintonH

Split and stacked just over a cord of red oak.  This tree was taken down about 2 years ago at a coworker's house in town.  They're happy to have the space back, I'm happy to have the woodshed full.  1.5 cords of pine, 1/2 cord ash also done this fall, 1/2 cord red oak this spring from the same oak today.  SO, closing in on a year's worth--earliest I've had this much made for sure.  Barn is getting full:  probably 9 cord total under roof, some going on 7 years CSS.


----------



## thewoodlands

ClintonH said:


> Split and stacked just over a cord of red oak.  This tree was taken down about 2 years ago at a coworker's house in town.  They're happy to have the space back, I'm happy to have the woodshed full.  1.5 cords of pine, 1/2 cord ash also done this fall, 1/2 cord red oak this spring from the same oak today.  SO, closing in on a year's worth--earliest I've had this much made for sure.  Barn is getting full:  probably 9 cord total under roof, some going on 7 years CSS.


Nice work @ClintonH , did the stacking crew give you any problems?


----------



## ClintonH

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @ClintonH , did the stacking crew give you any problems?


No--the 4 y/o is coming in to his own!  He will load splits on the trailer as fast as I can split them with the Fiskars.  He also unloads and hands splits to me for stacking.  Woop woop!  The 2 y/o wants to help but can't handle the weight sometimes.


----------



## shortys7777

ClintonH said:


> No--the 4 y/o is coming in to his own!  He will load splits on the trailer as fast as I can split them with the Fiskars.  He also unloads and hands splits to me for stacking.  Woop woop!  The 2 y/o wants to help but can't handle the weight sometimes.


My 2 year old loves carrying wood. He can only do one small split at a time but he's learning


----------



## heavy hammer

My two girls age 7 and 3 like to help, plus they love the heat from the fires.  The younger one loves trying to use the hatchet to split kindling, ( with my help of course).  The younger they get involved the more they will appreciate it.


----------



## Couver

heavy hammer said:


> My two girls age 7 and 3 like to help, plus they love the heat from the fires.  The younger one loves trying to use the hatchet to split kindling, ( with my help of course).  The younger they get involved the more they will appreciate it.



Make sure you stress proper PPE too. Safety Glasses and Glove dress up time.


----------



## qwee

I've been scrounging wood for the last month and a half. What have I come up with in this low wood Rocky Mountain area, you ask?
Five or six  cords of Red elm, Russian Olive, White Ash (Yah!), and some sort of nursery sold Pine. I'm good with all of these. One more load of Pine/Ash and I'm done for the year, unless I suck it up and trek up into the Sawtooth Forest for Lodgepole Pine (why did I buy a 4-cord tag?).


----------



## johneh

Suck it up and get your 4 cord of pine 
More wood is better than not enough


----------



## qwee

To get the pine, I have to cut two  12" fallen trees off of a 'kind-of-road' (ie goat trail), than back my trailer in. Next, I've got to  hike 100 yards up a hill to get to some burnt standing lodgepole pine (and sub alpine fir). The burnt bark has mostly fallen off.

And next, I have to clear a down hill path/chute to roll the rounds down - this will take 3 or 4 separate rolls to get them to the bottom. On paper, it seems possible. Maybe drive my car up, cut up 4 chords, roll them down the hill, go home (i'll be pooped), come back next day with truck, load 2 cords, & return and load 2 cords. My excuse - I can't find the new 24" Oregon chains I bought.


----------



## johneh

You're not trying
That's what my better half would tell you 
and your chain is right where you left it 
It's not a big job just a whole lot of little jobs put together


----------



## NickW

Took some time out from cssing. Finally had some old cherry & walnut sliced that I just couldn't bear to make into firewood plus some logs I brought home from up north to slice for building a mantle. GORGEOUS Now it has to sit a year or two.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had a nice little fire with some of that punky maple that came down and more pine from trail clearing.


----------



## thewoodlands

I started cutting some Ash again since EAB will kill it, pictured are the two I felled today and some rounds in picture 1124 I cut from some tops earlier this year. The two Ash I felled today and some of the rounds in picture 1124 are stacked.


----------



## thewoodlands

Another Ash was added to the stacks today, dang bug.


----------



## NickW

Moved about 4 cord indoors about a month ago, moved the 2 cord left out to a E/W layout instead of N/S to better air flow and have css about another 4 1/2 cord. Working on getting to that magic 3 years ahead. Another 3 1/2 cord or so to go. Hoping to get another 6-7 css and have more logs on hand to be ready for css next year when I move more inside again. Have more Aspen, ash, beech, sugar maple & red oak to haul.

Just ran out of logs though and I'm in quarantine... dangit! All good, no symptoms just an exposure (so far).




Inside. Softwood (pine, Aspen & silver maple) on left, hardwood (beech, sugar maple & ash) on right.




New E/W stack orientation. Left to right; stack 1 - Aspen & punky honey locust; stack 2 - Aspen & box elder; stack 3 - isn't there yet but figuring ash; stack 4 - honey locust, hickory & sugar maple; stack 5 - ash; stack 6 - beech. Stack 1 is 30" off the garage.


----------



## Gearhead660

Taking advantage of one of the last nice days before the cold returns.  Got compost spread on garden(still need to till it in), split up the cottonwood that fell over the summer(messy, see pallet of bark in pic), filled up house with wood because we are going to be firing up stove again this week after a week reprieve from burning.  Beautiful fall weekend...


----------



## thewoodlands

I had some smaller rounds that I stacked first and then split some other rounds I had left from the spring ash felling that finished up this stack.


----------



## JimBear

Load of Cherry, about 2-1/4 cord


----------



## Country Living in VA

I worked pretty hard this summer cutting a load of logs that I had delivered.  With the numerous pickup loads of scrounged wood this summer, I was good to go for this year.  I really needed the break as my body was really feeling it by the end of summer.
Although my arthritis continues to keep me sore every time I try to do something, I am getting the fever to fire the saw back up.

My darn P/U truck has been a constant problem and won’t start.  Having a load of logs delivered is the way to go in my opinion.  It is extremely wet here and the area where he dumps them is not going to be accessible. Hope to get a load for Christmas and work on it slowly through the winter.


----------



## shortys7777

Tough to get any work done with 2 kids under 2 but I got some work done today. My almost 2 year old wants to help every second. He gets frustrated because he can't move most of it. Couple more years I'll have a great partner. About 1 more cord out maple to finish and top cover.


----------



## mcdougy

I bucked,split and stacked 5 of these this weekend. Way too windy here to do much today but retrieve this load. I'm liking the red oak as all I've cut is ash primarily. Oak splits easy with the f27.
The neighbour's bush got logged last winter and I'm cutting up the tops and split logs/trees that they have left. Im guessing there's 25+ cord on the ground.....its just a matter of getting it out. These first loads were the easy stuff. Now I will start dealing with the ravine. Slopes always make it that much more work I find.


----------



## Gearhead660

Bucked up a large dead Elm that was standing until the wicked winds came through last week and dropped it across a trail.  Whats in the truck was only the bottom 20 ft or so before before it split off. Gave the 20" bar a workout. Had a heaping load and still couldnt fit it all in truck.


----------



## JimBear

Gearhead660 said:


> Bucked up a large dead Elm that was standing until the wicked winds came through last week and dropped it across a trail.  Whats in the truck was only the bottom 20 ft or so before before it split off. Gave the 20" bar a workout. Had a heaping load and still couldnt fit it all in truck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 266986



That looks like it could Slippery ( Red ) Elm. Nice find regardless, it will burn nice.


----------



## Gearhead660

JimBear said:


> That looks like it could Slippery ( Red ) Elm. Nice find regardless, it will burn nice.
> 
> My cutting grounds is full of these dead elms.  Started burning some that I gathered last year, burns great!


----------



## heavy hammer

I have just been keeping the kindling barrel full and the wood pile in the garage full.  I have been working some long days the past few weeks.


----------



## MMH

Haven’t been able to do much lately, last storms I’m guessing snowed me out although temps back to 50-60 for a few days this week at least, maybe it’s worth trying one more trip. First kiddo on the way spending most time trying to put things together/set up a room.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm still doing my dead pine cleanup of this area, in picture 1156 you can see the base was rotten and in picture1158 is the dead pine I felled/split, four loads went over to the outside fireplace

The last rounds I split were from the downed pine in picture 1155, another two plus loads were split and brought over to the outside fireplace.


----------



## thewoodlands

This morning when I went to start the Rhino it didn't want to start (it was only 17.2, not that cold) so the first thing I did was check the positive and negative connections. Both posts had no buildup but the positive was loose so I tighten that up and put the trickle charger on it for an hour.

While it was on the trickle charger, I made my way to the fireplace and started a nice fire with the dead pine. After an hour on the trickle charger I used the Rhino most of the of the day hauling more dead pine over to burn, the battery seems fine but we'll see.

I used the RTV the last three hours of the day hauling more dead pine over to the reducer, once the RTV warms up, that heater will make it real toasty inside the cab but I still missed the cold breeze you get out in the open with the Rhino.


----------



## thewoodlands

The pine branch in picture 1170 came down many years ago not long after I joined hearth.com. I did the top with the pole saw and then bucked up some of what's left. I cleaned up a bunch of the dead branches with everything over to the fireplace waiting for a wet day.

In picture 1182 you can see where it came off the pine tree.


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> The pine branch in picture 1170 came down many years ago not long after I joined hearth.com. I did the top with the pole saw and then bucked up some of what's left. I cleaned up a bunch of the dead branches with everything over to the fireplace waiting for a wet day.
> 
> In picture 1182 you can see where it came off the pine tree.


Seems like you are out playing in the woods everyday.  Kinda jealous.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Seems like you are out playing in the woods everyday.  Kinda jealous.


After a couple cups of coffee and a shower in the morning, the wife kicks me out of the house. I had planned on cutting more hardwood but each day I spend cleaning up the lot, the more I like how it looks.

I'm pretty much working in the woods almost everyday but I still have five piles of pine logs that need c/s & burning from the clearing I did for the new garage in 2018. I had planned on two of those piles being gone by this winter but we had a very dry summer and fall so I couldn't burn them.


----------



## thewoodlands

Today started with me splitting some junk pine for the outdoor fireplace, hopefully we get some snow and rain so we can have a fire. I then felled the last part of what I think is a Red Maple, the other two trunks were all punky so I felled this with a pole saw and then split it.


----------



## sweedish

I grabbed some of the slabs from some oak I had milled, the stack in the pic is the rest of the slab and off cuts


----------



## heavy hammer

I have only filled the garage here and there  after work a couple of times.   The winds have been pretty bad lately and we have been working storm for the last few weeks.  I'm hoping things return to normal this coming week.


----------



## Gearhead660

Started working on removing all the Buckthorn.  Cleaning up all dead branches and enjoying a fire burning all said branches.   Sunset comes too soon this time of year....


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a heavy rain overnight so I burned a bunch of the dead pine from the cleanup, apparently I only took some pictures of the start and the end.  This burn we'll give me more room near the fireplace for more junk pine to burn on the next wet day.


----------



## thewoodlands

I took down a cherry branch that will make that area safer when I go through with the tractor in the winter, it also was rotting from the top down. I then limbed up some old pines on the northside and cut up a bunch of downed smaller dead pines and hauled six loads over to the outdoor fireplace. The limbing up I did today along with picking up some smaller dead pines will allow me to push snow into this area, hopefully I won't need it.


----------



## heavy hammer

I have a pine leaning into the neighbors property.  I think Thursday morning I'll pull it over with the hoist and cut it up.  If I do I'll get some pics.


----------



## thewoodlands

Some of the day was spent clearing trails before some possible snow coming in next week. Some of the trail clearing was cutting off some face slappers with some older loppers, there were plenty of wrist size branches that were across the trail that I threw into the woods.

I did have a pine come from the neighbors property into our trail so I cleared that and did have one American Hophornbeam that was down but there was a small section of it that was rotten so that was left in the woods.

The battery on the Rhino had a bad cell so I picked up a gel battery the day before Thanksgiving, so far things are fine. 

Pictures 1223 & 24 I'm getting ready to head down a small ravine, 1225 is a picture of our bigger ravine, 1227 & 28 are of the pine that came into the trail thanks to mother nature, 1231 thri 36 is the small American Hophornbeam and 1239 & 40 is one of the highest locations on our property.


----------



## qwee

One of the areas of the US that is growing the fastest is - Boise/Twin Falls, Idaho.  So there is construction. Near me, there is about a 10 acre site that has been laid out for houses. They've put in the underground electrical and plumbing, and have paved some roadways. There were a few trees that heavy equipment pulled and piled up, mostly ponderosa pine and some ash .

There was a big, thick, and  gnarly ash tree inside the pile. Of course I wanted it but was intimidated by how to get to it, and how was I going to cut it - it was at least 30" at base (but not tall). So, I worked on smaller wood around the pile. Was I even going to do something with this ash tree? Of course I was. I hooked a strap to it and pulled with truck until the tree with big root ball rolled out of pile. I just chipped away on it - cutting and noodling.

There were a few big rounds - no way was I even going to be able to roll these  into the trailer. I tried to bust up the biggest one with a sledge and wedge - the wedge  just bounced out each time I hit it . So I noodled it into 3 pieces. There is still about 2 big pieces waiting to be worked on, but I got another good load of ash (and a little pine and russian olive, too).


----------



## gggvan

EODMSgt said:


> Dropped a standing dead ash yesterday afternoon. Cut it in sections, drug them down the hill, cut into rounds, loaded up and brought home. A little punk at the very top but otherwise a good score. Almost at the point where I'll have to switch from the ATV to the snowmobile to get to this area.
> 
> View attachment 254911
> View attachment 254912


That first pic looks like a scene from a bad slasher movie.


----------



## SpaceBus

The first of ten roosters we are culling. We wanted to do this about a week ago, but the weather has not been nice enough. Killing this rooster was one of the most uncomfortable and unpleasant experiences I've ever had. He is in the oven now, I'll post in the cooking thread after we taste him. The carcass, organs, and neck will be cooked down into stock and the remaining solids will be made into dog food.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Felt good to get out and do some cutting yesterday. Probably cut and split about a full cord.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> I have only filled the garage here and there  after work a couple of times.   The winds have been pretty bad lately and we have been working storm for the last few weeks.  I'm hoping things return to normal this coming week.


See you tuesday


----------



## Grizzerbear

This was a blow down from spring 2019. I just cut the top out of it a few days after the storm and left the few limbs holding it off the ground since. I went out yesterday evening and cut it up. I was planning on splitting it today but it'll have to wait since it's raining. It's a post oak....base was roughly 20". I contemplated saving the bottom 9' to be milled for a table I want to make but I have no good way to haul it to the amish neighbor so I just bucked it up.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had a small Maple wind damaged tree across the trail that I took care of and then felled what was left standing and bucked up which pretty much filled the tub.

I checked another area that has a big ole Maple and it lost part of a limb, hopefully mother nature allows me to take care of it before we get a enough snow that will block off access to certain parts of our property. The buds in picture 1250 are from the big ole Maple.


----------



## heavy hammer

We are still fixing things from a few storm ago so hope fully this week won't get to bad but we shall see.  we have been working seven days a week about all of November, and most days are 12 plus a few weeks were 16 or more.


----------



## JimBear

Gave the 5105’s some work today & worked up a load of Honey Locust


----------



## thewoodlands

JimBear said:


> Gave the 5105’s some work today & worked up a load of Honey Locust
> 
> View attachment 268064
> View attachment 268065


Nice work @JimBear , it also looks like you had a great day for it.


----------



## JimBear

thewoodlands said:


> Nice work @JimBear , it also looks like you had a great day for it.


Thanks. Around 40* with north wind about 8-10mph, but fortunately I was in a low spot with a nice wind break. 10 day forecast has us in the mid 40’s daytime & no precipitation. It’s abnormally warm & dry here this fall.


----------



## thewoodlands

JimBear said:


> Thanks. Around 40* with north wind about 8-10mph, but fortunately I was in a low spot with a nice wind break. 10 day forecast has us in the mid 40’s daytime & no precipitation. It’s abnormally warm & dry here this fall.


It has been a wet three weeks here but after a dry spring and summer, we needed it.


----------



## thewoodlands

I did get the Maple rounds that I brought off the hill yesterday split and stacked, I also had some splits from the trail clearing I did from a Red Maple that had seen its best day  stacked.


----------



## heavy hammer

I was able to fill the garage and get all the kindling split last night after work.  Good thing to it rained all day and they are calling for snow the next few days.


----------



## MMH

Restocked the quick grab pile


----------



## MMH

Took the scraper off the tractor and threw the backhoe back on. Making ham soup from the left overs; temp is in the 30s, good sun out, letting the stove cool off still 71.5 in the house, thinking about giving the pipe the December brush


----------



## MMH

MMH said:


> Took the scraper off the tractor and threw the backhoe back on. Making ham soup from the left overs; temp is in the 30s, good sun out, letting the stove cool off still 71.5 in the house, thinking about giving the pipe the December brush



Cleaned and brushed the stove, can’t remember if I did it this summer or not after the burn season, got about a cup and a half, velvet like/fine powder. I’m good with that. 




Ready for continuous winter burning. Back in business!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had some heavy rains overnight and more rains today so I stayed off the trails and inside most of the day. I did clean a saw and I also grabbed the 660 out of storage and slapped a 25 inch bar and chain on it. I did some hand filing on the chains on the 311,390 and 660 which also included taking down the rakers some, hopefully tomorrow I can get after that big old Maple branch that came down.


----------



## thewoodlands

The first eight pictures are from the downed Maple branch and the last two are from a different Maple just west of the first area I worked.


----------



## JimBear

Worked up a jag of Cherry today


----------



## shortys7777

Started the 22/23 stacking. Maple and some ash


----------



## thewoodlands

I hauled all the Maple from up top down the hill and stacked it, that finished that stack. Hopefully mother nature allows me to c/s/s another two face before we get hit with a snowstorm.

I usually c/s/s between 10 & 12 face cord in the fall but with all the trail clearing I did around the house property, I've only put up six face cord. With the wood we're burning this year, we're four years ahead so the wood inventory is still good.


----------



## Diabel

MMH said:


> Restocked the quick grab pile
> View attachment 268092


This should last you couple of day.


----------



## MMH

Diabel said:


> This should last you couple of day.



Yeah this usually will last us a couple weeks, ish; funny you mention it though I’ve never kept track of how long it does last. Obviously depends on temps but we’ve been burning 24/7 this last week (since I stocked it) so I’ll be counting this time.


----------



## Diabel

I was joking when i said that. Yes, two weeks 24/7 with ashford sounds right.


----------



## MMH

Diabel said:


> I was joking when i said that. Yes, two weeks 24/7 with ashford sounds right.



Lol I figured so; yeah I think 2 weeks is a decent guess, I’ll have to report back what it really is. Have been playing with 12 hr reloads (usually someone is home each day so throwing a few pieces in every few hours isn’t a big deal) and I gotta say the 12 hr cycle is swaying me


----------



## kennyp2339

Had 2 dead ash tree's in the front woods fall over in last weeks windy weather, going to fish them out with a chain and the Kioti, buck them up and drop them off at my 4th year pile that I started a month ago, I want to stage as many logs as possible by this pile so when everything freezes up I have something to do outside.


----------



## heavy hammer

I didn't save them but I had three pine fall into the neighbors property from this weeks snow storm.  I cut a little one night but I didn't want to keep running the saw at 11pm.  Yesterday was my first early day off work so I cut them and piled them up in the burn pile.  I didn't get any pics to dark and tired.


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't take the camera with me but I spent a good part of the day at the outside fireplace burning down pine and some smaller branches, the back gully and the area out front were the target of the cleanup today. 

The part of the gully to the west is a ton better but the east part of the gully at the base of the hill needs a good cleanup, hopefully I can get some of it done before any big snows hit.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Only spent about two hours at it today but was able to crack and stack a little over a face.


----------



## JimBear

The rest of the old fence line was dozed out so the new fence can be put in. I have all the rootballs cut off & everything is limbed up. Most everything that was saved was Osage. Anything that doesn’t make the grade as a fence post will be firewood. Hopefully I get it done before the end of the year.  The last 3 pics are the prepped trees waiting on the saws.


----------



## NickW

I'm up to 2 years ahead (hopefully). 8 cord css besides this years supply... Still more to gather and css yet this year. Supposed to get snow Saturday, but hoping to get a load before it makes working and trailering a load too dangerous.


----------



## thewoodlands

This area is just off the new area I opened up last year (I think) there was a snapped off downed rotten cherry and some dead pine I pulled out of a tree. With this area cleared of the downed trees and branches, it will allow me a chit load more room for storing snow from the driveway in the winter.

I also started clearing a path to the neighbor's after he said it was ok, there's more limbing up of some pine before it's tractor ready.

I took around 10 trailer loads of wood/branches over to the reducer and had a nice fire.


----------



## JimBear

Got a three loads of Osage out today & included a couple pics of some of my saws I used.


----------



## thewoodlands

JimBear said:


> Got a three loads of Osage out today & included a couple pics of some of my saws I used.
> 
> View attachment 269006
> 
> View attachment 269002
> View attachment 269003
> View attachment 269004
> View attachment 269005


Nice work @JimBear , the saws aren't bad either!


----------



## Nate R

Wood stove will get installed in my cabin next year, been trying to get more wood CSS for the future.

Dropped a red oak yesterday that was snapped in a 2019 windstorm. Left some rounds in the woods (off the ground) to retrieve later, took a carload back to my cabin and split them.  Even though this was dead for 17 months, 47-48% moisture in the trunk. Bark was falling off rounds, and they split VERY easily with my Fiskars. MUCH easier than dead, drier oak that I've salvaged before that seems to harden.

Brought some of those splits home to try an experiment over the next year. My home's walk up attic stays VERY warm and dry in the summer, so want to see if putting it up there for a year will act like a bit of a kiln. If it doesn't work to speed it up, oh well, wood for 2022. Weighed 4 splits, and I'll track the weights over time as they dry in the attic.


----------



## kennyp2339

@Nate R - seasoning wood in the attic, that a first time hear for me lol, I get what your doing though, good idea for that test


----------



## Nate R

@kennyp2339 ,  Yeah, the attic is regularly in the 90s or  low 100s on hot sunny days, holds that heat into the evening, and has a fair amount of ventilation. Doing some extra work carting wood home and back to the cabin later, but if it allows me to "cheat" the first year it'll be worth it!
We'll see, I'll report back either way.


----------



## thewoodlands

I did some splitting on 12/11 and brought that over to the outside fireplace, it was all White Pine. Today I removed two smaller White Pine (one pictured) by removing the first made the trail wider which will make it easier when plowing in the winter, the second Pine I removed will allow me to work in that area with the tractor so I can get at both piles of pine.

The first two pictures are from yesterday and the last three are from today.


----------



## stoveliker

So, drove past a big trunk of a red oak many times since that tropical storm we had this summer. Thought the folks were trying to sell it to a lumber company. Been eyeing it for months...

But today a tree company was cutting it up.  Had gone down by pulling the roots out of the lawn; the trunk was in perfect condition. No bugs.

And look what they brought me.  Unfortunately the rounds are too short (maybe I can put in two splits behind each other), but it's good quality. And free. And easy to split (by hand).

Asked me when I wanted my next load.  Seems no more scrounging for me, just a call and I am good to go . They were very eager to bring more.


----------



## stoveliker

stoveliker said:


> So, drove past a big trunk of a red oak many times since that tropical storm we had this summer. Thought the folks were trying to sell it to a lumber company. Been eyeing it for months...
> 
> But today a tree company was cutting it up.  Had gone down by pulling the roots out of the lawn; the trunk was in perfect condition. No bugs.
> 
> And look what they brought me.  Unfortunately the rounds are too short (maybe I can put in two splits behind each other), but it's good quality. And free. And easy to split (by hand).
> 
> Asked me when I wanted my next load.  Seems no more scrounging for me, just a call and I am good to go . They were very eager to bring more.



So during an unseasonbly warm Sunday, I made good (manual) work of that load. No gym membership for me.
(The white oak in the back is from a previous scrounge.)

Later I'll post some pics of all that I have now - some maple left that's 3 yrs old (half a face cord), half a face cord of sassafras, and the rest red oak. 1.5 cord that was standing dead. Rest fresh. (and a bit of cedar, dogwood, etc).

Starting with that half face cord of maple, I got myself about 4 cords this year. Estimating I will burn about 1-1.5 per year, I got ahead 3 years in 2020 

Oh, and I brought three wheelbarrows of small splits of the thinnest rounds to the elderly neighbors - telling them to season it for at least two years. Little pieces of 3"x5" or so for their little stove.

Too small to stack with the rest, and someone happy. Good day overall.


----------



## thewoodlands

The day started out bringing the boss into town so she could ship out a package at the UPS store, since we were in town, I filled up a five gallon diesel can.

Once we came home, I decided that the chimney pipe would get cleaned before our first cold snap, that new brush pushed real hard or I'm just getting old. I already posted this but the oil was changed in the new Honda motor on the 20 ton splitter after the cleaning of the chimney and a sandwich.

The last thing I did was buck up some downed pine logs with the 390, I'm going to drop the rakers more. I also bought a rubber mat for the back of the RTV so the saws and stuff won't slide around.

Pictures 1305 & 1306 is a meal the wife cooked the other day, 1306 thru 1309 are the first log I bucked up, 1310 is the mat and the last two pictures are the last pine I bucked up. The area in the last two pictures will need to be cleaned up real good before the first big snowstorm.


----------



## MoDoug

I have been fortunate to be able to help clear trees from a federal campground they're getting ready to run water lines through. I've managed to score a lot of hickory and oak, mostly white oak, some red and post oak as well. I've gotten about 5 cords so far and counting. I won't be able to touch it for a couple/few years, but thats ok. I also got to finally cut down a double red oak from the back yard that's been dead for about 7 years. I had to expand my wood racks to keep the wood in. I still need to go back and gather dead wood for next season.  Pictures are from the campground, the wood stored in the metal carport, and the newly expanded wood racks. This means very little scrounging will be needed. This is a windfall of wood for me, and I am counting my blessings!

Edited to say, I started on a 2 year plan, I find myself now passing a  4 year plan and heading for a 5 year. My wife keeps looking outside and saying that's a lot of wood. LOL


----------



## Gearhead660

MoDoug said:


> My wife keeps looking outside and saying that's a lot of wood. LOL
> 
> View attachment 269359
> View attachment 269360
> View attachment 269361
> View attachment 269362
> View attachment 269363
> View attachment 269364


Tell her, that's not wood, its heat!


----------



## stoveliker

MoDoug said:


> ...wife keeps looking outside and saying that's a lot of wood. LOL



Lol, I hear the same, often... I respond by me saying it's not wood but me taking care of her and the kids (by providing heat and being out of the house ).


----------



## MoDoug

Gearhead660 said:


> Tell her, that's not wood, its heat!





stoveliker said:


> Lol, I hear the same, often... I respond by me saying it's not wood but me taking care of her and the kids (by providing heat and being out of the house ).



There's truth in those comments! I also tell her we need to get it while we can, it won't be this available next year.  I also need to justify the multiple 42 mile round trips.

stoveliker, "being out of the house", I told my wife she's become a firewood widow lately. LOL


----------



## thewoodlands

Today I split four loads of pine and then brought it over to the outside fireplace. After I started the fire, I ran around the trails picking up another five loads of dead pine branches that were reduced to ashes.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> Today I split four loads of pine and then brought it over to the outside fireplace. After I started the fire, I ran around the trails picking up another five loads of dead pine branches that were reduced to ashes.



I'm jealous... Every day out there in the woods. How many acres do you have?


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> I'm jealous... Every day out there in the woods. How many acres do you have?


142 acres , the house is on 5.5 and the rest is our wooded lot the brook runs through. The pictures I posted today are from the house lot.

How much snow are they calling for in your area from this storm rolling in.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> 142 acres , the house is on 5.5 and the rest is our wooded lot the brook runs through. The pictures I posted today are from the house lot.
> 
> How much snow are they calling for in your area from this storm rolling in.



Wow. How good to be able to live like that.
Here the forecast is always finicky, but 6+" is what I expect. Could be wildy off though, in either direction. The high temps (34 or so) and the high wind is a bit of concern though; heavy snow and wind = power outage. And my flue has not yet been lifted so I can't burn... Hopefully Friday...


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Wow. How good to be able to live like that.
> Here the forecast is always finicky, but 6+" is what I expect. Could be wildy off though, in either direction. The high temps (34 or so) and the high wind is a bit of concern though; heavy snow and wind = power outage. And my flue has not yet been lifted so I can't burn... Hopefully Friday...


Just a matter of five miles can mean a big difference on how much snow we receive, one storm we received about five inches and five miles south of us received over two feet. That was a lake effect band off Lake Ontario that shifted north.


----------



## heavy hammer

Our first snow of the year was just like the storm you guys are supposed to get about a foot of heavy snow with some wind.  Hope there is little damage and everything and everyone is alright for Christmas.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> Our first snow of the year was just like the storm you guys are supposed to get about a foot of heavy snow with some wind.  Hope there is little damage and everything and everyone is alright for Christmas.


That heavy wet snow always leaves me with tree work but unless this shifts north, any big snow will miss us.

I haven't checked the bigger lot since the last high winds we received so I'll be doing that this week.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 1.9 this morning so I changed my plans from getting some Yellow Birch to cleaning up the edge of a bunch of trails around the house, I got rid of 8 or 9 loads of dead pine branches and some maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

I limbed up some Pine off a newer trail I made earlier this year and brought over another seven loads to the outside fireplace. All the limbs and a bunch of Pine splits made for a nice fire. I still have some work left on this trail but after the work done today, it's ready for the tractor with the plow.


----------



## NickW

Been helping my brother take down oaks in NE WI the last few days, two days to go. More oak & some pine yet. I'll try to remember to take some pics before we leave Sunday.


----------



## thewoodlands

I pretty much finished cleaning up a new trail I started earlier this year, another five or six loads went over to the fireplace.  I also was able to burn a bunch of pine splits.

The other area I worked (not pictured) was limbing up some dead branches off some pine trees, I'll use this area to push snow into from our driveway.


----------



## thewoodlands

Since I've been clearing trails around the house, I thought tomorrow the Rhino would get some work running one of the highest trails we have so I can clear any downed wood across the trails that are on the biggest part of the property.

I haven't been back there since the last windstorm and with a possible storm coming in around Christmas, I want them cleared before any big storm hits.

The two pictures are from my last run back in on that high ridge, hopefully by next spring, the trail on the ridge  will be ready for the RTV.


----------



## thewoodlands

I hadn't been back in on our other lot since the last high winds we had so I went to check on the trails, not much was down just a few branches in different areas.

The first four pictures are of some trails, pics 1332,33,39 & 40 are the Brook freezing up early due to our colder weather we've been having, 1336 is an old rotten tree I've been driving around on a turn so I finally took it down, 1337 was a stump I had been driving around just above 1336 which I zipped off and 1338 is in an area we call Hemlock Haven which needs a good two months of trail clearing that's not in the picture.

Since I hadn't used or started the Rhino for what seems like a good week, I ran the hills with it. The battery was fine but it took its time getting to run like it usually does. After letting it warm up, I did around three laps on the house trails before I geared up the back of the Rhino.


----------



## NickW

Didn't get it all done, but here's where we're at on my brothers property. Man am I SORE

Pic 1 are logs for milling - red oak, red pine, white pine & jack pine; pic 2 is firewood - same as above plus Aspen, maple & cherry; pic 3 is my brothers building site...


----------



## MMH

Diabel said:


> I was joking when i said that. Yes, two weeks 24/7 with ashford sounds right.



24 days, not to shabby


----------



## EPS

stoveliker said:


> And look what they brought me.  Unfortunately the rounds are too short (maybe I can put in two splits behind each other), but it's good quality. And free. And easy to split (by hand).



What a great score and future resource.  Those little rounds can be hard to stack, but do a good job filling gaps in the wood stove.


----------



## stoveliker

EPS said:


> What a great score and future resource.  Those little rounds can be hard to stack, but do a good job filling gaps in the wood stove.


Yeah, I read somewhere on this site that one of the BK owners actually put shorties standing up in his stove. Will be doing that too - in 2-3 years. Nice experiment


----------



## SpaceBus

stoveliker said:


> Yeah, I read somewhere on this site that one of the BK owners actually put shorties standing up in his stove. Will be doing that too - in 2-3 years. Nice experiment


I hadn't thought of putting them in a stove like that. I bet my long narrow stove would get super long burns with a bunch of short fat rounds like that!


----------



## stoveliker

SpaceBus said:


> I hadn't thought of putting them in a stove like that. I bet my long narrow stove would get super long burns with a bunch of short fat rounds like that!



@kennyp2339 14Dec on the 2020/21 BK thread was the first time I read about it.


----------



## JimBear

The works not all done but there will be no splitting just bucking & stacking. I found a nice bunch of old hedge ( Osage) posts.


----------



## SpaceBus

JimBear said:


> The works not all done but there will be no splitting just bucking & stacking. I found a nice bunch of old hedge ( Osage) posts.
> 
> View attachment 270214
> View attachment 270216
> 
> View attachment 270217


I'll be processing tamarack fence posts sooner or later, been collecting small trees for the job. Wish we had osage!


----------



## kennyp2339

JimBear said:


> I found a nice bunch of old hedge ( Osage) posts.


If gasoline could be a solid or amber, it would be these old fence posts in your pics.


----------



## Gearhead660

Afternoon spent in the woods.  Beautiful day for it.  
	

		
			
		

		
	





	

		
			
		

		
	
  Finally got to try out the bucking stand in the field.  My back likes it very much.  Think chain does too.


----------



## thewoodlands

I haven't done much in a while, I've been dealing with pain in my right shoulder which I think is bursitis. The last two days it has been feeling better so either Wednesday or Thursday, I'll see how it feels and maybe fell a small Ash.


----------



## heavy hammer

Spent the day in the woods with the dogs carrying wood to fill the garage while the girls went sledding.  We had a couple cold snowy days, but yesterday was sunny and 40.  A good day to be outside.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> Spent the day in the woods with the dogs carrying wood to fill the garage while the girls went sledding.  We had a couple cold snowy days, but yesterday was sunny and 40.  A good day to be outside.


Nice to hear that you got a break from work, we got forced in Jersey 16/8's for xmas eve thru yesterday, normally I'd be pretty upset with it, but this is just par for 2020 here.


----------



## heavy hammer

*kennyp2339 sorry to hear that.  I worked 16's till the week before Christmas.  We had a couple of our sub transmission lines that needed to be reconductored and I was picked to do the job.  Great money but a long six weeks.  We had to replace about a mile and 1/4 of 795. between 2 big storms and crews being sent home here and there for covid protocol.  2020 was a challenging year.  I'm hoping 2021 is a little better.  If things go my way I'm hoping to be down in Ohio Edison in the next few months. *


----------



## kennyp2339

@heavy hammer 795 is no joke, about the only easy thing is pulling to rope through and the new poly clamps, but still a major pia, especially when its cold, wire doesnt want to work with you, its almost tail pipe heating season for us, we usually throw a 10ft length of hendrix cable into a exhaust pipe to heat it up so we can make leads and taps.


----------



## heavy hammer

I wish it would be easy like that sometimes for us 795 is the smaller stuff for us we have a lot of 1192, and 1590.  The pulling out the old conductor and pulling in went very smooth.  We used our rope machine, and tensioner and empty reel drums to pull the old  stuff out and the ropes pulled in the new.  We pulled in just a little under 3000 feet by four pulls one Sunday one static and all three conductors in under 8 hours.  A lot of prep but a good smooth job.


----------



## MMH

Refilled the quick grab again today; going to clean out garage and make dump run this week.


----------



## EbS-P

Two afternoons of work here. Wide end is 41” only two cuts then had to sharpen 156 driver full house chain.  
Evan


----------



## thewoodlands

EbS-P said:


> Two afternoons of work here. Wide end is 41” only two cuts then had to sharpen 156 driver full house chain.
> Evan
> View attachment 270574
> View attachment 270575


Beautiful, what type of wood is it?


----------



## EbS-P

thewoodlands said:


> Beautiful, what type of wood is it?


Tulip poplar. It blew down down over two years ago during hurricane Florence.  The green will fade to yellows and browns.


----------



## thewoodlands

Yesterday I thought it would be a good day to test out my shoulder so I grabbed the bow saw and cut five loads of dead pine branches from certain areas. From the feeling in my shoulder this morning, it needs more time.

The two pictures are from the fire yesterday, it really took off after I packed it full of pine and came into eat. Because I didn't charge the batteries and the cold, what juice was left in them the cold took care of.


----------



## shortys7777

Finally finished splitting at stacking my load. Next is a few dead oak to the left of this pic


----------



## mcdougy

Yesterday was first time back at the "logged bush" in about a month. It was a nice day. My guess is about a chord or more in "tops" from each tree that was cut. I will get a pic of the ravine that poses some extra work to say the least.


----------



## mcdougy

This is what I processed about a month ago....then I got the trailer stuck....then  a part in the clutch of my atv broke,  so I couldn't get the trailer out....and the bike parts took a month to get, actually the parts came in 3 days, it took a month to get the clutch puller tool


----------



## NickW

mcdougy said:


> View attachment 270796
> 
> This is what I processed about a month ago....then I got the trailer stuck....then  a part in the clutch of my atv broke,  so I couldn't get the trailer out....and the bike parts took a month to get, actually the parts came in 3 days, it took a month to get the clutch puller tool


Ain't that about the way it always goes....


----------



## mcdougy

NickW said:


> Ain't that about the way it always goes....


Every day is an adventure  Some parts are fun, some parts seem challenging....The good news is I'm still in the game


----------



## NickW

mcdougy said:


> Every day is an adventure  Some parts are fun, some parts seem challenging....The good news is I'm still in the game


Yep. I always say "every day spent on this side of the grass is a good day..."


----------

