Big Score? Can i do it?

[razerface]

here are pics of the hairy poison ivy on a tree trunk, and one of the top branches showing how it grows away from the tree,,,,not like your pics. Get to work! Learn to sharpen.

 

[GENECOP]

Go for it, I am sure it's not the first time you got in over your head.....get it done.

 

[jatoxico]

Go to the renta-center and get saw to do the big stuff. Even HD has 20" Makita's (65 cc) that will work better than what you have and you don't beat up your saw on a job it's not really designed for. Whatever you don't finish you can do w/ the smaller saw.

 

[ironspider]

Wood has been hard to come by for me. Unless it's 50 miles away. I don't know what this spring will be like but i'm thinking i'll get it.

I just concerned if i can't process it how do i get rid of it? If this guy is have trouble getting people to pick it up, i would have an even harder time since i'm further east.

 

[bigbarf48]

I think youre worrying too much. Just get it! Especially if wood is hard to come by for you

Youll get it processed eventually, just peck away at it till is all done. I take loads like that from my tree guy regularly and I dont even have a splitter

 

[ironspider]

good to hear, i think i'll tell him to bring it over.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I found a guy willing to drop off a lot of wood. Most of it is oak and by the looks of it, they are 3-4 ft logs and about 36" diameter. Here's my question:

I'm a newb with a craftsman 18" saw, I go through chains like crazy because i love hitting dirt. I have a Ariens 22 ton splitter with vertical operation. Can i process this with the equipment i have or am i biting off more than i can chew. He estimates 5 cords of wood, looks like more to me. He'll deliver it to me for $20.

Thoughts?

I would take it. Yes, it will take a while to get it all cut up, split and stacked but the rewards will be worth it.

I think you and some others worry too much about what you can do with the saw. I have a 16" bar and can cut a 35" round with it. Felling the tree would be a different story but you don't have to do that; just buck it up. You have plenty of saw to do it. If you want it done faster you can always rent a saw for a day or two but I doubt you would have to do that unless you got in a hurry. Just realize that doing it with your saw will only take a little longer to get the job done. Stick with it and you'll be happy.

 

[paul bunion]

Keep in mind that it will destroy whatever is under it when it is dumped. Hopefully you don't have built in sprinkler heads or were thinking of getting it dumped on pavement. You will also wind up with a lot of short pieces after you cut it up.

 

[ironspider]

Keep in mind that it will destroy whatever is under it when it is dumped. Hopefully you don't have built in sprinkler heads or were thinking of getting it dumped on pavement. You will also wind up with a lot of short pieces after you cut it up.

I already have tons of chubs. smalls really screw up my stacks, i really dont' know what to do with them.

 

[BEConklin]

Ok, checked out site again and got some pics, please give me some input based on the pics including wood type. He said there is some pine but I didn't see any.(broken image removed)

The only thing that looks like pine that I could see is the upright stump in the left foreground in this picture - otherwise this pile looks like it's mostly cherry logs.

 

[splitoak]

Id ba all over that...too easy..$20 dropped off at my house..lol

 

[mstoelton]

Not poison ivy. That is poison sumac. it is nasty shtuff. I have had it a few times and it is as bad or worse that ivy. This wood likely came from a low lying swampy area. That is where poison sumac grows. In the first picture you can see the tiny white/yellow berries that are the give away for sumac.

Note: don't burn the vine. Don't burn the wood that the big vine was attached to. The smoke if inhaled can cause a significant respiratory response. You can die from it. bad news.

I once got into this stuff by accident when installing a tree stand for hunting. No fun.

 

[ironspider]

There is a lot of wood there wrapped in vines. Can't just remove the vines? or the bark?

 

[Hickorynut]

Poison ivy/sumace never has bothered much(see my avatar) and maybe it doesn't bother ironspider. If it doesn't he needs to get all over that wood for $20. May never be as good a deal down the road.....

 

[paul bunion]

I already have tons of chubs. smalls really screw up my stacks, i really dont' know what to do with them.

That's what I hate about tree man chunks. Especially the 18" ones that need 2" taken off them. Keep your eye out for a guy with a log truck. There are a lot fewer oddball lengths in a log load and it amounts to almost the same amount of cutting. If you can get that wood for $20 I would hazard a guess that there is an outfit in your area with a log truck and the same or lower price. (The price is infinitely lower here ).

 

[mstoelton]

There is a lot of wood there wrapped in vines. Can't just remove the vines? or the bark?

you can do whatever you want but, you have been warned.

 

[Ashful]

Not poison ivy. That is poison sumac. it is nasty shtuff. I have had it a few times and it is as bad or worse that ivy. This wood likely came from a low lying swampy area. That is where poison sumac grows. In the first picture you can see the tiny white/yellow berries that are the give away for sumac.

Note: don't burn the vine. Don't burn the wood that the big vine was attached to. The smoke if inhaled can cause a significant respiratory response. You can die from it. bad news.

I once got into this stuff by accident when installing a tree stand for hunting. No fun.

Wait... let's not get carried away, here. The oil in poison sumac is the same as the oil in poison ivy, urishoil. I suspect the bad rash you got from poison sumac would have been the same if you were in contact with poison ivy.

Yes, it's very bad to burn these vines, if they contain any active oils (eg. if the vines have not been dead at least 2 years). However, if we were to not burn any wood that had a poison ivy vine growing on it, well... I'd have several fewer cords than I do every year. There should not be significant oil transfer from the vine into the wood you're burning. Besides, if you're properly seasoning your wood, any oils will be neutralized by the time that wood hits your stove.

Knock the vines off with your rake, and drag them out to the woods where they can safely decompose. Wear gloves and long sleeves when handling the wood, prior to seasoning. Beyond that, you really do not have anything to worry about, unless you're one of the rare folks who can catch poison ivy by simply walking past it on a breezy day.

 

[Woody Stover]

I already have tons of chubs. smalls really screw up my stacks, i really dont' know what to do with them.

I just threw together a bin made out of t-posts and woven-wire fence, enough to go around a couple of pallets, tossed 'em in there to dry out, and burned on the pile during the shoulder season when I just needed little chill-buster fires.

 

[Wood Duck]

Poison Sumac is a small shrub, not a vine that grows on trees. I don't think it is Poison Ivy either, but it definitely isn't Poison Sumac.

If you remove Poison Ivy vines from wood, just pile the vines somewhere they can remain and let them rot. Do not burn, shred, chip, or do anything else with the vines or the bark they were attached to.

 

[razerface]

Poison Sumac is a small shrub, not a vine that grows on trees.

yep

Not poison ivy. That is poison sumac. it is nasty shtuff.

come on now,,, poison sumac grows on the ground. You got poison ivy or poison oak if it was a vine.

 

[Elbinwyp]

I am in a similar boat. Got access to a dump site. LOTS of wood. Some piles are big like the one in the pick and other piles are spread out. I can pick from the pile as I please. Any advice on what to pick, how to load it, and how to process?

 

[BEConklin]

Around here trees mostly get covered with either one of two vines - either bittersweet or poison ivy. Some of those vines don't look at all like bittersweet to me - but I have to admit I've never seen a log covered with English ivy....we don't have that much of it around here...not growing up trees at least. So it may very well be English Ivy in the pictures.

It's also been mentioned that poison ivy vines have horizontal branches coming off - but in my experience, very often those branches don't appear until the vine is well up into the canopy - then it starts branching out to catch more light. I've seen PI vines running all the way up the trunk 40 feet with no branches at all. In fact, in my yard - that's mostly how it grows. So it wouldn't surprise me at all not to see horizontal branching on PI vines on the main trunk of the tree.

What I can say for sure is that if any of it is poison ivy, removing the vines will certainly expose you to it - even if they've been dead for a couple of years. But I've also gotten poison ivy from just handling the splits from trees that had a little bit of it growing on them when they were standing - 10 months after felling the tree, removing the vine, and bucking and splitting the wood. Seriously - it was a vine no more than 1/2" thick.

As to whether you should take the load of wood - I can't say. I know I get PI real bad but some people aren't bothered by it. Certainly there's a lot of good wood in that lot without any vines on it at all.

 

[bsruther]

Why is everyone getting their pannies in a bunch over some vines? I rip poison ivy off of wood just about every time I get it, no big deal. I've been burning ash all winter long with little poison ivy hairies on it, no big deal.

 

[Ashful]

Why is everyone getting their pannies in a bunch over some vines? I rip poison ivy off of wood just about every time I get it, no big deal. I've been burning ash all winter long with little poison ivy hairies on it, no big deal.

Ditto. However, one time I did make the mistake of getting too friendly with it.

 

[bigbarf48]

Don't worry too much about the ivy

If you get it on you and you start getting patches showing up, the BEST thing Ive found to stop it dead in its tracks is Clorox spray. Not pure bleach, the water/bleach mix stuff. Spray it on, let it sit a bit, and wash it off. It'll dry up the patch and it won't grow any worse