I wound up using wedges for the first time effectively this past weekend on some large hemlock pieces that I could not lift and they worked well to split the big rounds into 4 liftable pieces.
Free wood,is it worth it?
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Elderthewelder said:
Bring your splitting maul and wedges. Maple doesn't split badly, you should be able to bust those 40 inchers down to a size you can handle pretty quickly, as long as they aren't too knotty. This sounds like a heck of a deal.
(crap, didn't see that there was a page 2 when I posted...)
Here's the update, I went over and met the homeowner yesterday, He told me I could come and go as I please as long as I took all the Maple ( about 10 percent of it is rotted out, not sure if it was bugs or disease) but I have to take that as well. Anyway hauled away 2 truck loads so far of the smaller rounds. Brought my Stihl, Maul, sledge and wedges but did not use them yet, but I will need too soon. A friend of mine is going to help me split the larger rounds and we are going to split the wood up between us, so looks like all is good. Alot of good wood to get, will help for the 2007/08 season
1.5 hours does seem like a long drive. I have two wood-burning buddies that I go logging with a few times a year. One of them has a ~100 acre wooded lot about an hour drive from my house w/ lots of great hardwood. It is a long day hooking up the trailer, driving down, felling/bucking trees, loading em up, and then driving home. My make-shift trailer can only haul about 1/2 cord (wet), even tho my 4WD can tow much more. If we rented a better trailer, it would be a more economical trip. And scheduling 3 people w/ our varying work schedules has been real tough (never go cutting alone)
The better alternative we are adopting (at least we think) is to contact local tree services and have grapple loads delivered to our respective houses. They range from $350-$550 for a grapple load, which is supposed to produce 7-11 cords once all bucked & split. So thats $50/ cord without all the driving/towing, not to mention not worrying about forgetting something once you reach the site. I forgot the splitting wedges last time, and lifting the huge rounds near the stump into the trailer was horrendous.
The better alternative we are adopting (at least we think) is to contact local tree services and have grapple loads delivered to our respective houses. They range from $350-$550 for a grapple load, which is supposed to produce 7-11 cords once all bucked & split. So thats $50/ cord without all the driving/towing, not to mention not worrying about forgetting something once you reach the site. I forgot the splitting wedges last time, and lifting the huge rounds near the stump into the trailer was horrendous.
Well I went to the property the other day to check things out, took me just over an hour to get there. The access is pretty good...there is a large clearning to work from that you can drive to and the are many trees to be taken from it's perimeter.
We only spoke for a few minutes, but he seems like a nice guy. He is happy with his wood bucked to length and left in the clearing, which is easy for me and doesn't care what I do with the brush.
He couldn't stay long, but wanted to see me fell a tree (a test before he let's a stranger with a saw loose on his property) so he points to a very large maple on the egde of the clearing. Now I've felled 20 mabey 30 trees in my life so I'm pretty green, but this one at about 30"DBH was by far the biggest. It was slightly weighted in the direction of fall so that made things easier. I had to cut from boths sides and I used some wedges just incase it wanted to sit back on me. It came down perfectly into the clearing...he seemed impressed.
Took me 4 hours to limb and buck this monster, burned a gallon on gas through the new saw in the process. Did I mention the MS361 rocks, was truly impressed at the performance, full bar cuts from both sides I really gave it a workout. I really like the RS chain, very aggressive and stayed sharp longer than I expected, throwing nice big chips-touched it up every 2 tank of gas.
I'm guessing this tree yielded 1-1/2 2 cords.
Here is a pic about 30 feet from the stump, there was a small rotten spot were the first limbs started, the rest of the wood was clean.
Warning-bad cellphone picture
(broken image removed)
We only spoke for a few minutes, but he seems like a nice guy. He is happy with his wood bucked to length and left in the clearing, which is easy for me and doesn't care what I do with the brush.
He couldn't stay long, but wanted to see me fell a tree (a test before he let's a stranger with a saw loose on his property) so he points to a very large maple on the egde of the clearing. Now I've felled 20 mabey 30 trees in my life so I'm pretty green, but this one at about 30"DBH was by far the biggest. It was slightly weighted in the direction of fall so that made things easier. I had to cut from boths sides and I used some wedges just incase it wanted to sit back on me. It came down perfectly into the clearing...he seemed impressed.
Took me 4 hours to limb and buck this monster, burned a gallon on gas through the new saw in the process. Did I mention the MS361 rocks, was truly impressed at the performance, full bar cuts from both sides I really gave it a workout. I really like the RS chain, very aggressive and stayed sharp longer than I expected, throwing nice big chips-touched it up every 2 tank of gas.
I'm guessing this tree yielded 1-1/2 2 cords.
Here is a pic about 30 feet from the stump, there was a small rotten spot were the first limbs started, the rest of the wood was clean.
Warning-bad cellphone picture
(broken image removed)
That's a big one. Did you have to spilt the big pieces to load them? Nice to have a place to run the saw full out,and put it though it's paces.
I left all the wood there...the majority of it less than 20" is in a pile, the bigger stuff I rolled , and the stuff I couldn't even roll will have to be split were it sits-atleast quartered.
My next trip I will take some wood for me.
My next trip I will take some wood for me.
Do you have anyway of skidding the logs to the clearing? And could you get a log truck into the clearing?
earthharvester said:
No and Yes, but I'm trying to keep this free wood an inexpensive as possible :lol: That kind of equipment would break the bank. Would be nice to be skidder shopping, instead I'm looking at cant hooks :lol:
I could use some advice from someone who is experienced like yourself tho...I was fortunate enough that this log was only supported at one end towards the base, so when bucking the bigger stuff the blocks were able to "fall away" and there was no risk of the cut closing. What is the best way to buck a log that is flat on the ground or supported on both ends but too big to cut half way and roll over? I've just been using wedges. Cutting 1/3 from the top down then 2/3 bottom up is not always possible. I was thinking plunge cut and leaving a strap at the top to keep the cut from closing?
I was thinking if you had a way to get the logs out to the clearing, you could have a log truck haul a load to you'r house. There are a lot of tools out there help you. Do you have a peave or a cant hook to roll logs? This compeny makes a lot of good tools to work with.(broken link removed to http://www.futureforestry.com/arborists/index.html)
We use the Jr arch at work and they work great.(broken link removed to http://www.futureforestry.com/arborists/index.html)
We use the Jr arch at work and they work great.(broken link removed to http://www.futureforestry.com/arborists/index.html)
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