Nice score :) Finally about through processing cemetery wood.

[weatherguy]

How do you guys cut up such a big piece like the one thats as tall as you?

I would probably need a couple more wedges for that one , but that's what I use on oak rounds. Wedges.

I would noodle them....Those are Monster rounds. Being hardwood I would have atleast got a couple dinning room table out of it!

Which brings me to the next thing I was wondering about pertaining to large pieces of wood, whats noodling mean?

 

[smokinj]

How do you guys cut up such a big piece like the one thats as tall as you?

I would probably need a couple more wedges for that one , but that's what I use on oak rounds. Wedges.

I would noodle them....Those are Monster rounds. Being hardwood I would have atleast got a couple dinning room table out of it!

Which brings me to the next thing I was wondering about pertaining to large pieces of wood, whats noodling mean?

Cutting through the round like you where milling it.

 

[Thistle]

I did notice this morning there's a few burls on those logs that I got....a few fist sized, one or two dinner plate size. I'll get a couple of pics of them later if anybody's interested.

Ed

Yes please. Can you tell if they're solid or hollow? Sometimes can tell by sound if its enclosed on all sides.

 

[TreePointer]

Click -> (broken link removed) <- for examples of noodling.

 

[Intheswamp]

I did notice this morning there's a few burls on those logs that I got....a few fist sized, one or two dinner plate size. I'll get a couple of pics of them later if anybody's interested.

Ed

Yes please. Can you tell if they're solid or hollow? Sometimes can tell by sound if its enclosed on all sides.

Well, I guess these are what ya'll call burls...the small ones look about like big warts and the bigger ones are more like a cow paddy (with a stretch of the imagination). It may be in the morning before I can get some pics, working a little late today.

Ed

 

[Backwoods Savage]

How do you guys cut up such a big piece like the one thats as tall as you?

I would probably need a couple more wedges for that one , but that's what I use on oak rounds. Wedges.

I would noodle them....Those are Monster rounds. Being hardwood I would have atleast got a couple dinning room table out of it!

Which brings me to the next thing I was wondering about pertaining to large pieces of wood, whats noodling mean?

Noodling: a despicable method of splitting firewood.

 

[weatherguy]

Click -> (broken link removed) <- for examples of noodling.

I see, the sawdust looks like noodles when you cut that way, what do you guys do with all that sawdust?

Another question for you experienced guys, I met a guy that has 6 cords of wood and he switched to pellets, he wants to keep 2 cords in case of power outages but wants to sell me the rest. Three of the cords is hickory stacked in rounds under a shed for 3 years, you think that hickory is still good?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Weatherguy, you will find that hickory is one of the very best firewoods you can find. Three years in a shed? We've burned wood that has been in a shed over 10 years and it is fine. I say get all you can get and you will be very happy. A great find.

 

[CTYank]

How do you guys cut up such a big piece like the one thats as tall as you?

Probably the same way a sawmill would commence on an oversize-diameter log. Split it first; then saw.
Gotta be flexible with the really big stuff. Fortunately, most red oaks are pretty easy (relatively) to split.

 

[Thistle]

How do you guys cut up such a big piece like the one thats as tall as you?

Probably the same way a sawmill would commence on an oversize-diameter log. Split it first; then saw.
Gotta be flexible with the really big stuff. Fortunately, most red oaks are pretty easy (relatively) to split.

Yup. Like the early settlers & sawmills did with those immense Doug Firs,Western Red Cedars & Redwoods etc in the PNW.Lots were hand-split for railroad ties,posts & just to make handling easier.

 

[weatherguy]

Weatherguy, you will find that hickory is one of the very best firewoods you can find. Three years in a shed? We've burned wood that has been in a shed over 10 years and it is fine. I say get all you can get and you will be very happy. A great find.

I had a little bit of it this year and your right, its great wood. I thought someone said hickory rots easy when left in rounds, they must have meant when left in the open on the ground and not in a shed.
thanks

 

[Thistle]

Weatherguy, you will find that hickory is one of the very best firewoods you can find. Three years in a shed? We've burned wood that has been in a shed over 10 years and it is fine. I say get all you can get and you will be very happy. A great find.

I had a little bit of it this year and your right, its great wood. I thought someone said hickory rots easy when left in rounds, they must have meant when left in the open on the ground and not in a shed.
thanks

I've had some still be good after 5-6 yrs stacked in the open.But I try to not have any left around after 3 yrs max.Powderpost beetles & other critters just love the stuff.Occasionally I'll see deadfall thats OK,but it rots pretty fast on forest floor so you gotta be quick.

 

[Intheswamp]

Ok, here's some pics of the burls (I guess). Are they worth saving? If they are worth the trouble how are they cut out?

A different question...I see some black wood ants in a piece of punky/rotten wood. Should I take precautions? Should I put down some of that Bayer wood ant/termite treatment? Not worry about it?

Thanks,
Ed

~8"

10-12"

6"?...can't really remember

These are small, maybe 4"?...

This shot is down in the pile so I can't see it good. I can't tell if it's one long one or 2-3 close together...

 

[Flatbedford]

If they'd put that monster round in the picture on my flatbed with the machine I would take it. Just work around the edges for a day or so. Less work than moving 10 or 15 12" rounds. Big stuff, as long as it isn't to twisted or knotted usually isn't any harder to hand split than small stuff. Just harder to move around.

 

[Intheswamp]

Great tree and great score! I don't think I'd plan on burning for this coming season, even if it was dead standing for a year. Show us the stacked results of that score when you are done! Cheers!

I cut up some of the wood yesterday and busted a split to test with the moisture meter....42%. Checked a few other rounds on the fresh cut ends and saw anywhere from 35% to 50%/Max. Yelp, it'll have to sit a while. There are some big limb/stems in the pile and I would have figured they'd be drier than they were. The round I checked was a small 8-10 inch round. Ok, I've got about a 1/4 of a cord of well dried oak but I'd be getting a some pine in for 11/12, too. Maybe some pecan to go with it.

Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

I got the pile of logs bucked. There's still three logs left. One is a mostly hollow log that I'm thinking of just dragging to the edge of the woods and letting the critters use it for a hotel. One of the other logs I just haven't got around to while the last log is a fairly straight log but has a lot of burls on it. I'm not sure if the burls are worth saving or not. I personally don't have any use for them but figured if they were worth something to somebody that I might try saving them. If they're worth saving how do you go about saving them? I've also included pics of a couple of rounds showing some burls.

It seemed that the pile of logs would have produced more wood than this, but being loose tossed logs there was a lot of air space in the pile. But, I'm not through splitting and stacking yet. I've got more split than what is seen in the picture and I'm figuring probably between 1.25 and 1.5 cords...we'll see.

Ed

Here is the rounds and the three logs that are left. The Unknown Comic, er, Splitter is hiding under the green tarp.

Shot of the grain. The red grain really caught my eye, quiet pretty. Most of the rounds are pretty solid though I've ran into some pieces that had some rot/termites to them but you can tell that about them from their outward appearance. This piece is solid.

Some rounds I saved that have burls on them...

This is the burl log...

 

[Intheswamp]

This is the pile of chips that I collected from bucking the red oak...I'm figuring there's probably 9 cubic feet in that pile and another 1-2 cubic feet that I didn't catch with the tarp. Now I'm trying to figure out whether to use it as mulch around some small vegetable beds...??

Trailer is 5x10 with 8" boards for the floor.

 

[smokinj]

Very Nice Pic's....

 

[lukem]

Now I'm trying to figure out whether to use it as mulch around some small vegetable beds...??

I'd compost it for a couple years before that so you don't suck the nitrogen out of the soil. May throw off you soil acidity too...not sure if oak is high acidic or not.

 

[Flatbedford]

Yes Oak is highly acidic. Oak sawdust is a great grass killer.

 

[Intheswamp]

Very Nice Pic's....

Thanks Jay. I guess the burls aren't worth going to much trouble for, eh?...I really don't have use for them except for heat..buck'em?

Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

Thanks for the replies, lukem and Steve. Yeah, I know that a high carbon material will zap the nitrogen out. What we have are a couple of small 4x8 raised beds that have been out of commission for several years. The wife has been rehabbing the beds and I was thinking of putting the chips around the outer perimeter...keeping the grass/weeds down around the outside of the boxes would be good but would the chips go so far as to affect the plants inside the boxes by leeching anything into the ground? Black walnut would be an issue even outside of the boxes but I'm not sure about red oak. What about using the chips in this way as a perimeter mulch?

Thanks!
Ed

 

[lukem]

I really don't think it would leach enough to effect your raised beds, unless they aren't raised very high. I'd give it a go.

 

[mywaynow]

Leave those big rounds sit. Elevate them and wait, they will split on their own, or at least fracture to the point that splitting with the maul to down-size them is a piece of cake. Takes 6 months max.

 

[billb3]

I've sliced thru a red oak burl with a band saw hoping to get some interesting pieces of wood that might be useful for something decorative, but they were awful. Fell apart like they were chunks of wood just pressed together without glue.

I saw a really nice piece of some south american wood burl a carpenter was using for an instrument console on a yacht.
Something like $300. l/ft. Was pretty, but couldn't believe what they paid for the wood and by the time they cut a hole in it for an instrument there wasn't much left to see.