Scrounging Some Oak After the Snow

[Oregon Bigfoot]

Western Oregon got hammered with a late for us snowfall the past week. We escaped with only about 3.5" but Silverton, OR just about 15 miles away got 19". Eugene, OR got 8". I don't remember it snowing this much this late in the season. I've seen it snow a couple times in April and once in May in years past, but it did not stick. Snow is usually done here by the end of February. Today it was 63 degrees, and sunny, t-shirt weather FINALLY! You guys back east already have summer, wow!

The first picture is during the snowfall. My stacks took some hibernation time from seasoning, just like skyline's.

The second picture is the white oak I scrounged today. I cut about a 1/2 a cord from one long 40' long limb that fell off during a storm, and two medium standing dead oaks, that had no branches left. I fell those two trees.

The third picture was how the tops of the two standing deads looked. There were acorns jammed in the holes all around the top 10 feet or so of the trees. I can't say I've seen this before. There must have been some squirrels storing up for a long winter or something.

The fourth picture shows how solid the wood is, with the exception of the outer inch of the wood.

The last picture shows a sample of a round farther down the tree. This wood is awesome!

I sampled the wood with my moisture meter. I split about 5 or 6 rounds for some samples. The standing dead showed readings between 14% and 19%, I was really surprised! The long branch was wet. It ranged between 25% and 30%. It had been down a year or more.

Also, after unloading my truck, I just found a large hawthorne tree that went down in the snow storm from the weight. It's in a county park two blocks from my house. I will make some calls and see if they mind if I snip it up. I would bet there is over a cord in this large tree. I should have taken a picture of it.

 

[fishingpol]

http://www.bird-friends.com/BirdPage.php?name=Acorn Woodpecker

 

[thewoodlands]

Your stacks look great Oregon Bigfoot, so far it looks like we might escape that heavy wet snow.

zap

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Us folks did indeed enjoy some nice warm temperatures. However, now we pay for it. It will probably mean no fruit this year. Right now our peach trees are in full blossom; much too early. The apple trees are showing buds but not open yet. I hope they hold off a week at least as then they might have a chance to make it. I may be building a couple fires out by the fruit trees...

 

[Oregon Bigfoot]

http://www.bird-friends.com/BirdPage.php?name=Acorn Woodpecker

Now that's an interesting and industrious bird! Maybe I should hide some snacks in my stacks!

Dennis, I hope the east coast fruit year turns around! We had a cold and very wet spring last year too. My neighbor's black cherry tree somehow had a bumper crop. It's great on bumper crop years, as his branches dip and lean over into my yard, and he says pick as many as I can reach! Black cherries are one of my favorite on vanilla ice cream.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The forecast does not look good. I am going to light a couple fires this afternoon and nurse them through the night. The peach trees look good so we got past one night. I did find some apple blossoms that were starting to open so that means we try to save those too.

 

[Oregon Bigfoot]

It's rained about 2.75 inches since getting this oak a week ago. I had to sneak out after work and in between the rain clouds and do some splitting, here and there. It took a week, and finally got it all split and stacked today. Thursday after work, I tried to split in the rain, and had the maul go flying out of my hands twice, because my gloves got real wet. It felt like I lathered them up with soap. I called it a day, and finished it off today.

Sometimes in Oregon, you just have to go with the flow, and work in the rain. It sure beats the heat, though. The oak row is 4 feet high, 16" length, and about 14 feet long, and the row is just over 1/2 cord. I put 1"x1"x4' long runners under the wood and a few inches between rows for some good seasoning air circulation. I'll move the wood into the wood shed sometime in the summer, before I need to get to my boat, in about August, for my other hobby, salmon fishing.