Work Done 2023

[snojetter]

Nice haul. I'm a big fan of poplar - easy to cut, splits nice and square for easy stacking, burns down to nothing. I have to say though, I would turn my nose up at basswood. I considered it far inferior, no real reason. Then I looked at the BTU content and found it's identical to poplar. Well, alrighty then! It cuts, splits, and stacks about as good as polar albeit a little stringy in the bark. I've got lots of it around here to cut so I stopped being so snobby and have added it in to fill the gaps. Basswood does seem to start rotting quicker than poplar, and I think it does produce a pretty bad odor when burning as compared to everything else I burn. But I'm not sitting outside most of the time smelling chimney fumes, so I'll live with it.

Where in Central MN is this?

 

[Garbanzo62]

The beech that our friend Rob dropped off is slowly but surely getting cut up and split. Everything is bucked up, but Splitting with a hand maul was impossible. Thanks to my friend Ron who is lending me his 34 Ton Splitter. The Grain in this stuff is unbelievable. Hope to put a good dent in it this weekend. Have a little over a half cord split already and I am less than a quarter way through.

 

[NickW]

The beech that our friend Rob dropped off is slowly but surely getting cut up and split. Everything is bucked up, but Splitting with a hand maul was impossible. Thanks to my friend Ron who is lending me his 34 Ton Splitter. The Grain in this stuff is unbelievable. Hope to put a good dent in it this weekend. Have a little over a half cord split already and I am less than a quarter way through.

View attachment 313959 View attachment 313960

Love beech. Seasons quick and burns hot. I personally stack my "premium" hardwood (beech, hard maple, locust, oak, ironwood, hickory, etc) separate from my "everyday" hardwood (ash, cherry, birch, walnut, elm, etc). Then I can have a nice mixed load that can start quickly and burn long. All ash loads tend to take off very quickly and offgas all at once.

 

[thewoodlands]

I finally cleared the cherry and a dead pine from the trails, hopefully I'll split it soon. I still have the biggest part of the cherry left along with the top but I'll get the weed eater out and knock the green chit down.

It was the first time in years that I worked under 200 plus pounds, I was 196 this morning and even though I didn't do much, it seemed fine.

 

[NickW]

Checked mc (fresh split, biggest chunks & rounds) on my "everyday" hardwoods yesterday here at home and everything is 14-20%. Started moving it indoors today and of course it started raining 🤣... Shoulder season wood and premium hardwood are already inside. Way ahead of schedule this year. Should have plenty of css time to replenish the stacks.

Unfortunately I'm not nearly as well prepared in the Northwoods and it's questionable to get back up there before Labor Day. I think I'm 2 years ahead up there...

 

[jblnut]

Nice haul. I'm a big fan of poplar - easy to cut, splits nice and square for easy stacking, burns down to nothing. I have to say though, I would turn my nose up at basswood. I considered it far inferior, no real reason. Then I looked at the BTU content and found it's identical to poplar. Well, alrighty then! It cuts, splits, and stacks about as good as polar albeit a little stringy in the bark. I've got lots of it around here to cut so I stopped being so snobby and have added it in to fill the gaps. Basswood does seem to start rotting quicker than poplar, and I think it does produce a pretty bad odor when burning as compared to everything else I burn. But I'm not sitting outside most of the time smelling chimney fumes, so I'll live with it.

Where in Central MN is this?

Albany which is West of St Cloud about 20 minutes.

If you don't split the larger basswood (18"+) it'll rot before it dried. I'll be burning a tremendous amount of basswood because it is all over in my groves and along the fence lines shading my fields. It's not great wood and it really does smoke and stink when burnt but I have a lot of it so I just feed the beast a little more often.

Funny stuff is of the 25+ cord I burnt last year exactly none of it was anything decent like maple or oak or really any hardwood of any kind. I'd love to get some good oak to burn to see how long a cord lasts. A cord of basswood and poplar lasts about a week heating my farm shop and house.

 

[thewoodlands]

With all the rain and humidity we've had, the trails needed mowing so I hooked up the trail mower and did that today.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Love beech. Seasons quick and burns hot. I personally stack my "premium" hardwood (beech, hard maple, locust, oak, ironwood, hickory, etc) separate from my "everyday" hardwood (ash, cherry, birch, walnut, elm, etc). Then I can have a nice mixed load that can start quickly and burn long. All ash loads tend to take off very quickly and offgas all at once.

Most of what I have cut up is Ash at the moment. Fortunately I have a bunch of Slabwood from a local sawmill that is mostly Oak that I will mix in this year. Have some Oak that was CSS last year, but it won't be ready for this fall. Splitting the Beech on the smaller side (when the grain allows) in hopes that it won't take too long to season. Got this done on Saturday, unfortunately my Sunday was booked. Going to chip away at it this week.

 

[thewoodlands]

After taking the wife for a ride today, I did get a small load of maple out and stacked but since you could here thunder in the distance, I called it a day.

We had some crazy azz lightning going on this afternoon, it hit out front (big flash around the windows) I did check the house after the system moved through, the house looks fine.

 

[jblnut]

I got the 041 that my Pops purchased new running like a champ last night !! This thing is a beast but will rattle your fillings out compared to my MS250. I have an 048AV Electronic that I'm also trying to get running without much luck that I'm going to borrow the 24" bar and chain from to see if this 041 will handle it. I'm hoping to use either of them for cutting some larger logs into splitter sized pieces. The 16" bar on my 250 doesn't quite do it with some of them.

 

[Gearhead660]

Got what should be the last woodshed I need in place and started filling. Each side holds 1.5 cord.

 

[thewoodlands]

The rains finally stopped and the cold front is here, 48.9 this morning so I s & s that cherry that came down. Last fall I had stacked some maple rounds that needed to be split so I did that after I was done with the cherry.

Picture 3844 are the cherry rounds, 3845 & 3487 are some cherry splits, 3846 is what the cherry went on, 3848 are the maple rounds I stacked last fall, 3849 are the maple splits, 3851 are the maple splits stacked and 3852 are the cherry splits stacked.

Maybe tomorrow depending on the weather, I'll haul some maple splits off the hill and stack in the same area the cherry was stacked today.

It was nice working outside without any bugs bothering you, hopefully the cold front hangs around long enough that I can get more outside work done. I only have room for about six face cord of hardwood and then the hardwood stacking areas are full but this year I have three face cord of shoulder season wood in an area that usually holds hardwood.

 

[heavy hammer]

I worked all day Sat. at my brothers property cleaning up the woods a few maple trees and some hickory trees. I didn't get and pics since it rained all day on us but regardless a good day. My 10 year old daughter ran the skidsteer with the grapple all day for us she is a good little operator.

 

[Sawset]

Storms rolled through Friday night with lots of power outages. Finally getting the trees cleared today, Monday. Electric crews are busy. Must be a correlation between high winds and trees down (xxx mph = xxx rotten trees taken out). Must have been several years now for the right combination because most of the large trees toppled seem rotten in the core or weakly rooted. I remember being out in Choteau Montana. The forcast was for 60mph winds with gusts to 100, for a week straight. The only damage were on roofs that needed replacing, and boats and garbage cans left in peoples yards, which would be gone and pasted onto the neighbors house two doors down. Otherwise anything that could have blown away did so long ago.

 

[thewoodlands]

I brought two loads of Maple home off the ridge, I didn't get the picture of the second load stacked but with what we had already stacked, we have over a face cord with more on the ridge. The wife wanted the knoll cleaned up so I took some Cherry and Pine tops off it.

 

[NickW]

This winter's supply is in the garage...


That's about 1 3/4 cord shoulder season on the left and 3+ cord of hardwood on the right. The hardwood that the end grain is visible is my "everyday" stuff, the stuff on the far right where you see the bark or split is my "premium".

 

[qwee]

This winter's supply is in the garage...
View attachment 314275

That's about 1 3/4 cord shoulder season on the left and 3+ cord of hardwood on the right. The hardwood that the end grain is visible is my "everyday" stuff, the stuff on the far right where you see the bark or split is my "premium".

I'm curious, what is the breakdown by species for shoulder, regular, and premium season wood? The shoulder season wood looks smaller.

 

[NickW]

Shoulder season wood for me is pine, aspen, silver maple, box elder, cottonwood, etc. I typically split it a little smaller because it doesn't coal well. The silver maple and box elder I can leave bigger.

Here at home my "everyday" hardwoods are the more mid range BTU woods like ash, cherry, birch, elm, walnut, etc. Up in the Northwoods the white ash would be more of a premium for me.

Premium for me (at home) is oak, sugar maple, honey locust, hickory, beech and ironwood. I haven't burned hickory or ironwood ever before and very little honey locust, so I am stoked (pun) to get to burn them this year.

Fire's built with a mix of the hardwoods have burned better for me. All ash fire's tend to really take off and offgas all at once; however, now with my damper installed I expect them to be more controllable.

 

[Garbanzo62]

So my friend lent me his 34 Ton splitter to tackle the beech I got from another friend. Was at his house last week and noticed he had a pile to split. Weather for this past Sunday was forecast to be 80 with low humidity (Thursday - Saturday it was in the 90's with 70+% humidity.)
As I suspected he texted me Saturday AM and said he was coming by to pick up the splitter. (I was only about 60% done) Spent 4 hours splitting on Saturday. (Pic without the tractor what was split on Saturday). I had to use my logger's helmet as the sweat was dripping all over my safety glasses. On to stacking both Piles.
Question for the Group.... As a Thank You for loaning me the splitter, I am giving some of this to my friend. I am guessimating that it will be a tad under two cords.. How much do you think I should give him? I would never been able to split this with my maul and wedge so I would have had to drop at least a grand on a splitter. I am leaning towards giving him 1/2 cord. Do you think that is too much, too little or just right?

 

[NickW]

Question for the Group.... As a Thank You for loaning me the splitter, I am giving some of this to my friend. I am guessimating that it will be a tad under two cords.. How much do you think I should give him? I would never been able to split this with my maul and wedge so I would have had to drop at least a grand on a splitter. I am leaning towards giving him 1/2 cord. Do you think that is too much, too little or just right?

Depends on how good of a friend he is, how much quid pro quo there is in the relationship, and how much of a wood hoarder he is. Beech being a preferred wood, I wouldn't go overboard giving it away; but I understand the overture. A half cord being 25% of the scrounge seems a little excessive to me...

 

[Stove Cricket]

….. How much do you think I should give him? I would never been able to split this with my maul and wedge so I would have had to drop at least a grand on a splitter. I am leaning towards giving him 1/2 cord. Do you think that is too much, too little or just right?

A young woman west of us provides us eggs, but doesn’t want cash (or more eggs). So over time we have given her honey, vacuum sealed smoked brisket, vacuum sealed smoked pork, a safe ( don’t ask), and an old refurbished dresser.

 

[Stove Cricket]

A young woman west of us provides us eggs, but doesn’t want cash (or more eggs). So over time we have given her honey, vacuum sealed smoked brisket, vacuum sealed smoked pork, a safe ( don’t ask), and an old refurbished dresser.

And apple butter.

 

[thewoodlands]

Today I helped a neighbor out, I put in the back rack of firewood for this year. I'll be putting in more firewood for them but before that happens, I'll mow some grass over here

They did get some nice firewood over a year ago, a good amount of what I put in was some solid beech that they'll like when the colder weather hits.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Started a Free Standing Stack on 2 pallets for the Beech. At about 4 ft high one misplaced split and the avalanche began.
The power equipment store near me usually has Shipping Pallets / Containers that they are discarding. I inquired one time and they said if it is outside and it is made of wood you can take them. They had two large pallets, a couple of smaller pallets, two large shipping container (not fully planked pallet type pieces), two 8 ft 2 X 6's and and 8 foot 3 x 5 plank.
Laid the two large and one smaller pallet on blocks, used the large shipping containers as a back wall, a pallet for one of the side walls, cut the 3 X 5 into Strips and a 2 X 2 to fill in the back wall, and make the other side wall. Not the prettiest thing but it works.
The side pallet isn't as tall as the shipping containers so for now the pile angles down. Calculated that there is approx 1.2 cords on it now. Left some at the end of the driveway fro my friend who loaned me his splitter. What he doesn't take will go on the pile.

 

[thewoodlands]

Since the rain stopped, I went to the cemetery and took care of the flowers. After I was finished with the flowers, I cut back the grass that was growing over three more Bronze Veteran Markers.

One was a Green Beret in Vietnam and two were in World War II. Hopefully my next time there, I can do 4 Veteran Markers instead of 3. That's a total of 7 so far this year, I never set a goal on how many that I would do but 20 sounds like a number I could get done.

I did talk with the person who takes care of the cemetery just to make sure I was doing it how they would like it done, the way I was doing it was fine, they did tell me how they didn't want it done.