Work Done In 2020

[SpaceBus]

Yesterday I prepped the tractor and saws. Today my wife and I are going to fell a few trees.

We are up to 8 today, probably 8 more after we take a break.

 

[kennyp2339]

I doubt there will be much over 4-5 cord of Osage after I cut the posts out or that’s what I’m hoping for. The post will pay more than the firewood. I got about 4 cord out of the Mulberry (pic with the sunset)

Either way that's some prime stuff, I had the pleasure of burning locust and mulberry, that stuff runs laps around my typical oak and ash.

 

[SpaceBus]

We are up to 8 today, probably 8 more after we take a break.

OK, we called it quits after 14 total. A few were more like bean poles, but a few were 16"+

 

[heavy hammer]

Me and the labs filled the garage back up yesterday. Everything was just a mud pit with the temps close to 50 and melting all that snow. Now with it raining today the yard is a disaster. Soon I'll be cutting into those log piles. At least the temps are in the upper 40's and low 50's most of the week.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

My cookstove is picky on start up so I use a product like super cedars. It's nice to warm the flue with a nearly smokeless product. I also have a few hundred lbs of cutoffs sitting around my property from cutting wood shorter to fit the cookstove.

How is your cook stove working out for everyday cooking and baking? I want one real bad but the wife is hesitant and would refuse to use it in the summer.

 

[SpaceBus]

How is your cook stove working out for everyday cooking and baking? I want one real bad but the wife is hesitant and would refuse to use it in the summer.

Haha, we will probably use ours in the summer, but without baking and in the evening once the sun goes behind the trees. I love baking in it, as does my wife. Neither of us miss the electric range, until I fumble lighting the stove and smoke gets in the house. I can get the cooktop up to temp in about 10-15 minutes and the oven in 45-60 minutes. In milder weather the cooker can heat the house, which means it stays burning all day (if I'm home) and then the DHW needs very little electrical assistance. My wife also has mixed feelings on a cooktop that has no dead spots like a normal stove top. If you miss your pot or spill something, it's most likely burning to the top. The glass is easy to scrape clean and polish, but steel or iron can be more work in that department.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Haha, we will probably use ours in the summer, but without baking and in the evening once the sun goes behind the trees. I love baking in it, as does my wife. Neither of us miss the electric range, until I fumble lighting the stove and smoke gets in the house. I can get the cooktop up to temp in about 10-15 minutes and the oven in 45-60 minutes. In milder weather the cooker can heat the house, which means it stays burning all day (if I'm home) and then the DHW needs very little electrical assistance. My wife also has mixed feelings on a cooktop that has no dead spots like a normal stove top. If you miss your pot or spill something, it's most likely burning to the top. The glass is easy to scrape clean and polish, but steel or iron can be more work in that department.

We currently have an electric range and we both hate it immensely. We have an app on our phones to where we can track our energy usage and holy crap. Our dryer is electric to so there is a double suck between the two. I will probably end up putting in a gas range (we have natural gas) however if I had my way it would be a beautiful wood cook stove.

 

[SpaceBus]

We currently have an electric range and we both hate it immensely. We have an app on our phones to where we can track our energy usage and holy crap. Our dryer is electric to so there is a double suck between the two. I will probably end up putting in a gas range (we have natural gas) however if I had my way it would be a beautiful wood cook stove.

The wood cook stove is better than a gas (nat or propane) stove in my experience. I do plan on putting in a small two burner electric setup during the kitchen remodel, but that might be a while. Either way I plan on cooking outside this year once it warms up. The electric range indeed used a lot of electricity and we also hated cooking in it, coming from a propane range oven previously. My wife was really on the fence, and likely would have said no, but she liked the bit of energy independence it brought us.

 

[SpaceBus]

We don't have AC, so we weren't baking in the summer anyway. It still got to 80df for a day or two here last sumer.

 

[thewoodlands]

We put a load of cherry in this morning, we had stopped burning from this stack early on when the weather turned colder.

 

[JimBear]

Well here is 2020’s work thru today. I need to clean up some shorts & scraps. I also need more pallets, steel posts & panels for the Osage that I get after cutting posts. I have a few more Mulberry’s & Cherry’s that I can take down but I am sick of stacking @ the moment. This should dry well on top of the hill with hay on one side & pasture on the other.
L-R
2/3 cord of Hackberry
3 cord of Cherry
8 cord of Mulberry

 

[thewoodlands]

It's not done yet but I'll start on this pretty soon. Pictures 0068,0069,0071,0072,0073 & 0074 are from a pine that Y'd about 15 to 20 feet up the tree, it started splitting earlier this winter and we lost one part of the Y (pic 0071) about three weeks ago and lost the other side last night when we had some pretty good wind gust.

North of here recorded 47 mph wind gust so I'm thinking we had some above 50 since our elevation is higher.

 

[Woody Stover]

Well, I made some kindling, does that count as work done?
This is from a Pine beam out of an old barn. Who knows, could be over a hundred years old?? Solid heartwood of who knows what kind of Pine? Still smells very "Piney."I got about three times the amount shown in this pic.
I dig a hole in the clinkers I keep in the front of the firebox, drop a small, lit SC chunk down in there where it won't get smothered, then put a kindling or two on top.

 

[thewoodlands]

I did get enough of the pine that came down bucked up and out of the way so the trail is open.

While checking the snow depth in the gully in the back, I noticed this small maple that had some rot going on, I took care of that and brought the tops to an area so the deer can eat the buds.

 

[Woody Stover]

I noticed this small maple that had some rot going on, I took care of that and brought the tops to an area so the deer can eat the buds.

Yeah, the Sugar Maples here succumb to trunk rot sometimes. Not sure why.
Had to take down a big yard guard last year, and now this volunteer isn't looking too good, either.

 

[heavy hammer]

I put a little wood in the garage and filled up the kindling barrel. I have not burning much with the warmer temps but I have been trying to keep the garage full with dry wood since it is only the middle of march. Played with the girls practicing baseball yesterday and ran the younger lab doing goose and duck retrieves. A cooler weekend but dry.

 

[kennyp2339]

Todays agenda is to clean the chimney real quick, then cut and split some more, still got about 4 cords worth of lengths, it will be nice to get at least a cord done.
I wanted to put the backhoe attachment on the tractor and dig out 2 stumps, but snow is forecasted Monday so I'll leave the rear plow on for now incase I need to do a quick scrape, actually I want a few inches of wet snow, I have so much fine silt / dirt in the driveway that the snow with the plow will pull that crap out and clean up the pavement.

 

[SpaceBus]

The skies are clear today so we will be working on trees today.

 

[heavy hammer]

I cleaned the stoves last weekend and gave the chimneys a quick couple of sweeps with the brush. I have not been burning much but, I have a lot of wood to cut just has been to wet to try and get to it yet. Kennyp2339 how has work been are they splitting you guys up int small groups and putting you out of different locations till this blows over?

 

[heavy hammer]

I decided to take the saw and cut today it was muddy and messy but a good excuse to go outside for a little. I barely touches my one log pile and I filled up one of my stacks from this winter burning. Mainly locust but a little ash, maple, and cedar in there. Chase and Copper were there to keep me company and hang out.

 

[thewoodlands]

View attachment 258442View attachment 258443View attachment 258448View attachment 258446View attachment 258447 View attachment 258449
I decided to take the saw and cut today it was muddy and messy but a good excuse to go outside for a little. I barely touches my one log pile and I filled up one of my stacks from this winter burning. Mainly locust but a little ash, maple, and cedar in there. Chase and Copper were there to keep me company and hang out.

Nice work @heavy hammer , I heard it rained pretty hard out in your area.

 

[heavy hammer]

We had a lot of rain Thursday into Friday. Yesterday was a dry day just cold and muddy. Kennyp2339 gave me the idea to go and cut plus it was an excuse to get out of the house. My two little e girls have been stir crazy with all shut downs and closures. I feel for them they are to young to understand what is happening. They just know that they can't really go anywhere for a few weeks. Hope everyone is staying healthy and not going insane.

 

[SpaceBus]

The pile so far. There's probably 8 more good sized logs left in the woods. I probably should have taken the photo from the butt end...

 

[thewoodlands]

This was my first time back in since the last wind event, most of my time was spent clearing branches from the trails.

Before I headed back in we put two loads of hardwood in, pic 0087 (11 this morning).

Picture 0088,0090 is a damaged ash in what we call the bowl, pic 0091 & 0092 is a small damaged beech up in the bowl and the last two pics are coming out of the bowl.

 

[JimBear]

My brother is going to build a new fence on a property they just bought so rather than let them doze everything into a huge pile I told him I would take the Cherry & 1 small Hackberry. I didn’t realize there were 3 Ash trees in the fence line. I will try to get them between rain storms this week.

Here’s my Cherry & Hackberry from today, now it just needs split.