Work Done in 2021

[heavy hammer]

Yes we are. The wind lately has came through every few days to once a week. It is pretty windy here now. It seems like we get a lot of blow throughs these last few years.

 

[NickW]

Tuesday the missus & I took down about 25 small birch & cherry and 2 pine on the property up north. We have a power line right of way through the front of the property and are scheduled for maintenance in a few weeks, so we took anything that we could get useful firewood out of.

Luckily for us, the original owner had special restrictions placed for the maintenance... Only under the wires can get mowed completely, the buffer zone only anything over 12' can be taken down if we refuse to allow it to be mowed and we can refuse to allow herbicides. At least the berry bushes will be able to come back. All the other properties where herbicide was used in the past lost all the berry bushes. It all looks like grassland, no saplings or brush.

 

[SpaceBus]

My truck finally came back from the shop, so this weekend I'll be able to get the mill running.

 

[JimBear]

Yesterday I scored some Shagbark Hickory that was standing dead & riddled with borer holes but was still surprisingly solid, the bark was loose on it so I left all the bark behind & I forgot about an Ash limb that we took down last fall at a field entrance.

 

[thewoodlands]

I decided to take my first trip back in on part of our property the Brook runs through. Most of the stuff down wa forearm size branches which I tossed off the trail until I came across the dead pine.

I felled two maple that were rotting from the top down and left them there for deer food. I also felled two damaged ironwood which I brought home.

 

[Smokepole]

I finally got to this hickory. It blew down last fall, it's 26" through the butt.
It took down my fence and blocked the creek. I got it moved in the fall but just now got the chance to split it up.
Have been working on two red oaks. Looks good and solid, wasn't as stringy as a lot of hickory I've worked up
in the past.

 

[stoveliker]

Around 58 F today. Split some cherry. Now a beer and a fire outside with some punky wood.

 

[thewoodlands]

Happy Easter.

Today I felled three Beech and one Ironwood. The first three pictures are the first Beech, the next four the second Beech, the next three are the third Beech and the last two are supper.

 

[Solarguy3500]

We had an Easter egg hunt for the kids this morning, and then this afternoon I made some more headway on the maple I've been working on out in my yard.
While I was out there, I decided to try an idea I have been thinking about for a while. I work for a solar installation company and I have access to an unlimited supply of pallets that the solar panels are shipped on. These pallets are almost 6' long (72 cell panels even longer) and they are reinforced with 2X4s running the full length of the pallet on each side. So, I was thinking I could stand a pallet on end at each side of my wood stack and screw it to the bottom pallet at the bottom. Then, I could put another pallet on the top pitched toward the back, put some metal roofing panels on top and I would have a woodshed without having to buy the lumber to build one. Today I got the sides and top on and next weekend I'll put the metal roofing on. I have a bunch of old metal panels that I saved when I put a new roof on my garage in December of 2019 so the roofing is free too. I think it's going to work out well. Here's how it looks so far:



Using the cord calculator, I figure each of these sheds will hold about half a cord of wood. There is another row of wood behind the front one.

I'm thinking I will also use this method to do a solar kiln this summer too. Pallet woodshed wrapped in clear plastic with vents on the ends. Should work well, I think.

 

[SpaceBus]

We had an Easter egg hunt for the kids this morning, and then this afternoon I made some more headway on the maple I've been working on out in my yard.View attachment 277531
While I was out there, I decided to try an idea I have been thinking about for a while. I work for a solar installation company and I have access to an unlimited supply of pallets that the solar panels are shipped on. These pallets are almost 6' long (72 cell panels even longer) and they are reinforced with 2X4s running the full length of the pallet on each side. So, I was thinking I could stand a pallet on end at each side of my wood stack and screw it to the bottom pallet at the bottom. Then, I could put another pallet on the top pitched toward the back, put some metal roofing panels on top and I would have a woodshed without having to buy the lumber to build one. Today I got the sides and top on and next weekend I'll put the metal roofing on. I have a bunch of old metal panels that I saved when I put a new roof on my garage in December of 2019 so the roofing is free too. I think it's going to work out well. Here's how it looks so far:
View attachment 277534
View attachment 277535
View attachment 277536
Using the cord calculator, I figure each of these sheds will hold about half a cord of wood. There is another row of wood behind the front one.

I'm thinking I will also use this method to do a solar kiln this summer too. Pallet woodshed wrapped in clear plastic with vents on the ends. Should work well, I think.

Those are nice pallets! I am going to try and find some around town this week and build some firewood cribs myself.

 

[Solarguy3500]

Those are nice pallets! I am going to try and find some around town this week and build some firewood cribs myself.

Any solar installers near you? I'd start there if so.

 

[MissMac]

Well, I finished splitting the ash today. Feeling pretty good about it. Here's some pics of the pile from different angles

There's also a bit of ash on a pallet up by my wood shed (pic 5110). Overall, I think I've got a solid 12 cords total. I tried to grab a picture that captured all of my wood, but it didn't do it justice (pic 5113). This is by far the best I've ever been sitting, and I'm so grateful that I've had the time and ability to get this far ahead. Now all I have left to do is stack that mountain of ash, and that'll pretty much be a wrap. I've got about a cord of manitoba maple to stack too, but it's nothing like that monster pile. Life is good with these kind of problems

 

[thewoodlands]

The Beech, Ironwood and the Maple were split today, hopefully tomorrow I can check the trails on the bigger piece of our property for downed wood.

 

[thewoodlands]

Well, I finished splitting the ash today. Feeling pretty good about it. Here's some pics of the pile from different angles

There's also a bit of ash on a pallet up by my wood shed (pic 5110). Overall, I think I've got a solid 12 cords total. I tried to grab a picture that captured all of my wood, but it didn't do it justice (pic 5113). This is by far the best I've ever been sitting, and I'm so grateful that I've had the time and ability to get this far ahead. Now all I have left to do is stack that mountain of ash, and that'll pretty much be a wrap. I've got about a cord of manitoba maple to stack too, but it's nothing like that monster pile. Life is good with these kind of problems

Great work @MissMac , how long have you been working on that big pile?

 

[SpaceBus]

Did not end up doing anything this weekend, it was stormy, windy, and generally unpleasant outside. I think in a few days when the ground is less soggy we will get back to it. Today I'm going to collect some fir and spruce saplings/seedlings from our blueberry patch and maybe even sell them.

 

[MissMac]

Great work @MissMac , how long have you been working on that big pile?

I had to go back in this thread to find your answer - March 21 I started making that big pile. I've been slowly picking away at it before work every day, and on days off. I've never split so much wood or created such a pile in one go before

 

[thewoodlands]

I finally made my way back in to the other piece of our property for the first time this year, most anything that was down on the trails was about wrist size branches but the last area I checked had part of a Beech down. I bucked that up and brought it home, I split that and stacked it along with one load from the Beech I split the other day.

In picture 1653 is another Beech that has some damage to the top but there's a bad widowmaker behind it.

 

[thewoodlands]

I finished stacking the Beech today, one face cord and started another face cord of Maple with some Beech.

The pictures are of the wood I hauled off the hill to our house.

 

[EbS-P]

tree crew was removing a long leaf line two houses away. I got there to late to get the top half. Ended up with about 7 three foot long pieces that they dropped off in my drive way with their bobcat. The butt was 20-22”It was all I could do to shank off the sides with my fiskars maul. I tried to split is down the middle and I have a pretty good swing and all it did was spray sap. Any way tre crews shop is 1/2 mile ways and gave the guy 20$ and he said he would text me if he had a good load of oak. Win win I guess. Well not really, it’s been a bit since I’ve been spitting as the blisters can attest to. Cant say I’ve ever gotten one on my palm before. I was swinging extra hard. Back yard tree tree cut down in the spring was extra tough. Need to toughen up my hands and change my technique because I won’t ever be able to justify a splitter.
Evan

 

[SpaceBus]

tree crew was removing a long leaf line two houses away. I got there to late to get the top half. Ended up with about 7 three foot long pieces that they dropped off in my drive way with their bobcat. The butt was 20-22”It was all I could do to shank off the sides with my fiskars maul. I tried to split is down the middle and I have a pretty good swing and all it did was spray sap. Any way tre crews shop is 1/2 mile ways and gave the guy 20$ and he said he would text me if he had a good load of oak. Win win I guess. Well not really, it’s been a bit since I’ve been spitting as the blisters can attest to. Cant say I’ve ever gotten one on my palm before. I was swinging extra hard. Back yard tree tree cut down in the spring was extra tough. Need to toughen up my hands and change my technique because I won’t ever be able to justify a splitter.
Evan

Yard conifers are very tough to split by hand. Long leaf pine isn't usually as bad as spruce or fir, but I haven't split any myself.

 

[Solarguy3500]

A few days ago, I noticed a tree company cutting for utility lines on a small dirt road about 10 minutes from my house. Yesterday, as a courtesy, I stopped at the house whose frontage the wood was on and asked if they were going to use it and they said go ahead and take it.

This afternoon I headed over to get my first load of wood. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a lot of it is shagbark hickory. There is also some sugar maple, elm, and a little bit of beech.



Loaded up with mostly hickory, a little bit of beech, and a few pieces of elm.

When I got home, I split most of it as I unloaded it off the truck. Have I ever mentioned I really like my Gransfors Bruks splitting axe? I worked on it until it was starting to get dark and my wife came out and got me for dinner.

I only have a small pile of rounds left to split. I'll probably go back for more tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

 

[kennyp2339]

cleaned up the shorties and put them in my silo racks, raked, raked and did I mention I raked?

 

[MissMac]

View attachment 277735
cleaned up the shorties and put them in my silo racks, raked, raked and did I mention I raked?

I started stacking my big pile yesterday. I've got a bunch of off cuts/uglies that I'm going to throw in my 'bin' (I picked up the cage of an IBC tote and am going to put it on a pallet). However, I also usually top my stacks with a row of uglies, and I started doing that yesterday. My bin would be full and overflowing if I didn't stack at least some of them. Great work cleaning up your processing area!

 

[kennyp2339]

@MissMac I'm slowly collecting pallets at work to bring home, I threw everything into a big heap because i was rushing to get the original dumping area cleaned before the warm season (love my grass lol) the heap helps since the wood was pretty green, we've been really dry here recently and the splits are prob down 10% from 40 to 30 in moisture content since splitting (thats a lot of water weight gone) but I cant wait to get everything stacked, neat rows for my ocd, but more importantly be able to answer the question of how much did I end up getting because to be honest... I dont even know lol.

 

[MissMac]

@MissMac I'm slowly collecting pallets at work to bring home, I threw everything into a big heap because i was rushing to get the original dumping area cleaned before the warm season (love my grass lol) the heap helps since the wood was pretty green, we've been really dry here recently and the splits are prob down 10% from 40 to 30 in moisture content since splitting (thats a lot of water weight gone) but I cant wait to get everything stacked, neat rows for my ocd, but more importantly be able to answer the question of how much did I end up getting because to be honest... I dont even know lol.

I totally understand - that's why I'm stacking out my pile too. I really want to be able to quantify how I made out buying those 8ft logs this year.