Work Done in 2021

[thewoodlands]

2021 was my first year processing any firewood the wood will be for 2022. My wife found a "dumpster" of hardwood on FB marketplace for $200 delivered. Having no idea what I was getting myself in to we bought it. I didn't even own a chainsaw at this point.

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It was a decent amount of wood, but I wasn't ready for the size of the logs. The largest were 37-38 inches.
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I got 95% of it all processed by hand, but rented a log splitter for a couple hours to get the uglies that I couldn't get with the X27 or the Fiskars Maul split. In the end after measuring and using the cord calculator it comes out to about 2.3 cords. Not horrible for my first year. I expect to burn about 2 cords a year.

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Nice work @NewGuy132 , you'll enjoy the btu's.

 

[thewoodlands]

I finally stacked the face cord of American Hophornbeam (Ironwood) that I cut a few weeks ago. That makes 58 face cord of hardwood we have up before the fall felling starts.

The area I burned out of last year holds 12 or 13 face cord but there's only room for 8 more face cord. I never did fell much Ash in the spring so I'll get some of them down before the EAB gets them.

 

[thewoodlands]

I had seen this dead Ironwood a few months ago so while I was checking the property, I bucked it up and put it in the trailer. Since I didn't have a full load I found another smaller uprooted Ironwood, that was bucked up and brought home.

In picture 2150, the Ironwood is leaning into a Hemlock, 2220 are some of the rounds, 2223 is the second smaller Ironwood and 2227 you can see the hollowed out round which came from near the bae of the tree.

I'll be looking for more damaged Beech, Ironwood or Maple so I can finish off another face cord. (59)

 

[mrd1995]

Finsisted up the free ash score, I think I got a little over 2 cords total. Plus filled our 16' X 20' carport over the summer!

 

[mrd1995]

Finsisted up the free ash score, I think I got a little over 2 cords total. Plus finishef filling our 16' X 20' carport over the summer!

 

[NewGuy132]

Going to go cut these in to rounds tomorrow. For free and only 2 miles from the house it seems like a good deal.

 

[Woody Stover]

I happened to see a few trees that had been taken down, in a guy's front yard. I approached him, and he said "I'll probably put a free wood sign out, after I have the tree guy back to buck the rest of these trunks." He told a few guys he had free wood, but none of them have showed so far. And now, I've taken all the small, easy stuff and all that's left is huge rounds. A lot of scroungers probably don't have the experience to know how to deal with the big 'uns. [smirk]
I should have told him I'd handle that, because now I've got a bunch of "tree-man chunks" to re-cut to 16". That just comes with the territory, on these off-site scrounges.
The majority of the wood is White Ash. I'm seeing more of them dying, now that the borer is sweeping through this area.
There's one tree that appears to be some type of hard Maple, maybe a landscape variety since the bark looks different from the native Sugar Maples I normally see here. It is some tuff stuff..I couldn't split these cored-out rounds, even after rip-cutting them in half.
I've hauled four loads already with the 5x8' trailer, and there are several more left. I'm not heaping up the trailer, so as not to stress the car too much hauling it home.
Here's what I think is the Maple:


Here's the growing on-deck stack at my SIL's. The stuff in the rack is some Red Maple I stacked in the spring, from a half mile down the road. This outside rack has sheet metal over the top. It'll be interesting to see how dry it got in six months. She has another four identical racks in her roof-only shed.
I've only gotten half the wood on this score so far, so when I finish I should have quite the "Yereyeah Heep" waiting to be processed.
Gotta be two cords at least, I'd think..

 

[Woody Stover]

Going to go cut these in to rounds tomorrow. For free and only 2 miles from the house it seems like a good deal.

"Free" is one of the best deals going! Clean trunk wood is a bonus.

 

[mrd1995]

I got all of the cherry and another Ash casualty out of the woods on Saturday. I think I got close to 3/4 of a cord out the cherry. I had my Garmin watch tracking my while collecting and carting the wood just out of curiosity. Carrying the wood to my temporary staging area, and then carting it out with a wheelbarrow. Just shy of 3 miles and 3 hours!

 

[thewoodlands]

I raked up two loads of leaves around the house and put them on a trail and then went looking for more damaged or down Ironwood and grabbed some Beech top from my spring felling.

I did see one Ash that didn't have many leaves left on it, I'm not sure if it's EAB or it just lost leaves earlier than the other Ash in that area.

Pics 2236 & 37 are the Ash.

 

[clancey]

In Colorado in the mountains a lot of the trees are brown and dead and still standing and do you think it could be EAB? And what is that exactly and do tree's get brown and just stand there dead..clancey

 

[thewoodlands]

Emerald Ash Borer | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

The emerald ash borer is an exotic beetle responsible for the destruction of tens of millions of ash trees in North America.

www.aphis.usda.gov

 

[thewoodlands]

Emerald Ash Borer | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

The emerald ash borer is an exotic beetle responsible for the destruction of tens of millions of ash trees in North America.

www.aphis.usda.gov

 

[clancey]

Yea that's it..My girlfriend told me that there is a huge problem here and she had her favorite tree which was a ash injected with something and had to be injected again--don't know the details but that is what she told me..I hope they were able to save her tree--sounds right to me woodland...Such pretty colored bugs--terrible for trees..clancey

 

[thewoodlands]

Yea that's it..My girlfriend told me that there is a huge problem here and she had her favorite tree which was a ash injected with something and had to be injected again--don't know the details but that is what she told me..I hope they were able to save her tree--sounds right to me woodland...Such pretty colored bugs--terrible for trees..clancey

When does the weather start getting colder in your area? We had 82 in the direct sun and a average temp of 71 today.

 

[clancey]

I think in the month of Oct it will get colder...I think today we had temperatures in the 70's and lots of sun but at night it goes down to the 50's I think--guessing here...clancey

 

[thewoodlands]

I cut two damaged Sugar Maple today, nothing big but it will help me fill up the next face cord when I split and stack it. Picture 2244 and 2248 are the leaves from the two trees.

We still don't have nice colors yet on our property, hopefully it happens before we lose the leaves.

 

[clancey]

There sure doesn't seem to be much leaves--have they already dropped?..clancey

 

[thewoodlands]

There sure doesn't seem to be much leaves--have they already dropped?..clancey

The trees are loaded with them but some have fallen to the ground.

 

[thewoodlands]

There sure doesn't seem to be much leaves--have they already dropped?..clancey

One of the things we're dealing with this fall concerning fall foliage is the lack of rain this year, some of the leaves are just turning brown an falling off.

We did go for a nice ride this afternoon and we still have plenty of nice colors in our county.

 

[Grizzerbear]

One of the things we're dealing with this fall concerning fall foliage is the lack of rain this year, some of the leaves are just turning brown an falling off.

We did go for a nice ride this afternoon and we still have plenty of nice colors in our county.

Same here although we did just get some really needed rain yesterday...its been terribly dry the last month and a half. The leaves are just turning brown and falling off of the oaks. Not much fall color here yet if there is to be any. It's a little early yet down here.

 

[ericm979]

In Colorado in the mountains a lot of the trees are brown and dead and still standing and do you think it could be EAB? And what is that exactly and do tree's get brown and just stand there dead..clancey

In the rockies there's mountain pine beetle and spruce beetle attacking the pines and firs. There's a lot of beetle species that attack trees. They tend to stick to their preferred species of trees.

They are killing a lot of trees in the rockies and sierras. Cold kills the beetles, limiting their range. With climate change it's not getting as cold in the winters, so the beetles can expand north and to higher altitudes. Healthy trees can often fight off the beetles but trees weakened by drought or disease can't. The beetles then finish them off.

There's a lot of beetle killed firs in the sierra forests in California. It wasn't like that in the '80s when I did tree work there for the USFS. I haven't been back to the Rockies in a while but footage I see from there looks the same. Beetle kill is one of the reasons we're having bigger badder forest fires.

Dead trees can stand for a long time. Especially in cold areas where things rot more slowly. Lots of critters make use of standing dead trees, which is why I leave some on my land.

 

[stoveliker]

Even in the warm humid forests in the smoky mountains (E. TN) there are swaths of forest of dead pines.

 

[clancey]

Its very sad to see..clancey

 

[SpaceBus]

We have long horn beetles here that seem to really love my fir trees. There is also an invasive type that is in southern Maine making its way north. I cut the standing dead trees near my house for firewood and to keep things safe. Once one tree starts getting attacked, it releases sap as a defense mechanism, but other beetles can "smell" the sap and now the tree has an even harder time fending off attackers. Often times when I'm processing firewood I find the beetle larvae since I mostly cut dead trees. I toss the grubs in the yard for the chickens. Sometimes the vibrations from milling logs with my chainsaw will force a ton of adult beetles out of one log. They fly very poorly, so just another chicken treat.