I don’t score American beech very often, especially in significant quantities. A tree service was doing some roadside clearing this week down by my work so I had to investigate. Lots of beech and some smaller black birch close by. I got everything I could using the only saw I had with me, my little 028. There’s a huge trunk there I might pick away at slowly with either my Husky 61 or 029 super. What's left:
It's hard to tell from the last picture but that large trunk section spans over a stream. I'll get what I can from it anyway. It's a little too cold this time of year for me to be standing in running water
You did good! One of the very best of the best in my opinion. I've got 7 or 8 growing in my woods, but I've only ever cut the little ones. It splits like a dream, seasons fast, and the bugs don't seem all that interested in it. Burns like bone dry white oak but seasons 3X faster.
Sorry for so many messages, but I reread the original post and I had to show my respect for you carrying around a saw in the truck just in case.
The tree service that butchered this tree up cut everything at weird angles. I cleaned up end cuts as I went, and cut my 16" +/- lengths. Whatever is left behind someone else can grab I have enough wedges, cookies, uglies and shorts to last me quite a while.
I figured that's what happened. I've been known to do the same to cut around knots or dirt. But since I do most of my cutting at home, I throw all the cookies, uglies, and other random junk into an IBC cage and it's the first thing I burn in the fall when I fire up the stove.
That’s some nice healthy beech. Great score. Toss a sling around that log and pull it out with the truck
LOL I'll bet a guy with a Dodge and large trailer w/winch could yank that sucker out in a jiffy Did you burn any of that beech you got a couple years back? I haven't scored this much beech since 2020 when that storm blew through.
That’s pretty much what I do ( except without beech) now I have 8 full totes of the stuff and more in the making. I need to find a market for a few of them at least.
If I had totes to store them in I'd take a lot more oddball pieces home. They're awesome to burn in the spring/fall, it's just storing them that's problematic.
Not yet, that’s all next years wood. Got about 6-7 cords of Beech and Black Birch mix for the stoves. I left both in log form a little too long tho. Not as pretty as yours. It’ll burn fine anyway I’m sure. I’ll come pull it out for ya. Wouldn’t even need the trailer.
I tend to "save" that stuff too. This year I wanted to free up some of the totes so I burned nothing but the reject for 2 months. It was not fun. I couldn't play wood stove tetris very well with wedges, cookies, and knotty / crooked branch sections, so I was having to reload every 2-3 hours when it got real cold. When it finally came time to burn the normal splits it was a relief. Despite me sitting on a hoard of 30+ cords, I just can't see wasting the scraps.
Beech + black birch is a good combo. Maybe too good. I burned mostly 4-year old chinquipin (white) oak + decade old white ash last year and I got sick of waking up sweaty in the morning. We had to put away the flannel sheets and go back to the summer cotton ones. It also got hard to burn down the coals unless I threw a big spruce split in there between reloads. I've come to appreciate a good mix in almost every reload. I'm about to toss in some hickory, soft maple, and cherry before heading to bed...
Great to score woods you dont get often. I know the feeling for sure. Some nice rounds. Will you turn into a caboose too?
Carpenter ants love beech! At least the big ones that come down in storms that I end up cutting. One of my favorites for sure
