Working on a red oak that went down at my sister's place a few years ago. The sap wood is all doty but the heartwood is still solid with no insects. The photo is at a main branching. The smaller limbs were rotted but once you got into the bigger stuff still good solid heartwood. After I cut the rounds I just take my hatchet and knock off the doty sap wood. We are hauling out of her woods using a small lawn tractor with a small trailer. The rounds from the trunk; I will take a photo when I return tomorrow, will have to be split first before we will be able to load them.
Not set very well at all. I know, I know. This red oak is still wet as well as other wood here. At the moment I am cutting future wood but I didn't want to leave that tree any longer; I have known it was down at sister's for a year now; it went down maybe three years ago during one of the hurricanes. The big chestnut oak that went down here I am just now starting to cut; the branches sure rotted fast; I just snapped them off but like the one in the photo, still lots of good solid heartwood. The Old Girl; my 8N, has been in the shed all year. That is another story. It current state is very sad, one trumpet off, diffy out, centre housing damaged. It is too hilly here for me to get wood out without my Old Girl. I have some dry burnable pine for now but not enough for the winter. I haven't been in a good place but I am getting out of there; I kick myself every day for letting good wood sit on the ground.
The Old Girl is sad. This is the way she has been all year; hopefully I can get her repaired this winter.
Yep, each tree is one tree closer to the goal. OK, lessons learned, and you are now a better/smarter person for it.