Didn’t really know about noodling until I read about it here. It makes dealing with heavy azz oak rounds that much easier. And bonus kindling! Thanks FHC!
Noodling. Shoulder Season. CSS. All kinds of jargon and acronyms for things many of us have been doing for a while but didn't know the corresponding terminology for. Nice chips by the way! I usually save mine as a bed to get my outdoor fires going on.
I spread my noodles out into a 15’ x 30’ area and throw some scratch grains, keeps the chickens amused for a long time, especially when they start finding bugs and worms.
I cut a lot of elm so I do a lot of noodling. I use some of it for my fire starters but it also lets me run a lot of my saws. Good for you.
I hear you on the jargon. Took me a while to catch on when i joined up. Even some of the shorthand abbreviations still get me sometimes. Got and still gettin' a great wood education.
I'm 56, been cutting wood as a necessity since I was a kid and never heard of the vernacular spoken on here. I was told to cut wood, haul it, stack it, burn it that's about it.
I'm 77 and still learning. But I have not yet learned to noodle nor do I have any plans of doing so. Somehow it just does not seem right to me especially if wood can be split down to size and most wood can be without making all those noodles.
Sometimes you just get a nasty, knotty piece, or a crotch that doesn't want to cooperate. I had some really hard maple that just wouldn't split... so out comes the saw. Commence noodling!
Well, in well over 60 years of wood cutting, I've not came into one of those yet, thankfully. If ever I do, it will stay in the woods. There are easier logs to work on.
Well I have a bunch of saws and some of them will noodle pretty fast so I will get out there and get to it. I just finished a full cord of elm and it was all noodled. I also just took in a pickup load of noodles to the city compost to get rid of them because there was so much. That is the down side.
I prefer to cut smaller diameter wood, but a monster red oak seems to uproot on my wood lot about once every two years. The terrain is steep and like a boulder field. The only power equipment I can get out there is a saw. I can get a lot more done by noodling 40" diameter rounds into 50 pound chunks vs. using a sledge and wedge and taking out an armful of splits at a time. It's just less wear and tear on my body. I don't own the land so I don't have the choice to take the perfectly straight 12" diameter trees right off the trail. I love when I get the call, "hey, come over, a tree FELL ACROSS THE TRAIL".
I've done some noodling over the years as some of the wood i just cant pick up. Cool picture 25 and that saw is a dandy for sure.
That was me today! LOL Dusted off a very dusty sledgehammer. Found a couple old Steel wedges. Stuck it a crack of a sugar maple crotch thinking this should be a breeze. It virtually had a dirty crack almost side to side. About 8 swings later I dragged it into the woods along with seven other pieces I never even bothered trying. I did salvage some but I’m long past fighting hard. Like Backwoods said, there are nicer logs to work on.
I split by hand. Not having a hydro splitter, I do noodle when a crotchy piece of wood just won't split for me.
