Went back to SIL's woods and got a small load of down/barkless Oak today. Nothing bigger than about 5-6", and also grabbed 12 rounds of a Poplar I took down a while back. I took the trailers and tractor with me, and man was it nice not lugging rounds 150'.....one at a time. Here's the trail opening...... Aaaand, the small Oak load. I plan to go back in the morning for a full load in the 5x10'.
I spent quite a bit of the 2 hours I was there clearing previous trails too. According to the sticker on the trailer, it holds 17 cu. ft., so 3 loads full should equal a heavy 1/3 cord. When I load heavy, the tires groan a little, but the axle is still straight.....I think. Yeah, I need several more loads like that to make a dent in what I need for 16'. I'll keep working at it.
My OWB really likes those fallen dead unsplit rounds. For me, that's the Holy Grail of wood - hard as a rock and seem to last forever. I cut about a cord of it last year cleaning up the couple acres behind the house - I was a happy camper for a while.
I've been trying to clean up the woods of that stuff just because it's already fairly dry. Once in my stacks, it gets cooked pretty quick. Got a bunch last year that I could probably burn this winter. Most of this was up off the ground, either hung up or had fallen on other stuff. Got a few small pieces of a Maple that fell across one of the trails, but most was getting punky, so I didn't bother with it. Too much other gooder stuff. I'd like to spend about 1/2 day over there tomorrow, but not sure that'll happen. Pics to follow.
Well, this is taking longer than I thought it would, but it's Murphy's fault.....sort of. Took down a pretty large (for me) Oak that hung up on about 3-4 other trees. The trunk split when it hit the other trees. I would love to have had a vid of me running away from it when it decided to go. I got about 12' of the trunk cut, but there's a lot more still there. Probably 24' of main trunk close to 2' diameter. When I tried to ease that split, the bar got pinched. Took the bar off the saw, but I had to remove the clutch. Back in the woods about 1/4 mile....maybe not quite that far. Glad I had the tractor. Got a few Maple rounds when the Oak hit it and broke it off 20' up. No pics. Wife had the phone. That's another whole story. Still haven't filled the trailer, but I brought that load home so I can maybe work on getting all that stuff split and stacked although I'd rather go get more Oak from that tree. No time until probably Wednesday.I'll take a pic of the load in the morning.
That's why after many years I never go in the wood without 2 saws.....of course last year I got both of them pinched.
Sounds like a good time in the woods. Your 30 should love those logs in the middle of winter. Hopefully you'll enjoy the 30 even more with better wood. Will be interesting to hear the difference in the wood and your burning experience.
No problems with the firewood. I've got Oak that's from 3 years ago in the shed with pine and Maple that's been drying over a year. I've gooder in that regard. Forgot to mention that this Oak is one I think I mentioned in another thread that had some goodish damage on one side, so I've been VERY hesitant to mess with it. Once it fell, the black ants were scurrying pretty good. I felt a bit of rot in the cut, so I backed off to get a better look before I finished cutting. Hehehe, sounds like the start of a "3 saw plan". I had my SIL's 35cc homelite. but didn't use it. I got the bar out w/o damage, but the chain is still out there in the trunk. I'll get it back. I was tired, so I called it for the day.
Uh, nope. Haven't gotten any yet. Since I'll be working for quite a while over there, I need to get at least a couple. They would have helped today.
Here's a couple pics of the load from the last couple forays into the woods. First is the few rounds of Oak, then next on the left is the small batch of Maple. The small pile on the right is most of the barkless Oak. There's a little more of that under the larger Oak rounds in the trailer. The stacked stuff is part of the Poplar (need to finish that), and behind everything is the load of Oak I brought home a few days ago.
Is that oak dry that has no bark? It probably has seasoned quite a bit without the bark to protect it.
