In June a friend called and wondered if I'd take a bunch of ash trees down at his estate. He'd identified 3 or 4 that were EAB kills. I went with his grounds keeper and found 6 that needed to come down before they impacted his electric, house and pristine look of his land. I opted against cutting them myself as there were obstacles I am not prepared to avoid, and two of the bigger trees are on a hill with zero access by truck and trailer. He found a tree guy, Identified 6 trees, and scheduled the cutting to begin in August. I bought a new trailer, have it all set up to go, with a few shakedown trips having taken place to other scores. The kiddo came home mid August from school. And we waited. And waited. I've taken some time to care for self, sharpened up the chains, topped off fuel, and am ready to roll. We hit a couple scores, 1.5 cord Ash, half a cord Red Maple, and have experimented with 20" cuts and stacks 3 rows of 20" pieces on a single row of pallets. Finally got the email yesterday: the tree guy was there, and put 2 trees down. We'll head over Saturday morning and see what the damage is like. We're amped, this will be the biggest ash score we've had and will begin if not complete our 5th year of wood squirreled away. I estimated 5 cord with the biggest 2 trees being a cord each, and the other 4 less than that. He had one oak which was knotty and gnarly, not a straight piece on it....I reckon we'll try our hand at that, otherwise it'll head for the woods there. I hope for a lot of the smaller branches to NOT be rotted to compost. if they're any good, that will bulk up the cord count for sure. He wants it gone in a month's time, but with my work schedule and the shorter days, it might take a bit longer. I aim to cut and split and load, not taking any splittable rounds out. That will be a bit slower on site, but will save what's left of my back, and will mean we can just dump the splits near our stacks and put them up whenever we have time. With 2 of us running mauls, I have no plan to bring the splitter over there at this point. More to follow. Very happy Sirchopsalot
Sounds like a great score. I don’t understand splitting five cords by hand as being a back saver but everyone’s spine is different
I'm just done with picking up heavy items...or rolling them onto the trailer for that matter. At least if its avoidable. Most of my back issues are from picking things up without good body mchanics, or that are too heavy. Sca
So I was released from my sentence early today. I opted to stop by the score, just to see what our day Saturday was looking like. I was told they were going to drop 6 trees. they dropped 10 or 11. The tree guys were just packing up when I got there. They'd taken all the trunks from the upper yard cut them to 10' and brought them down to the bottom. There were 5 trees just dropped over the wall, presently left whole. I couldn't help but take out the saw and do a little cutting. 2 tanks of fuel later, I had the first wood deck cut into, brush cut up and some keeper pieces cut away. I'm hoping mow for closer to 8 cord. I'll take more pics with stumps and diameters tomorrow. For now: Tree and brush deck 1 10' tree legs, 11 initially 3 tree stumps near street 3 trees deck whats this? Found it 1 Found it 2 the rest of it
Mornin! Will be cutting and splitting on site. It is out of the way, so I think we'll leave the splits there, and take them home later. I dont think I have room here for that entire job....but we'll see. I'm cutting everything to 20", and stacking 3 rows wide on pallets, and going 6' tall. Coffee and devos done, time to play saws.
Somehow missed this thread. I know the feeling. Get a score lined up and WAIT! The weather change is a nice welcome for hoarding. Looking forward to pics. Go get it guys and work safe. EDIT: didnt read though the whole thread and see the pics.
Yesterday I was sharpening the chains for the 462. Sittin there was my little 550 I used all summer. My go to saw. I knew the chain was getting on the dull side. Still cutting well enough but not as sharp as it could be. While pulling it off I noticed a substantial burr on the bar edge. Chain cover was packed with oily sawdust. It occurred to me I hadn’t sharpened that chain all summer. 8 cords of logs bucked with it without a sharpening. Now I’ll go hit a rock. Thanks
Yup. Cutting on the bank, a larger branch moved and I nicked a rock I knew was there. That chain did not cut well after that!
Indeed it was 10 trees, all 29" through 27" at the stump cut. There were lotsa branches, and we cut most that were cuttable. I reckon we ended up cutting a couple cord, and split and hauled off half. This section was on the brow of a bank. The wood pictured stayed up (half a cord ish) but there is an awful lot down below (cord or two)... Above, familiar wedge anyone? Below: I thought the boy was deep in prayer. Alas he was sharpening his maul. The younger one, and the rounds left for tomorrow afternoon. It was a chilly 42° when we started, and in the 50's by 2 when were sufficiently worn out.
It was an awesome day to make firewood and make firewood you did. Nice to not be salt licks any more huh? You going to keep splitting until done on site or haul some home as you go?
I only have the kiddo till saturday, so focusing on splitting. But, at the end of the day, only so much splitting can be done, so we'll probably take one load home, leaving some behind till next trip. He'll be gone for 2 weeks, so I'll probably go and split, and take loads as they materialize.
