Being on a long weekend, and that my kids are in school, I’m a free man today to do as I please. I’ve been driving past this gypsy moth killed chestnut oak all summer. This morning I decided that I had to have at least a taste The outer sapwood is rotting off but the heart wood is solid. It’s been a couple years since I scrounged any too, so I’m stoked I also came across a dead/petrified sassafras log on my way down here, so that came with me too.
Here’s what’s left after manually splitting all of it. First I knocked off most of the outer punk before splitting the heart wood. I LOVE oak splits with no sapwood or bark. The junk will get pitched into the woods, save for some of the more solid pieces which will be burned in the outdoor pit. A few sassafras splits that are dry enough to burn today if I needed them. All of the junk outer punky wood with my toy Australian shepherd photobombing the scene.
I "lost" a rear window to a ATV load up once...... Forgot about having a winch on the front of the ATV
It hasn’t happened to me with a truck yet, but I blew out the rear hatch window in my last car when I was a car hoarder. I stuffed the back full of white pine rounds, slammed the hatch shut and boom! A knot on one of the rounds was sticking out an inch too far
I've bounced a few rounds off the 79's back window. ARG I do my best to be careful but they take a bad bounce at times. Getting ready to load up the 79 this afternoon to fill the breezeway up. Looks like this weekend will be the 1st burn of this season. Hope I don't go jinxing myself! OH I have to add, I'd burn that punky stuff for shoulder unless it's all the way to the heart than yea off to the outdoors pits.
The secret to dry Sassafras is if you burn it you won’t need to stack it Good score! Didn’t take long for me to toss a pallet through the rear window. They don’t make em like they used to.
Excellent wood get! Love oak and how fast you can split the stuff. I’ve been swimming in chestnut oak for years now and will for a bunch more.
That was my first thought! I actually cringed. Back glass for a 98 ram 1500 is expensive, don't ask me how I know multiple times. Thank goodness for insurance....
Just the sassafras. It was already dry as a bone all the way through, surprisingly. The chestnut oak will get 3+ years in my stacks. I have a lot of red and a little white oak lined up starting next year.
Great little pick up! Haven't burned sass myself but hope it smells good even waiting on a rack to be burned.
One more load today. I did it buZZsaw BRAD Style by quartering them on site, which is the right way to do it. There’s still one more small load left which I plan to get at some point.
Yeah ive learned the hard way. PITA sometimes but when you have to multi handle the chunks.lighter is easier.
I saw at work this morning that I had 4 more vacation hours than previously expected. With the holiday looming, I decided to make my time off longer. This is the last of the chestnut oak from this score. I think all said and done, after chipping away all the punky outer wood and stacking the primo, I ended up with just over a face cord.
