I’ve been working over a beech tree since summer, had to evacuate due to ground wasps this summer. Back at it today. Getting some limb wood underneath the tool box. I brought the weasel hound. The creek is low today. Had some serious squat to er. Didn’t like going anything above 55 in a straight line.
It fell over from its ball root this summer. Plenty fresh. Hoping to have it all in the next couple weeks if the weather cooperates.
Heck yeah, I’d filer the rest this weekend but it’s deer fun weekend. I really like this truck, the frame is solid and the odometer is at 326,500 miles. I really should have loaded 10 less rounds, at the end of the day it’s a 35 year old 1/2 ton pickup. The road has briars lining it and scratches the truck. With Whitey getting scratches I have no worries. Im hoping to get it to turn over 400,000.
black Betty only had 125k and the frame was solid but the bed support braces were pretty weak. She's still in use at one of the farms I cut on, just not by me or hauling wood.
Headed out Cutting beech down in the dingle. Gotta watch out for gas lines, I sure don’t want to cut that. Walked up on the hill to see what I could see. I found a wild weasel hound. I loaded a lot less than last time. It was sketchy. 3 to 400lb less makes a huge difference in how the truck drives. I need to get my butt in gear and get to splitting.
Definitely making me jealous. That's theee best part of wood hoarding right there. I gotta get out in the woods.. soon!
I’ll have to get some pics next week when I make it back out in the woods. We’ve had beech uproot like yours in the past but with this summers storm, most of them broke off 20-30 ft off the ground. Seems they get a big rotten spot and that’s where they break when the winds come. The one I’m working on blew over from the roots, but I’ve got probably half a dozen stems left standing out there with the tops blown out. Little disturbing that the gas line is running on the surface of the ground!
Somebody was telling me I got lucky because most of the time fallen beech trees are rotten. The tree fell and luckily it’s keeping it nicely off the ground. Good for keeping the wood and for easy cutting. I didn’t clairify, that gas line runs off a well into some sort of storage tank a couple hundred yards away. I haven’t walked the line and seen the well head or pump. From what I can tell it’s an accepted practice. Sometimes a much smaller yellow line will run through the woods to be used in a house or barn. A coworker of mine shot a smaller gas line while rabbit hunting once. I always tell him he’s a magnet for that sort of BS. It’s nice out there , it’s quiet (when I stop running my saws). I needed to get away and have some chainsaw therapy.
I’m with you 100%, cutting and loading is great, I even like burning it! Splitting can be good depending on the species and stacking is just something that has to be done.
Finished up the beech I started on a couple weeks ago. It’s been overcast with showers for what seems forever, and I’ve not been back. After a couple cold days, I decided to have a go at it today. Ended up finishing the beech up as well as the cherry it knocked over that was hanging in the top of another beech and 4 maples whose tops were all broke out when the beech fell. Good day to be in the woods. Ended up just taking the truck and trailer cause I didn't know how hard the ground would be. Probably could have taken the dump truck….oh well. Ended up with two truck/trailer loads and the pile that’s split is still out there. I think it’s at least an additional truck/trailer load. The saw is my 390xp with a 28” bar for reference.
