I might have had a large pour this evening when splitting and stacking. Wow, the single barrel is so much tastier than old #7. Don’t know why, but firewood has been very good to me.
The dude that runs my loggers firewood operation texted me today and wanted to know if I was interested in cutting some firewood on his Mom's property that is under construction. I am always game for free firewood, so I met up with him :30 later. Looks like 5+ cords of oak and hickory. Two trees are standing hickory and the stuff already cut is red oak and hickory. Have my truck loaded with my main saw and backup with all the other items. Will be busy for the next 6-8 days, but should bank about $4,500 out of easy cutting and loading. Home site cleanup is something I am all in for. Usually easy cutting and loading. [/ATTACH]
Picture of the standing hickory makes it look close to the garage building, but more than 300' away and leaning down hill from the power lines.
The temperatures for the next week are dropping nicely and in the low 60s in the mornings. So will get my ash up early and get this stuff knocked out fast.
Three other people were offered up this wood, but nobody has showed up. People are lazy in my area and afraid of hard work. And firewood is ridiculous cheap. However, Nashville is another story.
I’ll take more pictures as I proceed, but will tackle the downed stuff first. My logger dude actually cut and piled up the logs, but is too busy to haul them to his mill 4 miles away. People are just different around me. Hunting, fishing, camping, watching sports and drugs take priority over making Benjamins. Good for me I guess.
When I became serious about selling firewood four years ago I worried about keeping up with demand. Fact is I turn down a lot of cutting offers if it isn’t the good stuff and I can’t get my truck next to it. I can purchase great cut and large split firewood so cheap it just doesn’t make silence to beat myself and equipment to death chasing free stuff. I can easily lift 100+ pound rounds into my truck, but I know one of these days soon it will be the cause of my free hoardings to end badly.
Bagged my first load today of this easy score. Had to do some preparation weed eating around the pile and noticed one of the logs was a poplar. I don't care to cut poplar, but if it is easy to buck and load why not take it. The red oak on the right is a beast and should easily product 2+ face cords. Very pleased with the quality of today's load. Every round was perfectly solid.
Another load today and at least two more remaining before I go after the standing hickory. My back is a little sore after two days of heavy lifting. Fortunately, I have deliveries scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday which will give me time to recuperate before hitting it hard again
I always have a jack with me when cutting. By lifting a log and chocking it up it keeps from pinching your saw and not hitting dirt and rocks. I also wire brush all my cutting marks when the logs have been dragged. I always have a backup saw if all my precautions don't pan out. I cut in very remote areas and need to be self reliant without machinery.
I wonder if compressed air would remove more dirt than a wire brush.. obviously a bit more of an investment. I have used a pressure washer in the past to remove dirt from a log I plan to cut.
It would be easier to run semi-chisel chain in dirty wood, lasts longer. Keep a couple spare chains on hand. A wedge drove in the kerf will keep bar from pinching too.
I don't see how that would work when cutting a 20 inch diameter red oak log that is 15+ feet long and on the ground. Most of my cutting is in the woods so anything like a floor jack would sink into the ground trying to lift anything.
Beautiful middle TN morning for bucking. High sixties when I started with a nice northern breeze and low humidity. A lot my cutting involves post logging operations, so logs are all shoved together and piled high. This is where a jack comes in handy. I have a very low profile 2.5 ton floor jack I keep in the back floor board and bring my heavy duty jack for handling the big stuff. I always bring various sizes of timber to drive under a log for cutting and place my jacks on 2x8's to keep them from sinking. TN dirt in my area is 3/4s rock, so sinking isn't much of a problem. Didn't bring the big jack today since everything was laying flat on the ground. You can see how I jacked up a large log and placed a round under it on my last Thursday's post. I also have a collapsable shovel/trench tool I have used for digging under a log and then jacking it up. Yes, I use wedges when cutting flat laying logs; one of the reasons it took me a little longer today to get my load of red oak and hickory this morning.
Log rollers don’t work when you weigh 160 lbs wet with steel toed boots and chaps. Maybe with a 30’ lever. Cutting down a 20” stranding hickory tomorrow. I lay down about half a dozen 6”x 4’ timbers half the length of the tree and hope to land the tree on them. When successful, I can cut enough to fill my truck up n ten minutes. Miss, and I am jacking and wedging for hours. My entrance to the wood yard. 100% white oak and hickory.
