Got all the big knotty pieces noodles this morning and stacked, shade over a "rick"...... Kubota L4802 and MTL Grapple came in handy to set those chunks on the cutting block. Used the Stihl XS400 with 25" bar today. Fresh ground Stihl chain ate through that wood.
After getting the big rounds done and noodles cleaned up and spread, got a few more logs out and bucked to 18" this time...... Making Blue Samson fodder for tomorrow...
Thats a nice touch when you noodle gnarly rounds in neat "splits". More work but the end result is worth it. Been a long time since I've done that myself. Usually gnarly sugar or Norway maple is the victim here. Guess I haven't been taking too much knotty wood. Guess I'm a wood snob?
I just go ahead and split the knarly crooked stuff. My stacks look horrible compared to yours, but I'm not selling it. I don't even notice what the splits look like when I'm cleaning the ash out of the stove... What little straight stuff I get out of our woods goes over on the sawmill for sheds and stuff. There are cold nights that sometimes I wish I had some straighter splits to pack a little tighter in the stove, but we manage to stay warm.
We split a lot of that stuff too, usually. But these pieces had 3-4 hearts on one end or 8"-12" knots. I can usually split the big knots once, it's going across the knots that makes a mess. We're saving this to go in the firebox on the Old Hickory smoker at the BBQ restaurant. That's the reason we take a little extra time to noodle it.
We got the pile of rounds above split and stacked this morning...what was left when Blue Samson ran out of gas...somebody forgot to check it before starting... Let it cool down while stacking the pile of splits, and got a bottle of water. Refueled and we finished up... A few more logs and this shed will be full. Yep, a piece is hiding under the shed...
I noticed Jeff in his parka and Mz Carol nowhere to be found...I figured it must be a hair under 70 degrees in Goat Town!! FYI...I just noticed there is no degree symbol on my keyboard!
What's that I see? Green stuff that ain't a pine tree? Snow cover still hanging here. Have to make an effort to get up the big hill and the trailer is out of question at the moment as it's just enough to hold back from getting over the one water bar that makes or breaks. Ground is frozen under snow and I don't have any chains (yet). Tough getting around in the unbroken stuff too. I have not processed a stick in weeks. Some warm air blowing through this week, we'll see what happens.
I see what you saw...... A lot of the green is BAMBOO... It stays green, my dad planted it years ago and it spread......we can send ya some, that way you'll have some greenery for your dreary gray winters... We also have some Carolina Cherry Laurel trees that stay green.
We got the rest of the white oak sorted out, limb wood and smaller trunk pieces, had time yesterday afternoon to CSS it, had just enough to finish the shed for the BBQ restaurant... Back row has some splits and mostly noodled pieces Front and middle rows are splits. A good 1+ cord
I knew we had 2 white oak logs left to process, was going to buck them to 11" and make overnight stove stuffers to fill a tote. But decided to buck to 18" and put in this shed, it has Bradford pear, cherry, red oak, elm and a little hickory in it... The biggest of the 2 logs... The 2 WO logs and a small 6' hickory bucked... This hickory was an elm impersonator Made a nice pile of splits Got that pile stacked, added more to the back row and finished middle row... Then found 5 more WO logs in another stack, they were smaller... Also got to work under the light tower we built for Blue Samson...provided plenty of light... Got those logs CSS. Got about 2/3 cord from those logs. Shed is 1 cord where front row is. Will add probably some beech when we get it cut.
We went back to one of the Hurricane Helene sites we worked on in '24. We recently were doing some other clearing work for them, around this big white oak was one area we did. Got it cut from the rootball Big limbs are still solid... Also trimmed up some other white oak pieces we found in the overgrowth The butt cut, about 26-27" dia and 12' long, all the Kubota could move... First 2 logs from the tree... Had to load these ol'skool style... Nice load with a bit of hickory mixed in... There are several more down trees in their woods we will be getting out.
Nice works folks. I imagine its a common sight there to see blown trees left for mother nature to reclaim.
