50mph gusts today. I'll bet there is some fresh meat on the ground. Will take a look after leaning into processing again tomorrow.
Did some processing Saturday & yesterday. Little buddy came out to get some. Splitting poplar makes me feel strong! Fiskars Where I left it Saturday. Started off yesterday with some red mapo then back to more chestnut. The amount of bark I have generated off of two rows is astounding. Little bit of cleanup but a whole bunch of clean splits. Where it's at right now. I'm finally where I can run now. One or two more split sessions will see it finished. Went and scouted a new spot to shoot from at a buddy's farm Saturday after I got done. This is gonna be too much fun! Took a buggy ride yesterday after wood to see what the woods look like. Messy. Denied on main access by aspen <puke>. Secondary access blocked by a little sugar maple. I sectioned and moved on. So far no big scores from the wind. A few aspens down on the one hill. Not investigated other hill or back in the crick yet. Gonna have to clean the trails soon. Debris everywhere.
Nice work, my friend Yep, that bark adds up fast. We have some thick bark red oak that's loose and comes off easy.
I have use for it at upper yard where I don't use pallets under stacks. Works excellently for that. I've even top covered with it before. Down there at the lower yard it's just trash to be burned on the brush pile. Chestnut unless very green will shed bark willingly if not when split, later when dried. The little bit of poplar I had was also shedding it's bark along with some maple. I will actually clean up all the wood 'leavings' seen for kindling.
Sweet looking stacks! I keep an empty feed/litter bag next to the splitter and collect the shards as I'm working. Customers seem to like them.
I got a whole winter's worth of deer corn sacks. I usually use 3 sacks of leavings per winter depending on how many times I let the fire go out.
Worked some more splits Saturday. I might have been able to finish but cut short so I could pick up sticks and still have time to shoot. What remains. I've probably moaned a bit about stick picking. It's not unwarranted. This is only one kept yard worth of sticks (and it's not clean yet). Was gonna burn it Saturday night but was all partied out. Howa & Ruger 22s for a range session, sight in Saturday afternoon. This Howa impressed me. 50 yard shots. Still getting used to trigger. I'd say it's a shooter. Put an old red dot on this Ruger after much debate on what kind of sights to use for it. I've had this one for 20+ years, still works fantastick. Close range sight in. 3 shots. Went after the mess on my trail yesterday. Had some help (who had a sore back). Turned out there was a red oak hiding under the Aspen, so it wasn't without fruit. My buddy is gonna take the smalls and the beech. There was another nice red oak log not shown taken to the yard also. Afterwards started dragging some debris off a couple trails. Time to get them cleaned up over the next couple weeks. Sore this morning.
Got the stuff at the lower yard all worked up Saturday. Had to do a little noodling on some of the argumentive rounds. I hit one of them 30+ times out of spite just to lose anyways. Final yield. (more will be added) *Half of the bark. The rest got thrown over the hill. Trimmed the hedge yesterday before it leafs out. Experimenting by cutting it back early this year. Otherwise took it pretty easy riding around on the buggy scouting a few small firewood trees. Found I think enough standing dead red maple to satisfy the woodstand next winter. Now a matter of retrieving and processing. Did find a big ol sugar maple down but can only get at the tippy top of it from one side of a ravine. I think my buddy is going to take some round wood off it.
Planned to burn it all but after the first trailer load decided better of it. I don't need any 'floor tiles' this year, so no way to use them up. Maybe I can open an Etsy account and start painting 'live laugh love' on them and selling for $10?? "Rustic"
Add 'organic' to the title and the hippies will buy it. Advertise it as 'for arts and crafts' or as a firestarter.
A little body work on the Echo muffler this morning. Can't get angle through the port to get the bottom of the crease out but the center came back out a bit. Before
Finally finished picking up sticks Saturday. Afterwards got my buddy a load of rounds out then went and visited another friend who's got a logging crew on site. High water mark so far. I think we may be past deeper water now. Changed fuel filters on the mower yesterday then went and cleared this trail I found blocked last weekend. Wanted to do some shooting and light a fire this weekend but the wind prettymuch ruined potential for both activities.
So it's a Monday and you are sore from the weekend and just had a great big lunch when suddenly... free demoed concrete becomes available. Yeah, I gotta take it like a clepto. There was more but in Andre the Giant sized pieces. Meager load but they all add up eventually. Will put on the river bank this summer.
Tractor time Saturday. What a nice day to be out. Cleaning off some trails. I leave the steep stuff until after the spring rains are over. Waterfall was running across the valley. Brought in a little cherry tree and a small sugar maple from earlier pic. Totally forgot about a red maple I had dressed and ready in other location. Found it yesterday while tooling around on buggy and had a face plam moment as I was up there on that hill specifically to grab trees. Bigger log is rest of red maple that I pulled off of main trail. Started on this also before I called it a day. Hoping gravity does me a little favor after knocking the top off it. Torn off and hanging. Finished Saturday with a stick fire. Light day yesterday. Went to remark a boundary line in a specific place so I could look for mushrooms (nope) and checkout an old well site I found on the State well finder thingy online. Drilled 1929. It doesn't show any production but I don't know how records were done back then. There are pipes in the area as if something were taken away. First I stopped by a special place. Don't come here often. No close by paths to use so it's a little hike. I left my tag. Here are the concrete pylons the derrick sat on. Mount for winch maybe? Looked up typical drill derrick from the period and usually they had a little shack attached to cover the winch/pump apparatus. Will be revisting with another friend who has fancy metal detectors to see what we can find.
