My better half has been asking me to take this tree down since we bought this place 3 years ago. Was waiting on parts for all the equipment here so I decided to drop it today. Somehow managed to get it all split, stacked, and cleaned up even with a mild case of the brown bottle flu. Oh, and even got to knock the dust off of the entire firewood equipment fleet.
Smaller pile of splits than I fugured it would be. Maybe a face cord but it will make decent shoulder season wood next year if I can keep the kids from using it in the fire pit. I was told to leave the stump for some kind of decorations. No idea what she's got planned for it. Hopefully she changes her mind so I can cut it down and grind out the stump.
My wife said the same when we (meaning, I) cut down some trees. I think her plan is to hang bird houses from it. One has a birdhouse sitting on the stump. Nice job getting all that done in one go.
Dang, the stump is where all the good fatwood is. I love standing dead and dying pines, fatwood is also found at the base of dead limbs. If I am lucky enough to find a rotting pine, I rip out the limbs to make awesome torches. Fatwood rules!
Im having a hard time finding fat wood in my area. Canadian Tire used to carry it but now I cant find it anywhere. I was thinking that maybe I should put a bit more attention to the lodgepole pine stumps out there. Never tried it. Could save me money I guess....
When I drop a tree Im amazed at how little space it takes up in my truck. They look so big and majestic when upright but not so much in the back of the truck.
Well, she spent an hour or so on the internet and pintrest last night looking at ways to decorate a tree stump and didn't really like any of them. Fatwood it is then.
A good way to find fatwood is to go around in the pine forest and kick rotten stumps. If you come across one that is all rotted out but has a hard middle section that is probably fatwood, the resin keeps the fatwood from rotting. Fatwood also collects in the base of branches where they turn down and connect into the heart wood. Standing dead trees have the highest concentration of resins, it flows down and collects in those places.
The stump is full of sap. It was running out everywhere when I cut the bottom 10' feet for splitting. The 3' that's left was leaking pretty bad as well.
