Beautiful day in February. I don't get the chance to cut nice straight stuff like this very often, and Hickory to boot. Chief
Looks like that was standing dead hickory. Sweet! Nice looking property. Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk
I sure hope hickory is worthwhile. The wood lot on the property where I am building has tons of shagbark about that diameter. My guess is a former owner did a large timber harvest and planted mostly black walnut and shagbark as a replacement. Much of the black walnut is just a little bigger than the shagbark.
You have a gold mine. The only thing more dense than Hickory is Hedge and maybe Ironwood. It burns long and hot. Nothing wrong with walnut either. It's not got the BTUs of Hickory but I'll take it anytime I can get it. It is so easy to process. I may have to come help you. Sounds like my dream place I have never managed. Chief
Actually it was healthy live trees. It pained me to cut them down but the owner wanted to thin out some trees. I never cut anything alive if I don't have to. Just doesn't seem right when there is dead stuff that is just going to go waste. Chief
It is beautiful! The owner is a good friend and his place is my dream. I never quite realized my dream, but I have free reign of his place, 10 minutes from my house. Sometimes I just go out and walk around with Buddy. It truley is a beautiful place. There is a good sized river and bottom behind his house which can see at the head of the pond. He has a bridge over the river and the bottom is full of White Ash, soon to die I'm sure. Chief
If that's his house at the edge the pond it truly is a beautiful set up he has, along with a gorgeous piece of land. If he has some ash trees, I think you might have more wood coming your way in the future. I guess it's ok to thin a few trees, hard to argue it's a mistake, when his property looks as good as it does? Don't you love a nice rustic wooded setting..... And a pond to boot.
I'll echo what the others are saying...nice property and nice hickory. We have shagbark around me, but haven't ever burned any.
Hickory is my favorite along with Pecan. I load it for day time burning if its handy on the pile. It makes the air smell soooooo good. Im like you TFDCHIEF, I only cut condemned wood. And there is a lot around here.
I have read in various places that hickory can be hard to split and I am strictly splitting by hand. I also read that it accumulates a lot of dirt in the bark that is hard on chain saws so we shall see. Before I get to the hickory woodlot I have about 1000 ash that I planted on another woodlot around 30 years ago that will need to come out in the next few years. There are a few other trees mixed into my mostly hickory/walnut woodlot like some small hedge, a very few sassafras, one large sycamore, small quantities of wild black cherry. I even have a few eastern red cedar volunteers in the part of the property that I planted to oaks and other hardwoods. The plantation with the large ash planting also has lots of oak but has edges that include hedge and of course the ever present honey locust with the 4 inch long thorns.
Hickory is good burning wood and smells soooo wonderful burning. It will start rotting rapidly if left on the ground..... get it split and stacked asap. The bugs like to work in it and who can blame them. Sent from my Z832 using Tapatalk
Hickory can be a booger to split but unlike sweetgum the BTU's are well worth the effort. It doesn't accumulate dirt in the bark - the bark and wood are high in silica content (the main ingredient in sand) which gives it the bad wrap on chains. Chief sweet score
Seriously, there's no better firewood than shagbark. The only think to watch out for is the bark when cutting it. Wear eye protection, and a face shield if you have it on a helmet. Pieces will fly and hurt your face. I did just that as a piece of bark left a red mark on my cheek when I cut shag a couple weeks ago. Nice work tfdchief!
Dirt or no dirt, if it dulls my chains too fast it is an issue. The reason it dulls the chains would not even be an issue unless I decided to try to wash it before bucking. Then the why would actually matter. Thanks for the info so I don't waste time and water like that.
