Big Red

Yesterday I finally got around to taking this red maple stem down. It had snapped off a while back and I got 1/2 cord out of the crown. This piece should complete the cord. Hinge ended up a little thin and ragged but its down and everyone is still breathing.
I cut a round off and started splitting. It laughed at the maul and spit out the wedges, but I stuck to it and managed to get 20 decent sized splits from it before I had to quit.

 

Yeah, good ol' red maple! "Soft", lol.

 

Nice, warming you up twice.

 

Nice work! Red maple has a tendency to try my patience when i split it. Have some rounds of it yet in my PA from September.

 

Not red
Hard
Even better

 

Maybe a cross, but definitely not a sugar. Either way it earned its keep producing sap for me and now it will produce heat.

 

A little update
Picked up a Rapid Super Stihl chain yesterday and put it to work this morning.

That thing throws chunks not chips
Split a lot of it before I ran out of steam.

The top 4 feet or so was pretty punky but where it snapped off is all presplit kindling.

Woodpeckers did some evictions from this healthy looking pine.

And this used to be a whitetail.

 

Yes sir, that RS chain cuts really good. Have to really hold on to the saw.

 

Nice! Nothing like a new chain! I enjoy observing nature when im out cutting. Looks like pileated woodpecker work. Big bird the size of a crow. Have them around here and hear them every now and then.
There is a deer carcass at the locust score im working.

 

Yeah those pileated woodpeckers are big and look and almost sound like Woody woodpecker. Better get that locust before the warm weather starts creating fragrances you would rather not experience.

 

damm, how healthy can that pine tree (have been) if a woodpecker was finding that much to eat in it ?

 

I love the sections that are torn and splintered at the base, as one of your pics shows. I run the chainsaw across them Avery foot and gather up ready made kindling

 

Looks like they were making a few nesting holes, by the size of the holes. We have them down here, they knock big holes in the hi voltage transmission line that runs across our place. GA Power even wrapped hardware cloth around the poles. Ha, Woody just knocked a couple holes thru that.