Highway project by my house and they are clearing a ton of trees, all just going to mulch.... so I got a contact who knows a lot of municipal contractors and got the cell phone of the tree service foreman. They wouldn’t load them in my trailer for me but said I could go on the weekend and get whatever I could cut. Sadly however, too snowy to get traction to pull the logs off. Many of them were too precarious or on the downhill slide. Plus, they had an Escavator and some other equipment in the way so not a lot of room to work. In the end I just got a couple rounds and drove home ashamed and dejected, with dreams of what could have been.... . Anyone help me identify what kind of wood this one is?
I doubt tree guys would be mulching it if it were great firewood, so that makes me suspect that it's junk wood. Seems like most tree guys burn or sell wood, so find a way to take it home with them. If was quite light, splits super easy, and smells really good when you were cutting it, I'd say sassafras. But there are guys way better than me at this, I'd trust their answers over mine. If it is sassafras, it's OK shoulder season wood. Not a lot of heat to it. Can be burnt green. Snaps and pops a lot, though, so beware of that. Sounds kind of nice in the wood stove if you know you're not going open the door before it's pretty much gone. One of the few trees that I see deer eating the leaves off of them when they fall in summer.
all of the highway contract cutting around here gets mulched on the spot and thrown right back into the area where it just came from.
Makes sense on cottonwood, thanks. There were several of those but I did see two huge shagbark hickory but they were underneath others. That would have been nice....
I cut from a log deck like that a couple years ago and recall some primo logs buried with no way to get them. Wouldve been nice!
Everything along the main highways seems to be going right through a massive chipper. Most seems to the same day it is cut. I know in years prior the chipper would follow a few days behind the felling machine so there was a chance to pull from the side of the highway if the shoulder permitted it. They machines seem to be working in tandem in the crew I have seen most recently.
All the power line companys and that around here chip it all, they will chip a 20dia oak if they cut it down, nothing is saved.
Cottonwood was my first reaction even before I saw what others had said. Gopher wood, put some on the fire and gopher more.
Cottonwood has my vote too. Not the greatest but I’ve burned it in the past. Dries quickly and a stack of logs is hard to pass up! Did they leave the keys in the excavator Maybe they’ll stage them in a more accessible spot as they progress with the project. Good luck to you!
