I found a large Douglas Fir for free on Nextdoor today. The lady who owned the property said the power company cut it down. It had been standing dead for over a year. The power company was worried that it would fall on her power lines. She lives in "town" about 20 minutes from me. So, I stopped on my way home from work and cut it up. Really solid, straight, heavy, wood. I even had to noodle a round to get it into the truck. I've never noodled a log before (It's not pretty - take it easy on me). That round probably weighed 200+ pounds. It was HOT outside too!! It hit about 80 degrees today. I'm not used to that kind of heat!! Hope everyone is doing well! -Cash
I have some. The lady said the tree wasn't "very big." So I didn't bring them. She undersold the job.
Sounds like a worthy score So about this noodling...was the round standing up, or laying on its side? The saw marks are inconclusive...
That’ll yield pretty small chips if your saw was parallel to the ground. In my humble opinion better to noodle on its side. Throw a wedge under each side. Then you get the the long noodles.
Oh, and 80*...pfft, was 92 and humid here today Ok, that's what I was thinking...noodling is done with the round on it's side, cutting with the grain...makes long noodles instead of chips like when you buck. It goes much faster than cutting down through across the grain...just need to cut a wedge to stop the roll...
brenndatomu I did figure that out eventually. The round was so heavy, it was just rolling over my wedges initially. So, I grabbed some big chunks of bark to eventually stabilize it on its side to finish the job. You can see the small chips - transitioning to noodles, when I flipped it over.
The sun out here is witheringly intense though. It can be 40 degrees out and sunny, but you feel like an ant under a magnifying glass. You need to learn to breath exclusively through your nose while working hard outdoors, lest you get a nasty sunburn on your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Ask me how I know. The "New Speedway Boogie" line that goes "in the heat of the sun, a man died of cold," was definitely written about weather in Colorado: the land where you can get a blistering sunburn and hypothermia at the same time.
We cut pine logs....noodle them, for shavings for the composting toilet. Cutting parallel to the grain yielded noodles that were several inches long. So cutting at a slight angle yielded shorter noodles. Perpendicular to the grain....dust. almost coulda held the saw with one hand for that! On the job though, I use other logs to hold the one being noodled. If they're big or otherwise unwieldy, I'll make 2 or 3 vertical cuts, roll the log 90*, and then make 2 or 3 more vertical cuts. Sometimes, i don't finish the cuts with the saw, just a whack with the maul. Looks like a fairly easy score though! Sca
I appreciate the advice! I was wishing I had my maul. I just happened to have my saw and was out anyway, when I saw this posting. So I just winged it.
Nice score, looks like it is pretty dry as well? I don't see much fir so just guessing. Oh for 80 degrees, September in Texas:
Brutal! And yes, the tree is dry and ready to burn this winter I can’t believe it’s almost 80 at night there! We are in the 30’s and 40’s here at night already.
Hey Cash Larue , nice score on the DF and seasoned too! I have had a chance at lots of small little batches but am waiting on a huge tree that a developer will be taking out at the bottom of our hill. HE said I would have first crack at it. Split your score up and it will keep you warm for a while this winter!
