Nice that everything is on the ground now. As I was reading your post, I was thinking "yup, been there plenty of times" with the trees getting hung up and having to cut off sections until they finally lay down (I try to get 4' sections so I have x3 16" rounds). Late spring this year, when I was dropping several dead/dying trees in the woods, it seemed as if 2 out of 3 would get hung up. Just the luck of being in thick woods. I actually got 2 saws stuck one time, in 2 different trees when I was dropping a couple in a cluster of five where the trunks were very close together. Luckily, I was only across the street from my house so was able to make a quick trip to get a third saw. I had been trying to not cut any of the live trees in the cluster, and the ones I was dropping were all tangled in the crowns, so I knew going into it that it would be a pain. After a few 4' lengths were cut and the two trees were still not coming down, I caved in and took down one of the small live trees for safety reasons. It was a mess, and a lot of four-letter words were streaming out, but...there are no pictures so did it ever really happen?
I got the longer trunk pieces cut up, moved, and stacked. Heavy rounds. The 435 did the job. It had the sharpest chain on it. What looks like center rot, seems mostly solid. Bonus! What I thought was an old dead pine, was actually oak, of some type. I took off the ugly cut. It spun a bit and stayed mostly in place Ready for splitting, in the morning . Gratuitous woodyard picture with seasonal flag
You've been busy! Nice find on the old oak. I love finding those old, long dead red oaks in the woods up here. Most people would pass them by as forest detritus, but I grab all I can get as they make great btu's.
Yup... and it feels good. The wrist is getting stronger and the shoulder is just OK. Very little strength when I lift things with the shoulder only. As in out to the side. I'm OK picking up heavy rounds and moving them.
That oak is actually dead chestnut. Lightweight, right? If you look closely you'll see scarring on the outside of the wood, where the tree was trying to fight off the blight infection before it succumbed. The long, wide vertical crack in that one piece is also a good indicator. Oak won't do that, even after the sapwood rots off. Chestnut isn't the best for firewood, but it'll do the job keeping you and the missus warm .
Interesting, and a good catch (no chestnut around here that I've ever seen so not very familiar with it). This is what some of the long-dead red oak I scrounged earlier this year looked like (not the best pics but gets the idea across).
That type of oak is gold around my house Dries in half the time (or less) than fresh-cut. I think the original native range for American chestnut in your area went from about the Lakes Region of New Hampshire eastwards into southern and coastal Maine. There's probably small surviving sprouts/small trees further north though. They live for a few years, the blight girdles them, then they send up more shoots from the root system and try again. They've been surviving like this for over a century now.
Now that right there is the voice of a proper firewood hoarder! I've got this tree hung up, tryin to get it on the ground safely, gonna chunk it down, making cuts divisible by 16 of course!
I did it on this beech hang up. Look closely and you can see the 16" marks. 4' sections till she came down. Blow over leaner with rootball.
I released the x27 for a couple of hours this morning. Not enough ash to fill that rack. That's all of it aside from some thinner branches that are destined for a firepit. I decided to give a round of the red maple a shot. Ugh. Spongy stuff. I'm in no rush. Maybe a few days in the 20's or colder, might make the task more pleasant. Splitting the ash was no problem. As with the majority of my stacks, I try to have bark facing out the ends. Keeps weather off the good stuff. Time for some Aleve. 4 days of wooding felt good.
Thats awesome! How long will that rack last you in the cold weather? (I think it would be a week's supply here) Sca
