Not sure where in the UP you are, but we are prolly 300 miles south. We don’t get much red down here mostly yellow, brown, and kinda an off gray. I only have a handful of maple in my woods.
So, for many years I have used an old DR electric 6 ton wood splitter. Had very good luck with it. Built in the US in year 2005. I always thought I should buy another one of the older units because the new ones are 4 ton and made in China. And they take two hands to operate. On FBM I saw one about 40 miles from me. She had a price of $250 on it two weeks ago. Last Sunday she dropped it to $200 with a sentence that said “I want this thing gone”. I went road tripping Monday morning. Got it for $150. I split a face cord with it today and it works fine. Going to drain the hydro oil out and put Dexron ATF in it and take it up to our cabin. Dexron ATF works better in cold temperatures. I use it my other one as well.
When it had hydraulic oil (AW 32 was in it when I bought it) it would trip the 15 amp pop out breaker upon start up when the shed was below 30F. I changed right away to Dexron no breakers pop anymore.
Stacks looked great ole. I too would ask more next round. Every time something sells fast I always regret my price wasn’t higher.
Just spent three warm days up at our cabin. As I was loading the truck my wife spotted a chain saw and rolled her eyes. Friday was a work day. And she really helped. Although she thought a red oak was going to destroy our cabin. Have no fear hun. I took the red down because the roots were real close to the septic field. In no time at all it was rounded. Parked the rounds in the shed next to my grandson’s John Deere. The top I piled where we have campfires. The township up there has a strict burning policy. So this winter when there is a two inch snow cover I will get a burning permit and let er rip. Can’t even tell there was a tree here. I dug around the stump 2-3 inches and cut it real low.
Next up was a dead pine for camp fire wood. This didn’t take long at all. fire starters ‘Twas a good 3 days at the cabin.
How did I do? I am done splitting my 2025 for sale firewood. I have 16 face cords in the shed where it will sit for 11 months. I will wait til after Thanksgiving to start cutting up the 9 oaks on the ground in my woods. In the meantime I have to drop a small green hickory and cut it into 4” chunks. A lady my wife works with wants it for smoking.
Today’s project wasn’t in the woods at all. It was on the shooting bench. I got my Remington 600 in 350 Rem Mag all ready. Our deer gun season starts Nov 23rd. I am looking forward to many sits in da woods.
Well, deer season is over so headed to the woods. My neighbor lets me cut in his abandoned junkyard. I cut up 4 oaks that were kinda on the ground. I said “kinda” because this one wasn’t. I studied it for a bit and my plan worked. I had 6 cuts left and ran out of pre mix. So close! I will finish him in the morning and found 2 more on the ground on the way out. Spose to snow Wednesday so I best get after it. saws ran great
Trials and tribulations of cutting in a junkyard. There is wood everywhere. There is metal everywhere. must be careful Found another one I didn’t see yesterday Houston we have a problem. Two uprooted red oaks and they were very hung up. This is how men get killed. I worked them up for about a half hour and bailed. Maybe winter will bring the tops down. Got 44 rounds ready to haul. what a mess,,,
I absolutely abhor operating a chainsaw above my head. And that’s exactly what I did for prolly 7 cuts. It worked out but once those two intertwined hanging tops starting to creak, shift, and otherwise make noises I got the heck out of Dodge,,,
After thinking about it, I decided not to leave any rounds over the winter on land I don’t own. They could develop legs and walk away as they are easily spotted from the road. So I decided to haul them one mile to the monster pile in my woods. I hauled 6 loads today. No splitting this fall, will do it next spring. Uffda they were heavy my back will be sore tomorrow. Those two intertwined tops that I left yesterday dropped about 4 feet closer to the ground over night. There’s a lot of wood left I will cut them up next spring.
