I’ve never had the chance to cut any shagbark but my neighbor behind me had a decent sized one blow down close to our property line. He doesn’t burn wood so he gave me the go ahead to get it. I had to get a standing dead cherry tree out of the way to get my tractor to the hickory. The cherry had blown over and hung up in another tree so I put a strap on it and pulled it down with the tractor. It was 7.5” DBH. I’ll set it aside for smoker wood. The hickory had come down on a little white oak and bent it to the ground. I’m always amazed at how they can bend like that without breaking. I cut up the branch wood and smaller crooked stuff for the smoker. After I cut up the branches and cleared them out of the way I found another bonus. It had also taken down a dead ash tree. It was only 6” DBH but I’ll take it. Bucked up the trunk section for fire wood. It was 16” DBH. That was some hard stuff! Had to stop halfway thru to sharpen my chain. The bark seemed as hard as some hardwoods. It would shatter and fly all over the place when the saw would hit it. It was like attacking a Dale Chihuly sculpture with a chainsaw I got the small stuff moved to the splitting area today. I’ll have to move the bigger stuff tomorrow. All in all, a good day in the woods.
Nice neighbor and even nicer firewood. Yeah hickory bark is the hardest IME. I make a point to wear eye protection when cutting it. Ive even seen sparks when cutting it in low light
SBH is the best firewood I’ve had the chance to use. Yes it’s a little stubborn splitting but more than worth the effort. I’ve observed sparks before but after paying close attention, it was from the shaggy bark pushing the chain sideways in the bar and creating them. You’ve got some gold in this score. No round left behind.
I like Shagbark but so do the hickory borers. Throw some mothballs in with the splits when you stack, it seems to help some.
