A local farmer reached out to me last summer to cut down some big oak trees along one of his fields. Timing hasn’t worked out for either of us since then but I went out there Monday only to see the straight line irrigation system right along the woods and potatoes growing. I had also seen last fall they cleared out about a quarter mile long hedgerow and piled the logs up at a clearing near the back of the one field. I always knew there was some cherry but since I was out there I looked at the two piles and saw just how much cherry is actually there. I then called him to let him know I was still interested in the oak but could see now wasn’t a good time. Turns out the potatoes will get dug up in a couple of weeks so we can start dropping oaks after that. I then asked if I could pull some cherry logs out of the piles and he said go for it. I got started today and can see pictures don’t show the scale of these piles. The cherry logs on top of the first picture is at least 12 feet in the air. I venture onto the pile and cut off any limbs I can see and then the top once I’m satisfied I can easily pull the log out with my truck. Anything under about 6” in diameter is getting left in the pile as it’s just not worth the work. It’s hard to tell but I pulled out 15 trees in just under 2 hours today and the diameter of each base was between about 12”-18”. What I pulled out today just scratches the surface. There’s also plenty of mixed hardwoods in the pile but I think I will end up leaving that there. Time will tell. Tomorrow I will cut up and probably haul out.
That looks like a couple weeks vacation to me. Ported Husky in a target rich environment is total fun! Enjoy Joe.
Cherry picken for primo wood! You're no small potatoes wood seller Joe. Sorry, couldn't resist on that one. Nice that you went back and found them. Even better you can pull them to flat ground. How will you go about getting them back to the wood yard?
How long do you think that has been there? Always kinda sad to see a log deck left to decay. Personally I prefer cutting fresh cut wood. BL being the only one I prefer barkless. I have another load to cut half hour away at my "ya snooze ya lose" score and I'm guessing it was 18 months old based on my experience.
That's a great score, Joe. It would be nice to have a small excavator to tear those piles apart. Nice work. Be safe, my friend
12 months or so. Long enough for some bark to be peeling off but not rotting, well any more than cherry usually does anyway.
Went there this morning to cut and load. Gotta love not having to deal with limbs and being able to drive right to it. Got this 2 cord load cut and loaded up in 2 hours before it started to get any hotter. I did go back almost 2 hours later to just cut. Had no intentions of loading any more for the day. I had run a couple miles and did some Murphy training (pull-ups, pushups, and squats) first thing in the morning so I was sufficiently whooped.
Oh and thinking about bigger cherry rotting, there was a small yellow jackets nest inside one of the logs. Ask me how I found that out…haha.
My high visibility shirts get just as dirty in this weather. Ill give them a pre wash then a long cycle and they don't come clean. If I did some Murphy training first thing I'd go back to sleep. Murphy's law! Way to get it done Joe!
Went out and finished cutting the logs I dragged off the pile this morning. Some of them were pretty big so I went and got my helper to help load. Boy the truck sure does fill up fast with a strong 17yo helping. This makes 4 cords out of here so far. There’s about 3/4 of a cord of rounds cut that I will get another day. Time to drag some more logs off the pile.
I know it’s all work but 4 cords out of a log stack where you can pull the logs out and cut and split is a pretty sweet deal.
Pulled 15 more logs/trees out of the pile today. It took longer this time around (about 3 hours because I’m now dealing with wood that’s mostly on the bottom. It was more time consuming to find the tops to cut them before dragging. Also, some of the logs on the ground took time to get a chain under them. Going to cut up and haul tomorrow.
