"Twas a good day in da woods

Our son owns a building site just north of Wisconsin Dells. There was a small deer trail to the far corner lot stake. He is thinking about selling the property and I thought it would be a good idea to clean out that trail so a potential buyer or realtor could get to it easily. We were already at our cabin so we met him down there Friday with a lopper and two chain saws. Took us three about an hour to clean it up. I think one could drive a car there now if they desired. It’s was mostly young black locusts, mulberry, and small pines.



It’s a desirable piece of ground (6 acres) and already zoned rural residential and surrounded by mansions. Hoping he makes a nice profit but capital gains?

 

We’ve had a lot of rain here lately so my woods are pretty wet. No hauling but I cut a little then split.
I cut the town guy some rounds.



Then I had a splitting party of one.





Oak and hickory. Can’t believe that hick split as easy as it did. Maybe I can haul some in tomorrow if we don’t get more rain. I got piles of splits laying everywhere

 

OK every man has to have a plan. I just blew out and filed the husky and the 261. It was their last file. Almost nub stage on both chains. My plan is to run two tanks of fuel thru each saw and toss the chains. Have new chains standing by. I found two standing dead reds and a black locust that need firewooding.

I feel my woods need another drying day before any hauling.

phone says rain tomorrow so my plan is a loose one,,

 

Heck, don't throw those old chains away. Look what this guy made from them.

 

A very productive day was had. The chains held up but are getting down there.



I dropped a couple dead whites and cut up a red that’s been on the ground for over a year. But it’s still good.




Some of these will prolly go to the town guy who buys rounds.

 

Then I went shag hunting. This hickory was on life support you can see on the stump the first cut was rotting but the rest was good.



Then I cut up those two black cherry blow downs. I stopped cutting when they opened up. Got 34 rounds of cherry I think it will split fine by hand.



I ran both saws empty and put em away (for now). I have a half gal of pre mix left for the summer.

Then a went and picked up my amish buddy Benjamin and we split 32 large oak rounds vertically with his dads hydro. He likes my new Honda dont tell his dad but I let him drive it. No pics they don’t like it.

Once my nephew is done turkey hunting in my woods, I will instigate a major hauling and splitting program. I have much wood that needs to be relocated to my monster woods pile.

 

X2

 

Looks great, I bet that would be a good building site

 

The Husky needed a new bar and chain. The local Husky dealer had this bar for $50. Now I got a mutt saw! Saw Sweden, chain Germany, bar Japan. Am I going to rot in heck for creating a Frankenstein?

 

Nope, probably the best that Husky will ever run...

You know we gots to pick at'cha...

 

In the last two days we have received 4.1 inches of rain. My woods are soaked. So today I got everything split that I had cut. It might be 2-3 days before I can haul. I split up a small cherry.



Then a bunch of oak and hickory.



Then I got after the two uprooted black cherry. One beat me bad. Hard to believe that two trees of the same species 3 yards apart could split so different.



I had to first take a slice or two with the axe then attack with the maul. One was twisted and the other was tight grained.
I got em half done and I needed a half hour break. I was toast.



But in the end I beat those 35 rounds. They not round anymore.





Here is the pile of oak me and my Amish buddy split the other night.



All I have left to do is finish the town guy with his rounds and haul splits to my pile. I’m 68 and think I am in relatively good shape but I am beat. Maybe I need to buy a gas hydro,,,

 

Black cherry is indeed peculiar about splitting sometimes; even different pieces from the same tree can be night and day apart.

 

That's a lot of work. Well done, my friend. You're a better man than I am.

 

We just got another 3 inches of rain in 2 and a half hours. It’s going to be awhile til I can get back to da woods.

 

Wow, that's a lot of rain. We're in drought conditions down here...

 

We are just under 10 inches for the month of April so far.

 

My woods was finally dry enough to haul splits today. I hauled 6 loads. I think 2 more days of no rain my monster woods pile will be finished. Had many turkeys watching me. They have no fear of the Honda and trailer. I think they are used to it.



getting there