This log had been partially knocked over by a windfall maple. My tree climbing buddy helped me get that down a couple months ago. He had to top this tree while he was up there, because it would have been a spring pole when the maple let go. I still need a bit more cherry to top off the holzhausen. Im saving this log for lumber, but the top part is crooked, so I decided to take that for firewood. So i dropped it and topped it - got a few nice rounds out of it. The smaller rounds are from a couple smaller cherries I got the other day near the big ash stump. Actually one may have been birch, but I'm calling it cherry for purposes of finishing the holz...
Nice stuff, don't have too much cherry in this area but I'm burning some now that a got from a blow down 2 years ago burns really well and throws some heat, just doesn't last that long but I'll take all of it I can get. I might give a holtz a try yours looks really good.
I've never heated with it, but I love to use it in the smoker. It's going to be a nice winter when it's time to burn the holz. Yeah it's kind of a shame it got knocked over. It looked like a really nice tree, good size too. But it probably saved the really nice crop sugar maple that was right in front of it. The remainder of the log is about 16', with a slight bend right in the middle. About 16" at the base to 14" at the end. Should get a few nice boards out of it - have to turn it into something special for my mom I think. Maybe an artist's easel.
Dang man, leave them crotch pieces longer and you can mill out some fine stock blanks. The muzzle loading crew would pay good coin for a Pennsylvania long rifle stock blank cut from a piece of cherry flame. Hard to say from the picture but that crotch piece may be big enough for a beautiful shotgun stock.
Back in Pa growing up my Grandaddy considered sugar maples sacred we had a fair size sugar camp operation the only sugar we ever cut were deadfalls or standing dead no exceptions.
Well I did cut a 16" long round from the long end, but the rest is in tact in the bottom-right of the pile there. Maybe I'll have to open it up on the bandsaw and see what's inside... Gives me an excuse not to split it anyway! I had 10 of them tapped last year, including that one. I'll have more than twice that many this year. I'd never cut any of mine either. Looks like I might have had a few cords of standing dead if I'd been able to get to them 5-10 years ago, but they're birdhouses now. Any dead I've found have been rotten.
Some of that sugar maple, if it's either curly or bird's eyed, will fetch a fair price as gun wood also.
Yep. I have quite a few of them, and there's only a handful of really straight ones. Most only go about 6-8 feet and then bend like this one.
