I see it's high on the btu scale but how is it to work with? I've heard people say it's a pain to split because it doesn't have a defined grain kinda like bradford pear..
If that is a SOB, this is it's great, great, great, great (you get the ideaa) Grandpa! It was over 400 years old.
Yeah, that's a biggie. We've got a grove of beech, and it seems a few were past their prime. It seems like when they get big around my woods, they get hollow.
Talked to my buddy, as convenient the 340 jag would be for hauling wood, its free air cooled, which is by far the worst kind of cooling for pulling. Fan cooled probably are the best for pulling as they don't need snow to be thrown around by the track, like a liquid cooled sled. I'd still rather use a l/c over a free air. Gotta work another angle. Maybe the fan cooled Indy trail would be the best, but its a couple hours to the north, and needs a new fuel line to run.
Kevin, that one reminds me of one we had on our place. It had been there a long, long time for sure but it finally died. Not sure why I never measured it but 3 of us could not reach around it. I also remember cutting some limbs that were almost 24" in diameter. But, death comes to all sooner or later. Now we have several small beech growing. Of course they won't make firewood in my time but will for someone.
That's what was bad about this one. It was solid all the way down. Hurricane Ike's wind took it out at the fork 20 ft up. One branch over 3 ft and the other was over 4 ft. We left the trunk after cleaning up the top. But it never shot a leaf after 2 years so it was cut up.
It can be nasty. If it has ripples on the outside it's as bad as gum inside like this pic Or, it can be gin-clear and bust open with a hatchet. If it has waves on the outside of the round, it's going to be a rough one. Burns good.
