I have a friend who's looking to sell his house. He asked if I would remove some oak rounds that he had cut a while back. Yeah, if you really want me too! So I had to drive about 45 minutes to his house, which is much farther than I normally do, but when I got there the wood was already piled and sawed up. He even helped me split a couple of larger rounds and load. Here is the load stacked on the truck. Then I went to see another friend about both of us tackling this monster in the National Forest, which is at least 30 inches in diameter. He thinks we can do it so we'll give it a shot in about a week or two. The tree at the center of the pic is the one we're getting, it's enormous. Completely dead too. Then I came home, played with the kids, walked the dog, worked in the garden, mowed the grass, and still had a couple hours of daylight left. So the pile that I got at the beginning of the day ended the day like this. And here's my help for the day. After following me around all day she was so tired you'd think she did the splitting.
Nice score. Nice pics Dogs says it hot ! Waiting for the pics of the 30" er. that will grow the wood stacks !
Thanks Dave! It was actually about as good a day for splitting as we can get in June in Virginia. I got a shady spot and there was a breeze blowing, after about 6 it was really nice. I'm kind of nervous about that large tree so my friend and I will tackle it together. Should be at least a cord for each of us.
Where is that widow maker coming in from? Looks like it is broken up a good 15' or so. Or is the widow maker the one you are getting?
Dog is thinking "If I only had thumbs, I would have helped ya with the splittin' don't ya know...". Nice score, red oak.
Just wondering why you are so nervous about a 30" diameter tree? Shoot, you can cut that with a 16" bar. In addition, it does not look like there is much top there and this is how they usually work out when inside the woods line.
Easy access to the 30" dia. monster in the forest? Something that big I wouldn't want to invest too much manual labor into unless I could work on it right where it is. 30" and dead standing will definitely work in your favor, what species is it?
The tree I'm getting is to the right of that one. I'm hoping it will fall without hitting the widow maker at all.
2 reasons mostly. The first is that the tree is not exactly straight, it grows toward the uphill at the bottom, and then the top curves back a bit downhill. I THINK it will fall downhill but I'm not 100% sure. Second, there are a couple of limbs at the very very top, and I don't think they'll fall while cutting. For both, I would just like another set of experienced eyes.
It is red oak I'm pretty sure, I'll let you know for sure when I split and smell it! Yes it is easy access. It is off of a forestry road and if it falls downhill will be easy to roll the rounds to the truck. To lift it on the truck I'll have to quarter the rounds and take some Ibuproffen.
Yeah I haven't cut anything over 20" for a long time, 30" would be a fun challenge & would & having 2 guys there will make it safer. Dead standing can be brittle too & the hinge can break early, an extra set of eyes will be nice.
