Went out yesterday afternoon with chaps and other safety gear on. Worked with the property owner for about 3 hours with a saw each of us. Got quite a bit more ash. This is my wood to split in October and November when work slows down. Get the ash while it's available. Not that there's any shortage of wood to be had around.
Don't love working with the big stuff to be honest. I find I spend alot more effort than getting the same volume of little stuff.
Yeah, but at least it's Ash, so it's not tough to bust 'em in half with a maul to make 'em easier to handle. You get a lotta wood outta one of those big rounds. I've seen it a couple times, but that has a bit darker center than the White Ash I usually see here.
I had my chain sharpener with me. I sharpen my chains often when I'm cutting. I'm weird that way, but I either dull them or I get too impatient with a less than perfectly sharp chain.
The Ash are dieing like crazy around here. I thought that I could wait a couple of years and have wood to burn for a while, but the trees are going faster than I can use them. damm EAB.
Nice catch, firecracker. At least the big ash rounds are prolly lighter than same size fresh maple rounds would be.
There is absolutely nothing weird about that. I don't remember a time going to cut wood without a way to sharpen the chain. Sometimes it needs to be sharpened, sometimes not, but I go prepared.
They aren't keeping at all around here. Every Ash that has come into the mill this year had the beetle tracks underneath the bark. 80% of them in the woods are defoliated or already dead. But, if you can get them split and stacked, it will last a while. FWIW, in my opinion, White ash is my favorite and, the best firewood out there. I'm going to miss it. God Bless
I usually dull a chain prett quickly. Either I hit dirt or it just seems to not hold an edge. I'm sure there could be better technique to prevent it, but the chain sharpener doesn't take too long.
Love me some "Ash". I usually take a file and a dremel with a power converter in the truck and can put that chain back in order very quickly.
I like the large branches in the truck. One split and it's done. The bigger trunk pieces do require a bit more muscle.
Yes, they defoliate and all have the roadmaps under the bark but what I was getting at is that they will stand for many years and the wood will still be good to burn. We did however start having some fall last year due to rot below the ground and the roots just break off.
You should soon get a feel for where the nose of that bar is and keep it out of the dirt. It will also save you dollars because the chain will last much longer. Remember that every time you sharpen the chain, you are removing a piece of it. Sharpen when needed but do what you can to keep it out of dirt or hitting stones, etc. Technique!
I split for about 3 hours last night about half of last week's ash score with the Huskee 22 ton. This morning, I saw at a city park about 1,000 pounds worth of large ash branches that I cut and took. About 50% full on an 8 foot bed in total with the morning score. I will say this about ash. I love it for it's heat output and seasoning time. The big rounds can be very stringy and difficult to work with. Compared to locust, red oak, and cherry....large ash rounds remind me of elm in stringiness sometimes.
