The 6-legged carpenters, that is. Spent time this morning felling a couple of trees. Maple, I believe. Stumps left behind -
I noticed the tree a couple of years ago. It had a few vertical splits that I could see right through. Not sure how it got that way. I should have felled it then, before the ants got to it. Oh well.. I split the worse of it for kindling. I ended up felling two trees, because the one got hung up. Glad I did, as I could see the ants had started on the second one.
I've cut some dead trees down that were hollow and split open like that before...almost dry enough to burn when it hit the ground!
Some good looking wood, well what's left of it. Make sure there are no more critters in there before taking it indoors
You raised an eyebrow, hardly a problem though. I'm an non-union carpenter in MA. The 6 legged type ate ok if you catch the victim in time. By the looks of your pics it looks like your doing ok. Heat is heat and free heat is even better. Looking good!!
I was hoping to catch more than a few folks with the subject line That wood will sit where it is for a couple of years, at least. When splitting it and finding the hibernating ants, I split those splits thinner than I normally do, to be able to shake all them buggers out, before stacking. Found the nests in both trees. I scatter Spectracide any granules around and within my stacks. Don't want anything taking up residence, aside from a rodent here n there. It's not an amount or size of others around here, but it'll provide a week's worth of heat when it done aging. Not bad for 3.5 hrs of effort. I have my eyes on a dead ash, oak, and another maple on my property. All close to my stacks and lots bigger than today's two maples. They are all leaners, and will need my friend to be with me to spot what's going on. A come along will also be used to make sure they all fall where they need to. Maybe in a week or two.
Inside looks like old birch here, hollow down low & punky centers in the middle . Still some good btus there. Should dry fast
