If you blow 3 wedges trying to split 1 round its time to noodle it or go to a hydraulic wood splitter. Your back will thank you.
Luckily I don't have much. Maybe a half cord but sure would love to blow some tax bucks on that but alas not much this year!
When you find oak here its good, like you don't find them often. Mostly transplanted and sometimes thats good sometimes not so much(cut because of..bugs or whatnot) but it is the wait that others are not sure of. I saw someone say that they had oak and cut it down last year because the tree was dying but even then that would take another 2 years depending on the water content.
Looks like I'll be able to pick up another load today after work. I Wish I had a set of hands so we could share but I don't see any hoarders super near me plus this stuff is just beyond heavy at the last heave-ho! When I got that load done on Tuesday night, just missed the downpour of the century, daughter was watching Papa work in the high chair unloading the wood. I picked her up put her in the garage, its lightly sprinkling. From the time I stepped in the doorway set her down and turned around to go lock up the gate and whatnot it was pouring so hard I should have grabbed the soap for a shower. Knew it was coming too.
Hey your living on the wet side of the cascades. Is there any madrone in your neighborhood? Thats some nice firewood, i have friends in the eugene oregon area that burn madrone and love it.
We do have this here but not where im living currently. Its up there with hedge and believe you me its very hot stuff. Sparingly if possible. I know my parents have some in their 'woods' I hope to actually cut some out. Its fantastic stuff my parents have a story about it. Dad loaded up a woodburner back when they were my age full of madrone not knowing its ability to burn so hot. Glowed redder than a tomato, they stayed up that night until the fire died down.
I added another trailerful load of this stuff, I noticed a cool thing with the wood that I have wondered if this makes Oak a sure sign. When the tree was felled, the bark came off at places and left the wood exposed. It has these indentations like someones kid took a flathead screwdriver to it. Sure is an interesting grain. On another note my saw did get some work done but its not cutting it for a lack of a better term. Im in need of a saw that doesn't get out of breath so quick. Might be needing a tune up or clean up but if I want to get this done I need a grinder saw. Might also take notice in a splitter rental for a day, get my racks and rounds ready and stack. Looking to be around a cord or so.
That's just strange to me, the bark does not look like oak at all, but the cross-grain section has the medullary rays like oak.
Here's a thought, I asked about wood ID for random wood in the pile and a couple things I learned were about the wood bark that shows Mature and Immaturity. The more scaly bark was mature and the smooth was immature and the consensus told me I had cherry.(Im just using this as an example it doesn't apply to all trees this way) I had two different kinds of bark so I realized that my struggle to figure this out was just a learning process. The trees for this area must be exhibiting more immature bark because they may be able to grow faster in a wetter climate. Not necessarily true for all but these homes aren't all that old that were part of the process to figure out their age. If I end up going back I will snap one more picture of the main stump. The main stump closer to the ground shows its bark starting to "fissure" or pop open and look like open scars and are about 1 to 3 inches long. Given that the climate here is also a bit warmer in humidity yearround may also contribute to this faster growth. lots of trees here have been cut down are often new growth trees since all the old ones have been logged. If you look at trees often on the mideast and common oak areas, these are likely to be old oaks, slow growing. They may not be As big but they are definitely Older than the oaks here.' Plus when the mercury doesn't plummet past single digits much, growth isn't slowed down much. This winter, the coldest around here probably could have been 15 degrees and that was a freezing period only over a week's time. Hauling this wood back and forth to my pallets is showing another trait: it is incredibly heavy. Most of my life I have carried pine or fir and these are heavy when wet but after a couple months in the sun, they get a lot easier to handle. An oak log about 8 inches across and maybe 4 feet long was just about the heaviest wood Ive ever lifted. l've also felt the tangibility of the wood, how it sounds, its becoming all a different sensation and Possibly just making my addiction worse. I apologize for the ramble but when you're deaf, you start noticing a lot of details and that information flows when its new and kind of exciting. I'll wait the 3+ years for this....I was telling myself yesterday that since this was cut in March on a Monday, I'll be able to burn this in the year 2020 in the Summer on a Sunday and enjoy this a great deal. Its a great debate and I've loved everyone's input and terms as well.
