Power lines run adjacent to our property and as part of preventative measures, the power company has plans to remove three trees in the yard. One is a big oak that lost its top before we moved in, and another is a smallish ash that is dying (emerald ash borer victim). The third is another large oak. The contractor says they will leave everything over 8" diameter but will cut what's left to Firewood lengths. They should drop the trees in a couple of weeks. A co-worker will be bringing his splitter to help out and split the wood. I've agreed to give him about half. He heats primarily with wood. Either way, I think we'll be set for a while. Any guess as to how much wood I'm looking at here? In a bit I may go out and try to measure diameters of the trees... The other issue is redoing my stacks to withstand the potential flooding. I'm thinking of just completely enclosing wood in pallet "cubes". That should keep it all together and be able to withstand flood events. Pics were taken this AM from the kitchen...
Sweet. My guess is between 2.5 and 3 cords. I would talk to them about your preference on what "firewood length" should be. If they cut them just a little too long for either your stove or your buddies stove, you could have a mess on your hands.
Make sure they know you want it cut to 16" or what ever length you use, And you'd like the wood down to 3" diameter. Tree companies don't care what length its get cut, and recutting 24'' rounds down to 16 is a major pain. Great score!!
Yeah. Less than 8" diameter is still fine wood to burn. Be happy for what they're leaving, but you might as well get as much as you can. Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk
Yeah. I'm going to take off of work that day to make sure they cut to 16". I'm sure they'd leave more if I ask. I'm just trying to figure out where to load the wood and how much I can reasonably store. I guess if I have to split and stack anyways, might as well take smaller diameter pieces too. Right?
I think I would tell them to leave it for me down to 4 or 5 inches diameter. It will save them hauling tons of wood chips.
The 4 man crew came today and started on the biggest of the trees. It took a good bit of effort to get everything set up. They had to thread a throw bag (is that what it's called?) through a few trees to get started. They used a rope from the neighbor's big maple to control the fall of branches. Most of the wood is actually in the neighbor's yard. One climber did about everything. There are two more trees to do so hopefully they crank them out. A buddy with a splitter is going to come over and help me with it in exchange for wood. I'm assuming the crew will be back Monday to finish up.
I'm loving the Local Utilty, they are doing the same around us. Hoping to score some more oak in the future myself. You will have a good amount of lumber there, great score.
Man just cutting up some of my oak today and gosh its still so heavy!!! I mean this was cut in Feb. whew. 2 years..10 months.
nice! Ive been seeing a guy a few towns over from mine posting on CL with a HUGE pile of white oak in tree length in his front yard. He says 50-60 trees, right on the side of the road for easy loading too! I just wish I had the room to let it dry, but I need to focus on the next two winters. I already have 6 cords of oak for 19-20 Definitely some heavy stuff when its green, isnt it?
I was loading the rounds into the wheelbarrow for the stacking. Some of these weren't that big across. The oak was salvaged a lot I mean a Lot. Branches were 1 inch across all over. Im seeing here that 4-5 inches is kept and the rest tossed. That inch stuff I grabbed could get pretty tidy in a stove. Anyways loaded a split about 4 inches and let go and it pushed my finger against another round smashing it. The density of this wood is going to take some getting used to.
You're gonna regret leaving that there by the way....but looks like you need some wood that will season faster yeah?
Lucky you! I don't have much oak and I'm pretty sure the ones I have are red and white oak. None are as big as the one in your pics. I've got a small oak crowding a larger one I want to cut down next fall and it's only 8" or so dba. The monsters here are maples, beech, shag bark, tulip poplar and hackberry. The AF base I work at further south has LOTS of big oaks...
I think I may have to tap into this before three years though. We hardly burn and went thru a half cord this winter. I have a hair over a cord of locust that should last to 2019. On another note, I chickened out and didn't request to keep stuff down to 4 inches. Just concerned about getting it all split and cleared out of the yard. The munchkins are climbers...
I'd say even down to 2.5", but yes, the logic is still that they'll have to grind up way less and then haul way less away.
Yeah, looking like its going to be lots of Maple for this coming year at this point. I have about 3 cords of it so far, including the cord I brought in today. I need to concentrate on getting everything split and stacked now or my wife is going to kill me. I have about 4 cords total in different parts of the yard that need to be processed, or stacked. Then I can start hunting again. Once I have my three year plan in place, then I will think about oak again. I can stack rounds in the woods on the edge of the conservation land behind my house. I can easily hide 15-20 cords out there with minimal effort.
Im kinda in the same place but I don't have a wife to say "hey get moving!" Just myself but at least I know what you mean. Its just stuff that needs splitting and stacking and put the dang stuff away.
