I posted in a thread "3-year plan" back in November about how our land (technically, my father's property) was going to be logged for red oak during the winter. Well, the logger is just finishing up, my dad's been paid, and he's happy. However, the logger, neat as he was, still left a godawful mess in the woods. Dad told him to drop and leave everything he didn't take, so there are dozens of oak tops all over the woods. Some of them probably have a cord apiece in them, the trees being over 2' DBH. Problem is, for every tree he dropped, a few more came down. Some he got lucky and managed to drop without significant damage to other trees. A few of them were dropped and took out a dozen more smaller trees, roots and all. We're going to be cleaning up this mess for a long time. I will take photos when I start in on this project. For now I have to figure out where I'm going to put the wood, as most of it is going to have to dry for at least two full years. There are a dozen more species as collateral damage that I am going to collect as well, but I already have 2018-2019 wood in the shed. There is at least 30 cords of wood on the ground by my wild guess, and could be a lot more that I haven't even seen yet. The really fun part is yet to come. Dad has 50+ cords of pulp pine that is being removed starting next week, and all the tops and smaller stuff is being left as firewood as well. I am half-tempted to let it rot. I don't have time or equipment to deal with that much wood, especially pine, when I have oak on the ground already. Dad is retired and has a lot of time on his hands to just pick away at it, but I don't. I need a system that will work for both of us, minimize rot or waste, and still allow for both of us to be efficient. We don't really want to handle it any more than necessary and definitely don't want to have to stack it more than once. Any great ideas on how to deal with all of this? One thought was to cut it all into 10-12' lengths, or however long makes sense, and stack it on poles right in the woods. It won't dry well, but it won't rot as fast, and I can come back to it as needed. Or, I can buck and split it all and then just make a few huge piles somewhere, maybe even on pallets, and leave it sit for a couple of years. I have access to 15-20 free pallets every month and can get more. Was thinking that a grid of pallets, maybe 3 wide x 6 long, and a "wall" of vertical pallets around the whole thing, would hold maybe 8 cords of wood. Good for a year's worth of burning, anyway. We could leave them in random places around the woods.
Jon, that sounds like a real mess and I hate it when fellers take out other trees. Your father should have charged them for that! It always looks like a big mess after logging but 30 cord is not that much. It will take some time to clean it up but it will be some top notch firewood and for sure take that rather than the pine. As for the wood rotting, all tops I doubt you'll get much rot for a long time. If it takes a couple years to get it all cut up, I would not worry about rot. But if you want to pull out 8' or longer logs, you can just stack them up by laying down 2 logs and stacking others on top of those 2. If those 2 were to rot some, I'd be willing to bet they would still be worth burning. I got some red oak from a neighbor and it had been laying right on the ground for around 10 years. Very, very little had gone bad; 99% of it was just fine. Good luck.
Maybe trade some away in exchange for help processing? Have a couple guys come help you for a day, split what gets processed with them. As you get caught up, you can finish it off yourself with dad as time allows.
When my dad had the woods on our family farm logged back in the early '80's it too looked a terrible total mess. But boy did that woods come alive with wildlife like never before! Rabbits, birds, deer, they all embraced the piles of tops. We also cut for years on those tops.
I did a bit of logging on my property last year. Had a few of my FHC brothers stop by early in the summer and we put close to 50 trees on the ground that weekend. But I kept all the logs myself for lumber. My neighbor parked his wood-mizer over here and I spent most of my summer skidding logs out to feed the mill. I found in most cases I had no choice but to deal with the tops at the same time, cause they were usually laying on the next log. Or of they weren’t laying on top, I couldnt get around them anyway. The system I settled on was to basically start at the beginning. Skid the tops right out after the logs. Cut the firewood into consistent lengths for nice stacking, and burn the brush. Rinse, repeat.
Just try to remember that logging jobs aren’t supposed to look neat and orderly and that no matter what they always look better than a littered parking lot enclosed by a chain link fence.
I do, but I don't have any of those ex$pen$ive attachments such as a grapple or forestry winch. I have a bucket, forks and a carry-all. No burning, but my father and I share a decent wood chipper (DR 18-hp tow-behind). It will chip up to 4" but I tend to keep anything 2" or larger. I guess I need to be a little less uptight about this. I knew the mess was gonna happen, just was hoping the logger would be a little more careful is all. And it's going to be like eating an elephant - one bite at a time until it's gone (or it rots!).
I have worked several different woods that have been logged and this about sums it up. The first year is like a kid in a candy store, after a summer of green growth, jaggers and such it is not quite as fun. I would definitely recommend pulling as many large pieces out in a central location first then you can work from there because you will loose track of some in the undergrowth if not.
I guess because of what my profession was for decades I have a different view. What A Blessing !! All that money in the bank. AND you have a tractor with forks !!!! And a chipper. Wow !!! You goter made !! Easy pie !!
If you have friends or family that burn invite them out. On more than on occasion I’ve cut tops for people I found on Craigslist. One time I paid 8 bucks a cord, about a year ago I cut some for free. The land owner just wanted his property cleaned up. He had a handful of guys cutting for him. He had a couple areas that he had marked for his own but we had access to the rest. He felt it was better to see it get used rather than let it rot. He felt he was already compensated when the trees were logged and just wanted the mess gone.
