I dropped some Ash and drug it out to the meadow to buck and split. My woodshed is almost full and I'm wanting to build a couple more drying sheds around in the woods for storage of some of the green wood I need to cut to cull out sections of the woods.
Those are some really nice looking chunky splits you have there.... Motivational for me... I need to get out this weekend.
nice looking load of wood MAF143. Most of the dead ash around here loses the bark when split. Nice looking shed as well (in your avatar)
Glad to encourage you to get out there Fanatical. This is my favorite time of year here in Ohio with the early Spring surface mud starting to dry out. It has been pretty sloppy and soupy with mud till this last couple of weeks. The last few days have been t-shirt weather to boot (at least when you're out there working hard). I'm trying to get ahead on the firewood so I can spend some time cutting some lumber on the sawmill to get a shed up around it also. I enjoy being out in the woods. I had put the shorter bar back on the MS391 with a semi chisel chain to buck this pile of logs. Nothing over 12" or so in this lot. That saw responded well to the muffler mod I did to it over the winter. It's heavier than the MS250 but it rips through this firewood size stuff really fast. I enjoy the cutting, but I enjoy the "done" even better... Last week I had spent the evenings out culling out some live Beech trees over in another section of the woods. I cut and split that and put it up to dry for a couple years out. Some of this Ash will go in the 2019-2020 winter shed. I'm always behind but I'm working hard to get caught up to a full 3 year plan. We have lots of Honey Locust here that I'm culling out to make more room for the walnut and oaks. I turn the straight sections of the HL into boards and posts, but the knarley stuff gets cut and split for firewood. The HL for sure takes at least a couple years to dry out even in good drying conditions. Thats why I'd like to get some more drying sheds or at least pavillions around in the woods to be able to stash more green stuff to dry.
Thanks for the compliments and likes. buZZsaw, that wood shed is just 20' from the walk in basement doors. Just inside those doors is the woodstove and 2 large wood racks for indoor storage for warm and super dry wood right before it goes in the stove. This shed typically never sees any green wood. It only sees dry dead Ash or other woods that have been drying for a season or two over by the big barn. This woodshed and the racks in the basement are enough to get us through a full hard winter. This shed holds 3 rows of 22" splits 16' long and 7' tall. The two racks in the basement hold 15 days of wood each at full throttle burning during the cold weather. I try to get as much of the bark off that I can when splitting it, but some of it just won't budge and I'm not gonna spend much time on trying... I prefer the bark gone cuz it dries better / quicker without it, but by the time it gets to the woodstove here, it's pretty dry with or without the bark. This picture is from before I put the front awning on it to keep what little rain and snow that got to the wood out. The back side is to the west and the prevailing winds coming up the hill come up throught the floor between the boards and in under the roof to dry the wood out pretty good. The diaginal metal straps stiffened the structure up a lot. There is a lot to be said about the structural strength of a triangle. There are two of these racks in the basement. The old woodstove is still setting there and may get moved to a workshop / garage someday... During the dead of winter when the stove has the secondaries burning good and the primary shut down, the wood in the wood racks is getting almost "kiln" dried for 15 days or so before it gets burned.
Very nice set up.... And thanks for the great pics. We do things very similarly... I cull trees also, mostly bigtooth Aspen, tulip and sycamore. Beech stays, although they do seem insect prone and I prefer oak, hickory and cherry (no walnut here). The reality is, I have more enough normal damaged or down trees to provide all my firewood and then some. Sounds like a few more outside stacks or wood sheds would work for you. My wood goes from outside stacks, to undercover racks to inside rack. I would prefer a wood shed, but I make do with my undercover racks.
A great Ash bark remover. If it isn't loose score it with the saw then push with the scraper. This one is $8.50 plus tax At true value Hardware store. It has a 7 foot handle but I cut mine down to a bit over 5' and put a D handle on it. It is also a great tool for removing Posin Ivy vines off trees before falling. Al
Looks like the ground is not so soft any more down there. That is good! Good getting the ash too. You are also right on for the triangle strength!
Have you ever processed the wood in the woods MAF143, stacked it off the ground and covered it til you get to it later? Ive done that with some dead ash in recent years. Problem is i can only get it out with a wheelbarrow!
That is one of the ways I do it now. I have some trails back through the woods and I have a carry all that I can load cut wood on till the front wheels of Fergy come off the ground. I guess the real reason I want more woodsheds is I just like building things... LOL I could take pallets back and do the stacks and tarp the tops or even put up a large tarp like a dining fly and stack under that.
Split up a second load of ash this evening. I finished up the ash and it will go in the "dry" shed. What is left on the ground is some green wood of some trees I cut to make a path through that section of woods for the tractor. I'll split that and put it over by the barn to dry for a season or two.
