I was given a Red Oak tree by my cousin, if I wanted to cut it down, so yesterday I did, and I split some of it today. But I'm curious what is the best time of year to cut a tree down--that is, when the moisture inside the tree is at its lowest. I always thought that was Feb. but I don't know where I got that idea. Anyway, a tree in the loader bucket is better than one in the woods... or something like that.
I think there was a post a couple years ago, that after a few days of below freezing temps , a great deal of water is evacuated from the tree. I presume it prevents a tree from bursting. asfar as seasonal time, I await other responses
I never really worried about the time of year, I just cut every tree I have the opportunity to cut...... I'm sure the dead of winter is the best time, if a person wants to be particular about it. Anyways, that's a nice bucket o wood you have there!
The best time to cut it is immediately so it starts on its way to dry out. I have weighed many red oak splits the day they were cut and the weight loss over time is always similar, about 40%. No matter what day of the year it was cut.
Thanks SawdustMan and Sourwood. Thanks PaulB, I agree. But 40% is amazing. I knew it was lighter, but I didn't know it was that much lighter.
My preference is when there are no leaves. Makes clean up of the limb wood a little easier. Aside from that, makes no difference to me.
Gramps would girdle a tree during winter; knock bark off around tree with hatchet to kill it! Then drop buck and stack as time permitted. Any Man who processed 35+ cord of wood a year without gas chainsaws or hydraulics; I do not question
It technically would be any winter month when there not actively growing, but I don't think it makes that much difference in the long run. Early Summer months and spring the trees will drip water sitting on log trucks.
I always think of G.O.T.’s “Winterfell,” with the Starks. Winterfell makes sense because the wood will be drier. I think Jan/Feb would be the best time in the northern hemisphere.
Not having access to lots of trees for felling ill take them when i can. I prefer working on firewood in the cold weather. Im sure someone here has an answer.
Who cares about the best time to cut a tree down... I want to know more about that splitter. It looks like a super split on steroids!!!!! More pics and info please... EDIT: nevermind, I found your thread on it. Very impressive sir... My Home Brewed Kinetic Splitter
Thanks. I built it myself out of scrap stuff... a H-beam, and five 1953 Chevy flywheels, a bush-hog blade, an old Army 2-cylinder engine, and a bunch of 2nd-hand, cast-iron, pulleys, an old trailer fender, etc. I patterned it after a splitter I saw in a YT video. It works well on logs less than 12" in diameter. So if I cut down anything over 12", (and I do, a lot), I'll noodle the rounds. Even a 30" round, noodled in half gets split very easily. I'm having a problem with one of the pillow blocks constantly breaking--evidently I didn't get the base where it bolts down completely level, so when it gets tightened, it will break after a few uses. And I've broken one tooth on the pinion gear... don't know how I did that, but it's gone. It doesn't slow down the split tho. I set it up so that if the rack accidently gets dropped on to the spinning pinion, it doesn't throw the rack forward, instead the rack just bounces up and down--that might be what broke that one pinion tooth, but I have a spare pinion gear. If I were doing it again, I'd use a lighter rack.
It's suggested here in WI that you don't 'wound' anything in the red oak family from April until October due to oak wilt. It's a fungal disease that is often spread by beatles getting into the sap or by roots that are interconnected. I know in areas around here the oaks are dying at a pretty good clip. So far mine haven't shown any sign of it but then again I don't walk the whole woods that often. Apparently the white oak family isn't hit as hard. Wish we had some.
I've been getting unreal amounts of dead standing chestnut oak around me. My son started cutting wood recently for his new home about 35 minutes away. Turns out it was the same.
