Got a call from a buddy that he was cutting down some red oak for a mutual friend, and that the friend wanted the wood gone. "I'm there!" I said. Dropped by after work and the three of us bucked up some 16" rounds of some beautiful straight-grained red oak. I'll tell ya, after trying to split some concrete-hard, knotty, uncooperative maple over the past couple months, this oak was just what the doctor ordered. Our friend was doing his part with a small electric saw, and when there was enough on the ground I started splitting the rounds in half so I could lift them into the truck. Well, this guy had never split wood before, so we let him take a few swings. Reminded me of watching a little kid throw a baseball for the first time. Hey, I don't judge the guy! We all have to learn sometime! So we gave him a few pointers and he started to get it, but definitely needs practice. I'm certainly not going to "bite the hand that feeds me" and rag on the dude that's giving me a ton of wood. Well, unfortunately my Nissan Frontier only has a 5' bed, so as usual I'll be making an infinite amount of trips to pick up this oak. I know, I know.... "Rainking, get a trailer!" or "Get a bigger truck Rainking!" Well, you go to war with the army you have. At the end of the day I had way too much fun bucking up trees and teaching a greenhorn how to split. Tried to explain this to my wife and she'll never, ever understand. Hoard on my friends. Stay classy and be kind!
Oh man, that is a perfect firewood tree right there! Nice score & good on ya for teaching a noob. We all learned from scratch at some point.
Great score on the wood! Congratulations. And yes, sometimes we just make do with what we have and accept it. That does not make it bad. Good on you for teaching the new guy a bit. That can be fun and satisfying too.
Red oak is the perfect practice wood. I've given a few splitting lessons to homeowners, and once, a UPS guy. I can sympathize with the multiple trips, too!
Way to go! Thats some primo wood. Nothing like splitting red oak. After trying to split gnarly maple i wouldve been all over that too. How many trips do you think it will take rainking63 ? How close to home?
It's only about 15 minutes from my house. I head over after work, but I can't make it out there every day. All this rainy weather isn't making things any easier, either. Unsure how many trips it will be. I told the guy that he doesn't need to wait around for me to come grab it all, and he's taking down more trees every weekend, so there will be plenty.
Great score! Too bad you couldn't mill some of that. Like others have said that's perfect firewood trees.
I had to laugh seeing the back of your SUV loaded with wood My last vehicle was a beater car; a 2003 Mazda Protégé hatchback. There were a couple dozen times when I had that little car squatted right down to the pavement with giant chunks of maple, beech, or oak. One of the last trips of that kind I accidentally blew out the glass on the hatch when I closed it too fast without seeing if the logs were pushed in enough... shortly thereafter I bought myself a truck lol
