Back at the ash salvaging today. This one was pushed down into this swamp last winter. I wish I went for it back then, but what I got today still ranged from fair to excellent. I bucked a couple oak rounds there too, but they were too soft for my liking. I’m not spending extra time hobbling over log piles, dodging greenbrier, and sinking into the muck for marginal firewood.
All of these laughable little scrounges do add up I need to do some rearranging (and serious burning) before I can stack this for the long haul.
A little more ash today, ranging from decent to excellent The bark-on rounds may be smaller, but they are in great shape and the perfect size to split in half before adding it to the stacks. I have a substantial dead ash score I found recently, maybe 15 minutes from home that I’ll hopefully start working soon. Until then, it’s just grab whatever I can whenever I can.
There’s at least 4 ash trees in my domain that are surviving. I know 3 are the ‘autumn purple’ cultivar and I’m wondering if it has some resistance to the borer. It’s weird how others were wiped out dead and these keep coming back.
Not much left here in CT other than seedlings and saplings. Up in the northwest corner of the state there are quite a few healthy more mature trees left, but there's also a very heavy concentration of ash up that way. In my area there's just pockets of them scattered around. I've read the stressed trees get attacked first, then the beetles eventually get the survivors.
A little more dead but solid ash today. I had this loose goal of hoarding a cord of ash this winter, and I think it’s going to happen. Lots of little scrounges lined up in the near future.
I love doing little scrounges- a branch here, a few rounds there. I try to figure how many days or what part of a day's heat I added.
That's exactly my mentality too I don't concern myself too much with cords at a time. A little here, a little there, and the cords tend to take care of themselves.
Totally different concept for me. I usually try and pick the greatest cord amount per score. If I suit up (so to speak), I want to stay that way for a while. Not saying anything wrong with it, just opposite of my routine.
I usually only cut on the weekends, so when I go out, I want the F350 squatting on the way back. But with that said, if I come across some primo wood (Osage) I'll take what I can get.
Getting back into the dead oak mania today. The first 6 rounds were from a downed trunk section but suspended in the air, making for easy cutting. I started bucking this next oak but didn’t have my cant hook with me today. This one's a little punkier on the outside than I'm used to getting, but I'll take it over rounds I have to scrounge off a hill or in a ditch. I’ll finish bucking these rounds and grab them next week.
I had the saw with me but not my milk crate full of tools, extra gas and bar oil. I was trying to minimize the amount of cutting I had to do on site.
Beautiful cutting weather at 19 degrees. Another load of dead ash today. There’s so much here that there’s probably more than I can save before it becomes worthless. I can try though
Scrounging in the snow...now thats dedication. You should start selling some if its ready to go? Sell quarter cords for casual burners? Gives you your fix and a few bucks too.
It seems almost ready to burn. I’ve got 1/3 cord increments advertised on Craigslist since that’s what my truck will haul easily. If someone wants 1/4 I could work out pricing though. Around here most people don’t know what a cord is anyway, much less fractions of a cord LOL. Plenty of dry oak, yellow birch and elm that’s ready to go and I wouldn’t mind parting with. So far the only email I got was a scammer.
I started putting my phone number in my CL ads. Seems to get more responses than just using email. Some older folks still don’t use puters or smart phones. I have not gotten any spam crap from having my # posted in the ad.
