Last April a tornado came through S.W. Missouri and knocked down a bunch of oak trees on my pal Bob's land. His family owns 600-some acres down in the hills, and parts of the place have never been logged. The land is really hilly--dangerous for logging, and very poor soil--mostly rocks. So the growth rings are close together. This tree would have made excellent lumber or possibly it was even veneer quality. But I needed fire wood. 139 growth rings means it was an acorn in 1880. Here's some more I claimed.
I always think it is cool too think about the manual labor that it took to turn trees to lumber, buildings, firewood, etc. back then. Great pix!
I've been splitting it all by hand, and with this oak it's not hard at all. But I hope to have my splitter finished soon. I bet there were over 100 trees blown down on his place. I counted 60 blowdowns on the ridge I'd been cutting on. Loggers came a few days after I started and took allllll the big stuff. There were oaks over 3 feet in diameter that blew down. I plan on going back as soon as the first hard frost kills all the ticks and chiggers and see what's left.
There was one blowdown I REALLY wanted. It was on a steep hillside--a 55-60 degree slope. I thought and thought for days about how I could get that one cause it was another "veneer" quality tree. I finally figured I could bring log chains use them to keep the tree from sliding down the hillside, and use shorter pieces of 6X6 so the cut-offs wouldn't roll down, and of course do the cutting from the uphill side. So the next day the dern loggers beat me to it! They had a monster logging machine and they just chained it up and dragged it out to the road.
Cold weather doesn't kill ticks, they go dormant/hybernate. Although I think I read somewhere really abnormally cold weather can do them in if they are not in a well protected spot. Like in a laboratory test tube. A couple warm days in January here and the little suckers can be active. Along with a whole bunch of other woodland bugs and critters. I'll throw a can of Deet in with the saw supplies even in Winter on warm days and keep my permethrin soaked shoes and pants up to date year round.
It gets down to zero here during the winter billb3. Sometimes below zero. All I know is after the first hard freeze they never bother me anymore. Thanks Chvymn99 and NYCountry. Most of my my buddy's land is woods--old woods. Lots of hardwood. I only cut the oak. But it seems like the oak was most of what blew down. The root systems on those rocky hillsides are not deep. Most of the trees I noticed that had blown down were healthy ones.
I've never taken the time to count rings, but it is nice to see some of that old growth stuff. That is a great score. Hopefully the loggers don't make to much of a mess before you get back to get more.
those are some nice trees. Straight and knot free. Makes for some easy splitting for sure. I like oak...one good whack (for the most part) with the fiskars. Fellow hand splitter myself. You have your work cut out for yourself. We had a tornado come through May of last year. 15 minutes from here. I havent got much wood from it as most was entangled in back woods of yards. Logistically tough to retrieve. I have to ask JotulYokel , what are the three axe handles in the white bucket?
They are single bit axes. They are all old and the handles are loose in the head, so when I'm splitting I keep them in a bucket of water to swell the handle tight to the head. Since I took that picture I got out my maul and bought some splitting wedges.
Nice trees, looks like you have a great set up. Reminds me of several blow downs we were given earlier this year.
Something interesting happened to this one. As I cut back toward the stump, it rose up into the air--the root mass pulled it vertical again. I wasn't expecting it but it happened just as I lopped off a round, so my chainsaw was clear of the wood.
Yup. Root balls are real heavy. They'll sit right back into their hole once the weight of the tree is removed. Expect it to keep moving
I had a big un last Fall to cut off the rootball. It was a huge red oak 28"DBH if memory serves me correct. I limbed it, then work my way toward the rootball. It pulled up a little, but that was it. I actually took a scissor jack and tried to lift it. Had it on a big pc of 3/4" plywood. No luck and the jack bent. Used an old chain on my big saw to get the last couple rounds off.
The good thing about allowing the blowdown to stay horizontal, and not cutting it at the base of the trunk is it's right at belly level, workbench level.
