...to get back out and do some firewood. No pictures, but I can assure you all that work was done. The weather here in VT was cooperative for early August, my kids ages 10 and 12 came out and helped, we got about a cord of old rounds split and stacked in the wood shed. Old rounds being a haphazard pile that had been sitting for at least two years, maybe three. Mix of pine, cottonwood, black locust, ash and silver maple, with a few oddball bits for good measure (found some cherry and butternut too). With the exception of the cottonwood, which was mostly rotten, the sapwood was all pretty solid. I will say that any rounds touching the ground, no matter how old they are, simply won't dry. Some had water still squeezing out of them after over two years. Kind of fun to crank out splitting and stacking for a couple of hours and then go jump in the pool. Can't really do that in November. I also cut a bunch of small (4" - 6") sugar maples down that were starting to shade my garden and septic system a little too much. They will be accompanied later this fall by a couple of larger 12" cherry trees, and a humongous silver maple that has to go. Probably 42"+ on the stump. That will get some photos for sure.
Yes, that wood that touches the ground (especially dirt ground) just never seasons out... I'm WAAAAAY behind in my splitting duties. WAAAAAY behind....
Same here... I'm behind in splitting too. So many fun things to do in summer. Luckily I won't need any of that unsplit wood until winter 2018-19. Now, I do have to cut down that leaner ash tree and get it to my buddy's house to trade him for 3 yr seasoned red oak, and also cut that big dead elm down to use the top this year.
I have so much in the woods right now that it hurts just thinking about it. Still 8-10 cords of beech and soft maple sitting on the ground, tree length, since late fall of 2016. Need to get it cut and split this fall. Also have to take out 8-10 large maples and cherry trees near my house, probably half a cord of wood apiece (or more). A bunch of dead ash in the woods, along with smaller hop hornbeams, red pines, one diseased black birch and a very dead chestnut oak. I've got easy 20+ cords needing to be C/S/S over the winter. The little pile of rounds I worked on is just the tip of the iceberg. My biggest problem seems to be not processing the wood when it's felled. Although I did buck up a soft (red) maple that was sitting on the ground in the woods for the past three years, thinking it was junk, and it was still nice and solid. A little spalted sapwood but no significant rot.
Jon, I try to leave the dead stuff stand as long as possible until I can process it. Unfortunately I have had some in the past that got punky from leaving it on the ground. I don't do that anymore.
Here's a picture of my current processing area and the pile of rot I'm working through. This wood has been sitting here for the better part of three years and two full winters, but there is surprisingly little of it that is too rotten to use. One thing I have definitely discovered is that wood just doesn't dry well if not properly split and stacked. A few of the smaller rounds are dry, especially if they were buried in the middle of the pile and not exposed to a lot of weather. The biggest rounds in the picture are either ash (which is fine) or silver maple (which is mostly rot), all in the 22" - 24" diameter range. So wet I can't pick them up.
As you said, it just takes a long time for logs to dry if they are not CSS and they rot while they are doing it. So you lose BTU's. Here's a red oak I've been meaning to process for a couple of years. Finally got to it. Rotten in places and the sapwood is gone. I find that the punk is okay to burn as long as it's top covered for a couple of months as it dries quickly in the warm temps and top covering prevents it from soaking up more moisture.. The carpenter ants weren't too happy about me taking this one. Cutting and burning the dead and down stuff will let me season some of my wetter stacks (trees that were felled alive and then immediately C/S/S) for a full three years.
I know what you mean I have a lot of trees in the woods that are dead or dying I got some dead elm out this winter but there are a lot of ash and pines that are dead and the hardhack gets just so big and falls over there is also a bunch of soft maple and beech that is on the ground that is probably going to be punky I will cut into it and see if it is ok. I have the White oak that fell to get out at least that is off the ground. Hopefully we have good wood cutting weather this Fall.
Got the youngest son (he'll be 13 this coming Sunday) to put in some time on the firewood hoard. Set up right with proper PPE, but the kid insists on wearing shorts. Those half rounds in the background, he picks 'em right up and lays them on the splitter. 24" in diameter, wet maple and ash. Next year I'll let him drive the tractor. He's short for his age so he has to be able to demonstrate the ability to fully depress all the pedals.
Managed to put in one day this weekend working on the firewood stacks. Lately I've been cutting, splitting and just dumping it in the woodshed with the tractor, but Sunday's weather was spittin' raindrops and so we stayed "inside". "Inside" means under the roof of the woodshed, hand-splitting small rounds and stacking next year's wood. I am only one year ahead with cut wood, so I have to get the woodshed filled before snow. We managed to get just over two cords stacked and I can finish the rest this week. I set up the tractor with a nice LED lightbar, it will light up the woodshed like daylight. Working after dark now, with the shift back to standard time. Hard to tell but each row is 6-1/2' tall, 16' long and 20" deep.
Yes, locust poles. Buried 42" in the ground. I figure they'll be there long after I become worm food. Got some hassle from the town auditor this past spring, he wanted to know why I didn't have a permit for the "building" you see in the pictures. I said it's a cover for my woodpile, nothing more. No walls, no floor, no utilities. Surprisingly, that was enough to satisfy him.
Yes they should last a long time. The towns always want to get their Tax dollars like we don't already pay enough!
