Not really firewood but at least it was chainsaw fun

Got to cut some Cedar trees that came down in a windstorm. This was my half, 5 ten footers and the top one is eight ft. My buddy took most of the rounds. Unfortunately one tree was split down the middle so we just cut it into 16in split up rounds. Could be posts, beams, landscape logs, split rails, saw logs, benches or cookies or whatever. I will figure out something creative to do with them. As a last resort, put them on Craig's List. People go nuts about Cedar around here! Couldn't let the stumper just grind them up!

 

Just once I’d like to get ahold of a tree that straight.

 

Build another wood shed!

 

Definitely some nice straight sticks there. Keep us posted (pun intended) on what comes of them.

 

Why do you say not really firewood? I love my juniper and granted it does pop a bit but the smell is fantastic, especially for outdoor burning.

 

What species of cedar? Is it common place to burn it there? Some nice straight poles.

 

Great score!

 

Cedar is EXCELLENT for Kindling, but it burns pretty fast for sustaining wood, definitely NOT Overnight burning wood. It lights very easily, and isn’t bad for ash, my Wife LOVES burning Cedar. It isn’t something that I would haul home from the woods, but we had 3 Large Cedars ( about 24-28”DBH/85’-110’ Tall) removed from our yard, I milled some, still have some logs left to mill, and about 1 1/2 cords became BTU’s. My Best Friend and the neighbors across the street both took down a Cedar, those both became BTU’s.

I won’t go looking for it, but in my yard or across the street, it is better to make BTU’s out of it, rather than bills to haul it away. Burning it while watching TV ( The Wife is a Hallmark Christmas Movie Addict, think CAD but HM Movies) saves the Better wood for Colder weather and overnight burning

I don’t mind burning Cedar, but would rather utilize my limited storage space and TIME for better wood, but Free is Free


Doug

 

That is one of the Nice things about our Softwoods here way out West, Lots and LOTS of nice straight trees, fall em, walk the tree buzzing off branches, leaving those in the forest, and you are bucking up telephone poles.
Nope, Not the BTU’s of Oak, Hickory or Osage Orange, but Process and Season Fast. A year is plenty to season most of our wood


Doug

 

Your post was perfect timing. I had bought a dozen cedars for 10 bucks a few months ago, biggest was 14dbh, bucked em up and just split them the other day. My intent was kindling for next year, but curious what every one else does with them. Really wanting the smell more thn anything. We have a stove, so wont get much smell outta it. Will the year old kindling still smell when it comes inside?

 

I am loving the dry spruce that I have right now. It really is nice to mix the spruce with some black locust or maple. The spruce burns fast and hot and I get a nice bed of embers going....and since I make an upside down fire in a fireplace, it makes the hardwoods burn hotter right from the get go. I would be in some major trouble were it not for finding that ginormous load of spruce back in March. C/s/s only 9 months ago and it's at 12%.

Getting this spruce was one of the reasons I ended up buying the Champion 34-ton hydro. I got the spruce on 3-11-2020 and my hydro was delivered 3-31-202. It was just impossible to do by hand with all those crazy knots in there. Plus I had a huge load of pin oak to deal with and that was impossible for me as well to do by hand.

In the 2nd pic that entire strip by the side of the road was full of spruce. The big boys were further down.

 

We got about 6 cords of Norway Spruce in 2016, a guy on CL or OfferUp had it, he had 5 large trees taken down, and didn’t burn, just wanted them to go away.

They were 30”+ and I KNOW what you mean about the knots, we rented a 25 ton Speeco, and bought our 27 ton DHT shortly after that. Some of the knots in that Spruce brought that Speeco to its knees, it split them all, but Really struggled with some


Doug

 

When I first got the spruce I swore never again......

And yet tomorrow at 10am I'm going to pick up some more spruce!!

 

Spruce does just Fine heating a home, if Marty was to call and say “I have another 6 cords on the ground for ya”, I would be back in a Hurry.

It seasoned fast, burned well, was FREE, and Marty was a very Pleasant and Enjoyable Person to deal with. He let us bring the splitter and trailer right up to the wood, helped load the trailer, repeatedly offered us cold drinks, and access to his bathroom, the logs were already bucked into rounds, that were cut SQUARE and in consistent firewood lengths, you sure couldn’t ask for any more, and he was already well past what I would have expected, he didn’t want money for it, and was Happy that we were able to put it to good use. We sent him a Thank You card, with Red Lobster and Movie Theater gift cards in it

Marty mentioned that he had several calls that weren’t interested in the FREE Firewood, when they found out that HE wasn’t going to SPLIT and DELIVER it for FREE


Doug

 

Wow that sounds like a good dude to know. I'm sure he was super happy to get rid of it. I guess he doesn't burn. Curious why the rounds were cut square though - was he using the slices that he cut off for, say, kindling?

Your comment regarding the bathroom reminds of a guy who came to my house so I could install a push button start panel for his Mini Cooper.......and all of a sudden he disappeared and I found him behind the garage peeing on my garage. I was like "DUDE! WTF? You could have just asked to use the bathroom."

Also initially I said never again to spruce because my rounds were cut inexplicably tall (24" with 24-30" DBH) which necessitated splitting in half before I could lift it into the truck. But now I know how awesome it is to get the fire up and running.......and get it nice and hot for the hardwoods to burn later on.

 

With all of that is just laying there, how many trips did you make?

 

Sorry, I didn’t word that well, I meant a proper 90 degree cut, not that the wood was Cube shaped

When I go get wood like that, I prefer the trees to be as complete as possible. Way to many times I get there, the limbs are cut 4-6 still on the trunk, the lengths are typically 10-13” or 26”, with the ends cut at all kinds of goofy angles. I would much rather cut it myself with square ends and consistent 16” lengths that fit my stove and stack well

Even the Cedar my Best Friend had fallen, unfortunately my schedule didn’t work for him and he wanted it down. I have known him for over 30 years, he is like a Brother to me, was a Certified Master Mechanic, and knows more about 2 strokes than I ever will. I would loan him a saw, and KNOW that it wouldn’t be Abused or Straight Gassed. He is THE BEST Friend I have ever had, but looking at his stump, I was “Stumped “, I asked “who fell this for you “ (as nonjudgmentally as I could). He did it, he knew to face cut it, that didn’t look too bad, his back cut was at least 6” high, and the hinge was 4-5” thick and Shattered, he had WINCHED it over, the limbs were 6-12” still, the rounds were all over length wise and the ends were goofy angles, EVERYTHING I Hate about getting wood I didn’t cut myself, if it had been a CL ad, I would have left, but I kept my mouth shut, and kept the Best Friend, I have ever had, August of 2019, his Wife was transferred to the Dallas/Ft Worth area, and I miss him every day, but Dayum I sure won’t let him fall any trees


Doug

 

They were so ginormous it took..........TEN TRIPS and that includes a few trips with TWO trucks hauling it back to my house. It also included getting 2 mauls and 2 wedges stuck when my friend who was supposed to "help" me buried them. The guy with the second truck broke the 1st guy's wooden handled sledge, and we broke collectively broke the first guy's maul trying to get it unstuck. I had told the first guy "Pick the easiest round first, don't pick one with a lot of knots" and no sooner than the words leaving my mouth he literally buried them into THE nastiest round there with 8,000 knots, cut 24" tall, and we ended up wasting an hour getting it unstuck.

Then he got mad at me and said I was "careless" for breaking his chit.....when I literally didn't break it....but I ended up buying him an X27 and a Isocore sledge so he could drink a nice big cup of......STFU.

Ah.....square as in "carpenter" square - gotcha.

That's a funny story about your friend. It's like my 1st friend above - that's the last time I ask him for "help" Jesus. Hahahahaha.

 

That is a thought but probably can't have another permanent structure without a permit.

 

There are 6 or 7 more cedars the same general size and straight that will come down eventually. I am first in line.