It's pretty mushy here too but not terrible as we've not seen a ton of rain yet. I got a nice hickory waiting on frozen ground to get after. Will be my biggest single wood score this year I think. The area it's in is wet even when during summer, so frozen is best time to get it.
Supposed to be cold Monday morning so I am planning on getting some wood brought back from the ditches that I cut up. Maybe I can get a little more cut as well.
Rained out today. Moving splits on my mind. Time for stock rotations. Probably work on this week. Trying to work up gumption to ask about some logs laying by a used car dealer in town. Stuff the state took down along the highway. Been there a while. Looks to be a couple decent oaks
Go for it. Worst they could say is no. I stopped to inquire about this today but nobody home. Ill try again
I feel like they'll want big money for that high value log there. More to the log story by the car lot.... A buddy's brother was seen by me with a log truck taking some of the wood about a month ago. They don't talk or see each other a lot, but asked my buddy to ask him about the pile left. Looks to me like he took everything that was cut down short enough to fit on the truck. That left 4-6 whole trunks laying there yet.
Got in the woods yesterday. Stayed right at 30° while I was out. Dusting of snow keeping the ground from wanting to freeze. It's all but gone today. Wanted to move some splits but did not want to make multiple trips with a loaded trailer on the trails so I split some instead. Got this little pile of very green hickory. A low limb that I had to cut off due to getting a tree hung on it. This was the tree I hung. A vine ripened red oak. Which I decided to give to a friend to mix in with the questionable mill leavings he bought for firewood this year. This is all I have left to be processed at the moment. Suspect it'll all be busted by the new year. No woods today even though it's nice out (sunny). Had to do some shopping. Got a chance to stop by dealer parts store for an air filter for my truck. I also got some....get this...wiper refills. Not wipers, new rubbers like the old days. I only recently found out this was still possible. Gotta get from dealer though. Vatozone no has.
Fired a feeder up today. Local residents will be happy. Used the empty sacks to gather up some kindling from the splitter leavings pile and took them to the shed to dry. Tip for any of you new to the skidding game. When it's sloppy and your logs get mud and dirt smeared into them, try to orient them so that rain can wash them for you to keep the saw chains sharp longer.
Not a fan of mud. Moved and stacked couple loads trying not to beat the roads up too bad. Noticed this little cherry that decided to give up. Looks like maybe ants in the stump. Should be some easy pickings there.
Same here. With over 10" of rain since December 10th the ground in my storage and PA is like walking on a soaking wet sponge! Maybe ill build an ark instead of making firewood! Way to get it done though.
Ground was frozen solid this time last year. I don't have a ton of stuff to get done thankfully like last winter. I still have another couple cords to move, a little partially processed wood to finish and stack, big hickory blow down, that cherry and a medium white oak that I made rounds of a while back to yet finish.
Herded up and stacked the whoak rounds then hauled two more loads. Do youins fight these? Discarded chunks from the stuff I been working on.
Sometimes. Ive been known to leave stuff like that behind on roadside scrounges. Usually when i encounter an area where lots of wood is being taken down roadside ill cut and take the primo stuff. Since ive done really well selling all my nuglies this year im kinda happy to get them now.
Fight, nope. They get sawed to fit in the firebox, stacked and burned. I've learned the sharp chain is the best way to size 'em.
It seems even when being selective, I still generate a considerable amount of a.hole pieces. Enough that I'm willing to let these type pieces become bug food and fertilizer. I have close to a rick already just from this one tree due to it being partially rotten and ant eaten. Very twisty grained and difficult to get a nice split out of. I probably could have made something of that crotch, but I needed a piece of wood for tuning. The bigger hollow piece just has nope written all over it.
I have an oak blowover in my woods i CSS there from three years ago. I never processed the gnarly chunks (even though they are good wood) and they rot where they sit. Been pulling the wood i did process though.
Not in mood for hauling so doing some splitting today. Finished up some stragglers from the twisty red oak. Honey badger don't care. Had to crib the splitter a bit. I knew a couple pieces of toast wasn't gonna carry me. Leftovers to the rescue. Back to it. Ended up with a nice looking pile of whoak. I'll haul it another day.
This is funny to me because I can tell a lot of places I've worked wood because there is still that bastard piece or twothere that I decided was more effort than value. . There are more than a couple scattered around the perimeter of my wood yard.
Same here at multiple locations. I should just chain saw them into nuggets and/or "splits" and put them in there place right away...hey thats a good new years resolution! I, buZZsaw BRAD, hereby resolve to process ugly/gnarly logs ASAP and put in their place.
