Cutting/Splitting for a Children's Camp

[svk]

Despite heavy rains for most of the afternoon, I set up a work area under a tarp and got some wood split for a children's camp.

Norway pine, hard maple, and oak split very nicely as a whole. Then I found the devil tree, a chunk of very seasoned elm. The 10" diameter tree was basically unsplittable. We bucked it short so they can burn it whole.

One of the female camp counselors wanted to try splitting after watching us so we gave her a chunk of the elm (he he he). The axe stuck fast on the first hit and she kind of blankly stared at it. We came clean about elm and she split some regular wood for us.

No speed records but bucked and split about two cords for them. They run 8 fire rings almost every night so it will go. I'll split the other couple of cords next time I get out here. I'll bring my saw also as the 211 is a nice limbing saw but a bit light for bucking hardwood.

 

[WVhunter]

Nice job, great to help out those kids!

 

[svk]

Some cherry.

 

[svk]

It was fun to get into real hardwoods. There's a ton of dying/dead standing on the camp property although some has PI on it.

Maybe if there are any others in eastern Upstate NY who want to have a cutting day we could do it sometime when I'm back up here.

 

[zogger]

Big fun!!
Devil wood...good campfire wood....skerry......

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Good on you for helping those kids out man.

 

[CTYank]

It was fun to get into real hardwoods. There's a ton of dying/dead standing on the camp property although some has PI on it.

Maybe if there are any others in eastern Upstate NY who want to have a cutting day we could do it sometime when I'm back up here.

If you can get there from MN, well ...
I'm only a couple hours away, S of Albany, and have a few saws that need regular exercise. (You know how that is?) With a wee bit of heads-up, and absent another monsoon, you could pencil me in. Even better, if it's possible to set up a little tent nearby, you could have a two-fer, and another photog.

The heads-up is partly so I can pre-dose with PI de-sensitizer- "Oral Ivy". A week will do nicely, as would napalm on the PI. Not enough time for Agent Orange.

PS: that dead red wood looks like some long-dead chestnut oak we see around here- only heartwood.

 

[svk]

If you can get there from MN, well ...
I'm only a couple hours away, S of Albany, and have a few saws that need regular exercise. (You know how that is?) With a wee bit of heads-up, and absent another monsoon, you could pencil me in. Even better, if it's possible to set up a little tent nearby, you could have a two-fer, and another photog.

The heads-up is partly so I can pre-dose with PI de-sensitizer- "Oral Ivy". A week will do nicely, as would napalm on the PI. Not enough time for Agent Orange.

PS: that dead red wood looks like some long-dead chestnut oak we see around here- only heartwood.

Thanks CT, I'll be back up in late July and will let you let you know as I'm preparing schedule, we may be able to get together.

 

[svk]

Oops forgot to mention a small amount of black birch, another first for me.

 

[CTYank]

Oops forgot to mention a small amount of black birch, another first for me.

Black birch will make you work, but it's well worth it IMHO. One of the very best.

 

[svk]

Put up about another cord for them this afternoon. Slow going as the chunks of logs we were cutting up were irregular lengths and a big pile of small stuff to cut.

 

[svk]

Getting my revenge on the elm

 

[svk]

Put up one more cord today. Chestnut and white oak, ash, and maple were on the menu for this batch. Ended up doing 4 cords over three half days. Ran out of wood to cut save for what was buried under dimensional lumber scraps. Can get that next time. The main campfire should have about two years worth of fires for now.

 

[woodbooga]

Not sure what wood this was. Very red (especially when wet) and waterlogged. No bark.
View attachment 354877

Definitely a red oak variety. I have lots of this stuff in my pile. Prolly red, but perhaps scarlet or scrub.

Don't let that rot kid you. That's good burning - with an outer jacket of kindling to get the party started. Oak rots outside-in, leaving good solid heartwood. Cherry too. Maples rot inside out often and have less shelflife.

My kid is dying and got into one of these camps - we all went and had a week together without pondering meds, mortality and the like. I spied the wood piles and wondered what kind of good samaratin made the camp fires possible. Thanks.

 

[svk]

My kid is dying and got into one of these camps - we all went and had a week together without pondering meds, mortality and the like. I spied the wood piles and wondered what kind of good samaratin made the camp fires possible. Thanks.

I can only imagine the stress you and your family must be under with this. I agree, time at a camp really can take the stress away. I wish your family the very best.

 

[woodbooga]

I can only imagine the stress you and your family must be under with this. I agree, time at a camp really can take the stress away. I wish your family the very best.

Thanks for all you do. She has cystic fibrosis. Avg. life a generation ago was 18 - now up to 37!!! Fundraising for a cure is key on a macro level. But for us on a family scale...having awesome experiences at camps like this gives us all the juice to persevere.

Thank you. Families will make memories by the fires your labor have kindled.

In so many cases those permanent memories will live beyond the children whose faces will be made rosy-cheeked by the warmth of a temporary blaze.

By creating these kinds of memories, in your own small way, you have touched the future.

 

[mr.finn]

That picture of the dead wood with no bark looks an awful lot like cherry to me.

 

[svk]

That picture of the dead wood with no bark looks an awful lot like cherry to me.

It was very red, all the way through. Got into some bigger pieces too. Dense and somewhat difficult to split, but not all that bad.

 

[CTYank]

I dropped some long-dead vertical snags of the stuff recently at a park nearby. I can only guess that they'd been there so long (right next to trails, yet) that they'd become invisible. Had to make felling cuts 5-6' from the ground and drop them out that way. Sounded like dry bones at each drop. All the sapwood was long gone. I didn't want to read about them in the news.

Chestnut oak is a white oak, also, FWIW. Tends to favor dry rocky ridges, for some ID help. Should be excellent firewood.

 

[svk]

If you look at the last picture you can see a pile of the red noodles from a crotch I didn't split. If that helps ID....