Scored some standing dead oak today.

Well, it wasn't standing any more. I've had my eye on this thing for a couple of years - it's a place I drive by from time to time. Nice big oak, but dead, needed to come down.

Drove by last week and it was laying down and bucked, but then it stayed that way. Stopped in today and asked, and they were glad to have me haul it away.


It's a big brute. You can't really tell from the first two pics, but the second two give a good picture of the scale. The stump measures 64" across, and the round being measured is 50". That's pretty good size by local standards.










Some of the wood in the middle is punky, but overall, it's a great haul. I got the small stuff in the first load this morning, then took my splitter over there to tackle the big stuff. I got two of them split and hauled today. All bone dry and ready to burn this winter. :greenchainsaw:


It splits like a dream, too. Well, except for a crotch piece I tackled. Made my 35 ton splitter slow down and WORK.

Those Virginia oaks go back in time forever. I imagine this one must have been well over 100 years old before it died. Did you count the annular rings on the stump?

Congratulations on a teriffic find and haul!

When you get her all split and stacked up, take some more shots so we can all drool.

nice score man! gotta love the big ones they give off so many damn logs its great.

An affinity for big wood you have. Good score.

husky455rancher said:

nice score man! gotta love the big ones they give off so many damn logs its great.

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You can say that again. When I start to split a really big round, I count the firewood logs that I obtain. So far, I've only hit 52 for the maximum. My rules are (1) the big round log (billet) has to be one that I loaded onto the truck bed and hauled to the splitter in the pickup truck, and (2) no kindling is counted (those are misfires).

Any one else counting logs from big billets besides me? If so, what's your highest total to date?

That's gonna be a lot of heat this winter.

It never hurts to stop and ask. The worst they can say is no.

I thought I had a score the other night on Craigslist. It was local and it said that the small stuff was gone and the rounds were 24" plus. It was a little late and I didn't want to wake anybody up. I called the next morning and it had already been spoken for. Oh well, maybe the next time.

You will be busy, Blue.

i dont really count the logs. i just see what i get from one big round and it amazes me the difference from a "normal" log. heres a pic form a chunk of oak i been working on this is the wood before and after the split its just one chunk of wood. they were much bigger but i split em with the old 455 to managable sizes.

A. Stanton said:

You will be busy, Blue.

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Yeah, you can say that again. The first fire of the season isn't too far off, and I'm way behind this year - got laid off, got work up in Baltimore, so I'm away all week and only have the weekends for work around home. Can't get to my usual wood source that's right on my old commute route. A log processor with all the butt ends and crotches I can haul, loaded with his grapple. Nice, but not working for me right now.

I'll be scrambling to catch up. I've got maybe a cord ready to burn, and most of the rest of my winter's supply dry but not split. I knew I needed more dry wood for this year, and the calendar says that's not going to happen with green wood. This should make up my deficit, but I've got my work cut out for me!

I'll post some pics when I get it home and split. On site there I'm just breaking it down to manageable size for loading on the truck by hand. I'll do the rest of the splitting at home.

That's a decent size oak, The ol huskee 35 ton will split it easily. Nice score.

Great find. Some nice dry white oak..

I have a lot of splitting to do also. I have 3-4 cord left to split out at dads. Good thing is that now I have the log lift and 4 way on the splitter so things should go faster.

I have too many projects going on now that fight for my time.

Don

Great find Mark.

Must have been fun getting the biggun's under the splitter.

I am also way behind on my firewood, amongst other 'things to do'.

Kevin

KMB said:

Great find Mark.

Must have been fun getting the biggun's under the splitter.

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Yeah, they are rough, but that's most of my wood. Big. That's why I bought this hand truck. Makes a big difference!

I plan to chainsaw split most of these down to halves or quarters, then split them a few times to get them on the truck. No way I can move the biggest of these in one piece, monster hand truck or not!

Anybody care to estimate the weight on these rounds?

BlueRidgeMark said:

Anybody care to estimate the weight on these rounds?

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Dimensions?

I'll guess a 50" x 18" billet is around 1300 lbs (assuming it's still wet and is close to a circular billet).

Wet1 said:

Dimensions?

I'll guess a 50" x 18" billet is around 1300 lbs (assuming it's still wet and is close to a circular billet).

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These are dry as a bone, so, what, maybe a thousand or do?



Anyway, here is what I've rounded up so far:

First haul, the little stuff. I went there with no equipment, just to ask. Had my 12 yo for an assistant, and we grabbed the easy stuff:




Here's what I got last Saturday, including most of that easy stuff in the pic above:



Stacked quickly just to get it out of the way and off the dirt.




Here's what I got today (some of the first trip 'easy stuff' there at the left):





It fought hard today. Big stuff, crotches too. Did most of the splitting with the saw, made lots of curly fries! But still, it was a full day of hard work to get not much, really. Two pickup loads. Good wood, though. The farther I get down in the tree, the less punky it is in the center. The outside maybe 1 1/2 or 2 inches is powder under the bark.


Managed to bend the toe plate on my splitter with one of those crotches! I'll post that in another thread.


Anyway, I'd say there's a cord left. The owner said somebody is coming by to get some tomorrow. We'll see what's left for me next Saturday, next time I can get there.

I didn't leave them any easy pickings!

BlueRidgeMark-

I am sorry to hear about you getting laid off. Where are you working at in Baltimore? I am a school teacher for Baltimore City Schools and always cutting wood. I always stand out in the city driving around my old wood truck... when I drive it to work to make a wood score afterwards.

DTB said:

BlueRidgeMark-

I am sorry to hear about you getting laid off. Where are you working at in Baltimore?

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Hanover, but I'm mostly on the road now, and they're letting me work from home. Very unpredictable, though, about how far and where I'll be driving.

DTB said:

I am a school teacher for Baltimore City Schools and always cutting wood. I always stand out in the city driving around my old wood truck... when I drive it to work to make a wood score afterwards.

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Yeah, I know what you mean. I used to pick up wood on the way in, so there I'd be with my beat up 94 Nissan, loaded to the gills with big wood rounds, pulling into this parking lot full of BMWs, etc., and getting out in my nice chinos and polo shirt for my white collar job. Sure got some funny looks!


Well, and some dirty looks too. Some folks egos are fragile, I guess.

Well, looks like I've got the last of it. One other person got one round, and I don't know how he split it, but he's got a nice stack there, and a couple quarter chunks waiting to be split. He started it - so I figure he's got dibs on it.

I got all the rest except the very bottom round. It's in the first pic on the far right. 30" thick and about 50" across at the top, 64" at the bottom. Just too much for my 52cc saw and its 18" bar, so there it will stay, I guess. Well, maybe I'll rent a bigger saw and go after it just because I hate to leave a job unfinished. I'm trying to convince myself that I should just leave it, because the time and effort would be better spent elsewhere....

Wrapping up...

Well, I have finally got that tree stored where I want it. I split about a quarter cord today. There were some short, small pieces ready for the woodstove, no cutting needed, and I wanted to give the splitter its first good workout since the repair job. (There's some burning in the stove right now.)


The rest I put up on pallets waiting to be split later in the year. I have some other stuff that's been sitting for about two years in deep shade, and it's growing things. I need to get that split and under tarps in a sunnier location, so this has to wait.

Here's the old oak, and a bit of ash I scored recently. (Click the thumbnail to see a full size picture.) I'll tarp it all and get to it when the other stuff is split. That's two rows, each six pallets long.




In the left corner you can see a bit of the "patio" where I do my splitting. This is an attempt to keep the wood chips under control, and it's working well so far. I can pick up the kindling size stuff and sweep or rake the rest much more easily than when I was splitting on dirt. If it builds up underfoot, a quick pass with a rake gets the area back into working condition. I like it!