I don't want that rotten log

[TonyK]

I get a kick out of folks cutting firewood that will walk right by a log on the ground just so they can cut a fresh tree.

Picture of an old "rotten" log laying across an old stone wall.

Why people will pass it up.

Why people should just cut it.

I just laugh and add it to the piles that keep me warm.

 

[cnice_37]

Perfect, ready for the stove!

 

[sunfish]

I cut mostly dead wood, but leave the 'rotten' stuff in the woods.

 

[artbaldoni]

Almost every "rotten" log get a test cut in my woods. Amazing how many are NOT rotten!

 

[blades]

Got a 5ft dia. x 6 or so ft long piece of hickory that way, had no idea what is was until the saw got into it a a bit. Then that lovely aroma. I was after the oak it was sitting on, got that too just took awhile to get to it. sorry no pics

 

[old_soul]

Looks like ash, seems like if the bark falls off before it falls over. Then it will last. But if the bark stays on it goes punky quick.

Wood in those pics is too nice to waste, for sure

 

[Fred Wright]

Fallen logs can surprise ya. Some tree species take longer to go punky on the ground than others. Like mentioned above, a test cut will tell.

Last year I had to move a couple small, old fallen trees out of the road so I could get the little tractor in there. Figuring they'd be too punky to bother with, I chunked 'em into short logs to roll to the side.

One was a gum, looked like a big roll of wet newspaper. It was useless. The other turned out to be red oak. It was still good inside. That one got bucked and loaded to the wood pile.

 

[Arbonaut]

I'm in, Man. Done her a million times. Common sense is the exception to the rule in 2013. Livin' like kings. Some of that Elm gets petrified. Keep her off the ground and wood is an amazing product.

 

[ShaneLogs]

Even better! No stumps to deal with in the woods when you cut fallen dead. I have cut wood like that and some of it was completely trashed and some was awesome! Looks stove ready to me.

 

[greendohn]

Very rarely do I cut down trees unless it's the rare fence row going under plow.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Almost every "rotten" log get a test cut in my woods. Amazing how many are NOT rotten!

^^^What Art said. Walk my woods and you'll see quite a few old blowdowns with test cuts in em. The good ones got cut and loaded, the not much good become fertilizer.

 

[Whitespider]

Funny... I almost never find "good" wood on the ground in my woodlot.
Most of the dead is elm... and by the time it's dead enough to fall it's pretty much junk.
Elm tends to fall from the top down, first the small branches, then the larger as they get rotten enough to break off... by the time the trunk falls there ain't much except punk left. I've learned to cut them down after the small stuff drops and as soon as the bark falls... if I wait a year I've missed my chance.

 

[CTYank]

Around here there are many long-dead (decades) black locust. Slowly weathering away from the outside.

Touch them with saw-chain, and you'd better gun it. Just gets tougher with time, dunno it it ever will rot. Still burns great, once it gets some air-drying.

Nearby there might be some much more recent ash blowdowns, consistency of toilet paper under the bark.

 

[Iska3]

Long ago I read someplace on this forum where a person wrote... "If it makes chips, it's in my pile."

For many years, I was one of those guys who would have walked by that so called dead trees or we would stack the brush over them and burn the piles in the spring. About that time I'd be out in them woods (standing by the fire) and think about all the BTU's going up in the air.. Wasn't long after I got me an OWB.. Ask me what I do with old / nasty looking logs now.. :msp_wink:

If some of that suff is real nasty, we call it Daytime Wood..

 

[artbaldoni]

I've said it before: If I touch it I burn it.

 

[2rod511]

Depends on what type tree it is (was) I know before I walk up to it if it will be rotten. White Oak will become almost petrified and if I find a Red Oak log I know it is going to be solid.

 

[BrokenToys]

On a similar note; I actually go out of my way now looking for hollow logs. I am actually making quite a bit of $$$ selling them to a guy who makes planters out of them. [10-20 bucks each piece depending on diameter..one log even got me 40 bucks but it was 58" diameter].

 

[kodiak]

Hollow logs

I actually go out of my way now looking for hollow logs.

We call them "dragons". Place them vertically on top of the fire in the firepit and wait for the show that they put on!

 

[Chris-PA]

I agree entirely. When I am scouting an area for wood I always carry a hatchet - it's easy to test the fallen stuff that way. Many times I've found stuff I could cut, split and pop in the stove, and it burned without a hint of hiss.

 

[farmboss45]

Sometimes its amazing how good a log is inside the punky stuff. I've had what I thought was an old rotten tree standing in my woods forever. The pilated woodpeckers had been at it for a long time, big holes all over it. It fell this winter over my roadway and I figured I would just cut it in sections and push it out of the way with the tractor. First cut in, center was solid as a rock, red oak! Heated the house for three weeks with it. The first two inches was punky, made a mess in the house and my wife complained, but was worth it, burned hot, and very little ash.