I have this big Sugar Maple

[Whitespider]

14[sup]o[/sup] this morning, but no wind and sunshine predicted so I thought it would be a good day to get started on a maple I felled last March, but never got around to bucking. First thing I had to do was get through the snow to the shed where I keep the little trailer used for hauling all my gear back into the woodlot. That went mostly uneventful.

Next I needed to get through even more snow, while pulling the loaded trailer, back into the woodlot. Only got stuck once, and by just simply backing up I got there.

I’ll tell you what… this old Sugar Maple has to be the hardest darn wood I ever remember cutting. Not sure if it’s because I left it lay for 11 months, or because it’s frozen… but oh man is it hard on chains. Started with the 16-inch bar and a chain that was getting a bit short-toothed… promptly busted several cutters off that chain. So I swapped out the chain and made a few cuts… the tree shifted a bit and pinched the bar tight. Here’s what that looks like.

I could not free it with wedges to save my sole… so I removed the power head and installed the 20-inch bar. Once I retrieved the 16-inch bar and chain I went to work on the main trunk… WOW, this thing is hard on chains. Anyway, I got a good start on it.

 

[Whitespider]

By the time I got this much done I was out of sharp chains and dry gloves, so I loaded up and headed for the house. Besides, I was ready for a couple beers.

This is what the trail home looked like…

It only took me 5 beers to get my chains re-sharpened… So I’m ready to get this bad-boy finished up … hopefully tomorrow…

 

[PEKS]

Look like a good mission..
Nice Land you have..

 

[hanniedog]

Whats that funny looking white stuff on the ground? All we got here is mud as far as the eye can see.

 

[branchbuzzer]

Whats that funny looking white stuff on the ground? All we got here is mud as far as the eye can see.

That's the sawdust from the maple. They use it in sweets.

 

[Whitespider]

Never had the mud here... it was almost drought conditions before the snow came.

 

[ken45]

Five beers to sharpen the chains? I have to wonder which direction they will cut?

Ken

 

[hanniedog]

The ground around here has never gotten dry since early October and has only gotten frozen for 2 or 3 days in a row a few times.

 

[bore_pig]

Five beers to sharpen the chains? I have to wonder which direction they will cut?

Ken

Some of us do our best work after several adult beverages.

 

[Garmins dad]

Some of us do our best work after several adult beverages.

:hmm3grin2orange: for the life of me i can't use my tubing bender with out two beers first.. Then i get it perfect every time..




Nice work cutting up a nice tree.. i wish we had maple and oak up here..

 

[Steve NW WI]

Spidey, that garden tractor looks like it makes a fine snowmobile. I have reached the conclusion that I like Sugar Maple better than oak. Too bad I don't have much of it.

5 beers = 5 chains at my house, with extras to give the saws a good cleaning. Somehow, 12 seems to be the magic number by the time I'm done.

You guys have more snow down there than we have, only an inch or two on the ground up here. Gonna be dust flying this spring if we don't get some before long.

 

[ponyexpress976]

Looks like you had perfect conditions for a nice relaxing day. With those wheel weights and chains it had to be driver error resulting in that stuck situation? :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Toxic2]

Thats a big maple..gonna be some nice firewood...You guys have more snow than we do too..LOL

 

[banshee67]

best lawnmower ever

 

[unclemoustache]

Wow. Gorgeous tree, gorgeous day! Pity about all the difficulty you're having, but man, I'd chop a toe off to be able to join you up there! We never get any snow down here. :msp_mellow:

 

[mitch95100]

There predicting 40's all week hopefully will get out once at least.

 

[haveawoody]

Whitespider,

Thats a nice sugar maple, lots of firewood from it, i beta couple cords from that one tree.
I hear you on the chain sharpening adventure, took down a couple 100' x2' and x3' sugar maples late last year on a job and spent hours sharpening chains to get through them.

Spent 3 days cutting, noodling and hauling then a couple days resting the back
Took about the same length of time to split it all and looked like sugar maple mountain before i started.

 

[Whitespider]

Yessir, I'm figuring right at 2-cord and a small pile of odds & ends for the fire pit.

And the Bur Oak I normally cut is easier on chains than this stuff, lots easier.
Sure hope splittn' it ain't much more work than splittin' Bur Oak?

 

[coog]

There's a reason they use that stuff on bowling lane floors. My favorite tree.

 

[haveawoody]

Whitespider,

2 cords of some pretty sweet firewood, nice score.
IMO as good as firewood gets, even hickory and oak lovers that burn sugar maple tend to like it better.

As green wood it splits pretty easy for me, much like ash but with more of a bang as it splits.
I split 8 cords in 3 12hr days with a speedco 22 so i doubt you will have much trouble with it other than moving the heavy stuff around