Question on Bark Removal

[mjbilbo]

I was told by some people that consider themselves experts that you should remove bark on some trees before bucking it. In my case they would be cottonwood trees. Bark of these trees supposed to be very hard on chain sharpness. Would like to hear what you think...

 

[PB]

I was told by some people that consider themselves experts that you should remove bark on some trees before bucking it. In my case they would be cottonwood trees. Bark of these trees supposed to be very hard on chain sharpness. Would like to hear what you think...

Stupidest thing I have ever heard. I think somebody is trying to pull a fast one on you.

 

[kurtty]

it is true that bark dulls a chain more then the wood does. even more so when its dirty. but it takes waaaayyy longer to remove the bark then it does to sharpen a chain.
i live in a log home and i had to peel all the logs for it before we started construction. peeling sucks big time. avoid it at all costs!!!

 

[B_Turner]

When chunking dirty wood I sometimes take a quick wire brush to where I am going to cut through the diirty bark. Like where you can actually see dirt or gravel.

Not perfect, but the time it takes for a quick brushing of the cut path is less a savings from less sharpening.

With certain valuable yet rocky wood (madrone burl) I wills sometimes knock the rocky bark off with an ax or adze. It's a last resort, though.

Edit: I haven't found cottonwood to be particularly gritty unless down on gritty ground. But for some reason madrone which grows in sandy soil gets sand on the surface that is heck on chains.

 

[385XP]

Are the trees in a river bottom ? If they are there is probley sand in the bark from flooding. What kind of chain are you using ? I wood use semi chisel chain if you are having to sharpen a lot. It is designed for cutting dirtier wood. I have not had to much troble with cottonwwood .

 

[mjbilbo]

this wood was dumped at my place. Almost all cottonwood come from locations close to a water source like creek and stream beds. Using a semi or micro chisle chain on it.

 

[385XP]

You probbly wil have to remove ththe bark onthe spots you are gointo cut with asharp axe or you can try a log wizard.

 

[kurtty]

You probbly wil have to remove ththe bark onthe spots you are gointo cut with asharp axe or you can try a log wizard.

a draw knife is 100X faster than that gimicky log wizard ever is. my friend tried one for an hour and said it did a horible job, it made the logs look ugly and takes longer to do the same job as a draw knife

 

[Zodiac45]

Brush off any visable dirt, knock it with a hatchet to start and saw by rolling the log away from the side you are sawing on. In other words, don't pull the dirt/bark into the cut.

 

[bama]

When chunking dirty wood I sometimes take a quick wire brush to where I am going to cut through the diirty bark. Like where you can actually see dirt or gravel.

Not perfect, but the time it takes for a quick brushing of the cut path is less a savings from less sharpening.

With certain valuable yet rocky wood (madrone burl) I wills sometimes knock the rocky bark off with an ax or adze. It's a last resort, though.

Edit: I haven't found cottonwood to be particularly gritty unless down on gritty ground. But for some reason madrone which grows in sandy soil gets sand on the surface that is heck on chains.

I found that some cottonwood bark could hold a lot of crap if it was in the flood zone of a river. That river silt is the WORST!

 

[tomtrees58]

:looser: you must of got the wood at the dump tom trees

 

[gink595]

I'd rather wear a chain out than my body by removing bark for firewood. Wow I would hate cutting wood if I had to do that, I'd be back to propane in a heart beat. Besides cottonwood isn't worth burning

 

[turnkey4099]

I found that some cottonwood bark could hold a lot of crap if it was in the flood zone of a river. That river silt is the WORST!

s

Nope: Try volcanic ash. She blew in 80? 81? and I still shudder every time I have to cut a crotch. That stuff is still there and will dull a chain in a flash. I wonder how many saws and chains were trashed in the salvage logging that went on after. I know on this side of the state there were many, many engines ruined both in vehicles and farm machinery. It was great for instant rust also if it got wet while on unprotected metal.

Harry K

 

[tek9tim]

Yup, 1980. Most of the salvage loggers paid guys to peel the bases of trees before the fallers came through to save their chains. Dang right. Back when I worked wilderness trail crew (7-8 years ago) we were still peeling logs where we had to cut them so our crosscuts stayed nice and sharp; not nearly as easy to sharpen as a chain. Of course, that was all within 75 air miles of St Helens.

 

[mjbilbo]

I'd rather wear a chain out than my body by removing bark for firewood. Wow I would hate cutting wood if I had to do that, I'd be back to propane in a heart beat. Besides cottonwood isn't worth burning

Cottonwood is crap for burning for sure. But in the treeless area that I live in here outside of the Denver area in the high plains, you take what you can get. Free cottonwood beats $2.30 a gallon propane...

Most of the rest here is beatle kill pine

 

[bama]

s

Nope: Try volcanic ash. She blew in 80? 81? and I still shudder every time I have to cut a crotch. That stuff is still there and will dull a chain in a flash. I wonder how many saws and chains were trashed in the salvage logging that went on after. I know on this side of the state there were many, many engines ruined both in vehicles and farm machinery. It was great for instant rust also if it got wet while on unprotected metal.

Harry K

You win. I have some of that ash in a container. I can only imagine....

 

[bama]

I'd rather wear a chain out than my body by removing bark for firewood. Wow I would hate cutting wood if I had to do that, I'd be back to propane in a heart beat. Besides cottonwood isn't worth burning

Cottonwood is crap for burning for sure. But in the treeless area that I live in here outside of the Denver area in the high plains, you take what you can get. Free cottonwood beats $2.30 a gallon propane...

Most of the rest here is beatle kill pine

When I lived in Hot Springs, SD, I was real glad to burn cottonwood compared to all the pine I had. I preferred the slower burn to the quick heat of the pine because it tended to heat me out of the house. I didn't like to slow burn it because of all the creasote. Tried making it last all day once and the smoke that came out of my chimney reminded me of an industrial factory!