Where's WYK been, and what trouble is he making?

[madhatte]

I always like finding the non-tourist parts of towns like that. Better food, if nothing else.

 

[wyk]

Yep

 

[wyk]

Headed out tomorrow. The city looks lovely tonight, though.

 

[wyk]

OK, I found out what the correct vale to get for my 044 is:

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/private.php?do=showpm&pmid=463067

The bad news is no one in Europ has one

 

[wyk]

Got the tank vent valve thingy I needed from Beiber in Germany! Thanks, mang.

Lots of bad winds tonight, so I am curious what tomorrow will bring.

Yesterday brought firewood. Ported 241 on duty all week.



Even freed up some blow down Spruce from their root balls.

 

[madhatte]

Did you know that snedding has a wiki page?

 

[wyk]

It's as though it's some sort of encyclopaedia.

 

[wyk]

This is on the ported 241CM with one week of firewood duty and falling:

 

[wyk]

The weather has been lovely. So I've been wandering about the estate grabbing a bough here and there that have fallen in the past storms. Here's a Wych Elm I did earlier today the Beech I cleared not long ago.

 

[madhatte]

"Wych elm"?

 

[wyk]

"Wych elm"?

Yep. We don't have em state side. They like it wet and cold 24-7 365, which is about nowhere in the states, and about everywhere in Ireland.

It is quite possibly the worst wood to split, too. It goes very stringy on you like kevlar. So ya split it, then spend 30 minutes pulling it apart. Very good wood for building stuff with. And you would want to split it because it burns very well- long and hot. I prefer it to oak in our fireplace.

Because we've several lone Wych Elms, and no groves shared with other trees, many have avoided, or partially avoided, the bark beetle that spreads dutch elm disease. That Wych elm is likely 250-300 years old or more. It is maybe 7-8' DBH. And it is our second biggest. You see me there cutting on a 30" bough that fell from it last winter. I also believe many botanists have taken samples from it since it has survived. Also if you look at the pic, you can see how black the wood is on the end. That's phoma fungus. The moment a Wych ELm goes, that fungus starts to grow, and it makes it very difficult for beatles to eat or reproduce in it. Thus, we still have some very large Wych Elms in Ireland.

 

[madhatte]

Very interesting, especially the part about the fungus repelling the beetles. Pathogen ecology never fails to surprise.

 

[wyk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmus_glabra

Some photos I took today:

The Wych Elm I was working under:

And it's bigger brother. If you look closely, you can see the 3-4' tall posts in the ground along the fence line near the tree:

And if any of us here can complain about working in dirty conditions, I can:

That is me fishing out an Ash(on the right) a beech(middle left) and a Spanish Chestnut all fallen in the pig stie...

 

[madhatte]

Pigs: gross, but bacon.

 

[wyk]

Pigs: gross, but bacon.

butt bacon

 

[madhatte]

any bacon in a storm

 

[wyk]

Making wedges again. Though it looks oakie, this stuff is WAY harder than the red and yellowish(English/French and sessile) oak we have here. I am thinking it's most likely locust. It's the hardest wood I have ever cut. And it is hell on the saw making these wedges. It's almost got a waxy texture. But the wedges last forever. I got 16 wedges from 8"-14" out of the last piece I trimmed. They jis need to be finished in the shop. Tomorrow, I got oak to fell that is rotting and leaning the wrong way. I see pain in my future

 

[wyk]

Oh, and I finished porting my lil 241. SHe's a strong saw now. Here she is in red European Larch and English Oak.

 

[northmanlogging]

I envy you more than a little right now...

Except the bit about the pig sty... retch...

 

[wyk]

I envy you more than a little right now...

Except the bit about the pig sty... retch...

Less stie today. Just danger trees. I swansoned the thing to try and keep her from crumbling on me. But turns out the stump was almost healthy. Typical of the trees today(though this one took a lot of wedging as I should have made a bigger face cut). I think that was about a 32" English Oak.