Impalervlad
ArboristSite Member
Friday, on the way to dinner with the family at a great little restaurant, I spotted a Pin Oak that had just been topped and cut up and a good quantity of the wood set at the curb. So, early Saturday I took another drive by and then went to get the pickup at my son's shop. I had to unload some bumpers and stuff out of the back and then went over to get the wood. Filled the bed of the pickup and headed home. There was wood around the tree trunk, which was still standing, but it wasn't on the curb and was on the property where the tree was. There was nobody around to ask permission of so I left the wood that wasn't at the curb.
I got home and started bucking and splitting. I got about half the load processed before I ran out of room on the rack where I was stacking and it had started to rain anyway so I left the rest for later.
I use these iron racks that slide on to two by fours. I set the ends on cinder blocks to raise the wood off the ground. I have seven racks filled so far - all from curb side scrounging. I end up with a rack about sixteen inches deep, five or six feet high and just shy of eight feet long. The racks are spaced two deep.
When I got finished, I just sat there on the back deck with a glass of bourbon and admired the job I had done and considered where I was going to put the wood that still needed to be processed. That was the Thrill of Victory:msp_biggrin:
Later in the night, I heard a sound like a dump truck dropping a load but thought it was down the street where they have been working on the road. When I got up this morning and looked out back, something looked strange. Two racks - the newest stacks - had fallen over. I took a flashlight and checked only to find that one of the cinder blocks had split and forced the back stack to fall into the front stack. The Agony of Defeat :msp_sad::msp_angry:
I couldn't do anything because I had to go to work. But, if it's not raining when I get home or maybe even if it is, I guess I'll be stacking again. Think I'll go with pressure treated 4x4's under the racks instead of the cinderblocks this time. This has happened once or twice before, over a period of about 25 years, with cinderblocks but never with two complete racks of wood at the same time.
I thought I would tell this story here because people on this site would understand and it helps to get it off my mind until I can actually do something about it later - did I mention that I'm a little obsessive compulsive.
I got home and started bucking and splitting. I got about half the load processed before I ran out of room on the rack where I was stacking and it had started to rain anyway so I left the rest for later.
I use these iron racks that slide on to two by fours. I set the ends on cinder blocks to raise the wood off the ground. I have seven racks filled so far - all from curb side scrounging. I end up with a rack about sixteen inches deep, five or six feet high and just shy of eight feet long. The racks are spaced two deep.
When I got finished, I just sat there on the back deck with a glass of bourbon and admired the job I had done and considered where I was going to put the wood that still needed to be processed. That was the Thrill of Victory:msp_biggrin:
Later in the night, I heard a sound like a dump truck dropping a load but thought it was down the street where they have been working on the road. When I got up this morning and looked out back, something looked strange. Two racks - the newest stacks - had fallen over. I took a flashlight and checked only to find that one of the cinder blocks had split and forced the back stack to fall into the front stack. The Agony of Defeat :msp_sad::msp_angry:
I couldn't do anything because I had to go to work. But, if it's not raining when I get home or maybe even if it is, I guess I'll be stacking again. Think I'll go with pressure treated 4x4's under the racks instead of the cinderblocks this time. This has happened once or twice before, over a period of about 25 years, with cinderblocks but never with two complete racks of wood at the same time.
I thought I would tell this story here because people on this site would understand and it helps to get it off my mind until I can actually do something about it later - did I mention that I'm a little obsessive compulsive.