big trees are a lot more work.

[Trapper_Pete]

had a big maple at the farm that was dying and starting to drop good size limbs 6 inch plus.

I sort of expected it to be root rot as I had cut other root rot maples in the same area and had seen mice going in and out of some holes in the stump down low , but this one was dying top down and outside in

it took me 3 days about 6 hours a day cutting and splitting rounds small enough to load in my truck loading and unload at home , trying to keep pieces about 30-40 pounds each that was about a 12th of a round. before I could even get them to the splitter I had to noodle them into 4ths then split those.
estimate each of the rounds in the trunk was 420-480 pounds.

the thaw didn't help I couldn't back up to the wood and load it I had to move it to the road while only feet that adds up when the stump is 20 feet off the road and you get 25 feet off the stump 45 feet 24 times is a 5th of a mile per round that adds up.

I realized how much extra work such a large tree is. when I can back up the truck to the pile of logs and cut and toss rounds right in the truck.

also how much of a back saver the skid loader and tractor are when they can't be used because of the mud

the top 1/3 of the tree mostly shattered when it hit the ground.

even though it looked to be leaning right , the limbs to the left must had had considerable weight I had to wedge it over I just started stacking wedges when it went over.

the saw in the picture at the bottom of the tree is my Jred 2166 with 28 inch bar for falling , still had to cut from both sides

 

[bfrazier]

Lay her right in the ditch next time!
Agreed, big rounds and big trees are BIG work but the wood sure adds up fast, and I like to have some big squarish chunks for the stove overnight. Thanks for the pictures - makes this fun.
And glad one of those big limbs didn't get ya!

 

[Wood Hound]

Lots of good wood right their...

 

[Husky Man]

We Piggyback our splitter to the woods in the Big trailer, and we prefer 36" wood to 12" wood, a lot less bark to wood ratio that way. The less bark the better the wood seasons, and produces less ash burning in our experience, but we're mainly burning D Fir, so the bark can get pretty thick.

Also with the Conifers like D Fir, that we mainly get in our area, there is considerably less limbing to deal with, typically nice straight trunks, with fewer limbs, unless they were perimeter trees, then the limbs will still grow down low, middle trees can often be limbless up to 50-70% of the tree's height, makes for fast processing.

Like bfrazier, we like to split a bunch of Large squarish splits for overnight burning, I will take 28-32" wood all day long if I can, we don't leave good smaller wood behind if we can help it, it's stihl BTU's, but the Big stuff is what we look for. I have real issues with leaving good wood behind, that is why I often have 8,000# on the axles, and 2,000# on the tongue of a 7,000# trailer


Doug

 

[jrider]

I agree with you. Not a fan of the big stuff. I can’t make firewood as fast as stuff 20”in diameter and smaller. I bet those rounds weighed more than you think. I know oak weighs more but I had one 42” across at its widest and 36” across at the most narrow cut 16” long and it weighed over 700 pounds.

 

[jimdeere]

I agree. I have a 30” ash in a fence row that needs to come down. Big limbs sticking out on all sides.
It will be a lot of work limbing it down so I can get to the trunk.

 

[Trapper_Pete]

all but the the lowest 4 limbs shattered just to the right of that tree out of the picture is my log pile the top landed right on the pile but was rotten through.

I am also glad it didn't drop anything on me , we have had strong winds on and off for the last 3 months while I have been trying to get to this tree getting my availability and the weather to work.

there was hardly a whisper of wind Wednesday morning when I dropped it and that afternoon it picked up to a steady 10-15 but the sun was warm and the temps in the 50s

my stove likes 16 so I shoot for 14-15 and if I drift a bit it will still fit in the stove.

it may sound strange to many to take 3 days of vacation to go cut firewood for 4 days working physically 99% harder than I do on a day at work. But like some people feel good after a trip to the gym I feel good after a fay of cutting , some muscles are sore btu a good sore like I did something and not a sick sore.

it was spring break , I was supposed to have my son with me splitting loading unloading ,but he caught a cold and has been sick for his week of spring break.

 

[Husky Man]

all but the the lowest 4 limbs shattered just to the right of that tree out of the picture is my log pile the top landed right on the pile but was rotten through.

I am also glad it didn't drop anything on me , we have had strong winds on and off for the last 3 months while I have been trying to get to this tree getting my availability and the weather to work.

there was hardly a whisper of wind Wednesday morning when I dropped it and that afternoon it picked up to a steady 10-15 but the sun was warm and the temps in the 50s

my stove likes 16 so I shoot for 14-15 and if I drift a bit it will still fit in the stove.

it may sound strange to many to take 3 days of vacation to go cut firewood for 4 days working physically 99% harder than I do on a day at work. But like some people feel good after a trip to the gym I feel good after a fay of cutting , some muscles are sore btu a good sore like I did something and not a sick sore.

it was spring break , I was supposed to have my son with me splitting loading unloading ,but he caught a cold and has been sick for his week of spring break.

It doesn't sound strange to me, this winter was really rough on the trees along I-5 south of Cottage Grove and Drain, as well as Hwy 58 out by Oak Ridge, if it wasn't a 350 mile/6 hour round trip, I would be using a weeks vacation, and doing nothing but cutting, loading hauling and unloading. If it was an Hour to an hour and a half each way, I could justify it, some Dayum Nice wood laying and piled right on the side of the road, with many places having excellent parking completely off the road, mostly D Fir, but looked like some Nice Maple and Birch as well. I could easily get my next 5-6 years worth of wood stock piled, except that I just don't have room for that much wood here at the house.

I've been on a temporary duty with another account, driving a round trip through there each week, the last 2 weeks, again tomorrow/tuesday and likely for the next several weeks, I already have to replace two pairs of jeans, from splitting the Zippers, driving by all that great wood, and It is just too far from home to justify 2 1/2 cords at a time



Doug

 

[Marley5]

Yep that's a big one, several cords.

I love cutting wood but shy away from the big stuff, just to hard on my back.

I drop them, cut the tops and skid them out for my brother to come get, he owns a sawmill.
Here's one waiting on him, white Oak 18ft.

 

[Saiso]

Yep that's a big one, several cords.

I love cutting wood but shy away from the big stuff, just to hard on my back.

I drop them, cut the tops and skid them out for my brother to come get, he owns a sawmill.
Here's one waiting on him, white Oak 18ft.View attachment 725408

Man, that’s a beauty.

 

[rancher2]

Big wood does make firewood fast but as I get older I am not a fan of it. I had a pile of locust logs that all were 36 inch to 50 inch dia that I had been putting off cutting up and splitting for the last two years. We finally processed them this fall after harvest was done. Three guys that are pushing 60 were done when the logs were finished. Made about 20 cords of nice firewood.

 

[bfrazier]

It doesn't sound strange to me, this winter was really rough on the trees along I-5 south of Cottage Grove and Drain, as well as Hwy 58 out by Oak Ridge
Doug

My place resembles your description, Doug, we're south of Cottage Grove. Trees went down by the hundreds - it sounded like shooting.

And most interesting was how it fell: At my place the Madrone's (Arbutus) mostly snapped in half 30 - 40' up - that's what they get for "cheating" - leaning out toward the sunlight I guess. The Doug Firs mosty just shed even more lower limbs and took it while the white fir came out by the roots. Oregon Ash - out by the roots. Oregon oak - shed big limbs or literally just split in half. Incense cedars, snapped off tops mostly - it's brittle, while Western Red Cedars - handled the snow with ease, their branches are swept lower. Western Maple just did some of everything. I'm generalizing some of course.

It was 20" of the heaviest snow any of us had ever seen, which of course is not a lot of snow by many standards. We were 4 days just cutting our way out to the county road, it too, was impassable for days. 10 days without power at our house.

 

[Husky Man]

Bfrazier, I have only heard about the mess on 58, haven't been through there yet, what's 58 looking like?

I'm running from Kennewick to Medford, thinking down 97, across 58 to I-5.

I should have a delivery near you, Saginaw exit to Sears Rd about 1.5-2 miles, actually right across from the I-5 rest area, how close are you?


Doug

 

[bfrazier]

I

Bfrazier, I have only heard about the mess on 58, haven't been through there yet, what's 58 looking like?

I'm running from Kennewick to Medford, thinking down 97, across 58 to I-5.

I should have a delivery near you, Saginaw exit to Sears Rd about 1.5-2 miles, actually right across from the I-5 rest area, how close are you?


Doug

I PM'ed you Doug.

 

[NSMaple1]

I like doing big stuff, seems to make wood in a hurry. But I always tow my splitter right to the rounds with an ATV, and just tip them over onto the foot with splitter vertical. If I couldn't do that, it would be a different story.

 

[Trapper_Pete]

I like big as in 32 inch in diameter but it is amazing how much more work 42 inch in diameter wood is. I suppose it is because we or I think of 42 as 10% bigger than 32 but in reality the square inches are 30% more in a 42 inch round than a 32 inch round .

and thus the 30% more work that it seems to be makes sense.

16 inch in diameter wood is a breeze cut it with nearly any saw , rounds are easy to lift , often strait grain and easy to split with the splitter

 

[muddstopper]

I have gotten to where I dont like big stuff either. The boom on my splitter will let me load a 4ft dia round without having to do any lifting. Its the resplitting and wrassling those still way to big splits that wears one out. I helped my buddy take out a 16"-18" red oak out of his back yard a few days ago. Normally I would have figured out a way to lift the whole trunk on my trailer, but because I had to drive my truck thru his front yard to get behind his house, I didnt want to use the tractor and fel to drag out the tree and load the truck. Tree also laid behind a grapevine trellis, I noodled the rounds into quarters and we carried them out and threw on the truck. Most work I have done for one tree in a long time and was only accomplished with multiple water breaks and bullschit sessions around the patio table.

 

[saxman]

As I get older I am not liking big trees as much. If you have big saws and can noodle them down to manageable size they aren't bad. The good thing is that there is lots of wood in the big ones. Here's one I did a few years ago. My 660 with a 36" bar was not big enough in a few spots

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[panolo]

I like doing big stuff, seems to make wood in a hurry. But I always tow my splitter right to the rounds with an ATV, and just tip them over onto the foot with splitter vertical. If I couldn't do that, it would be a different story.

I try to do the same although I have ran into some rounds I had to move with my skid steer because they couldn't be moved by hand. If I get them to an easy nice size I will finish them on the SS.

 

[sirbuildalot]

TW6 with log lift to get it into manageable pieces, and a Supersplit to turn the chunks into firewood. I believe this log was about 52" across.