Next years firewood.

Last year I cut up and ranked 4 cords of oak out at my bosses place with the intentions of hauling it home to use in my fireplace insert. I ended up bringing two cords home in the early spring of last year but I didn't have any more room at home so I left it out at his place to season for next winter. Well, he had a bad stroke back in the summer of last year and since he also heats with wood he had his son go take all the rest of the wood I had ranked up and he ended up burning it all this past winter. It was his wood to begin with so I didn't mind but I burned off most of my 2 cords at home this winter so I was needing to replenish my supply. I ended up taking a 4' tall, 4' wide, 16' long bundle of scrap green white oak home from my job and cutting it all to size. The weight was about 11,000 lbs total and it was quite a load for my 1/2 ton to pull. Anyway, after cutting it all up and stacking it I ended up with a real nice stack of oak with no bark, no dirt, and no insects mixed in. Here are some pics of my adventure and the finished stacked result. I'm pretty stoked that I got almost all of my winters firewood needs knocked out in one weekend and one trip.

Here is a shot after I made a few cuts into the bundle. I used my 6401 and a 20" bar, wished I'd had a 24 or 28 with skip chain but it did the job.



Here is what it looks like all stacked up.

Beautiful stacking job. I must admit that I probably would have cross cut all of it with an electric jobsite table saw or chop saw because it was already milled. Looks like most if it was milled to 8/4 ro 12/4 rough cut, so a TS with a carbide blade would have buzzed right through it and saved a bunch of gasoline.

Regardless, that will be sweet burning wood. Around here, you would pay at least $2.50 a bd ft for it, so I judge that the wagon load was worth well over $3 grand.

Wood Dr. I'm not sure what 8/4 or 12/4 means but if you mean it was cut at 8" x 4" at the mill then you would be close. We get this white oak cut at 8"x 2" x 16' from the mill. It's used as flooring for heavy duty trailers that haul construction equipment. We produce 10-12 or more of those bundles you see on the trailer each year as waste along with 20 or more 4 x 4 x 4' pallets of scrap cut off end pieces. It does make really goot hot burning firewood.

Brian S said:

Wood Dr. I'm not sure what 8/4 or 12/4 means but if you mean it was cut at 8" x 4" at the mill then you would be close. We get this white oak cut at 8"x 2" x 16' from the mill. It's used as flooring for heavy duty trailers that haul construction equipment. We produce 10-12 or more of those bundles you see on the trailer each year as waste along with 20 or more 4 x 4 x 4' pallets of scrap cut off end pieces. It does make really goot hot burning firewood.

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8/4 and 12/4 are thicknesses used by the mills. Rough cut 4/4 is about an inch thick and when planed on both sides, you have about 25/32" to 13/16" remaining. It varies from one sawmill to the next. So, 8/4 rough is about 2" thick and 12/4 rough is about 3" thick.

I recommended the electric saw not just for the energy savings but also the waste savings. A chain saw produces about twice the waste of a 10" saw blade, especially if you used a thin kerf blade. It might take a little longer, but I believe it would have been worth it, only because the logs were already ripped at a mill. Shucks, I hardly even see any bark or rough edges.

You're right about using an electric saw as far as the waste goes. I made a mountain of chips. However, I used only 1/2 gallon of gas max and the cutting was by far the quickest part of the process. It took at least 8 hours of labor to cut, pissant, and restack all that wood, the cutting was probably only 30 minutes tops.

BOY!

The pig pen I could fabricate with that! The mind reels!

I'd be getting every dang scrap piece that I could, and I mean every one.

That there is 100% grade A firewood. Well done.

Interesting. I'm on job sites all the time doing electrical work. I didn't bother to think about all the scrap 2x4 and 2x6's they throw in dumpster.

Making me think now. Although I hate burning 2x4's --- it is free.

That's Nice !

I'd take every bit of that i could my greedy little paws on.

Hey Brian, Good to see you posting again, That wood stacks really nice. yeah we would all take some of that. Easy stacking and probably less splinters loading the stove too.

stihl sawing said:

Hey Brian, Good to see you posting again, That wood stacks really nice. yeah we would all take some of that. Easy stacking and probably less splinters loading the stove too.

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Hey ya, I'm still alive. I had a real busy summer and then around Thanksgiving my marriage fell apart so I've had a lot on my plate. Things are just now getting back on track, and have worked out well considering the situation. I'm glad to be back!

Brian S said:

Hey ya, I'm still alive. I had a real busy summer and then around Thanksgiving my marriage fell apart so I've had a lot on my plate. Things are just now getting back on track, and have worked out well considering the situation. I'm glad to be back!

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Sorry to hear that, But glad you're back. you were missed.

stihl sawing said:

Sorry to hear that, But glad you're back. you were missed.

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Thanks for that comment my friend.. Appreciated, mucho.

Boy that is some nice wood to be using as firewood, but if you get the stuff free and there is a posibility to get more who cares. I bet you don't have to worry about that stack shifting and falling over as it dries.:hmm3grin2orange:

Beefie

man nice lumber

I'm torn between wanting some of that to re-do the floor of my trailer and wanting to have some of that to put in my stove.

Nice score!

I also can get large amounts of this type of wood . I used to use a chainsaw to cut it all to length and I thought that was a good way of cutting it , until I got a dewalts chop saw with a very agressive blade ! like a hot knife thru warm butter !
if you watch the sales you should be able to get a chop saw for about a hundred or so bucks ,well worth it !
I back my pickup to the wood so it is on my left put the saw on the tailgate and the wheel barrow to the right!

great score on the wood

MD

mickeyd said:

I also can get large amounts of this type of wood . I used to use a chainsaw to cut it all to length and I thought that was a good way of cutting it , until I got a dewalts chop saw with a very agressive blade ! like a hot knife thru warm butter !
if you watch the sales you should be able to get a chop saw for about a hundred or so bucks ,well worth it !
I back my pickup to the wood so it is on my left put the saw on the tailgate and the wheel barrow to the right!

great score on the wood

MD

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Actually, they are even cheaper than that:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44829

Hard to beat for $50. A super deluxe version (whatever that is) goes for $90. Figure the aggressive carbide blade would cost about as much as the saw itself.

Dang guys, ya know if I had an electric saw cabale of cutting all this stuff up-- I'd never need a chainsaw again.. I really thought this was a chainsaw enthusiast website! You guys are gonna take all the fun outa my firewood collecting........ Unlike many of you guys, we don't have an overabundance of trees or violent storms so I have to make excuses to get a saw outta the barn! Stop raining on my parade !

I wanna run a SAW dammit!