Alder

[slowp]

All the discussion of leaning trees, and I am thinning some alder, and lopping it up into firewood. Red Alder is a native tree found on the wet side of the Cascade Mountains. It is a pioneer species--it seeds in like weeds after ground disturbance. It is a nitrogen fixer and doesn't live long.

It seeks light and that often means it doesn't grow straight. It has a bow to it, and lean. It will barberchair, especially when the weather is freezing. It makes OK firewood.

Anyway, here's my usual disclaimer: I am not a faller.

The first victim was part of a forked tree which since the fork was at stump level, I treated as two trees. I left too much of a hinge, and it split below the cut. So here's a picture of how far off tree number two was. I overcompensated and ended up cutting the hinge off. It was gunned the same as the first tree (with the lean/bow) and spun off course. So this is what can happen. The tree going more to the left was where they were both supposed to go.


That was the boo boo of the day.
Here is my micro crummy.


Alder cuts out white and turns red. It will stain jeans when fresh cut.


The "chipper".

Another spot before.

After.

 

[unclemoustache]

And that must be the Used Dog in the last pic. Looks like a winner!

 

[Doug Fir]

Alder smoke smells great. I don't burn it because we don't have it on the east slope, but when driving in western Washington I can always tell when someone in the area is burning alder. It's easy to understand why it's used to cook salmon. It adds a great flavor. Alder may have low heat content, but it's a nice firewood nonetheless.

Nice job on those leaners!

Doug

 

[slowp]

And that must be the Used Dog in the last pic. Looks like a winner!

Yes. The Used Dog has figured things out. When I am cutting a tree down or up, he stays out of the way and watches. When I'm not running the saw, the tennis ball is brought to me again and again and again and ...

 

[Nuzzy]

I'm a big fan of your micro crummy! Mine wasn't nearly as nice

 

[windthrown]

I am burning alder here right now. It is a medium heat wood. I smoke a lot with alder and apple. Traditional NW salmon is smoked on it. It grows really fast, and as said, its usually the first species to grow back after slicking off stands. Alder is my #1 smoking wood, and I will go out of my way to scrounge it. It only takes one season to dry to below 20% MC and burns nice and evenly. It is good shoulder season fire wood.

As for falling alders, Bob was on my case for a long time on this site for knocking down alders with a tractor bucket because they tended to split and barber on me. One huge one just sat there and would not go down, no matter how many wedges I hammered into it. So I tipped it over with the bucket. Worked great. The local loggers liked my idea because they tend to split, spin, barber, and gush red sap all over. Alder logs are also rather highly priced; alder is used in a lot of cabinet making. Its $600-700 MBF right now at the pond in this region in Oregon for the better stuff. That's about the same price as #1 peeler DF, the money tree.

 

[colson04]

Yes. The Used Dog has figured things out. When I am cutting a tree down or up, he stays out of the way and watches. When I'm not running the saw, the tennis ball is brought to me again and again and again and ...

lol, my sidekick does the same thing. She doesn't like any running engines (saw, weedeater, lawnmower, etc) so she lays by the truck until it gets shut off. Then when the action stops she comes hustling over to investigate and get the obligatory side pat/belly rub.

 

[Islero]

All the discussion of leaning trees, and I am thinning some alder, and lopping it up into firewood. Red Alder is a native tree found on the wet side of the Cascade Mountains. It is a pioneer species--it seeds in like weeds after ground disturbance. It is a nitrogen fixer and doesn't live long.

It seeks light and that often means it doesn't grow straight. It has a bow to it, and lean. It will barberchair, especially when the weather is freezing. It makes OK firewood.

Anyway, here's my usual disclaimer: I am not a faller.

The first victim was part of a forked tree which since the fork was at stump level, I treated as two trees. I left too much of a hinge, and it split below the cut. So here's a picture of how far off tree number two was. I overcompensated and ended up cutting the hinge off. It was gunned the same as the first tree (with the lean/bow) and spun off course. So this is what can happen. The tree going more to the left was where they were both supposed to go.
View attachment 335355

That was the boo boo of the day.
Here is my micro crummy.
View attachment 335359

Alder cuts out white and turns red. It will stain jeans when fresh cut.
View attachment 335360

The "chipper".
View attachment 335361
Another spot before.
View attachment 335362
After.
View attachment 335363[/quote

You go girl!!

 

[slowp]

Thanks Islero!

Alder doesn't get as hot, and that's why I like having a lot of it in the woodshed. My house heats up too much when I'm burning Doug-fir and maple, during our normal winter temps.

It is the straight alder that the mills want, and that seems to be hard to grow around here. That's part of my reason for thinning it, and now probably starting all over in the babied patch. Not that I'll be around to harvest it, and that might be a good thing, because getting it out will be tricky. Doable, but not "low impact".

 

[mainewoods]

Funny how different your alder looks than ours does. Ours grows in swampy areas and doesn't get as big. It grows thick and crowded. Woodcock, snowshoe hares and deer love it, but you can hardly walk through it.

 

[slowp]

We have brushy alder that grows in avalanche chutes and drainages and makes life miserable if you have to walk through it. The good thing is that it doesn't have stickers to puncture with.

 

[mainewoods]

One thing in common I bet, is that they sure throw off the smoke. We call it black fly wood.