Do you think it would help?

[Trigger-Time]

Do you think it would help to ring the trees in advance before milling?
Allot of the time in late July or Aug. I will cut some rings around the trees
that I plan on cutting up for fire wood, and it sure seems that the leaves
will help suck the water out of the tree. Plus it's up off the ground, so it
gets allot of air to help dry it.

 

[woodshop]

Do you think it would help to ring the trees in advance before milling?
Allot of the time in late July or Aug. I will cut some rings around the trees
that I plan on cutting up for fire wood, and it sure seems that the leaves
will help suck the water out of the tree. Plus it's up off the ground, so it
gets allot of air to help dry it.

Trigger are you talking about girdling a tree, removing the bark and cambium around the base to kill the tree? My experience has been that even standing trees that have been dead a few years are full of water and don't really dry out completely ever. Not until you cut them up into small enough pieces to where air can get to the wood. Plus some species, like young red maple less than 12" are hard to kill that way. They kind re-route internally, and just don't die right away.

 

[Trigger-Time]

Trigger are you talking about girdling a tree, removing the bark and cambium around the base to kill the tree? My experience has been that even standing trees that have been dead a few years are full of water and don't really dry out completely ever. Not until you cut them up into small enough pieces to where air can get to the wood. Plus some species, like young red maple less than 12" are hard to kill that way. They kind re-route internally, and just don't die right away.

woodshop, Around here we call it ringing a tree, cutting three
rings around the tree about bar width deep to kill trees for fire wood.
Ring'em in late July or early Aug. Fell & buck'em Oct, Nov. Type of
trees White & Post Oak. It kills them fast, I guess they can't get
any ground water and the leaves suck what water they can out
of the tree. All I know is the wood will burn allot better. I just
thought it mite speed up the drying time. But I will have to wait
until next year to find out. Isn't July and Aug the time of year
that sap falls out of the trees, maybe thats why it helps.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Might work, but it might also cause the trunk to develop internal stresses or reaction wood. I guess it would depend on if the leaves suck out only the free water or pull out the bound water as well.

 

[woodshop]

woodshop, Around here we call it ringing a tree, cutting three
rings around the tree about bar width deep to kill trees for fire wood.

Thats one of the reasons I like AS, every day you learn something new. Did a google search on "ringing a tree" and found a bunch of stuff. Native Americans in the northwest used to fell huge trees that way for example. I guess it WOULD take more water out of the tree than if you felled it fresh. Enough to make a difference when then drying the wood after milling? Dunno. Would make an interesting project for a college forestry or ag student.

thanks trigger

 

[Trigger-Time]

I really do think the time of year, makes the difference.
If you ring'em in the July, Aug time of year they never
seem to try to sprout back.

 

[Trigger-Time]

And I wasn't meaning for this to take the place of drying the lumber.
I was thinking about the people that own there own land, or know
where they are going to be getting the next milling log. And this
mite shorting up the drying time, and maybe the lumber not check
as bad. I will ring some next year to see how it works.
This year the trees I ringed where smaller timber (thinning) and
it's cut up into fire wood.

 

[VT-Woodchuck]

I don't know if it will dry enough to make a big difference, but I find it easier to mill green wood than dry. A side by side comparison would be interesting.

 

[woodshop]

I don't know if it will dry enough to make a big difference, but I find it easier to mill green wood than dry. A side by side comparison would be interesting.

Didn't think of that, but I agree with VT, milling wet wood is easier than milling trees that have been on the ground drying for a while. Some species are worse than others. I milled an ash that had been dead for over a year and half, and it was murder on the saws/chains/bandsaw blades compared to one just cut. Just don't know how much ringing (girdling) the trees would actually make a difference there. As VT says, would make an interesting side my side comparison.

 

[VT-Woodchuck]

Hey WS,
As a matter of fact, it was a dry ash that made me aware of the difference. It was early in my milling experience and my lack of patience/knowledge (stupidity) caused me to fry a bar. Dry ash is a challenge!