Places to cut wood

[Preston]

Where in the world are you storing all the wood? You must have 20 cords cut.

 

[slowp]

A little thread drift here.

I will reveal my secret to burning green, wet slash. I do it here on days when the smoke won't bother my neighbors. I use those brick fire starter blocks, add kindling, then add more firewood. I get a good campfire burning. Then I pile on the smaller limbs. The needles go up with a frazzing sound. When those start getting too high, I pile on the bigger limbs, which smashes the pile back down. Oh, I'm doing this all by hand so I've cut the limbs down to sizes that I can easily lift.

I keep doing that until it is all in the pile and burning. Then, I wait. After a bit, I go out and pull on the green parts of the limbs sticking out from the bottom of the pile. If they pull out easily, it means they are burned through and I pull them out and throw them in the middle--hot part of the pile where they'll burn up completely. We call this "Chunking". Repeat.

When we used to do broadcast burns in logged areas, our boss would be on the radio about "Get that column going!" He meant to get the fire burning hot, so the smoke column went high up in the air, and didn't smoke us out too badly. The same is true for campfires and small slash pile burning....Get that column going!

A clean burn, if you do it, also makes it better looking. Take a lawn chair and some hot dogs and beverages. Cows enjoy slash pile burning, too. This was not one of my piles.

View attachment 282657

 

[TonyK]

Wow! When you guys smoke some beef you start with it on the hoof. That is hardcore! :msp_w00t:

 

[Preston]

Here in Georgia green wood will burn but the creosote in the chimney is just too much to fight. Now you girls in Cal might do pretty well with the soft woods, but here, if the oaks aren't dry, many problems are down the road. The sourwood I've cut take 2 years or more to cure. Hickory, dry or not I love the odor. Plus, such a waste of BTU's trying to burn green wood so I give it at least a year. A full 12 months.

 

[slowp]

Preston, you have misread my post. I don't burn green wood in my woodstove. I am talking about cleaning up the land. A slash pile is a pile of branches and cull wood that may be burned OUTDOORS...no chimney--no chimney used. Like a campfire--outdoors. The same goes for broadcast burning...outdoors with no chimney other than creeks and draws.

I am not in CA. In fact there is the whole state of Oregon in between Warshington and CA.

I'll take some pictures of the next slash pile. It is also perfectly legal and I have a free permit for burning slash. Permits are available over the internet. I think their purpose is so you will read the rules and also so the fire department knows what the smoke column is all about. Permits are not issued when fire danger becomes a factor...usually in July.

 

[Preston]

I must be wrong then. I was of the understanding that place in between Ca and Wa had been divided equally between the two. But then I supposed they couldn't find use for it. I understand.

 

[Lovewood33]

The good news keeps coming for you, an Oak tree blown down. I would be happy to get to some cutting and hauling and splitting and stacking. :msp_w00t:

 

[c5rulz]

Where in the world are you storing all the wood? You must have 20 cords cut.

The oak at my golfing buddies stays right where I block and split it. I pick it up when I want it after it is seasoned. The other is on pallets along one side of the property line about 100 yards from the house. I have 3.8 acres. I am thinking of making one of those round Holhausen's, spelling??

 

[c5rulz]

Well today we cut up two trees that had fallen over the fence in the neighbors cornfield causing him to lose some production. We cut those up and some huge pine limbs hanging into the field. The farmer is a good friend of the landowner we'll see what happens.:msp_rolleyes: Hopefully word does get around.

Since the snow is a little too deep to chance driving in the woods, we dropped and blocked up an oak with the top blown out. It was a good 40" at the base. It turned out to be hollow but solid. Mighty hard on chains with the dirt in it. If the snow tonight is what they predict, 6-12", I can walk out to the wood and split it where it lays and get later. This is sandy ground and won't get muddy. Because of this, this is black oak and not good lumber wood, but hey for firewood it is just fine.

 

[GeeVee]

A good snag of brush here and there is a good thing to promote the wildlife food chain, don't burn every bit.

 

[Preston]

I remember as a child my kin would but pine for lumber off my grandma's place. They would end up with a huge pile of limbs and tops. Somewhere in there the deer would find a spot and make themselves at home. I didn't think there was room in there but they found enough.

 

[c5rulz]

A good snag of brush here and there is a good thing to promote the wildlife food chain, don't burn every bit.

This area has a ton of scrub oak and a huge amount of leaf litter on the ground. Burning would probably be too hazardous. It appears years back the wood did burn.

On Sunday a friend and I are helping the landowner clear a ton of small trees/brush that are crowding his driveway. We will snake these whole trees to a mowed out burning area that is mowed around. Then cut up and make a burn pile.

Afterwards on Sunday he is taking me to the other 40 and 140 acre parcels where I can cut.:msp_w00t:

 

[slowp]

I remember as a child my kin would but pine for lumber off my grandma's place. They would end up with a huge pile of limbs and tops. Somewhere in there the deer would find a spot and make themselves at home. I didn't think there was room in there but they found enough.

In subzero weather, I have seen mule deer come out of slash piles and also from under logging equipment.
Every bit of shelter helps, I guess. The loggers were also keeping a pile burning in order to keep the landing slash under control. I imagine the deer hunkered by that too. Slash becomes a problem when whole tree yarding: skidding trees in with limbs and top attached.

 

[slowp]

A good snag of brush here and there is a good thing to promote the wildlife food chain, don't burn every bit.

It isn't like I clean up every speck. I don't mess with a steep slope because I don't want to encourage erosion. However, not having an elk herd on the property is a good thing. My friends and the timber companies cannot grow Western Red Cedar unless it is protected by a fence or tubing. Cedar seedlings are elk and deer candy.

My young cedar is unmolested--so far.

I don't have a lot of room for storing slash.

 

[jasper89]

Improving the Coulees!

Ron: Seems like a real good thing you are doing, helping out others and proving that a person can be responsible and cut some wood. If you ever get in a bind, or need some assistance let me know. I'm right in the area. Seems a little snowy today!
Frank

 

[c5rulz]

Ron: Seems like a real good thing you are doing, helping out others and proving that a person can be responsible and cut some wood. If you ever get in a bind, or need some assistance let me know. I'm right in the area. Seems a little snowy today!
Frank

PM sent. We are going Sunday if it doesn't rain.

 

[c5rulz]

Where in the world are you storing all the wood? You must have 20 cords cut.

Well it's not 20 cords, but it certainly is growing.

 

[c5rulz]

UPDATE, on this old thread.

Update on this old thread.

All of the wood below is gone, and I used the proceeds to buy a splitter. I kept the 2 year old seasoned oak in the middle for myself.

Below I'll add this years pile which is now is 130' long and getting close to two pallets wide.

Well it's not 20 cords, but it certainly is growing.

The splitter has made work quite a big easier.

This is all since Aug. 15th.

On Sunday I went and talked to the landowner mentioned above as it rained when we were going to meet this Spring. He took me out to the 140 acre parcel that had been logged. We walked it finding there wasn't a real lot until we got on top of a hill where some oak wilt set in and there are quite a few trees up there. The snow is deep so I'll have to use a small trailer and ATV, but hauling downhill is much easier than uphill in deep snow. Not ideal since it is 25 miles, but will give me something to do this winter.

 

[Torch68]

Good land stewards today seem to be a diminishing bread as the young take to more modern and easier recreation. Learning the way of the woods, respecting No Trespassing signs, picking up trash, and just a high level of respect is needed. Awesome you left it in better shape than when you started.

 

[c5rulz]

Good land stewards today seem to be a diminishing bread as the young take to more modern and easier recreation. Learning the way of the woods, respecting No Trespassing signs, picking up trash, and just a high level of respect is needed. Awesome you left it in better shape than when you started.

Thanks,

Since I started this thread in the Spring, I picked up 2 new spots to cut. Both were sites where they were logging. I got in the loggers and found out the name of the landowners and told them the same thing that I would clean up the landings and tops in the woods. The loggers were great guys I got to know quite well. They responded very well to fresh Honeycrisp apples I grow and soda. I ate many lunches with them.

The guy on the forwarder would load my trailer in 3-4 minutes and my trailer would look like this.

Not a great pic, but the forwarder is in the background.