The 'beginning of the beginning'

[turnkey4099]

Out to start on the middle of field grove today. They cut the Field on Sunday allowing me access to it.

Went out early to load up the rounds from the last tree I fell up in the wire pile. Had to leave the last 8-10' of log that is on top of what was a 7' tall pile of hogwire. I worked it up Saturday and rigged a 4x ma cable pull - didnt' budge it an inch. That is the stuff on the truck. Still more left that I will get probably tomorrow.

Much better than it appeared from the county road about 100 yards away. 6 huge locusts. Haven't stomped around in there but it looks junk free . After spending all spring and summer working trees in junk and wire it will be a pleasure to fall them anyplace they want to go.

Did find rick of rounds that someone cut way back when - that is it peeking out at the back end of the truck. Not sure how much but around a cord. Also the big end of at least two logs, perhaps 8' long. Locust just doesn't rot so all of that will still be good.

Gonna have to hit it hard; every couple days to get it out before he works the field. Then back to the wire/junk - 4 big trees still remaining there.

Had planned to load up then do work in the grove. Nope, decided to run home, unload and return. Stopped to look it over on the way out. Got home and my body said "unload if you want, but you ain't a going back!"

So, unloaded and resharped the saw I just sharped yesterday - hit a wire again 10 minutes into today's work

Harry K

 

[stint]

Great pics and plans

Thanks for sharing and good luck an "Git-R-Done"

 

[amateur cutter]

Keep on keepin on Harry, love the updates. A C

 

[PA Plumber]

Man, you've got to have a serious stockpile of Locust!

Good work, and thanks for the pics.

 

[discounthunter]

hard work but a good pay off. how much wood you think you ve got out of there so far?

 

[ihookem]

Turnkey, you don't know how lucky you are to live there. Nice country and not so humid. Feel free to post more picks, I love the west.

 

[bsearcey]

Soooooo jealous. I know you've had it rough for awhile with the brush and junk, but man that looks like a nice place to be able to work now. Take the good with the bad and it's all good in the end.

 

[Doingitwell]

Turnkey, are you cutting green stuff? Why all the wire, fences? Looks like some easy access thankfully. About where in SE WA are you? Kinda looks to me like the Walla Walla or Tri-Cities area?

 

[mtngun]

About where in SE WA are you? Kinda looks to me like the Walla Walla or Tri-Cities area?

Looks like the Palouse country -- gently rolling prairie, a few clumps of trees here and there.

Not my favorite part of the PNW, but it has its moments.

 

[PA Plumber]

TK,

Are you running into many wasps this time of year?

This "little" fella is just over 2" long with a pretty nasty looking self defense system!

 

[Circle B MN]

Looks like a great place to cut. How's the weather there..?

 

[Jredsjeep]

TK,

Are you running into many wasps this time of year?

This "little" fella is just over 2" long with a pretty nasty looking self defense system!

looks like what chased me out of the woods a few days ago i think they are locust killers and are actually fairly tame unless you mess with them pretty good. they get up to 5 cm long and dig in the ground. trouble is the males attack anything that moves but only really fly around you menacing like until they figure out you are not another male trying to mate with one of there females

 

[PA Plumber]

I dropped a few Honey Locust trees a couple of winters ago.
Have about 6 cords split and stacked in the back yard.
For some reason, these guys seem to like it.

 

[turnkey4099]

To answer several queries:

Where? Colfax area. That site is just off SR26 at twin bridges - any WSU people will know where that is.

Weather? Wonderful today Clear, slight breez and didn't get to 80. Even cooler tomorrow but some chance of getting rained out.

How much? Scared to measure it. In total over the past couple years plus this year I have about 40 cords stacked. Out of that site? May 3 or 4 - most of the trees were small. the best ones are the 4 remaining and each will go about 3/4 cord.

Cutting green stuff: No. It is all either dead (almost all of it) or is well on the way to dieing. It has all been killed by the locust borer. There are some signs that saplings are coming back and surviving though. That grove in the picture is about the greenest of the lot.

Wasps? I have only seen one so far. Haven't even seen any paper wasps around the house- I usually have to patrol regularly to kill their nests.
A bit leery of the Locust borer - they look a lot like a wasp but lack the 'wasp waste' Seen several of them. The one wasp I did see lit on my arm Saturday and I first thought it was a borer.

 

[needwood]

Nice scour man. That old Ford is doing a good job too.

 

[ray benson]

Hit lots of metal. But most of the trees I cut are residential. See even the farmers buried treasure in the trees.

 

[turnkey4099]

Second day out there and still haven't laid saw into it. Picked up the last little bit of the 'wired' bunch then on to that batch. Was going to fall a "small" one so only brought th MS310/20" and Husky 51/18". Dug through the greenery to face a stem that needs at least a 24".

Loaded up teh rick of already cut stuff - not as much as I thought but made a full load. Unfortunately whoever cut it cut everything from 12 to 24". I dumped that at home on a separate pile and will recut anything that is too long to fit in the stove - burn this winter.

The whole grove has logs like this laying in there.

Not going to bother with them this year. Get those trees down first - probably won't get all of them before the field is worked.

On the way out I decided to take a peak at some kind of trees tht I could just see the tops of from the highway. About a 1/2 mile out a dirt lane:

Yep, another grove of dead/dying B. Locust - about 1/2 of them are totally dead the rest dying. It is also in the middle of a field so only accessable after harvest.

This 'wood booga' disease is as bad as CAD . Don't need the wood but do 'need' the fun and excercise I get from 'wooding'.

Harry K

 

[bsearcey]

Oh man...didn't get above 80. I was working in 100 degrees with high humidity today and most of the time in the sun. I've got about another month or so of this off and on. Can't wait for fall to actually get here. We didn't even have a spring.

 

[turnkey4099]

Day three - took down the middle tree, smallest of the bunch. Made a load that was a bit overweight. Nice to finally run some saws in there.

That grove is carpeted with logs, small ricks of rounds, etc. I think I could make a winter's supply out of just the down stuff. May return next year and dojust that. Wouldn't be nice cutting as they are well down in the dirt. This year I have to get the standing trees out of there.

Taking a day off tomorrow - 3 days in a row humping wood is all I want. Temp wasn't bad today (only 83 when I got home) but still way warmer than I like to work in. Saturday looks good (84) but then it goes to the low 90s for most of next week.

Harry K

 

[needwood]

Second day out there and still haven't laid saw into it. Picked up the last little bit of the 'wired' bunch then on to that batch. Was going to fall a "small" one so only brought th MS310/20" and Husky 51/18". Dug through the greenery to face a stem that needs at least a 24".

Loaded up teh rick of already cut stuff - not as much as I thought but made a full load. Unfortunately whoever cut it cut everything from 12 to 24". I dumped that at home on a separate pile and will recut anything that is too long to fit in the stove - burn this winter.

The whole grove has logs like this laying in there.

Not going to bother with them this year. Get those trees down first - probably won't get all of them before the field is worked.

On the way out I decided to take a peak at some kind of trees tht I could just see the tops of from the highway. About a 1/2 mile out a dirt lane:

Yep, another grove of dead/dying B. Locust - about 1/2 of them are totally dead the rest dying. It is also in the middle of a field so only accessable after harvest.

This 'wood booga' disease is as bad as CAD . Don't need the wood but do 'need' the fun and excercise I get from 'wooding'.

Harry K

Yea, that sucks" We have the same problem with the ash boring beetle around here. Its nice to get the wood, but what are we going to do when all of the good trees are gone? O i forgot, global warming. We wont need the trees. HAAAAAH It dose seam that way right now,don't it???? Man its hot!!!