Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[sd455dan]

Thanks... it did make quite a thud as the big log hit the pavement. Hope to mill it next weekend.


Dan, Personally I was more impressed with the dozer! Logs were free, 'moment of opertunity' type deal. Not nice perfect straight round logs, but yard trees like to have nails in them, with forks in meny places. Nice haul none the less, and worth sawing myself, but not if I had to pay for it.... my buddy is looking forward to the knots and scraps, he turns bowls on his lathe, makes some nice stuff.

That was a huge log from the picture looked to be around 3 foot diameter? That should make some neat things on the lathe. Good job getting it moved and unloaded safely.

 

[JohnMacca]

I find it interesting that when you blokes talk about going out and getting firewood, you seem to be almost always talking about cutting green wood and then stacking it to dry for a year or two.

In my part of Australia anyway, when someone talks about going to get some firewood, we usually mean that we will be cutting up long dead, well dry, wood. Either standing or fallen trees. Typical conversation - in Aussie drawl of course! - "Got any firewood in your back paddock I could cut mate?" "Nah, sorry mate, its all green".

I realise that many of the posts are talking about cutting up wind blown (or whatever) green trees so they don't go to waste, and of course we do that as well.

By the way, it was normal practice many years ago to "ringbark" trees on your land and let them die off, to be cut down for firewood when they had dried. Quick way to get in all sorts of trouble now!

Not intended as any sort of criticism, just curious.

I'm lucky that I have plenty of dead trees mixed in on my timbered land and can pick and choose what type of wood I cut.

 

[doctinker]

I find it interesting that when you blokes talk about going out and getting firewood, you seem to be almost always talking about cutting green wood and then stacking it to dry for a year or two.

In my part of Australia anyway, when someone talks about going to get some firewood, we usually mean that we will be cutting up long dead, well dry, wood. Either standing or fallen trees. Typical conversation - in Aussie drawl of course! - "Got any firewood in your back paddock I could cut mate?" "Nah, sorry mate, its all green".

I realise that many of the posts are talking about cutting up wind blown (or whatever) green trees so they don't go to waste, and of course we do that as well.

By the way, it was normal practice many years ago to "ringbark" trees on your land and let them die off, to be cut down for firewood when they had dried. Quick way to get in all sorts of trouble now!

Not intended as any sort of criticism, just curious.

I'm lucky that I have plenty of dead trees mixed in on my timbered land and can pick and choose what type of wood I cut.

I call the standing dead trees, standing cord wood. It takes up less room that way. That is my preferred wood but I take most anything that's free. Even better if a tree trimmer is in the area and needs a place to dump the wood.

 

[doctinker]

Not all from the same year, but the piles come and go pretty much the same. The old Ford isn't gone yet, but it has been replaced with the Mahindra Max. The old Cummins Dodge does the long distance hauling.

 

[dieselcrawler]

That was a huge log from the picture looked to be around 3 foot diameter? That should make some neat things on the lathe. Good job getting it moved and unloaded safely.

The big log is a bit oval at the butt, about 32"x40", and about 6' up to the first big branch, where it necks down. At the 11' mark, there's an honest 24" or more. I may take off one or 2 slabs at the butt, 5" to 6" thick, might make a nice coffee table, then mill out 10' lumber. I'll try to get some shorter stuff from the butt, I'll make use of every piece I can.

The smaller log is 22" x 10', much more even, less knots. I'll post pictures when I get it all cut up.

 

[farm boy00]

I find it interesting that when you blokes talk about going out and getting firewood, you seem to be almost always talking about cutting green wood and then stacking it to dry for a year or two.

In my part of Australia anyway, when someone talks about going to get some firewood, we usually mean that we will be cutting up long dead, well dry, wood. Either standing or fallen trees. Typical conversation - in Aussie drawl of course! - "Got any firewood in your back paddock I could cut mate?" "Nah, sorry mate, its all green".

I realise that many of the posts are talking about cutting up wind blown (or whatever) green trees so they don't go to waste, and of course we do that as well.

By the way, it was normal practice many years ago to "ringbark" trees on your land and let them die off, to be cut down for firewood when they had dried. Quick way to get in all sorts of trouble now!

Not intended as any sort of criticism, just curious.

I'm lucky that I have plenty of dead trees mixed in on my timbered land and can pick and choose what type of wood I cut.

That's how it also works around Michigan. We usually only cut dry. In the main woods we harvest it has been logged twice in ten years, and we have been cutting out of it for many years. Can never keep up with what falling or dead. Plan on getting a utv and using that some this summer because woods is only assisible during winter with trucks

I call the standing dead trees, standing cord wood. It takes up less room that way. That is my preferred wood but I take most anything that's free. Even better if a tree trimmer is in the area and needs a place to dump the wood.

 

[SpringHollow]

Here, the ash would not have a lot of heat left in them if they were left in the woods for a couple of years. Some of the ash that still have a few live branches are often extremely light and punky when they are cut down. I did have some red oak tops where the branches were 2' in diameter that were blocked by tree falls from the ice storm. By the time I could work my way to them 15 or so years later, there was only about 10" of very wet wood surrounded by rotted mush left but that remaining wood still gave a lot of heat when dried and burned.

Ken

 

[motownbrowne]

I find it interesting that when you blokes talk about going out and getting firewood, you seem to be almost always talking about cutting green wood and then stacking it to dry for a year or two.

In my part of Australia anyway, when someone talks about going to get some firewood, we usually mean that we will be cutting up long dead, well dry, wood. Either standing or fallen trees. Typical conversation - in Aussie drawl of course! - "Got any firewood in your back paddock I could cut mate?" "Nah, sorry mate, its all green".

I realise that many of the posts are talking about cutting up wind blown (or whatever) green trees so they don't go to waste, and of course we do that as well.

By the way, it was normal practice many years ago to "ringbark" trees on your land and let them die off, to be cut down for firewood when they had dried. Quick way to get in all sorts of trouble now!

Not intended as any sort of criticism, just curious.

I'm lucky that I have plenty of dead trees mixed in on my timbered land and can pick and choose what type of wood I cut.

Every situation is a little different, but there's a few things to consider.

1. It's safer to fell (cut down) live trees than dead ones. The chances of being injured by falling limbs is reduced, also controlling the direction of the fall is easier and more reliable.

2. Wood dries better when spilt and stacked than in log form. We do burn some elm that was killed by Dutch elm disease around here. Since it died standing up, the wood usually burns alright without drying, but it's better if it's stacked for a couple of months. Anything that gets blown down is best cut, split, and stacked otherwise it'll rot on the ground.

3. A decent portion of my firewood is from thinning projects from different parts of my woods. It's a good management practice to thin out dense stands and to remove undesirable species or individual trees. This wood obviously is cut green.

Now, all this works for me, but my situation may be very different than down under, or Michigan, or down the road from me. Our weather is often fairly humid, which encourages rot. We have a relatively small woodlot (10 acres), so thinning is manageable and important. We haven't had any logging done, so there isn't a large supply of tops to cut from.

 

[Baby Grand]

Every situation is a little different, but there's a few things to consider.

1. It's safer to fell (cut down) live trees than dead ones. The chances of being injured by falling limbs is reduced, also controlling the direction of the fall is easier and more reliable.

2. Wood dries better when spilt and stacked than in log form. We do burn some elm that was killed by Dutch elm disease around here. Since it died standing up, the wood usually burns alright without drying, but it's better if it's stacked for a couple of months. Anything that gets blown down is best cut, split, and stacked otherwise it'll rot on the ground.

3. A decent portion of my firewood is from thinning projects from different parts of my woods. It's a good management practice to thin out dense stands and to remove undesirable species or individual trees. This wood obviously is cut green.

Now, all this works for me, but my situation may be very different than down under, or Michigan, or down the road from me. Our weather is often fairly humid, which encourages rot. We have a relatively small woodlot (10 acres), so thinning is manageable and important. We haven't had any logging done, so there isn't a large supply of tops to cut from.

My explanation is very similar to MTB's. We get an average of about 45 inches of rain per year, so when anything drops to the ground, the clock starts ticking. With some varieties of tree, the wood can be nearly useless for heat within a year. Others can take much longer to decay, but rot they will.

At our place, some trees get cut down so that others may grow faster or fuller. "Leave the best and cut the rest" has been my practice and the woods get better looking every year. A healthy, mature tree in its prime will put on weight with amazing speed - it's a great form of carbon sequestration.

Ringbark: My dad used to "girdle" trees that he planned to cut down, so I'm kind of used to the idea. Allows you to avoid dealing with leaves and lets the tree cure while standing so there's less weight to cause damage when it comes down. Also easier to move to the splitter after a year of drying upright.

-Jim

 

[KiwiBro]

I find it interesting that when you blokes talk about going out and getting firewood, you seem to be almost always talking about cutting green wood and then stacking it to dry for a year or two.

In my part of Australia anyway, when someone talks about going to get some firewood, we usually mean that we will be cutting up long dead, well dry, wood. Either standing or fallen trees. Typical conversation - in Aussie drawl of course! - "Got any firewood in your back paddock I could cut mate?" "Nah, sorry mate, its all green".

I realise that many of the posts are talking about cutting up wind blown (or whatever) green trees so they don't go to waste, and of course we do that as well.

By the way, it was normal practice many years ago to "ringbark" trees on your land and let them die off, to be cut down for firewood when they had dried. Quick way to get in all sorts of trouble now!

Not intended as any sort of criticism, just curious.

I'm lucky that I have plenty of dead trees mixed in on my timbered land and can pick and choose what type of wood I cut.

If you put up a video on youtube of cutting rings from a big dry gum tree out the back of your place I can guarantee someone will post a comment telling you to sharpen your chain.