Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Billrog]

I've never burnt hem-fir but fir does make good firewood if it slit and left under cover for a couple yrs. to eliminate creosote and lots of ash.

 

[Parkanzky]

Split a bit of wood with my father-in-law over the holiday. First, we had to make a new rack because all but one he had were full. He was tired of the bottoms rotting out after half a dozen years, so we built this one out of steel:

Untitled by parkanzky

Untitled by parkanzky

He has a log lift on his tractor that lets us pick up whole trees. We back them into the woods and limb them, then cut them at a comfortable level. No cutting in the dirt, so chains stay sharp. No skidding them through the mud, so they're not a mess when we want to work with them (it was super-muddy this past weekend, just look at the tractor tracks!). If they're really big, we can back the tractor while somebody cuts so that the chunks all end up right by the splitter. This time, we were just cleaning up a little pine but you get the idea:

Untitled by parkanzky

Untitled by parkanzky

It didn't take us long to fill both empty racks, but it was still nice to spend a morning burning some fuel.

 

[dragoneggs]

Looking good Parky!

 

[Billrog]

Looks like a lot of wracks of nice fire wood.:thumbsup:

 

[Oldpath05]

So now that the firewood is stacked in the rack, and doesn't look like the rack can be stacked, now what, looks like a dozen or so scattered around the farm, do they stay outside and brought in the house when needed, or brought in a woodshed before winter?
Around here I'd have to bring them inside a woodshed to avoid the sideways rain. I use around 8 cord/season. I estimate my L3400 tractor can lift 3rd of a cord, now if I divide by 2, carry the 1, multiply by 3, I need 24 racks of stacks, so to cut that in half and speed up the process, I'd have to buy a bigger tractor with a cab, heater, AC, and satellite radio.

 

[Oldpath05]

So now that the firewood is stacked in the rack, and doesn't look like the rack can be stacked, now what, looks like a dozen or so scattered around the farm, do they stay outside and brought in the house when needed, or brought in a woodshed before winter?

Around here I'd have to bring them inside a woodshed to avoid the sideways rain. I use around 8 cord/season. I estimate my L3400 tractor can lift 3rd of a cord, now if I divide by 2, carry the 1, multiply by 3, I need 24 racks of stacks, so to cut that in half and speed up the process, I'd have to buy a bigger tractor with a cab, heater, AC, and satellite radio.

 

[Parkanzky]

He heats two homes, both houses' hot water, and a decent-size shop with wood, so he burns way more than 8 cord/season. There are a lot more than a dozen of those racks around. I'd guess 40-50?

The racks we build for wood to sell are 1/2 cord. The new one we built (pictured above) was for junk wood to toss in the Woodmaster, so it was a bit larger than that. Surprisingly, his bigger tractor (A Case 95 with a Woods loader) lifts them with no problem, even full of wet Hickory. They all live outdoors. There are often several together. That, combined with the steel roof lets the wood get plenty dry before it's burnt or sold.

He has had four of the medium-size Case tractors in the last several years. He tried one with a cab, but we always found it to be a pain to get in and out when you're doing any work with it and didn't like the loss of maneuverability in the woods. It's one thing to catch a couple branch ends with the ROPS. It's another to have to replace a big piece of glass.

 

[dfkrug]

It is my understanding df that fir makes for pretty good firewood. I've never burnt it myself but I did
take down a hem-fir at my daughters house and bothered to split it so I'll see next season.

It is OK as firewood, and can be burned (seasoned) in less than one year. I just have so many maple, laurel, and tanoak logs
piled up and ready to split and burn.

Douglas fir is the standard wood species used to build houses in the Western half of the US. I don't recall seeing
framing or structural-grade lumber around here of any other species. Hem-fir IS available in 2x lumber, but I have
not seen structural grading stamps on them....they are much lighter/weaker than DF. Maybe you can get hem-fir as
"#3"? I do not know. The building code does have tables for hem-fir, but framers use DF.

DF makes beautiful finished slabs and blocks, esp when oiled or epoxied.

 

[dfkrug]

It is my understanding df that fir makes for pretty good firewood. I've never burnt it myself but I did
take down a hem-fir at my daughters house and bothered to split it so I'll see next season.

It is OK as firewood, and can be burned (seasoned) in less than one year. I just have so many maple, laurel, and tanoak logs
piled up and ready to split and burn.

Douglas fir is the standard wood species used to build houses in the Western half of the US. I don't recall seeing
framing or structural-grade lumber around here of any other species. Hem-fir IS available in 2x lumber, but I have
not seen structural grading stamps on them....they are much lighter/weaker than DF. Maybe you can get hem-fir as
"#3"? I do not know. The building code does have tables for hem-fir, but framers use DF.

DF makes beautiful finished slabs and blocks, esp when oiled or epoxied.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

fell and got bruised up but still going

i like the fence



that sucks. i feel your pain though i just broke both bones in my wrist sat, i'm out for 2months