Firewood 2021 discussion

[Glenn]

4 hours ago, SHC said:

With one of my friends having about a dozen giant oak trees knocked over at his house by storms the past few years, I had my propane fire place converted to wood burning just yesterday.

Start at the limbs first.  This is for safety.

Load your truck with the limbs (3 fingers wide and above) pushed to the front of the truck bed and cut 2 feet beyond the tailgate, or about 10 feet long.  Trip over to your place, dump the limbs, and return for more.  This cleans up your work area at the tree and gets you firewood on the ground at your place that you can then cut and stack later. When the limbs get too large for the truck, buck the rounds up into firewood length, trip out and stack the rounds at his place and at yours.

When it comes to the main tree trunk, throw some wood under the trunk to keep it off the ground and to keep your chain saw out of the dirt.  Cut the rounds into what ever length is good for the fireplace. Split the rounds into 1/4s or whatever can be easily loaded on the truck.  Trip to where the wood is to be stored, dump the 1/4s and return for more.  They can be split and stacked later at a leisure time. 

You can move a LOT of wood real fast this way. This keeps the work area at the tree clean and relatively uncluttered. It puts wood at the place to be split and stacked when it turns cold, or rain, or snow.   

 

[SHC]

I appreciate the thought my friend, but that’s already exactly how I do it. Except I throw a trailer in the mix too. Been gathering firewood since I was big enough to carry a stick. All we had for heat growing up was a wood burning stove, I’ve spent many a night on the floor with the dogs in front of it. 

At least we had indoor plumbing. 

[Frosty]

A word of warning to anybody thinking about cutting and splitting their own firewood. Maple is VERY dangerous, some worse than others but it's all famous for jumping up and crushing or impaling people when limbing and bucking. 

You always have to be careful when limbing, a tree can roll or the other end of a branch may be bent with the weight of the whole tree behind it and do you a severe mischief when cut but MAPLE is famous for crippling and killing experienced woodsmen.

I miss the final drench when taking bucket baths.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

12 hours ago, SHC said:

the smallest of those oak trees is about three feet diameter at the base

My comments are directed toward my experience with trees (hardwoods) with a DBH (diameter breast high) of 30 inches or less, usually below 24 inches DBH.  Once on the ground, start at the limbs first, as the size, weight, and leverage of the ends of the limbs is much less.  The truck length cut limbs (8-10 foot sections) are able to be carried by one person.  As you move to larger diameters, a 4 foot length (3 each 16 inch lengths of firewood) can be carried by one person, or a 32 inch length (2 each 16 inch lengths of firewood) can be carried by one person.  The weight is about 100 pounds, or less, and carried by one person is the limiting factor. 

As the larger rounds get cut, it is weight, not leverage, that is a limiting factor, and helps with safety.  Dropping a hundred pounds, or more, of wood in a single round (16 inches long) is gravity based with little or no leverage involved.  

I have specifically addressed ON THE GROUND cutting, as sections of wood under tension or compression are extremely dangerous.  I have avoided discussing the felling the original tree, as that is a whole different set of skills that involve hundreds of pounds or tons of weight AND leverage.  Felling trees is very unforgiving. You do not have any idea of the condition of interior of the wood in a tree. It can be twisted, hollow, insect infested, dead, rotted, lightening strike, wind shook, etc.  Felling trees where anything that can be damaged by a falling tree, will be damaged by a falling tree.  Move on to other opportunities that are much safer.  

I have not discussed actually splitting the wood.  The wood type is classified from easy to split, to will not split.  Cut any forks or less than easy to split sections out and pile them off to the side.  They are difficult to split and you can deal with them later. 

Splitting wood by sledge and wedge, mauls, hydraulic splitters, wood processors, etc each has its own safety concerns. 

[BsnNFrnt]

A little before and after to support this topic. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

For a while my oldest boy thought his name was "get wood".

[SHC]

I’m not sure how much is directed to me and how much of that’s just for everyone’s general knowledge, it is all very good info Glenn and Frosty. Safety with maple and sweet gum especially isn’t something to be taken lightly because of their tendencies to come alive. 
I do have a background in this though. Grew up cutting firewood, lumber and clearing land. Granddad had a sawmill. Even went to college for forestry and cut timber for a living for a short while. Had differences with the company owner’s son, otherwise I loved it.
In regards to felling trees, I’ve done my share but these in particular have been on the ground for years already. I think the freshest one is about two years old, most are from 2015-2017. So that’s something I don’t have to worry about. 

[Glenn]

My comments are for general knowledge.  Always interested n learning from others and what works for them.  

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I mostly cut red oak, white oak and hickory because that’s what’s most plentiful around here, 

I always start with the limbs to,

but Instead of loading them in 8 foot sections and cutting them up elsewhere, I cut them up on the spot, then load up on the truck an trailer, 

I do definitely agree that it’s best to get them out of the way first either way you do it before working on the main log, and also getting all the brush piled up out of the way too, 

Chainsaws an tripping over brush just don’t mix lol! 

when I get to working on the main log I lay down several limbs and use a pevey to roll it on them to keep the saw out of the dirt, then mark my cuts and start cutting, 

I always keep those plastic felling wedges on hand an a Hammer when I’m bucking the main log to just in case it starts pinching in on the bar, 

I use a hydraulic splitter and split everything on sight and then load up on the truck an trailer,

I normally burn about 20 4’x8’ ricks In a year out in my shop, and then maybe sell another 20 so I don’t cut as much much as the full time guys,

Also sometimes I get lazy and buy extra wood from guys needing cash an either burn it or resale it too lol
 

 

[Frosty]

I wasn't aiming my cautions at anyone. They are just a word to folks thinking they could save heating costs with a chain saw and wood stove. Maple is really dangerous and takes experience to predict the elastic rebound. . . Even then. 

I'd been cutting trees for probably 30 years, felled literally thousands and one kicked back and or took a bad bounce I hadn't predicted. Put me in the hospital for almost 3 months and I've been dealing with TBI issues since 2009. I don't THINK I was complacent, I've always been really careful but I don't remember that day so . . . 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

My great great greatuncle(?) died of blood poisoning after cutting off his big toe chopping wood; so it's not only power tools that are a danger!

[Daswulf]

On a side note on cutting up trees, I got a Milwaukee battery powered chainsaw and absolutely love it. It doesn't easily do the big stuff but it is quick, easy and quieter to use. I still have the farm boss for larger stuff if I need it. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I use a stihl ms211c for limbs and small stuff and then I use a stihl ms661 magnum for the big stuff 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

5 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

Chainsaws an tripping over brush just don’t mix lol! 

Clearing brush out around the tree to be cut down is critical. An unobstructed retreat if or when things go wrong can save your life. Also never cut trees without a spotter who can call for help if needed. Whenever my wife is away she admonishes me to not play with sharp things especially chainsaws. The spotter can also watch out for "widow makers" dead limbs high up that have a tendency to fall when cutting the tree down. Wearing proper PPE is also critical, gloves, safety glasses, hard hat, leggings and good boots.

When we built our house in '82 wood was our only heating source for about ten years, wood stove downstairs and free standing fireplace upstairs. Thankfully the wood stove will keep the upstairs comfortable through convection and the way the stairway is built, unless the temperature drops below 0°F.  In that time period we cut,split and stacked more wood than I care to think about.

[mcostello]

Have a friend that trims trees. Up in a tree and the trunk was about 12" in diameter, He cut it off and let it fall to the ground. Before it fell He turned around and put His hand on the stump. The top of the tree was hung up and the top of it made a small circle and came back down and made a small touch and go on His hand. I seen Him the next day and His hand was all grey and about twice as big as normal. Healed with no problems. Thank God.