Firewood

[linus69]

A couple of years ago the Gypsy Moth Caterpillars made short work of a couple of large Red Oak trees, I left them standing as I already had a lot of firewood already on the ground. With time these trees got really scary looking and since one had house hitting potential and the other could fall where we park they had to go.
I hinge dropped them into the woods but I will admit I was puckering up quite a bit as these were some of the largest trees I had cut down in some time and of course I chose a windy day to do this.
I was very glad I did as the one slated to hit the house was all hollowed out at the base by Carpenter Ants about 4 feet from the ground up, there were only 4-5ins of good wood left around the perimeter.
Then I used a lot of assorted chain to skid them out of the woods and moving it with the grapple, I started out cutting it up in place and carrying it out to the FEL but that got old really fast.





















A couple of days running the splitter yielded quite a pile of BTU`s











Paul

[red]

Love that oak! Lots of heat and usually splits straight. . . Just found that it needs to season longer than most other species. Had a bunch of ash that was kill by the blight that was ready to burn as soon as I cut it up. How long before you can burn the oak? The oak that I had was still smoking after 2 years.

[linus69]

I think it will burn fine this winter Red, I split most of it pretty thin, and it is drying out just fine. Plus mixed in the firebox with some maple I get a nice burn, after cherry, red oak is my favorite firewood.

Paul

[red]

Everybody loves Cherry (including the ants!) ;D

[linus69]

I`m up to 13 trees cut down now, one 5 trunked maple at the start of my road developed a 5 ft crack straight through one of it`s trunks so it had to go. After I dropped it I noticed the stub had a distinctive shape so I couldn`t resist.













Paul

[Rich Waugh]

I think the goes particularly well with the "No Trespassing" sign, Paul. ;D

Rich

[linus69]

Yes Rich a warm smile and a loaded 12guage is how I greet strangers, keeps folks honest and very polite.

Paul

[Rich Waugh]

I've always maintained that you can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can get with a kind word alone. ;D

I think Al Capone originally said that...

Rich

[linus69]

Great quote, apparently old Al was quite the witty guy.

[linus69]

Here is what I finally did with the heart, I figured I better put something there before some teenage couple carved their initials in it. All the women seem to absolutely love it, men don`t even notice it, shows how differently our brains are wired.



Paul

[linus69]

The wood stove is certainly earning it`s keep this time of year, a bucket load lasts for three days of hard burning.









Paul

[bradblazer]

Keeping the home fires burning..

I'm thankful for my wood heat- we've had lows in the teens most mornings lately and the heat pump doesn't do much. I'm breaking in a new stove in the basement tonight. High efficiency low emissions model eligible for a 30% tax credit.

[linus69]

We`ve had some single digit mornings already Brad, that wood stove all by itself keeps the basement in the 70`s, the first floor in the 60`s and the 2nd floor in the high 50`s. That`s on a 62ft long house, it`s not a high tech stove though, it`s a Schrader Fireplace I think from the 70`s.
The doors don`t even have gaskets, just a metal to metal seal, actually it`s a fireplace insert which can be used as a freestanding stove. It will even carry me through the night if I fill it around 10PM which is nice.

Paul