And speaking of orney timber..........

Donald Lehman · Sep 27, 2016

I also had a huge red pine that died a couple of years ago just below the house on the edge of the pond, with two main branches off the stump. Basically one knarly messed up excuse for a tree. Looked like a typical cow pasture maple. Huge diameter trunk that goes up 6 feet and then the thing spreads out all over the place with a gazzilion crotches. Broke two skidding chains and left nice deep holes in the lawn trying to skid that dang thing out of there with the 1955. Finally dragged out and old half inch chain, wrapped that sucker around the tree. Still dug the lawn up but the chain held! Then of course the tree itself make a half dozen nice furrows in the lawn.......................... All of that for two usable logs. One 8 footer and one ten footer. Gonna be 4 or five pickup loads of firewood though. (and a big mess made out of the lawn)Sheesh! One thing about skidding with the 1955, is that if there are any flaws in your chains you find em right quick. (smile)

TimV · Sep 27, 2016

Brother and I just took out a bunch of stuff from around the sugar shanty. Mostly poplar, and as the porcupines had chewed them up badly they they needed to come down before they fell down. Largest was 70 feet high and twisty, so it took a good deal of judicious wedge and come-along work to get it down in a safe direction, but we did manage. Poplar's not great firewood but it's better than nothing, and these had to come down anyway so it's now blocked up and on my parent's woodpile for use next year. They'll mix it in with their usual assortment of maple, beech and cherry from cleaning up dead and down stuff in the sugarbush and at least get some heat out of it.

sms · Sep 27, 2016

Some years ago when we were younger my brother and I took down some white pine for a family friend. One tree right behind the house power line on other side service to the house,propane tank all right there. 40 foot extension ladder didn't reach the first limb used spikes from there to limbs. Let all the branches down with rope, then I topped it and took down log length sections pulled over with a rope also. When we were done we measured the pieces, it was 83 to where I cut the top off. Also did one on the front lawn had a double top, I cut the tops out at 65 feet.

Ken Macfarlane · Sep 27, 2016

Poplar is great for starting fires! If its dry just use newspapers to light big chunks without kindling. We burn lots of it as unsplit rounds so they last longer. Very little ash produced as well.

TimV · Sep 27, 2016

Yup--that's what they'll use it for, along with a bit of pine they'll get from a few downed trees among the hardwoods. The rest of their kindling is in the form of kiln-dried hard maple from a local factory that produces lots of it as scrap, already cut up in foot-long, inch-square chunks. Real popular with the local fire department chicken BBQ's as well!

Donald Lehman · Sep 27, 2016

Poplar is one of those woods, like pine. You burn it because you got it. It's also like pine in the respect that if it isn't well cured, you could soak it in diesel fuel for a week and it would still go out after the fuel burns off. Lol! If it is dry it burns halfway decent and makes good early fall or late spring wood. The smoke from the stuff sure does stink, though, doesn't it Tim? Don't think I'd want to use it in the smoke house for the hams and bacon. Yuck!

Adirondack case guy · Sep 27, 2016

I had an ash firewood tree that wanted "revenge" this season. It was about 20" on a straight stump. It grew in an arch, almost horizontal about 20' up into canopy, and then had a spike about 6" diamiter that grew another 20' vertically, up into the canopy of the woods.
The saw pinched imediatly as I tried a fore cut. Releived it a bit with the tip of the bar, and then cut in the sides a bit with the tip of bar. I knew it would "Barber Chair" which it did up to about 15' off the stump. It split twice and pinched my saw on the second split and pinched my saw a bit, delaying my retreat. It took some strange twists and ended up with the butt resting on my leg, just above the knee. I was able to pull my leg out from under it, but it further agrivated a previous leg injury from my school days. Pretty well back to normal weather related aches and pains in the leg now.

Just one of the hazzards of working in the woods alone, but both my dad who died from other causes, and I have done it for years and haven't either of us been killed by a tree. You need to be smarter than a tree!!
Loren

roy prins · Sep 27, 2016

I had a cottonwood die so had to cut it down-- took an hour just to get it to fall -- a whole day to cut it up and clean up the mess -- that thing blew up like it had a stick and a half of dynamite under it -- the main trunk was only 15 ft. long but I couldnt move it -- had to roll it to the burn pile -- took two years to burn that thing to nothing! good thing I was younger then -- It would take me a week to do that now -- Roy from Iowa

And speaking of orney timber..........

Donald Lehman

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TimV

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sms

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Ken Macfarlane

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TimV

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Donald Lehman

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Adirondack case guy

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roy prins

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