Firewood thread!!! Let's see what you got!!!!

[Locust Cutter]

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That's just a tick over 1/2 cord of Hedge in that trailer (and my little Brother sitting in the bed). It took us 1.2 hours according to the Hobbs meter to do it and that was taking our time while learning how to use the machine... The Special Edition is DEFINITELY a keeper!!!

AND FWIW, for those who watch the videos and wonder about their effectiveness in Hedge? - It's a non-issue. It went through 18-24" long x 10-25" rounds so much faster and easier than my 35ton Husky (Speeco) hyd unit, to include cleaving off stub crotches as thick as 8" that there is simply NO comparison... If it handles the other woods that I throw at it this well, I'll either sell the Speeco, (which has been a great unit for the $$$) or keep it only as a spare/backup for charity cuts and such. And for those who I wouldn't trust to run the S.S.

 

[dall]

lol ive read a few of you guys saying you scavenge for wood but you get picky on what you cut and burn i probably wouldnt be so picky if i was burning wood people see this and will say gfy the next time you ask them for the wood i know if i saw it and you asked me id tell you to gfy and id let it rot but imadik

 

[maulhead]

It's kind of funny when well-meaning acquaintances offer you "free" wood and you turn them down, because you have better prospects simply waiting for your efforts. I'm pretty sure I've accidentally offended some people that way when pressed as to why I don't want to f-word with it, piss elm, Cotton Wood and Silver Maple being among them, though the Maple is nice shoulder season wood.

Piss elm, cottonwood, and silver maple, is what I've been heating my house with the last few winters. Not much else around my area. Cottonwood mixed with Elm does good. Cottonwood all by itself, burns hot & fast. The maple don't bother me in the least.

I'm not a wood snob, take what I can get. But where I live there's not much of a selection. Elm, Elm, and more Elm, and few other species here & there.

 

[dall]

here there is white oak red oak maple locust cherry just about everything but hedge and elm i dont like the snobs that think they can only burn certain woods when a buddy and me sold it one guy said he wanted oak only him being a customer didnt last but the one load

 

[Locust Cutter]

I'll cut about anything if I have to, but I have an embarrassment of riches between ranchers and farmers local to me who only have hard wood on their properties with a backlog of trees they want gone. I don't mean to sound like a snob or a dick and didn't mean to pinch your panties, but why waste my time with crap (unless I'm helping a friend or family member) when there's gold in the form of Hedge, various Oaks, Hackberry, clean Ash, Locust and Walnut that I'm late getting already? The folks I sell to gladly pay more for stacked, clean hardwood and it's no extra trouble for me. Splits easier too. If I was truly scrounging, then I'd be (and still am) grateful for anything that I found. I simply have the luxury of choice. Plus I rather burn wood that holds heat and coals longer and makes less ash to deal with.

 

[dall]

i dont wear panties and i have pics to prove it but to come say if its not something you want you walk away until your cream comes to you some areas like maulhead stated doesnt have much of a selection to be a wood snob

 

[Locust Cutter]

I understand that completely. It's no different for equipment though - Many folks on here want no part of a saw that isn't in that OEM's "pro" lineup. I cut for years with a Husky 55, Stihl 039 and McCulloch 35 because that's what I had and didn't have choice (more a function of money) for anything else. Those saws cut a lot of firewood and kept several homes warm. They'd still work just as well today, but I have choices that I prefer now that I have that luxury. Most folks wouldn't eat Ramen noodles everyday of the week (BTDT) if they had the choice of a steak or pork chops now and again. Same thing.

 

[jakethesnake]

i dont wear panties and i have pics to prove it but to come say if its not something you want you walk away until your cream comes to you some areas like maulhead stated doesnt have much of a selection to be a wood snob

pics

 

[Locust Cutter]

You beat me to it...

 

[jakethesnake]

I have my choice beyond I cut them in a row though gum maple oak. No matter to me. I'll burn anything. I could easily burn any species I want but I'm just funny in the sense I dislike anything going to waste. Not s fan of poplar but I burn it too. Lots of folks hate maple. It's a great wood. Burns hotter than oak. Just gotta take the air away from it to make it last.

 

[maulhead]

I'll cut about anything if I have to, but I have an embarrassment of riches between ranchers and farmers local to me who only have hard wood on their properties with a backlog of trees they want gone. I don't mean to sound like a snob or a dick and didn't mean to pinch your panties, but why waste my time with crap (unless I'm helping a friend or family member) when there's gold in the form of Hedge, various Oaks, Hackberry, clean Ash, Locust and Walnut that I'm late getting already? The folks I sell to gladly pay more for stacked, clean hardwood and it's no extra trouble for me. Splits easier too. If I was truly scrounging, then I'd be (and still am) grateful for anything that I found. I simply have the luxury of choice. Plus I rather burn wood that holds heat and coals longer and makes less ash to deal with.

I knew what you meant. No pinched panties here. I wish I lived in a area where there was more of a selection of wood. Tree's are not native to the area I live in. Everything around here was planted back in the 1930's to prevent soil erosion. After the dust bowl days. About 90% of what was planted were elms.

I did get two good sized hackberry trees a few summers ago that came down in the city park in a storm. About 7 cords all split and stacked. I really enjoyed burning it. Wish I could get more. But have not seen any since. So it's just elm, cottonwood, and a few silver maples....

 

[Locust Cutter]

What torques me is seeing piles of trees waiting to be burned whole, simply because someone was in an all fire hurry to get another 3 usable acres of a 180 acre field that could have gone to heating a house or shop. But I also know when someone wants something done, and the people who'd do it for free can't simply jump up and make it happen, than s-word happens. I've only burned a bit of Poplar but found it a PITA to split. I actually like Crab Apple and Bradford Pear in the same category as Silver Maple for SHoulder season wood that doesn't smoke too bad, burns clean, cures fast and decently hot. However heating and old 2-story farmhouse that is in need of further insulation and better windows/doors (doing it one piece at a time like Johnny Cash) I get a lot better bang for the buck (volume consumed vs heat-output over time) with Locust and Hedge plus they last for a good while if I burn heavy one year and a lot lighter the next. They'll keep on the racks just fine.

 

[Locust Cutter]

I knew what you meant. No pinched panties here. I wish I lived in a area where there was more of a selection of wood. Tree's are not native to the area I live in. Everything around here was planted back in the 1930's to prevent soil erosion. After the dust bowl days. About 90% of what was planted were elms.

I did get two good sized hackberry trees a few summers ago that came down in the city park in a storm. About 7 cords all split and stacked. I really enjoyed burning it. Wish I could get more. But have not seen any since. So it's just elm, cottonwood, and a few silver maples....

Are you out West? A friend that used to live in Montana and Wyoming for a time described similar conditions. The one bad thing about Hedge (around here and beyond the thorns) is that they're often covered in either poison Ivy or Oak, both of which make life fun for a week or two at a time. I've had it enough that I'm starting to grow a bit of an immunity to it.

That's the other reason I hate seeing tree rows removed. They were planted for darn good reasons. Modern farming practices have evolved, but mother nature is still a __tch sometimes and they definitely helped to guard against topsoil erosion.

 

[maulhead]

Here's my hackberry from a few winters ago. I had another rack of it also. I sure wished I could find more of it!!

 

[maulhead]

Are you out West? A friend that used to live in Montana and Wyoming for a time described similar conditions. The one bad thing about Hedge (around here and beyond the thorns) is that they're often covered in either poison Ivy or Oak, both of which make life fun for a week or two at a time. I've had it enough that I'm starting to grow a bit of an immunity to it.

That's the other reason I hate seeing tree rows removed. They were planted for darn good reasons. Modern farming practices have evolved, but mother nature is still a __tch sometimes and they definitely helped to guard against topsoil erosion.

Yes, I live in eastern CO. Not many trees around here, but in tree rows planted by farmers, mostly all elm, some cedars in tree rows also. Big cottonwoods up by the river. Some good sized silver maples in town.

 

[jakethesnake]

I've burned many piles of trees and I personally remove many tree lines hedgerows and random trees. The problem I find is I can't even give logs away around here when I need them gone. When I'm on that type of job several hundred maybe less need to be gone and no one is in any hurry to get them. I can only really cull out logs that I know will last stacked up. I feel no mercy toward the trees I take out. I push them in s pile and set them on fire. When something needs to go it just needs to go. I do it for farmland myself. That's my living. However if I can't even give the log away as far as I'm concerned it's trash. It means nothing more to me than a weed

 

[Khntr85]

It's kind of funny when well-meaning acquaintances offer you "free" wood and you turn them down, because you have better prospects simply waiting for your efforts. I'm pretty sure I've accidentally offended some people that way when pressed as to why I don't want to f-word with it, piss elm, Cotton Wood and Silver Maple being among them, though the Maple is nice shoulder season wood.

You took the words from my mouth LOL....yes I mean you fee like you are just wasting your time and money getting/cutting softwood, when you have a good hardwood just waiting on you!!!!!

 

[Khntr85]

I've burned many piles of trees and I personally remove many tree lines hedgerows and random trees. The problem I find is I can't even give logs away around here when I need them gone. When I'm on that type of job several hundred maybe less need to be gone and no one is in any hurry to get them. I can only really cull out logs that I know will last stacked up. I feel no mercy toward the trees I take out. I push them in s pile and set them on fire. When something needs to go it just needs to go. I do it for farmland myself. That's my living. However if I can't even give the log away as far as I'm concerned it's trash. It means nothing more to me than a weed

Dont take this wrong as I have helped and made many farmer friends around me.....it kills me to see the piles of good wood burned....I do understand that there actually isn't many people like us on these forums....i work all day, and fun to me is throwing my saws in the back of the truck and going to cut wood.....alot of people want no part in "working" more after there regular job....sometimes you guys have to just get rid of the wood right at that moment, so I "get it"....

 

[Khntr85]

I also hate to see wood wasted....my situation is like this, I always try to scope out logged woods or downed trees.....I always ask/get permission if I can.....I always try to have 2-3 places to cut at any given time.....if I happen to see a "freebie" like a pile of wood on side of road on my way home from work, it's mine, no question about it, I always have gloves in my truck..... I have a place that had 90-100 walnut tress logged and I can have all I want, this spot is a river bottom so I get other goodies like hedge, locust, sometimes......I also have a place that was logged and it is 90% oak, red and white, with 10% ash and hickory...

With that said, it's just common sense to me to go cut at the oak spot until it's gone....why would I go get walnut when the oak is the same distance from my house.....now when I get paying job, like a tree removal or cleanup, I will pull off and do that for sure, (tree work is not my day job).....but any spare time I have is going to be used at the oak spot....

Now if a friend, family, or old customer had a elm, maple, etc fall at their house like my dad did here recently, well yes i would absolutely help them, and take the wood.....but for me personally, I will be cutting at the oak spot until it's gone, or rotten, it will be silly and a waste of my time to do otherwise....

 

[Locust Cutter]

Yes, I live in eastern CO. Not many trees around here, but in tree rows planted by farmers, mostly all elm, some cedars in tree rows also. Big cottonwoods up by the river. Some good sized silver maples in town.

I understand that one. I drive through there periodically on the way to the western range as there's a bit of family ground in between Salida and Buena Vista, right at the base of Mt. Princeton. There's plenty of wood there but mostly Pine and Aspen. There are other varieties to be sure but those two are the most plentiful. We used to bring a load of Hedge out there every time we visited my Great Aunt who lived in Buena Vista. That would get that old fireplace in the cabin dancing!