TBRider 1,411 Posted August 31, 2021 Finally finished bucking up the last 5 chord of the 20 I had in the spring. I have 15 split and ready for winter, and a chord of cedar for kindling. Made a deal I couldn't refuse and have another 15 chord being delivered in a few weeks, should be good for the next 3 winters. Going to try and have them dry for 2 years before it burn it so I get a cleaner burn and less ashes to clean up. 5 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Wilson_™ 6,593 Posted August 31, 2021 oh I'm very envious ..... dang fire wood hoarders ..... you and Bcs ... lol! 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBRider 1,411 Posted August 31, 2021 They are cutting behind the farm here, I get all the clean up wood I want also....lol I do live in the bush.... 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,736 Posted August 31, 2021 19 minutes ago, TBRider said: Finally finished bucking up the last 5 chord of the 20 I had in the spring. I have 15 split and ready for winter, and a chord of cedar for kindling. Made a deal I couldn't refuse and have another 15 chord being delivered in a few weeks, should be good for the next 3 winters. Going to try and have them dry for 2 years before it burn it so I get a cleaner burn and less ashes to clean up. Wow. You, sir, have wood. That's impressive. I went through a LOT of wood for a few years, having a fire almost nightly on the patio. Then the wife quit smoking, and says sitting by the fire outside makes her want to smoke, so we rarely have fires anymore. But if we have an outage (electricity or NG) we can always burn wood in the fireplace in the house to keep warm. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Wilson_™ 6,593 Posted August 31, 2021 y'all put me to shame.... i might as well give up burning wood..... lol! i bet sled is watching this and laughing .... he's another one, i know he's a hoarder of chainsaws.... sigh... lol! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Wilson_™ 6,593 Posted August 31, 2021 3 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said: Wow. You, sir, have wood. That's impressive. I went through a LOT of wood for a few years, having a fire almost nightly on the patio. Then the wife quit smoking, and says sitting by the fire outside makes her want to smoke, so we rarely have fires anymore. jeep... just an idea... now i say this to help out, but i bet if you try this it will backfire.... when you toy with her like in the other thread, and she gets back at you, you do the same with a fire out on the patio.... use this plan at your own discretion... lol! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBRider 1,411 Posted August 31, 2021 I went and took a few pictures for you guys. The bush is thick in my back 40. If you look closely in the 2nd pic you can see the harvester in the shade,on the right, he's on lunch break when I took the pic, I know because he owns the machine....lol Pictures don't show the real amount of wood yet, but I think the guy owns 200 acres behind me, he cut 50 acres 5 years ago. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Wilson_™ 6,593 Posted August 31, 2021 23 minutes ago, TBRider said: If you look closely in the 2nd pic you can see the harvester in the shade,on the right, he's on lunch break when I took the pic, I know because he owns the machine....lol i see it, I'd like to see a closer pic if you manage to get a few.. just from what i can make out.. doesn't look like any harvester ... I've ever seen before. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,736 Posted August 31, 2021 1 hour ago, _Wilson_™ said: jeep... just an idea... now i say this to help out, but i bet if you try this it will backfire.... when you toy with her like in the other thread, and she gets back at you, you do the same with a fire out on the patio.... use this plan at your own discretion... lol! Women tend to be passive aggressive. My wife is not. She is "aggressive aggressive", and would not hesitate to throw me into the fire if I tried to be a smartass while she is miffed at me. Strong women are much more exciting than weak women....lol 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,736 Posted August 31, 2021 1 hour ago, TBRider said: I went and took a few pictures for you guys. The bush is thick in my back 40. If you look closely in the 2nd pic you can see the harvester in the shade,on the right, he's on lunch break when I took the pic, I know because he owns the machine....lol Pictures don't show the real amount of wood yet, but I think the guy owns 200 acres behind me, he cut 50 acres 5 years ago. I have found it interesting that with the huge spike in lumber, standing timber prices haven't done much. So is he going to leave that cleared, or replant? Most of our land is in hardwoods, so you get a select cut every 30-35 years or so and leave most of the timber standing, only taking out mature timber that should be cut. At least that's the right way to do it. Some folks go in and cut everything over a certain size, and it takes a lot longer to recover. I guess in family land like ours we try to properly manage it for future generations. If you're not planning on holding onto the ground cutting it all makes more sense. The forestry service here will come out and mark what needs to go and what needs to stay if you go the select cut route. Timber is nice, as you only get nailed by .gov when you do a cut, and you have a pretty wide window so you can wait until timber prices and tax rates are favorable to do a harvest. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PROV 1,443 Posted August 31, 2021 They are thinning pine right across the road from me. This is a forwarder that loads finished logs out to the truck. Harvester ran this morning. Cuts off the tree, slicks off the limbs, cuts to length and stacks for the forwarder. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Wilson_™ 6,593 Posted August 31, 2021 lol! oh i know .... recall some of the stories.... i just had to post that option to see what you would say (painted a picture very well) but you know just as well as i do it's so much fun to get them fired up, just make sure if you try this plan there is NO food coloring in the house ...... sigh... i do t know how good your memory is... seems really good so i will just say .... sleep with one eye open , or you might end up being dyed pink, and shaved bald.... like i was.... if she's a red head... you might just very well avoid this idea altogether.... i was born in April ... so i live for pratical jokes.... one that was always caused trouble....with my pop, and friends) besides that johndeere block heater, that would buzz you if you touched the tractor with out unplugging it) well actually ... they didnt believe the warning sign i stuck on the tractor (warning shock hazard) I'll have to look, that thread up, but anyways.... i was the worlds worst about collecting bic lighters..,always tryed to bum a lite... and I'd carefully have a convo going, and stick the lighter in my pocket... and one day he caught on...said i know what your doing now, give me back all those lighters!!! and told everyome else.... haha! i reckon i had collected about 25 plus from defrent people.... from then on.... no one would give me a light, oh the stories i could tell...I'd most likely be under the Maury county jail.... lol! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBRider 1,411 Posted August 31, 2021 I think he is just going to leave it, the stuff cut 5 years ago is at the 10 ft mark now. They grow back fast here. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Wilson_™ 6,593 Posted August 31, 2021 5 hours ago, PROV said: They are thinning pine right across the road from me. This is a forwarder that loads finished logs out to the truck. Harvester ran this morning. Cuts off the tree, slicks off the limbs, cuts to length and stacks for the forwarder it sure wouldn't take long with a setup like you described.... even more efficient then a skidder ..... bobby Goodson (God rest him) did swamp logging, they made roads out of the trees they harvested.. that's pretty much how they delimbed them... drive right over the top snapping the limbs off in the process, but still had to buck them and load up, Goodson atl was a monster logging outfit... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,736 Posted September 1, 2021 17 hours ago, TBRider said: I think he is just going to leave it, the stuff cut 5 years ago is at the 10 ft mark now. They grow back fast here. Most of our land is right along a river (tributary of the Mississippi River). When I was younger the flat areas were in cultivation, but even though it was right next to a river, when we tried sinking wells we never hit water, so it couldn't be irrigated. Wet years the river flooded and killed the crops. Dry years the crops burned up. Eventually we put it all into WRP (Wetlands Reserve Program) so it was all planted back in hardwoods about 15 years ago, so eventually it will all be woods, and we'll just periodically select cut the timber. With hardwoods that means I'll get one cut during my life. I'll be dead before we get the next cut out of it (! I might be dead before we cut it the first time! LOL). 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,736 Posted September 1, 2021 15 hours ago, _Wilson_™ said: it sure wouldn't take long with a setup like you described.... even more efficient then a skidder ..... bobby Goodson (God rest him) did swamp logging, they made roads out of the trees they harvested.. that's pretty much how they delimbed them... drive right over the top snapping the limbs off in the process, but still had to buck them and load up, Goodson atl was a monster logging outfit... When I see how the Pacific NW was logged back in the day it's just amazing to me how men cut and moved those huge logs with little to no mechanized equipment. The innovation people come up with to get jobs done in difficult places I always find interesting. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Wilson_™ 6,593 Posted September 1, 2021 yeah... it is... i wish i had some history on how they did many things by hand back then... on that logging show swamp loggers they did talk about a steam donkey (i think it was called) pulled logs through woods (by cables) at a very high rate of speed... in my stock barn the foundation has some really big timbers that were cut down on this place..... i reckon back then they moved them with mules ? like they used to till the ground here... i take it that's one reason columbia is called the mule capital of the world ? but i believe there are other states deemed the same ? but how things have changed over time. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,736 Posted September 1, 2021 Building the Mississippi River levee around here was done by steam shovels and mules. Local lake dam was built mostly with mules as well. Hard work for sure. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PROV 1,443 Posted September 1, 2021 Quite a few oxen we're used here in the early days of logging. Streams and rivers were utilized but could be labor intensive, unreliable and did not pay to skid very far. When logging railroads were introduced that's when the logging got really intense. To log my hunting area they had a 123 mile main access line with over 1000 miles of spurs off of that. Many I can still follow through the woods and have found many old log camp sites. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBRider 1,411 Posted September 1, 2021 Went and brought in 4 trailer loads today to pile in the basement when it rains over the next few days, barely put a dent in the pile.Measured and counted the pallets today, they are a 4'x4' pallet and it's 9 pallets long at 6ft high, 2 rows each pallet. I'll be warm this winter even if the power goes out... 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBRider 1,411 Posted September 1, 2021 The pictures of the logging here in the late 1850's are amazing, a mile wide river full of wood going to the mills on the river. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
56Sierra 1,845 Posted September 1, 2021 5 hours ago, jeepwm69 said: Most of our land is right along a river (tributary of the Mississippi River). When I was younger the flat areas were in cultivation, but even though it was right next to a river, when we tried sinking wells we never hit water, so it couldn't be irrigated. Wet years the river flooded and killed the crops. Dry years the crops burned up. Eventually we put it all into WRP (Wetlands Reserve Program) so it was all planted back in hardwoods about 15 years ago, so eventually it will all be woods, and we'll just periodically select cut the timber. With hardwoods that means I'll get one cut during my life. I'll be dead before we get the next cut out of it (! I might be dead before we cut it the first time! LOL). 'Tis a generous man that plants a tree. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
56Sierra 1,845 Posted September 1, 2021 I'm old enough to bare the fruits of my labors. As a kid I took a likin' to trees and would dig up trees from all over and plant them in my parents yard. Now I'm reminded of the foolishness of my youth every time I have to mow around those trees hearing my late father saying, "Just another obstacle to mow around." 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,736 Posted September 2, 2021 15 hours ago, 56Sierra said: I'm old enough to bare the fruits of my labors. As a kid I took a likin' to trees and would dig up trees from all over and plant them in my parents yard. Now I'm reminded of the foolishness of my youth every time I have to mow around those trees hearing my late father saying, "Just another obstacle to mow around." Have a bunch of 100 year old oaks in my yard and the parents' yard. When I was younger there were many more around my house (when my grandparents were alive) and my grandfather had a lot of them taken down out of worries that they would fall/drop limbs on the house. I've replanted a half dozen oaks. I figure that by the time they get some size on them the remaining large trees will likely not all be standing, and I like huge trees in the yard. Mowing around them can be a bit of a pain, but it doesn't really bother me much. Picking up all the sticks before I mow is irritating, but that's what kids are for. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBRider 1,411 Posted September 4, 2021 Here's the new harvester, and the porter just brought in on Friday night, weekend off so I can get some pics of them parked. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites