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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (53018)	7/5/2000 11:55:14 AM
From: Ish	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 71178

Damn, had this all typed out and had a power flicker. <<Question 1: how am I (Chris, really, I suppose) going to cut those rounds up into firewood? Is it something we can do, if we buy the right tools?>> For that much oak you need to rent a hydraulic splitter. They're mounted on trailers. Most tree service guys that sell firewood have them. <<Question 2: how many cords of firewood is it going to make?>> Hard to say. A cord is 8'x4'x4'. Most wood is now sold in face cords, 8'x4'x2' or about a pickup bed full. Oak does make nice firewood, it's right behind black locust in BTUs of heat. <<Question 3: wouldn't it make better lumber? Say, wood shelving or wood flooring? I wonder if we could pay someone to saw it up?>> Now that's a tuffy. First you have to find a mill and not all do oak. Then there's the hauling of the log. One thing you might look into is selling part of it as a veneer log. They cut those at 18" above the ground and want trees that are limbless for the next 16'. That way they get 2 eight foot sections of peel. I knew a guy who got $25,000 for 3 acres of walnut for veneer trees.

To: Ilaine who wrote (53018)	7/5/2000 12:43:26 PM
From: nihil	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71178

As to firewood. How wide is your fire place? Have it cut into lengths 18" 24" that correspond to your fireplaces. (Have your fireplaces swept before you start laying fires (they seldom use little boys now -- too much cancer of the scrotum). In England we heated with coke in fire places, and the rooks had filled up every chimney all the way with sticks. We killed a lot of rooks and almost killed ourselves with CO.) The small limb pieces, < 10" diameter or so, make wonderful long lasting fire logs. Stack every thing off the ground and let it season for at least six months. Green oak will burn (I heated with it for years in Illinois) but it is annoying. Buy an electric chain saw, read the instructions, lubricate, and you can cuts things to length. It is very dangerous. Be very carefil. Get a saw with a longer blad than you. Home Depot of Sears.) Any thing much greater than 10" inches will have to be split. Oak is a tough interconnected fiber wood. To split it takes a mighty man or woman with the proper tools. Stay away from axes. Use a spliting maul. This is wedge shaped with a sizeale anvil. Prop up the log. (A small shallow hole is good). Then slam (swing) the handled spliting maul and try to split the log in half. It will not split. Use a sledge to pound the splitting wedge as far in as it will go. This should open up a split along side the sunken maul wedge. Use (steel) spliting wedges -- as big as you can find to wedge the halves apart. Drive them with your sledge. Take a nitro tablet. If you split the top of the log you can turn it on its side and continue using splitting wedges until the whole damned thing splits. The big half logs are wonderful. You might let them season before you burn them. They can be quartered if necessary. This is a guaranteed approach. It will work. You will need: 1. splitting wedge -- steel, hickory or ashe handle as long as you can handle. ii. sledge, 8 lbs or as heavy as you can swing. iii. splitting wedges -- steel (not aluminum -- those are felling wedges) as many and as big and heavy as you can get. iv. chain saq 24" at least. One 75 foot oak 24 inch BHD with lots of limbs should have a volume of about 450 cubic feet of wood. Allowing for 150 cubic feet of air because of imperfect packing, this should occupy about 600 cubic feet of space. A chord is 128 cubic feet (4'x4'x8'), so you are talking 4 chords, more or less. If the tree is thicker, adjust accordingly, Mixed hardwood fire wood will cost you $100 or more a chord, plus $40 a chord for stacking (in you don't want it dumped in your drive way. You should clear enough on the firewood to pay for felling the tree. Teach your boys to split the wood. They can start with the smaller logs. They will develop tremendous upper body strenth, beautiful pecs and biceps and backs. It is the American boy's natural exercise. But safety first, and buy the tools proportionate to their strength.