Who is cutting wood?

[Timberridge]

This Filson ad popped up on the forum sidebar. It looks like an accident waiting to happen...

[Thurgood Jenkins]

i happened upon some dry cottonwood. Fireplace size. Varying opinions out there... can I burn in it a std fireplace or woodstove?

[From_the_NEK]

You'll want to split it. Cottonwood does not dry out when left in rounds. It just kind of rots.

Note that it sucks to split too since the axe or maul gets buried deep without splitting the piece. If you have a woodsplitter it is tolerable. But hardly worth the effort.

[XXX-er]

This Filson ad popped up on the forum sidebar. It looks like an accident waiting to happen...

No safety helmet, no eye protecton, no ear protection, no chaps, no caulks and the chain is so loose its about to fall off the bar

[Timberridge]

No safety helmet, no eye protecton, no ear protection, no chaps, no caulks and the chain is so loose its about to fall off the bar

It's how they chainsawed in 1897.

[DougW]

No safety helmet, no eye protection, no ear protection, no chaps, no caulks and the chain is so loose its about to fall off the bar

but he does have a plaid shirt that has to count for something

[DougW]

i happened upon some dry cottonwood. Fireplace size. Varying opinions out there... can I burn in it a std fireplace or woodstove?

It may look dry but might be dry outside and wet and or rotten on inside. Their bark is like reverse gortex. Water goes in but doesn't come out. Could cut off a piece and see what it weighs. If heavy you will have to split it as above and it will if really wet be a POS work out. Like trying to split a sponge was my experience, but that stuff was supper wet. Once split in my experience it dried really fast.

[Grange]

i happened upon some dry cottonwood. Fireplace size. Varying opinions out there... can I burn in it a std fireplace or woodstove?

I've used cottonwood in my fireplace that came from some land clearing on a family member's property, but I am not a fan compared to other hardwoods. Like others have already said it doesn't dry out well unless it is split. When it starts to rot hand splitting can be a pain as it breaks apart kind of like dry paper birch. It also doesn't burn hot, but generates a lot of ash.

[XXX-er]

but he does have a plaid shirt that has to count for something

[Game Over]

I've used cottonwood in my fireplace that came from some land clearing on a family member's property, but I am not a fan compared to other hardwoods. Like others have already said it doesn't dry out well unless it is split. When it starts to rot hand splitting can be a pain as it breaks apart kind of like dry paper birch. It also doesn't burn hot, but generates a lot of ash.

Cottonwood is actually a softwood. Cost me a sixer once...

[bodywhomper]

No safety helmet, no eye protecton, no ear protection, no chaps, no caulks and the chain is so loose its about to fall off the bar

when i look at that ad, i think loose chain and cold fingers.

i try to focus on safety. it's been drilled in my head at work for 20 years, plus this sight, and (for chainsaws) from a friend that wishes he had chaps when he was younger..... however, watching two fellers clear a property last week, their PPE were only helmets and ear protection. they were real deal with their work truck listing license #'s and such. a few years ago, a crew came and dropped over 70 large pondo pines (all over 50 years old) on a half acre lot (all dead from pine beetle). their PPE: helmets, ear protection, and safety glasses. the contractors that are out doing work for the utilities are fully armored in PPE (probably because of utility contract requirements). my friend, the 58 yo that's been a climber since he was 18, he now only works independently, but he has worked across the US in various sized companies and with his own company where he insured his employees... his PPE these days is ear protection, safety glasses, and N99 mask (for fumes when using a gas saw). he only wears a helmet if required by employeer or property owner, stating that it affects his situational awareness from working for so many years w/o a helmet. he also does not shun his day workers or helpers (like me) from using additional PPE and will suggest it for them if he sees it on sight.

[XXX-er]

a helmet is a good place to hang ear & eye protection also a plastic flap at the back for rain protection

I wore my cutting helmet to a Halloween rave as part of a costume and it worked awesume ... I could hear in the morning

[lifelinksplit]

Thought you guys would get a kick outta this. Bought a cheap electric splitter for the wife to use last winter since I working/living elsewhere. I usually hand split since its quicker but when I feel like getting "safe" and drinking coffee this little bastard actually has worked pretty well(albeit slowly) even with bigger rounds.

Full disclosure: I was not wearing chaps...

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[XXX-er]

. I usually hand split since its quicker ]

I call bulshit

For a few years I ran the 6 ton electric splitter to fill the wood shed for a hut operation, we had 2 real fallers, a skimmer operator, 3 guys feeding the splitter/stacking wood in the shed and a cook feeding the whole crew

No way you could keep up with that for ^^ 2 days, the spliiter just keeps splitting and the choke point is usually the skimmer in deteriorating spring snow codnitions

you wana raise your splitter ( 2ton? ) up on a platform so the bed is waist height, its faster to wedge a piece of wood against the on button so the pump is running full time and just work the lever which runs the ram

also more dangerous

I have used both gas and electric powered splitters, the 6 ton electric is like 400-500 $ on sale and will split anything up to 24 " , if you got 115V electric is way cheaper/better/ no maintenance, it fits easily in the truck of a car or inside a chopper as opposed to slinging a gas powered splitter or towing it

[lifelinksplit]

I hear ya. I meant a single session by myself. I was just saying I need to build a bench and I have rigged the power switch as well. It's a 115v 5ton and think I got it for like $200 and it's done way better than expected as I've used the bigger gas powered mostly before this. That was clearing homesites though and this is just personal home use. I'll usually do a couple days cutting then a day splitting(rinse/repeat spread through fall till stocked)

Also sometimes have the wife run splitter while I hand split if we only have short window.

[Game Over]

If I had a electric splitter in my garage/shed I’d be tempted to stack a bunch of rounds and just do it daily as needed...

I like our gas splitter but that idea actually sounds nice.

[XXX-er]

all the fire wood for the next 10 week ski season has to be done on the last weekend all at once, there are 1200$ an hr hell of a copters involved so there is no fucking around, my point would be that a 500$ 6 ton electric splitter kept up no problem so it is not a cute little toy. It was the creek crossings and warm weather that were the choke points

[Meadow Skipper]

i happened upon some dry cottonwood. Fireplace size. Varying opinions out there... can I burn in it a std fireplace or woodstove?

IMO, burn it in an outside firepit. I think it stinks and doesn’t give adequate heat. YMMV

[bodywhomper]

Those $500 e splitters, do they go vertical? A lot of wood around me, including what I’m currently using off my property, is kinda heavy for lifting and putting on a horizontal splitter for hours on end. They are big rounds and would wear me out pretty quick if I were doing a multi-hour splitter session.

[bodywhomper]

Pge is (thankfully) drastically upgrading the distribution poles and lines in my hood. They have been substantially widening the overhead space by limbing or removal of healthy trees. There’s been some interesting heavy equipment on my road:




The crews always seem very willing to chip my slash piles if I stack correctly and leave my slash near the slash that they’ll create. So I’ve done a small bit of thinning. The density in the foreground up to the stacked woodpile was the same as the density in the background before I thinned. It’s hard to tell.... This is obviously before I started gathering and prepping the slash for chipping.

[dtown]

Since our friend COVID-19 cancelled all our kids activities we had plenty of time in the yard today. Attacked a 50’ stretch littered with Buckthorn and whacked two giant limbs of a silver maple that gave us about 3 cords. Silver Maple all split and stacked and Buckthorn all burned.

Buckthorn is a bitch, tangled mess of a tree. Beer well earned and am definitely tired.


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[bodywhomper]

Since our friend COVID-19 cancelled all our kids activities we had plenty of time in the yard today. Attacked a 50’ stretch littered with Buckthorn and whacked two giant limbs of a silver maple that gave us about 3 cords. Silver Maple all split and stacked and Buckthorn all burned.

Buckthorn is a bitch, tangled mess of a tree. Beer well earned and am definitely tired.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Strong work!!

[toast2266]

Not sure if it's nation wide, but local (Montana) forest service has said firewood cutting is free though June 1. No permit needed, 12 cord max.

[DougW]

Cottonwood is actually a softwood. Cost me a sixer once...

really??

Definition of softwood (Entry 1 of 2)
1: the wood of a coniferous tree (such as a fir or pine) whether hard or soft as distinguished from that of an angiospermous tree
2: a tree that yields softwood

[Grange]

really??

Definition of softwood (Entry 1 of 2)
1: the wood of a coniferous tree (such as a fir or pine) whether hard or soft as distinguished from that of an angiospermous tree
2: a tree that yields softwood

I was cutting and splitting a fallen basswood yesterday and this thread popped in my head. So reading the thread I read that post and went on to comment as well. While cottonwood and basswood are definitely softer wood compared to oak and hard maple, they are not considered soft wood trees.