How to break down seriously large oak wood?

[PoulanInPA]

Remember that it will take 2-3 years to season that Oak before burning it.

It will sit in a pile for 1 year, then be stacked in a 3/4 enclosed wood shed with full sun exposure for another year. That's all its getting!

Can you noodle out a kerf then insert wedges and split?

Haven't tried it, but that may work.

You may have a better method, but I place wedge at outside of round and follow a natural check in wood. I use one wedge, sledge and maul. Split rounds in half then use vertical splitter. Place 2x8s flat on ground in front of splitter, makes sliding half rounds under splitter wedge easier.

One wedge?? I'm using that method, but consistently needing two to three wedges. A 5' pry bar with a hooked edge is key.

 

[Rick Hammer]

Hi All - New to the forum. I just had a very large white oak tree taken down. It was a hazard and the center was rotting, unfortunately. The tree service left me with the bigger pieces and now I have the task of breaking them down for firewood. How do you suggest I go about handling the monster rounds? Some are easily five foot in diameter, very wet and super heavy. They range in thickness from 18 inches to 3 feet (picture attached). I've broken down 1.5 of them using primarily wedges, sledgehammer, and the fiskars, but it was pretty brutal. Looking for suggestions on how to do this as efficiently as possible. Noodle them? The main thing I need to accomplish is breaking them down to manageable sizes that I can roll/push/pry bar onto the foot of the log splitter. Thanks!

For reference, equipment I have on hand:

-Log splitter (horizontal and vertical)
-Fiskars super splitter axe
-Maul and five wedges
-8 pound sledge
-5 foot pry bar
-18-inch Echo saw
-24-inch Poulan 4400 anti-vibe saw

Take your bigger rounds and half or even quarter them .Sometimes that is all you can do to even pick em up,or you can start popping off pieces with your mall on the outer ends and whittle away.Next time if you have a tree crew doing your work,tell the grunt on the ground to cut em for you could move them.They have the bigger saws and it would take no time to cut those but end chunks so you can handle them.

 

[deberly12]

Very cool about 15 years ago my grandfather had an oak taken down that was every bit as big. I was only 8 but I helped by swinging a sledge at some wedges lol. The whole family came together and did the whole thing by hand.

One thing that I have found to help is to break the bark ring. On really big stuff like that I will usually work around the edges but ones you break the first bark ring it is much easier so just spit a slice off the side before you deal with the rest. Ymmv but it always seemed helpful to me.

PS when and where is the PA Log explosion happening? I want in!!!

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[PoulanInPA]

Did some more work with help from family. Light at the end of the tunnel for these rounds. The logs will be easy compared to the rounds. Just cut and split..

I'll add that I really like the ECHO CS-400 after the muffler mod. Its got great power and just keeps kicking a**. More impressed with it than the Poulan 4400 (not some new piece of crap Poulan).

 

[Ted Jenkins]

In my my experience working with large Oak is hard work period. My smaller saws use a 24'' bar so cutting a 50 to 60'' is not difficult, but it can destroy your whole afternoon. I try to think of another place to be. I keep at least a dozen good sharp wedges handy 24-7. When you bury 10 wedges and there is no sign of cracking you can start to panic. Of course having a long bar or pipe some times makes the difference. Thanks

 

[fearofpavement]

I never use wedges to split firewood, ever. Too much work. On big rounds like this, I start slabbing pieces off the outside edge with a monster maul and just work in a spiral motion to make the round smaller and smaller in diameter. When the piece is small enough to stand up on edge, I noodle it with a chainsaw into quarters. Then they either get more monster maul action or get put on the splitter.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

A friend of mine called me back in July on a sizable Oak tree removal. He said the owner wanted all the limbs up to 20 to 24''. So he said bring your Bobcat and take the rest. I ended up with two trailer loads of nice Oak green as ever. Almost 30,000 lbs worth. I could not wiggle the larger rounds by myself unless via the Bobcat. I took 12 wedges and a sledge hammer to my process area. It took about 2 hours a day for almost a month to get it all stacked up. The largest log was 5 1/2 feet across with the smaller around 24''. Several of the larger rounds needed up to 10 wedges to get them halved. Now not even 6 months latter I have at least 4 cords of firewood. The stove cut wood comes in at 22 to 26% with the 18'' closer to 30%. With green Oak a big problem is that the wedges are very difficult to get started in that they pop out so easy. At the time I did not want to stop cutting at my larger tree removal, but I did anyway now I am glad it is done. In 40 years never found an easy way to break down Oak logs. Did not want to noodle any since it destroys any firewood value. Already sold some since it burns just fine. Just get it done. Thanks

 

[PoulanInPA]

Updated pics are below. Almost done with the big rounds. Then its all downhill from there - just buck and split.

Also, I picked up an ECHO CS-590. modded the muffler and re-tuned the carb. It's a fantastic saw and value. I much prefer it over the Poulan 4400 and would put it up against the comparable Stihl and Husky saws any day.

 

[blades]

Cut a grove with the chain saw to stick the wedges in.

 

[PoulanInPA]

^ I’ve done that with success

 

[old guy]

How does noodleing destroy firewood value?, I noodled a lot of it last year & it burned just as well as the any other wood.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

How does noodleing destroy firewood value?, I noodled a lot of it last year & it burned just as well as the any other wood.

If you noodle 50 cords for your self no body will care what it looks like or how well it burns. However when people want to buy wood in my area they care very much. Most of my customers would be considered high end type customers and they trust me to get them what they want. About half of them ask what the cost will be the other half never want to know. The wood that is delivered better look nice period and it better look nice when it is stacked. If the length and the diameter and the split better be consistent or its junk. Noodled wood for those that ask the price will want an 80% discount because it is scrap wood. Right now it is 15 F and am enjoying using scrap Oak that was on the end of some logs. This wood is chunks from 8'' to a 12'' and it heats the house perfectly, but it will not sell. Thanks

 

[old guy]

If you noodle 50 cords for your self no body will care what it looks like or how well it burns. However when people want to buy wood in my area they care very much. Most of my customers would be considered high end type customers and they trust me to get them what they want. About half of them ask what the cost will be the other half never want to know. The wood that is delivered better look nice period and it better look nice when it is stacked. If the length and the diameter and the split better be consistent or its junk. Noodled wood for those that ask the price will want an 80% discount because it is scrap wood. Right now it is 15 F and am enjoying using scrap Oak that was on the end of some logs. This wood is chunks from 8'' to a 12'' and it heats the house perfectly, but it will not sell. Thanks

I guess I wouldn't sell wood to people like that.
For myself I take everything from 1'' on up, anything that will go in the stove door doesn't get split at all.

 

[deberly12]

You would sell wood to them if they paid enough lol

I would guess he is probably getting upwards of 300 a cord ... Maybe more.

I have heard of people selling wood for 150 a tossed pickup load around the outskirts of Philly. I guess some people have more money then brains lol.

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[Ted Jenkins]

Upwards of $300 a cord, how about $500 a cord. I can not afford to spend much time with folks who ask what the price is. They call when it is raining or snowing or really freezing. They are desperate because they are the ones that never plan ahead. Many of my customers expect me to go in to the house and look at their stack to see if it is low and then call them to say it is in its way. Those people are the best because I stack it when I want some time at 6 AM and all during the summer. They are the ones that keep me going when weather is really bad or other obstacles. Thanks

 

[old guy]

Things have changed since I sold firewood 50 years ago, we got $57 a cord, mostly people only wanted a face cord or two at $19 each. This was in Minneapolis.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

I bought my first saw when I was 14 more than 50 years ago to do a job that earned me about $600 while living in Washington State. That job took me several months to complete. Then my first cord of wood sold for $25. You know that my retirement plan was well financed. I still like cutting and selling wood, but I sell to people who pay well or I stay home. Thanks

 

[ropensaddle]

If you noodle 50 cords for your self no body will care what it looks like or how well it burns. However when people want to buy wood in my area they care very much. Most of my customers would be considered high end type customers and they trust me to get them what they want. About half of them ask what the cost will be the other half never want to know. The wood that is delivered better look nice period and it better look nice when it is stacked. If the length and the diameter and the split better be consistent or its junk. Noodled wood for those that ask the price will want an 80% discount because it is scrap wood. Right now it is 15 F and am enjoying using scrap Oak that was on the end of some logs. This wood is chunks from 8'' to a 12'' and it heats the house perfectly, but it will not sell. Thanks

They would be sol here, the only thing that is consistent is irregularity knots and the like but then 175 to 200 per cord they best not beeotch or they are off the list. Then they can buy the half cords every other hack is selling for full cord price and believe me its happened and it is satisfying getting the call saying I'm sorry lol

 

[ropensaddle]

As far as the topic goes I went back to saw kerf and wedges and sold my tw6 last summer it had done enough work to pay for itself and I was low on cash.

 

[PoulanInPA]

A delivered cord of mixed hardwood goes for about $200 outside of Phillly. A cord of oak is about $275.