Good thread, I fell trees for firewood also. I have about 100 ash trees that had leaves last year but are showing pretty heavy infestation. I'm going to get as many on the ground this winter as possible. Here's some pics. 
Felling for Firewood
- Thread starter Jere39
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Nice Ash. Looks like you'll be milling some of that into lumber. Let's see the pics when you do. I missed a log that went to the burn pile that I wanted to get milled. Still need to get new tires for my little trailer before I haul any small logs.
Nice to have some little helpers. Be extra careful with them around.
Ron
Ron
Dropped another one today.
Nice job.
I was just looking a your sig line. You have an 026 with .017 squish. That is squeezing it tight.
Thanks!
Yeah probably a little too tight. It hasn't been a problem. I'm gonna pull the top end on it again and check for any signs of contact. I used the wrong sealer before I knew better and I want to redo it with Motoseal before it's a problem.
Surely Lee and I aren't the only ones that fell for firewood this past weekend. Here are four ash I cut on Saturday.
No.1
No. 2 on top of No. 1
No 3
No. 4
Fellow in the picture is one of my cutting buddies. It was nice of No. 4 to grow so close to my log pile. The others are a little over a quarter of a mile away.
Post some pictures and be safe,
Ron
No.1
No. 2 on top of No. 1
No 3
No. 4
Fellow in the picture is one of my cutting buddies. It was nice of No. 4 to grow so close to my log pile. The others are a little over a quarter of a mile away.
Post some pictures and be safe,
Ron
You guys are probably getting tired of me crying about lumber vs. firewood, but that last log looks like a nice saw log. I like Ash lumber better than boring R. Oak. I hope to run across one one day to have it milled.
Not tired, appreciate your perspective. On the flip side, I've got very limited capacity to handle log length wood, even less capacity to haul log lengths, zero capacity to store sawed wood for an appropriate amount of time to dry before using the lumber. And, I just don't need a stack of lumber I won't be able to use for two years. Maybe there should be a thread for saw log harvest and milling. But, no need to not remind us of what alternatives there are for the trees I harvest for firewood.
I appreciate that perspective as well. I will likely have a couple good sized logs milled. However I'm not a woodworker so I'm never going to use it up. The rest is worth more to me as firewood. The best price I got was about $10 per each 12" × 8'6" saw log picked up and delivered to the mill. Hardly worth the time for that money. In our area ash prices are really depressed due to everyone logging it out of their woodlots.
Yes I understand that position, too. No use, no room, inability to haul logs, $ return....
Right now, I've got more lumber than I can uses (lol). And people around here with mills trying to sell lumber, just don't sell much. I worked for a mill for a short time and that guy would mill everything that came in. But he sold very little;just kept filling up the barns with stacked lumber. The sawmill was big back in his father's time when farmers needed lumber for barns and fences, but not much call for it now.
Milling is disease, kind of like CAD. I'd guess you'd call it SMD. It's fun to see a log and find out what's inside. I see a nice log and just naturally want to have it milled. A farmer gave my Dad a large straight Bk. Walnut tree for firewood and we sawed it up into rounds. I just cringed.
Right now, I've got more lumber than I can uses (lol). And people around here with mills trying to sell lumber, just don't sell much. I worked for a mill for a short time and that guy would mill everything that came in. But he sold very little;just kept filling up the barns with stacked lumber. The sawmill was big back in his father's time when farmers needed lumber for barns and fences, but not much call for it now.
Milling is disease, kind of like CAD. I'd guess you'd call it SMD. It's fun to see a log and find out what's inside. I see a nice log and just naturally want to have it milled. A farmer gave my Dad a large straight Bk. Walnut tree for firewood and we sawed it up into rounds. I just cringed.
Not a problem. You would be crying if you knew how many beautiful 30”+ red oaks I have cut for firewood.
Until last year I regularly preached the same sermon to the firewood ministry. They finally took me up on it with a few loads of red oak and white oak. After the time, effort and fuel, one white oak log brought much more $$$ than all of the other logs combined. They said selling logs was not worth it, except for the first log off the stump of white oak if it were clear. Nice white oaks are not plentiful here so we had none to sell.
I hate see beautiful logs chopped up for firewood, but that is where we are. The trees are given to us as no logger shows offering to buy.
Ron
Jere, I watched your felling video, first of the year. Buddy you better quit before you get yourself killed. That was all kinds of a disaster waiting to happen .
If you are cutting for firewood : no big deal but for grade lumber you left your yield in the stump..
I usually cut them at that height for ease on my 68 year old back, then I take another round off the stump later. No yield wasted.
I'm with Jere39 on this. I AM cutting for firewood. (me n my back have seen better days). Prefer making the drop cut at or slightly above waist height. Sure beats working all scrunched up, easier to watch the tree top and quicker to leave the area, more likely to be above stump rot wood for the felling cut. Up in straight grain out of the weird stump grain. Less cutting, above the widest area. Easy enough to take a firewood round or two off the stump once the tree is on the ground.
Any downside to making the felling cut that high?
I regret making my post prior to reading through the whole thread. I normally read through but reality checks in on me occasionally and reaffirms that I am one of those sawmill addicts. "SMD?" mentioned in post #51. I am working towards replacing my 1956 Corley Left hand #8 mill with the one on UT "Table Rock Lumber, Last log sawed at a 40+ year old sawmill" If you note the date you can see Speedee is not my nick name.
You started a good thread I enjoyed reading through it.
Do you mean he should have made a Humboldt cut?
How about a pic of that trailer?
It's just a 5' x 8' single axle trailer. Light enough i can move around by hand when empty. 
It has a 2000 # axle I put on it but the frame can hold probably only half without failing.
It has a 2000 # axle I put on it but the frame can hold probably only half without failing.
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