The Official "Buckin'" Thread

[LAH]

I saw far too many nice large Oaks bucked up into manageable pieces for the cleanup crews to load after the two hurricanes that blew through here on '05(Rita) and '08(Ike). It was sickening seeing all of the 30"+ oaks chopped into 18-24" chunks for those cleanup guys to take to the chipper. That's worse than firewood, IMO. Those trees would have made some beautiful lumber, but were simply chipped into mulch/chips for only God knows what purpose.
JL

I agree it's a shame the big oaks are bucked up but they are worth more here for firewood than the saw mills will give you. We clear for developers & private builders & nothing we cut is worth the 40 mile round trip to the mill so the boss gives them to me. I've bucked & split some nice ones.

 

[Ramblewood]

I was bucking a large (36" stump) cherry blowdown that had landed in a group of smaller trees and was stressed in more than one direction . Although I was not smart enough to know which way it was going to break, I did stand behind a hemlock as I made my cut . It broke sideways and hit that hemlock like a freight train . It would have smashed me into the tree behind me and I would be coyote poop now . All I got was a snow shower and a HUGE lesson . It's the same tree I use in my avatar picture and you can see how big and powerful it was . Thats about as big as we get around here before they get hollow .
Love reading Burvol's posts - I learn something every time . I wish I had someone like that when I was starting out to show me the stuff he and the other pros write about . I'm 60 and my hip doctor and my back doctor told me to get a desk job . Not yet !

 

[Ramblewood]

I'm attempting to put a short video of a red oak I cut down last fall . After it landed, it started making some noise so I grabbed the camera and caught this magic moment . Glad it happened AFTER it fell ! If the vid won't play, it's because I don't know how to get them into my posts .


/Users/chw00000/Pictures/iPhoto Library/2009/11/14/Originals/MVI_1003.AVI

 

[Ramblewood]

Didn't work . I think the file is too big . The tree was a 28" RO that forked about 8 feet up . As I filmed, it exploded into two halves with a mighty crack .

 

[Plankton]

Did you upload to youtube or photobucket or something first? If you open it in windows movie maker you can upload straight to youtube with that and it automatically resizes the video.



To keep the thread theme going here: bucking the top off a small pine

 

[wvlogger]

Hickory that we shoved out with a dozer. Stump fell back into the hole. Tree was layed out across a draw

 

[Ramblewood]

I put it on YouTube but still can't upload it ! This is the address to the video on YouTube http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJr5FfKtiMQ

 

[GASoline71]

You gotta click on the "embed" link under the vid on youtube. Then copy and paste here.

Like this... here's your vid...

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yJr5FfKtiMQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yJr5FfKtiMQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Gary

 

[donthraen]

those exploding trees aren't any fun ---the one I had blue out around it and splintered every ware with lots of water---and maybe some pee LOL

 

[Ramblewood]

Hey ! Thats great ! Thanks for the help . I don't have many vids to share but I take a lot of pictures every winter when we go cutting and would like to share them like I see the other guys(and SlowP) are doing . I am smart enough to get the pictures on but don't have much experience playing with video .

 

[donthraen]

I got lots of pictures I can send anyplace but AS. cant figure out why

 

[Ramblewood]

I just tried to upload the video following your suggestion and I get a large error message that looks like alphabet soup . It may be that the security software I use is not letting me get it right . I will have to turn off some of that stuff and try again . It blocks FLASH ads but is supposed to let YouTube go through . I need a teenager to teach me how some of this works . My grandson is six tomorrow and he probably knows how to do it . He has no trouble getting online and bringing up Transformer videos .

 

[Ramblewood]

I was bucking a large (36" stump) cherry blowdown that had landed in a group of smaller trees and was stressed in more than one direction . Although I was not smart enough to know which way it was going to break, I did stand behind a hemlock as I made my cut . It broke sideways and hit that hemlock like a freight train . It would have smashed me into the tree behind me and I would be coyote poop now . All I got was a snow shower and a HUGE lesson . It's the same tree I use in my avatar picture and you can see how big and powerful it was . Thats about as big as we get around here before they get hollow .
Love reading Burvol's posts - I learn something every time . I wish I had someone like that when I was starting out to show me the stuff he and the other pros write about . I'm 60 and my hip doctor and my back doctor told me to get a desk job . Not yet !

A year later we went after the stub of the tree one balmy winter day . After making face and back cuts, it just sat there . My wedges only made it wiggle so I stuck the point of my peavey into the back-cut, put all 175 lb. behind it, and over she went . It was to big for a 40 hp/fwd JD tractor to skid so we dragged the splitter 1/2 mile up into the woods and split it on site . The last pic shows the firewood we got from the log . About 4 face-cords . It would have made fantastic lumber as it was all curly/flame grained but our local mill closed due mostly to extreme miss-management and we had no
way to get it 40 miles to the closest mill . http://www.arboristsite.com/images/...://www.arboristsite.com/images/attach/jpg.gifhttp://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=149732&stc=1&d=1283615344

 

[donthraen]

that reminds me I have a black walnut about that size I fell 1/12 years ago I go-to get

 

[Ramblewood]

Beware the toxic smoke if you burn it ! They have a chemical in them that is nasty . A millwork shop I worked in gave the planer shavings to a horse farm and if there was walnut mixed in, the hooves would swell up and the horse would go lame . Also, I had a friend that owned a big knife - handle factory and when they ran walnut, the workers would cough and hack like a 3 pack a day smoker . You can smell it in the wood and in the smoke . Sure splits nice though .

 

[donthraen]

Ive burned it before and never had a problem with it---Ive bean told the nuts and shells are toxic but this is the first time I was told the wood is---and you are rite it does split real good and this tree is 20-30ft before the first knot that will make easy splitting

 

[Ramblewood]

Ive burned it before and never had a problem with it---Ive bean told the nuts and shells are toxic but this is the first time I was told the wood is---and you are rite it does split real good and this tree is 20-30ft before the first knot that will make easy splitting

You might find a local woodworker that will pay you for some of it . Gunstock guys love it . Then you can spend the money on firewood !
The chemical is called "juglans" Juglans nigra is the latin name for black walnut . It uses it to kill off competing trees that try to grow nearby .

 

[donthraen]

thats interesting---theirs nothing around hear that will get 1 tree one place over the river said they take 30 to get it out of their---I told them to FO..---Thea's guys try to by up peoples walnuts and hedge trees at a very lo cost---they go to old people and people that don't no any better and some they charge to do it but only black walnut and hedge also if they get on the property and told what they can take they take anything they want anyway---just a bunch of cons is all they are---I don't haft by fire wood I got all the wood I will ever knead you want some I got plenty---I wase thinking of giving the nut tree to the small town nearby their rebuilding a log house from the 1800ds it wase originally made of walnut

 

[donthraen]

how can they make bowels and plates out of it---I have some and use them sometimes for soops--only home made soops of course---but now you got me worried after this

 

[Ramblewood]

Walnut is a tough tree to sell if :
1. it is not big, straight, and knot free for the first 8-10 feet
2. in an area where there is a facility to process it . When it is made into lumber, they put the packs into a steamer and put live steam in for a few days to blend the dark heartwood into the white sapwood . Without that, the best part of the log would be white and no good for the stuff it's used for .
A lot of it is being sent overseas as logs so the markets are changing but it has to be pretty nice stuff to make it worth sending all that way .
I was kidding about selling your wood to buy more wood LOL !