Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[BackRoad]

Looks like you've finally gotten some snow Mr. Gordon.

Moving around in that will wear anybody out while limbing!

 

[goeduck]

Some pictures from today. I added some to the Spruce/Fir stud wood pile.


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Then I went back down to get one more. A white spruce that up rooted in the wind about a month ago. It was hung up and at a 45* angle until Thanksgiving when the wet snow brought it down.


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Fun limbing that and it's kind of ugly.


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By the time I was done I was out of steam and didn't have the oomph to pull it out of there. I decided it would be better for me to leave it propped up off the ground until after the rain coming tomorrow.


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gg

Looks like a tree I'd be after out here. Except without snow. Lots of good wood in there.

 

[shooterdon]

No pictures but brought 5 face cords of wood in bulk bags into the garage today. Should be set for a few weeks.

 

[dodge man]

A wood drying question. In my mind you have two kinds of moisture, from when the tree was a living organism and when it gets external moisture, like rain. If you season wood for a year or two that gets the moisture out of it from when it was alive.

When the wood gets rained on, does that mostly stay on the outside and dry off quickly or get inside the wood and take weeks to dry out?

 

[WinterDeere]

A wood drying question. In my mind you have two kinds of moisture, from when the tree was a living organism and when it gets external moisture, like rain. If you season wood for a year or two that gets the moisture out of it from when it was alive.

When the wood gets rained on, does that mostly stay on the outside and dry off quickly or get inside the wood and take weeks to dry out?

Think of it this way: Water moves very slowly through the cellular structure of the wood. This is why it takes split wood so long to dry sufficiently to be of good use in a modern wood stove.

So, when wood gets rained on, of course the outside gets wet. The water begins to move into the wood, but cannot get very far into the structure, before the rain event ends and things begin to dry out. And because only the outer fraction of an inch is absorbing most of that incident water, it quickly dries.

A single rain event does affect your wood, but on a days-long, not weeks-long time scale.

 

[Rockbadchild]

A wood drying question. In my mind you have two kinds of moisture, from when the tree was a living organism and when it gets external moisture, like rain. If you season wood for a year or two that gets the moisture out of it from when it was alive.

When the wood gets rained on, does that mostly stay on the outside and dry off quickly or get inside the wood and take weeks to dry out?

I agree with WinterDeere... just to expand on it, yes it wood dose absorb moisture you notice that on wood Axe handle as a example, when dry the wood fiber retract and the handle will get loose and when moisture is present the wood will expand and get tight, so wood dose absorb moisture. When you stack your wood in the elements you should have the bark up (toward the sky) to minimize this, because the bark is a better sealant and will minimize water absorption.

 

[dodge man]

I have old metal roofing over my stacks but I’m sure it still gets wet.

 

[EdwardL]

I like your counter weight. I'm thinking that is what it is. Nothing wrong with that - a weigh is a weight. How do you hook it to your top link ?? Or do I have it wrong ?

gg

I don't hook it to the top link. Just use the lift arms and the skidding tongs to get the front end of a log off the ground, and drag a log about 100 feet from where it was unloaded to where I have the splitter. -- the weight is to simply to counter balance the bucket when it filled with split wood. And when I use the bucket to life a 20 in round onto the splitter. Could turn it vertical, but I think its easier to lift them up onto the rail. Less bending, and juggling into position that way. -- I go through about 8 cords a year, and keep my oil use to about 100 gal, a year. In Vermont.

The weight is around 200 pounds and just about right for what I do.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I don't hook it to the top link. Just use the lift arms and the skidding tongs to get the front end of a log off the ground, and drag a log about 100 feet from where it was unloaded to where I have the splitter. -- the weight is to simply to counter balance the bucket when it filled with split wood. And when I use the bucket to life a 20 in round onto the splitter. Could turn it vertical, but I think its easier to lift them up onto the rail. Less bending, and juggling into position that way. -- I go through about 8 cords a year, and keep my oil use to about 100 gal, a year. In Vermont.

The weight is around 200 pounds and just about right for what I do.

OK thanks. Good explanation and a good way to do what you do. When I see something different I am always curious how it is used. There is something to be learned everywhere.

Where in VT. I'm in Waterford near St. J.

gg

 

[WinterDeere]

When you stack your wood in the elements you should have the bark up (toward the sky) to minimize this, because the bark is a better sealant and will minimize water absorption.

Oh no you di'nt! That old "bark up vs bark down" debate on various woodburner forums, makes every "Deere vs. Kubota" thread on this forum look tame and agreeable.

Bark up is indeed a good way to shed incident rain, but also slows the drying of the wood in good weather, so which is best is going to depend on your conditions. I tend to stack bark down, because my stacks are under a roof. But since I'm drying my wood for 3-4 years before use, it honestly wouldn't matter much either way, in my case.