In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
The Husqvarna was Roaring
allen griggs
Member Posts: 35,273 ✭✭✭✭
This cherry tree keeled over on my property. I drove down there in the Nissan and cut it up this morning. I knew there was an entire pickup load on this tree, but, the top half was rotten. Still, I got 2/3 of a truckload. Cherry is decent firewood, not as good as oak, but pretty good.
Comments
Going to split that or big enough stove to burn it? In the woods in my life has been some of the best times sawing and nature close by.
I will split it tomorrow.
That reminds me, got to take my Swedish mauser to the range.
As a woodworker it kills me to see that cherry tree get cut up for firewood, but I get it. Looks like it may have been a bugger to get out of there in useable logs.
The leaves of wild cherries when they wilt are deadly to animals. Hard to tell from the picture, but with the top cover straps that could be a 346xp. If so, they can be tuned to produce upwards of 15k rpms. The fastest stock saw you can get. I have had a couple and currently use a couple converted 350s with 346xp top ends mounted. Talk about trigger response and chain speed.
jltrent you are a connisseur of chain saws. [Now, ignore that German item in the foreground]. I bought the Swede beauty in Asheville 14 years ago, cost $625. I used it extensively building my log cabin addition 8 years ago. When I take it into the shop to get some oil or a new bar, the guys all look at it, they practically ask for my autograph.
Swedish stuff is good.
cherry has other uses also
"As a woodworker it kills me to see that cherry tree get cut up for firewood"
Hardly big enough to be considered 'a log'. Wish you were here, I have a cherry tree that will cut out one each 8' and 10' x 20-24" diameter saw logs. My new neighbor is in the wood working business and we maybe can work out a trade of my cherry logs for his carpentry work.
The cherry I see in the picture is small, has a pretty big sap ring and a lot of it was rotten. Like all wood the good ones are few and far between. Had a few Walnut trees sold, and one had curly wood. I always wish I had kelp that one, but the price they were paying it was better to ship. Out of 100 logs maybe 5 on average will veneer or above average. Hard to make money at $20/ton paper wood or second grade logs.
I started splitting this morning and I remembered why, ten years ago, I quit messing with cherry. This stuff is very stringy, and difficult to split, almost as bad as hickory. I wouldn't drive 5 miles for a free truckload of cherry, but when it is on my own property I can't say No.
I had to make a little 3 inch deep chainsaw cut into the drum, and then the little electric splitter did a good job, I still had to wrestle the 2 pieces apart with all those strands. I have a little electric saw I use for this light duty. Pretty good workout, this cherry.
I split up 1/3 of the wood, and it started to rain, I will finish it off tomorrow. The wood is pretty, and smells good.
jltrent that pic is deceptive, I know it looks like rot but in fact there was almost no rot in that piece, as you can see in the final pic this wood is pristine. I am fastidious about rot and if a piece has more than 5 percent rot I leave it in the woods where it can rot away.
You said in the OP the top half was rotten. It will make good firewood, but I was referring to a log as rot on a tree usually doesn't make for a log. (Notice I said usually).
It may have been because it looks to have grown in the woods a lot of cherries here, which I am not too far from you, that is grown to themselves more is a lot deeper red. After a windstorm I always look for limbs or cherry trees down cause the wilted leaves will kill the cattle.
The top half was rotten, so I left it in the forest.
Good thing it was highly valuable Walnut.
Even though I'm within 40 miles of a big time walnut drying facility, Midwest loggers are fairly casual about even walnut lately. Big discounts for minor blemishes and especially 'cat faces'.
New neighbor is building his own drying kiln. I've got loads and loads of dead ash which will work great for that. Making furniture lumber is a tricky business.
Logging business is about like the cattle business. There are ups and downs but more downs than ups. These log buyers can find something wrong with every log.
I also like black walnut. This was a 2 foot diameter tree. It grew on the edge of an old time farmer's field where they were planting corn in 1910. Sawmills don't like trees like this because they have metal fence staples, and who knows what other metal imbedded in them. The sawmills want wood from the deep forest.
Burns good though. About the same BTU rating as cherry. Black walnut is easy to split.
Hope your ladder is not needed in a hurry. Good looking wood.
just send that sweet 039 up here , would love it , i gave my 044 to my son several years ago and miss having a saw around
A friend uses cherry in his smoker.
That's cherry, huh? Kind a looked like a sappy pitchy evergreen of some sort at the rot.
I'd use it to smoke, too if it's like the fruiting cherry wood. That bark looks like a evergreen and not the smooth bark so I don't know?
Cherry is my favourite for smoking beef. A simple rub with a bit of nutmeg and brown sugar.
I have a smoker. I was wondering if this cherry would work in the smoker, or if you had to have fruit tree cherry that actually bears fruit.
I have used store-bought cherry to smoke duck and it is really good.
Most folks would say that walnut makes poor heating wood. I guess it's OK if that's all you got.
Black Walnut has 21 million BTU per cord. Cherry has 20 million. Both are good hardwood firewood, but not as good as Chestnut Oak which is 26 million. Last month I split up 3 truckloads of Chestnut Oak, love to get some more of that.
Anything below 20 million I don't mess with.
Here's a chart you folks may be interested in. It shows the BTU's and weight per cord of dried firewood across the nation.
https://worldforestindustries.com/forest-biofuel/firewood/firewood-btu-ratings/
I went down this morning and got a half-truckload of dead standing locust, right next to my driveway. Zero rot. This is the best firewood available around here with 27 million BTU/cord. This wood is hard as iron and difficult to cut, but the German saw was up to the task. Hot coals last a long time
when burning locust.
I'm an expert at identifying trees.
I can tell a tree from a truck or a trombone 100% of the time.
I have cut many black locust for fence post.Nothing has the smell of cutting locust.
I heated with wood for about 5 or 6 years right after my divorce . Owning and having access to over 200 acres of wood made it feasible. Mostly oak and black gum . Finally switched to propane as I could get it thru farm account at agricultural rates .
Still use the John deere chainsaw from back then ( circa 1985). Rebranded Echo.
I don't mind all the hard work, as long as it makes the Princess happy. Daisy likes the Norwegian wood stove.
"And when I awoke I was alone
This bird had flown
So I lit a fire
Isn't it good Norwegian wood?"
The Beatles