Big Oak

I wanted to post some pictures of a wood score I had earlier this fall. A local farmer friend called me to offer up a huge red oak that fell victim to a recent wind storm. Of course I jumped at the chance! This is a very big oak! Just the job for my very big Dolmar 7900! Below is a photo I snapped as I rested to enjoy my progress. I have found the Dolmar to be a very photogenic saw.
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Of all the firewood I have processed in my life, surprisingly the type I have the least experience with is oak. I can't explain why as Ohio is thoroughly populated with oak but...hey...here was a chance to become acquainted. This is a huge tree about 35 inches-round but the trunk is probably 40 feet long. I was excited to see the amount of firewood I could get out of the trunk alone.
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Of course anytime a debate is started over the best firewood, oak is usually regarded as supreme because it burns hot, burns long...major BTU's. I can't dispute that but I have to be honest I am not a big fan of working with oak. First, oak smells awful when you cut it...similar to the smell I recall from elementary school when someone would barf in the hallway. Ugh. Second, oak is very heavy...it wears you out to lug, throw in the truck and stack when you get home. Oak splits pretty easy but again it's heavy to lug and, after each split, you are welcomed with the potent odor of vomit. Ugh.

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A big concern with this job was the amount of poison ivy that had grown on the tree. The farmer had sprayed it with some industrial strength herbicide but I still managed to get some skin rash on my hands and arms.

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Above you see some of the big rounds the Dolmar produced. You can see where I started "noodling" the rounds into smaller pieces. I got about 4 truckloads of firewood out of this tree alone. In case you were wondering...the Dolmar 7900 powered through this tree like it was a pine log. The Dolmar has grunt like you can't imagine. The anti-vibe was given its chance to shine as well...the Dolmar was smooth as silk in this hard oak. What a saw!

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That's all for now. I split a bunch of wood today and have some pictures I will post soon. The Troy Bilt splitter is pretty powerful. It handled some tough logs today and ran flawlessly. Safe Cutting.
OWB.