Thank you!

Ok, your wish will be granted :)

@@countrywoodproducts 😀😍

Thanks!

Thank you

Thanks. Its way better now. I finished a fireplace mantle. Special order. Out the door. Happy customers.

I do not have a planer large enough for the slabs I plan to run.

Where's the fun in that

@@LWYOffGridHomestead I guess if your time is irrelevant have fun.

haha

Thank you. I have been making videos mostly full time since 2013 on The Do It Yourself World when I went off the grid and moved into a camper in the woods during a blizzard. Country Wood Products is my full time business now while YT is second. The family is doing well, thank you.

Thanks

Thanks

Thank you

Thank you. Happy you found it again.

Working on it.

Thanks

Congratulations!! Thank you very much!!

Thank you!

Thanks

Thank you. Yes for sure!!

I’ve heard that ‘sap is down’ thing all my life but according to forestry studies it’s about the same all year. I cut in winter because it’s easier to skid on snow and frozen wood splits easier. Plus easier to see the whole tree to make felling decisions. One theory I like but haven’t tried is to cut in the spring as soon as the leaves are full and let the tree lay there for a month, and the leaves will suck the moisture out. Makes sense but spring is black fly season so I stay out of the woods.

No mud

I also find that leaving it down over the winter helps season the wood some. I am sawing oak that I got in November. I saw it up, split and stack it and its ready to go in a few weeks.

Nice observation about a felled tree trying to bud in the spring. Ties in with the 'botany': a felled tree isn't immediately dead. The tissues will remain living and respiring, running on 'life water' in the wood. If you leave the branches on, the underbark tissues will photosynthesize when it's warm enough, again running on water already in the tissues. With the connection to the roots severed, the tree can't take up more water. Photosynthesis produces 'food' for the tree and requires chlorophyll, which will be in the underbark of the branches and twigs and on the trunk in thin-barked species - why fresh-felled timber is called 'green' wood. If you fell a tree in autumn or winter and leave it entire, it will try its best to leaf out in spring. This will use 'life water and the wood will dry out because it can't be replaced. If it actually produces leaves, these will transpire - release water vapour. In a live tree, transpiration pulls in water from the roots and out through the leaves and it is the tree's mechanism for moving resources within itself. If transpiration starts, the available water in the lying tree will be used sooner, drying it faster. Of course, some tree species (crack willow, Salix fragilis in the UK) will put out rootlets from the trunk or branches where they touch the ground and can grow to produce roots and the tree stays alive in the long term - a 'phoenix tree'.

I'd recommend against mixing up.. creates walls, in the sun and wind and stacked relatively loose in same direction is ultimate, cover the top and your good to go.

​@anemone104 thanks professor

@@johnscroggins5981 No problem. 3 year botany degree boiled down and you don't have to sit through all the lectures....

During rain I keep tarps over the wood piles. Otherwise I let the sun and wind blow on them fully.

Just covet the top well... if winter.. shovel snow away from base..off the ground and bobs your uncle

Been doing that now. Thanks.

I was referring to the average drying time for any specific area. You can speed up the drying time of wood if you improve conditions for drying it faster. Yes a kiln is the best. But you can help move things along well in the right conditions.

If you’re going to cover your wood be sure to just cover the very top. Keep the sides wide open so the sun and air flow can get to it.

I have a table saw but the problem is trying to get a straight edge on these. Some are tapered quite sharply so I would end up with a pointed or narrow top. I have considered making a saw with a roller table. Something that locks the wood in place and slides past the saw. But then again, I have a sawmill. Thanks.

I thought so too until I started to make them. LOL. Too much work for a dollar each.

If I were Troy, I would first think about air-conditioning the house. As for firewood, I would try to find a source of income that didn't involve so much manual labor! But that is just my opinion. I'm lazy :) Yes, willing to work, but try to not work any more than necessary.

Thank you for your suggestions. I want a pole barn. I dream of a pole barn. But I am stalled cause I have sheds. They wont let me have one on this property. I can put one in the woods out on the other property but that opens up to vandalism and destruction out there. Eventually I will get one tho. Then I can have my sawmill and firewood processing under a roof.

David, The house is air conditioned. Has been for years. I cant handle the heat. Firewood can be easy work with the right equipment. Slabs are not hard at all. Fun too. Buying logs and having a tractor and firewood processor are a future dream of mine.

Troy, sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought that you said before that you didn't need air-conditioning. My memory isn't as good as it used to be :)

@@countrywoodproducts SELL THE SHEDS WITH A POLE BARN U DONT NEED ANY WAY

Thanks. I do want one soon.

I was going to make panels too. But its too much work when you can buy pickets at the big stores for $2.49 each for treated 6ft pickets. I cannot compete with that so well. He generally stays away from the fences in order to keep his nose attached to his face.

Thanks. I like them

I tried. Then the round side is against the 2x4 and they can flop around. Without the 2x4, the slabs will flop around. They are also different widths.

@@countrywoodproducts Can you work on both sides of the mill or just the far side ? Working on both sides would mean you can slide pickets across and flip them over so flat sides stay together.

Or another 2x4 ?

Thanks. I forgot to mention that the neighbor was right there in his yard as I worked.