Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: richpierce on July 27, 2008, 12:26:54 am
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My town takes trees they cut down along streets and roads to a local park where folks can cut them for firewood. Yesterday I took some splits off a large osage limb- that was 7 feet long and about 18" in diameter and immovable.
The main log is about 32" in diameter and 6 feet long. It has thin and wide rings on different sides of the log. It's almost inaccessible among a jumble of other logs and must weigh a ton, green. I'm going to have to figure out how to split it. I never split an osage log bigger than 18" in diameter. The nice thing about this one is that the rings are not thin, as some older trees have.
I was thinking that I could slab it or try to split it in half. If I do need to split it in half, quarter it, etc I may take a cut across the end with a chainsaw about 3" deep to set several wedges and tap them in all at the same time to get a clean split.
Splitting off slabs about 6" thick at the middle of the arc may be a better approach?
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We want picture!!!!!
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Could probably get 4 piggyback heartwood staves off of each split! Pictures are definately not optional.
Grant
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My back started hurting just reading the post. Sure hope you can salvage that beast, Hate to see it burned. Steve
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Dang! 32" diameter! :o
I've split logs up to 18"...and they are no picnic. I split an elm that was 12" in diameter and just about died.
That large log will require very large wedges and a very large sledge. It might be easier, if you have the money, to pay one of those portable bandsaw mill guys to cut it up for you. They can drive to the site and cut it right there.
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Very rare to find one that big without some rot in the center. Might try to exploit that, but it can present a problem as well. I'd take as many wedges as you have and make a few gluts (I think is the term, a wooden wedge).
The secret to splitting big wood is exploit it's inherent weaknesses. I know this sounds crazy, but I have split a lot of trees in my life, for firewood and bow wood. Look for a natural check that parts the pith line in the end, and follow it. If not start one that centers the pith line and try to tie into an existing check.
You can beat on a log the rest of your life if you put your wedge in the wrong places. And you don't have pound the wedges with a ton of force. When you are starting the wedge especially, use a very light blow until you get the wedge to set, or grip. If not it will bounce back out whatever amount you manage to drive it in on each blow. I use a very sharp, very narrow hatchet head to start a split. Once you set a wedge, let the wood pop and settle in for a minute or two, give it time to part as far as it will.
Follow the grain, and plan for that before you start. Try to only have one split, so be careful where you start it on the very first blow. Two or three false starts can screw up the whole thing. If you start your split right alongside an existing check or other split the wood will tear out along the grain and form "stringers" joining the two. Essentially you'll be pushing two splits in front of your wedges.
Sometimes the big, big stuff ain't as good as you'd hope. But you never know. Pictures would be outstanding.
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Yes, pictures - I gotta see this before, during, and after :). Take a lunch and lots of water :). I've tackled some big one's solo and got into a "I believe" 18 incher with Ridgerunner, along with felling and cutting the tree we got the two base section's split and loaded - that was about a days work :P.
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I'd look it over REAL good before you go to the trouble of splitting it. I cut and loaded a 28" osage log by myself once in my younger( dumber ) days and found out after that not only was there a barber pole twist that went a quarter of the way around the tree but I'd also hurt my back while loading it.
Three months later I was all better but I now make sure the wood I'm working on is good stuff and worth the effort.
Pics would be great though ;D
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Good find Rich. If it was a town tree the risk of nails my make a bandsaw mill kind of risky. Perhaps halving it with a chainsaw and some help would work ? Any chance of moving it to safety and waiting till it's cooler...?
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Chainsaw them in half, save your back. I have done all my big logs that way and then split the haves with wedges and a sledge. I have a lot of experience cutting osage having cut dozens of trees over the years and hauled them out by myself.
George wouldn't let me halve this one with a chainsaw.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/osagelog3.jpg)
He split all of this by hand in 100 degree heat, took him a month and bummed him out on future osage cutting
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/osagelog5.jpg)
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I don't screw around with wedges on anything 18" or more. Rip that beast in half with a chainsaw and go from there.
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Those are some nice logs Eric! Did I mention I love raw materials ;D. Looks like me out there with the sledge and sweat :).
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The trunks in the picture are from a standing, dead, osage tree. After all that work the wood turned out to be of poor quailty. Most of it was piled and burned.
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I'll sharpen up the chainsaw and give it a go. But turning the huge osage log is going to be tough because of size and it is in a jumble of other logs. I think I'll cut everything else and toss it aside to get at the big osage log.
I got 1 excellent, 2 decent, and 2 dogleg staves out of a section of a branch from this tree.
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Be darned careful cutting stuff out of a pile. Its hard to know whats under tension in a pile, you might be cutting and the thing busts loose and whacks you. Been plenty of people hurt cutting out of a pile.
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I agree with Tom Sawyer, cutting in a pile is risky business. Better to tie on, back off, and pull peices out till you can get to your log.
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They are right , do be careful. If you can pull it out then do so. If not be real careful , cut the log longer than you want and watch the kerf as you are cutting. If it closes up behind the bar then the weight is going down under the saw if it opens then then its falling on one end or the other, Its the ones that are bent inside the pile that'll whack the time out of ya.
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Definitely be safe when working on it. I would line up several sharp chains that you swap out as they dull while ripping the length. I've dealt with some larger osage and most of the time you will run into wind shake and rot that will reduce stave numbers. Lot of good advice already. You should get plenty of choices for staves. Good luck.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,3879.msg54263.html#msg54263
Tracy
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When cutting wood from a pile, or anything a dozer has been pushing around, it's the dirt that dulls your chain not the wood. Try to get the dirt and mud off, or avoid it, where you run your cut. 1/2 second running through dirt equals 2 hours of running thru wood. I usually have a cheap machette around for such chores.
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I'm thinking before I tackle one that size I want to make sure that it does'nt have tooo much twist. I would pull it out of the pile and give the bark pattern a good look to make sure its worth the effort. If it is then by all means go at it but all of the above adivse sounds good to me. Good advise on the extra chains too. Danny
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I was afraid of twist already looking at the bark. Will get at it this weekend and take some opix too and let you guys know how it goes. The advice here is superb and much appreciated. There's a lot of experience and it's shared freely.
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I think I struck fools gold. Advice is easier to take with some personal experience thrown in.
So far I have 4 hours of sawing and splitting and have zero staves from the huge osage logs I found. I cut and split one log in half and it is too boxed in with other logs to roll it. I am trying to split out a quarter but it's not going well. So I tried to pop off a stave from the quarter that was not yet released and it's not piggybacking well- it's running out. lesson: huge osage logs are trouble. I am fixin to get one stave out of it or develop some big muscles, or both.
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Too bad it's stuck in the pile and you can't get at it :-\. A log like that, you have to be able to roll around and work from all angles. Hopefully you'll get a couple stave's. Post some pic's, I still want to see that monster :).
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can't you lever it free? take a couple 8 foot 2x4s and you should be able to work it loose, man