Bucking posts

[Farmerwilly2]

I'll be cutting cedar poles for a garden shed tomorrow. I've always bucked branches off them with the same chainsaw I cut them with and was curious if others use their saw or an ax to buck their poles.

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

If the branches are real small I use a hatchet. If they're sizeable, it's chainsaw all the way. Cedar, lucky you!

RF

[Scrounger]

If you want some Cedar, come on out to SE Nebraska. You can have all of them weeds you want!

[Jim S.]

Eastern cedar is actually a juniper. Good stuff, though.

I use a chain saw to buck. I try to select cedar that is older and slower growth, with lots of red and very little white around the edges. Usually if I cut one that is like that, the others nearby will also be good to go. That white wood rots quickly once in the ground, but the red will stay well for years. It has seemed to me that cedar growing as understory in shaded forest has lots more red, as it grows more slowly.

[bill not in oh]

Saw - it's quicker. I can clear 8-10 branches by the time I could cut the saw off, set it down, pick up an ax or hatchet and get back to the tree.

[Scrounger]

Question - when you folks who use cedar (Eastern Red Cedar) for posts, do you "cure" them out of the weather for awhile, or put them in the ground "green"? I know of no one that uses cedar for posts out here (except for decoration), because they rot so fast. Out here Hedge (Bodarc, Osage Orange) is the only way to go because it lasts forever, even if put in green.
Just wondering........

[Stephen in SOKY]

Find some over limestone & they'll have more red. Sandstone on the other hand makes more of the less desirable white that rots away.

[Rocky Fields]

Cedar guys,

Does the smell of fresh cut cedar wood/cedar chips keep deer away?

RF

[Farmerwilly2]

Scrounger, I think ya'll have white cedar out that way, not sure how it holds up. Here it is red cedar, a very long lasting post. I'd rate it up there with osage or black locust for a 25+ post. Rocky, can't say as the chip keep deer away. I cleaned up acres of cedar on the old place (we bought it after the owers logged off all the BIG white oak). Deer used to use the old slash piles, grown over with blackberry brambles to bed down.

I was able to cut off 7 nice posts along an old fence line I'm clearing up in advance of new fencing. They had a lot of good heartwood, and once set 2 feet in the ground I'll still have 5-6" of post 12' up--now those are some serious posts. Back to the origional post, I use the saw to buck the limbs, faster to me, just harder on the chain.

I did have the good fortune while cutting posts to find an old arrow head on the ground. Gave me some good material to think about while working: who made it and when? How did it end up where I found it? Gave it to the Mrs. said it gave her chills wondering the same things.