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Summary
Paul sits down with Kyle from bootcamp again to record a mini-podcast about log peeling.
Firstly, the right time to peel a log depends on the tree - they peel best when the sap is flowing up and stimulating growth. According to Kyle, this makes the peeling process take about 5% of the effort of peeling a tree in winter or late fall. That said, all trees aren’t equal - one tree can peel with the 5% effort, while one cut at the same time requires much more. This is simply because that harder tree may well just be a little behind or in a cold pocket. Taking a few swipes at the bark with a hatchet before cutting it is a good way of finding out. All this being said, there were a few pieces that were apparently cut during the winter and the bark peeled easily, so there’s definitely more here. If you have more info on this, let us know in the comments below! At Paul’s it seems the magic time to cut is usually in May, after the rain comes, which may be a greater factor than temperature seeing as the sap is also a lot thinner when they’re easy to peel.
As for actually peeling the logs, Kyle likes to use bark spuds with long handles. Paul buys them from Amazon, labeled as some sort of sidewalk ice scraper tool, with only the short-handled ones being called spuds. Draw knives are decent, but the purchased ones are too narrow for Paul’s trees, and although the homemade ones are an appropriate size, Kyle only really uses them for very stubborn bark. Also, the draw knives are supposed to be used by sitting on the log and pulling the knife towards you, but this tends to turn your pants into sap sponges. Propping the log up and pulling the knife downwards works a lot better, but you have to be able to get the logs up that high.
Relevant Threads
Roundwood and Timber Framing forum
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Eivind W. Bjørkavåg
Suleiman, Karrie, and Sasquatch
Kyle Neath
Bill Crim
anonymous
Kerry JustTooLazy
Jocelyn Campbell
Chris Sugg
Sasquatch
Bill Erickson
G Cooper
Dominic Crolius
havokeachday
Penny McLoughlin
Mehron Kugler
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Pasquale DeAngelis
Greg Martin
Mark
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Dana Martin
Candace Dahlk
Keith Kuhnsman
Eric Tolbert
Matthew Stone
Nuno Marta
Polly Jayne Smyth
Opalyn Brenger
ellen fisher
Eliot Mason
Katie Young
Ivar Vasara
JMBlackwater226R
Nathan Hale
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