A peeling situation to be in

For an upcoming outdoor project I need 4 large diameter logs about 6-8 ft long, not to mention a number of smaller diameter logs. This Sunday was a fresh 6C outdoors, a perfect day to work for a few hours without breaking a sweat 🙂

The first one peeled very quickly. Mother Nature though as other ideas for the next ones, allowing me to learn a few things while I work, and also present a few more questions. The first log was a fresh cut from last week. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to peel? Or maybe it was the type of tree? In the wood pile are spruce and fir.

The second one I picked up was a 8ft log with a 10 inch butt. It was cut in the early part of this past spring as has been sitting in the wood pile the entire wet/hot summer. As a result, under the bark the bugs(mountain pine beetle larvae) have had their way. Not being surprised by this as the evidence was all over the wood pile.

Pictured above are the two I’ve peeled. The top one was the first (easy). The second one was easy to peel also but mostly because there was so many of these bugs.

Ugly little beast, sure does some damage. Here’s a close up of that log.

Here is where I started peeling the log.

And here’s a short video of me continuing that peel. It also shows some of the pictures from this page.

Here is a close up picture of the old log peeler I have. It appears to be hand forged and quite old.