Noob here.
So I have earmarked about 3 70 foot pines that I will be felling and turning into lumber. My challenge is I am doing this all by hand, I have a chainsaw and a logging arch and a truck. So - heavy. I noticed when I left a tree to sit for about 6 weeks, with all its limbs intact, the handling of the tree was incredibly easy. It seemed all the moisture had been sucked out of the tree ny the branches and the logs were much, much lighter when I did this.
If I did this would this cause problems? any comments on this approach would be appreciated.
Thanks
Lumber saws easier when it is green, it also dries more uniformly will less bug damage, spalting, etc. Depending on how warm it has been those 6 weeks may be all you would want to wait, or not really a big deal as mills in the glaciated north will stockpile logs for the spring break up all winter long. Now August and September in Florida - that would be a different story.
I would prefer that SYP trees have been down long enough for the bark to slip but not until sawyer worms have had time to start start doing their "dirty work".
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/IMG_6672.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1567543843)
Pencil sized sawyer worm holes ain't good. These were just right. ;D
I start getting concerned when I drive up and the logs are on the ground rather than up on some poles, etc.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/IMG_6670.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1567543698)
These were still on the ground but thankfully OK.
Nothing wrong with fresh felled trees except the sticky sap. :-X
I think the old term for that was "leaf seasoning".
Seem to remember it being an old school firewood trick, to drop the tree but leave it intact until it dried enough that the leaves / needles were browning off. To my thinking that must be pulling some of the water out of wood, likely the "free" water, so it might only get down to ~30%MC. But that would make it noticeably lighter, and closer to being "dry" for firewood (~20%).
At that level it should still saw fine, and it should dry down fast enough that staining / bugs hadn't really set in. That occurs faster in the warm weather, but so would the drying out process.
One way to find out is drop a couple of trees and do an experiment. ???
In Georgia, if felled and let lay 6 weeks from now, the ambrosia beetles would get in them. They would also blue stain some. That may not be an issue for you.
google "Boucherie process" for an interesting twist on this. His treatment process (1840's on) was to fell, leave the top intact, attach a cap to the butt through which a copper sulfate/ water solution was applied under gravity pressure from a tank ~40' above.
The local UPM paper mill needs fresh cut wood in the summer- their pulping process uses big grinding stones in a pressurized chamber to seperate the wood fibers, and it relies on the moisture in the wood to make everything work. So they are very picky about the wood coming in fresh before it loses moisture, and felling wood and without limbing it immediately is a big no no. They realize how much moisture the leaves draw out of the stem.