cuttin' wood

[Mobuck]

Son had commented a few days back that it would be a good idea for him to add some wood to his pile before the 'hard cold' sets in. Yesterday, he showed up about 2PM with his 16' dump trailer and both kids to begin the task. By that time, the dirt road was thawed to a 2" depth of slimy mud so had to shift to an alternate location. That added a lot more time to the task and by the time the trailer was full, it was dusk and getting colder fast. We've got the job down to fairly efficient once the trees are blocked off to splitter size. Four pairs of hands makes things move right along.
My 'job' is operating the hydraulic wood splitter so I have to be pretty much focused on where everyone's hands/fingers are at all times. I really don't like working up the 'saw log' sized chunks but Son doesn't seem to mind. One of the dead ash trees we cut and split yesterday had a 24+" diameter trunk 16-18' long that made a 1/4 of the trailer load by itself. Some of those blocks were all Son and Grandson could manhandle onto the splitter table.
A long way from me going out Sunday afternoon to cut a tree and split it up by hand for the next week's wood supply like it was 'in the old days' forty years ago. ;)

 

[41Dude]

Forty years ago, I could carry two bags of cement at a time. Now I gladly pay someone to do the carrying. And I do not feel guilty about it :D

 

[wproct]

This thread reminds me of my brother in law. A group of men in his church used to cut and deliver fire wood as a fund raiser for his church. How much they delivered was impressive. He has had to discontinue his efforts due to age and health reasons.

 

[contender]

I grew up with a fireplace. As the saying goes; "Wood will keep you warm 3 times. Once when you cut it,, once when you burn it & once when you clean it out."
I don't miss wood splitting.

 

[Mobuck]

Sort of an unfortunate situation. We have a tremendous number of dead ash trees due to the borers but the market for firewood has fallen apart. I'd guess a couple of motivated guys could cut, hand split and load a pickup in an hour. Grandson and I could make $200-300 per weekend just removing the already dead trees but every swap shop or social media venue is full of offers.

 

[blume357]

the really sad thing is my wood pile is running low... just under 4 months back there was enough wood in my yard on on my house for all of us. But I guess it is a good thing the government hauled it off... but this is only after it was moved to big piles by a private company that only charged us $58,000.

I grew up with a fireplace also... remember having go out on Saturdays with my father and cut wood.... we would stop by the road (back dirt road on the farm) and he would cut a small oak tree down.... probably only 8 or 10" at the base and then he would proceed to cut it up in firewood size sections and my job was to load these in the bed of the truck. then he would walk 10 or 15 feet further back in the woods and we would do the same thing and then he would go further back.... if you get the drift, my job of picking up. toting the wood back to the truck got harder and harder....

 

[Cofaler]

I cut/split a lot of firewood growing up in Maine. Last week it was pretty nice out here so I continued my fire mitigation project around the house and added to the wood pile at the same time.

 

[gnappi]

I grew up with a fireplace. As the saying goes; "Wood will keep you warm 3 times. Once when you cut it,, once when you burn it & once when you clean it out."
I don't miss wood splitting.

:)

Make that two times for me. I have a firepit and I get my wood by the pickup truck load already split and cut to size. Hang on, I have to load it, and unload it, stack it, burn it and clean it out. Whew that's five times!

I also grew up with a fireplace. The firepit is neat but not as good as a fireplace.


Anyway, I like to take pix to see if any Rorschach test flame types appear like the (what I see) Llama here.

 

[thinckley]

Since dad passed during Covid I have spent a weekend every year helping mom get her woodshed filled. She has the uncut logs delivered. I usually run the saw, if there is not as much help I run the splitter too. I can usually keep well ahead of the stackers.

Growing up we did all of the splitting by hand. Even now, there is something meditative and soothing splitting logs by hand, but I much prefer the hydraulic splitter.

 

[Mobuck]

When one has literally hundreds of ash (I consider ash to be one of the best sources of firewood-YMMV) trees 12-15" diameter at the base and 16-20' of straight trunk just sitting waiting to rot, it's sad that we've no way to take advantage of the resource. :(
Some rough math indicates 12-15 (generous estimate) of these trees would cut out a cord worth $200-250. Deduct 1/3 for fuel and mileage to cut/deliver and that's still a decent payback for an afternoon.

 

[nekvermont]

^^^ I would like to order 12 cords @ $250 please. :)

 

[ole442]

When I was younger and the kids were little I used to burn 5 to 6 cord of hardwood per year in my bid LOPI LX fireplace insert. As we got old\er and I started working a lot we got out of the habit. Down to a few evening fires when I wasn't at work. the last 5 to 10 years because of my wife was worried that the chimney was unsafe. Last year she said to get a SS chimney liner! I had the company out and the gentleman said that it had to be a direct connect to the stove and that since the connection would be very close to the front of the chimney we'd need a new stove. So we bought a new-fangled EPA certified wood stove insert. I bought a cord of wood last year and burnt 3/4 of it. I ordered a cord this year and so far have maybe a half cord left. I wish I'd ordered another cord this year with the colder weather. The new stove heats OK but is not as big or as controllable as the LOPI (But I still have it stored in my barn. I do enjoy the ability to have a warm fire in our all electric and heat-pump heated home. Heat pumps are a cold heat. Next year, I'll have more wood.

 

[Gator89]

When I was younger and the kids were little I used to burn 5 to 6 cord of hardwood per year in my bid LOPI LX fireplace insert. As we got old\er and I started working a lot we got out of the habit. Down to a few evening fires when I wasn't at work. the last 5 to 10 years because of my wife was worried that the chimney was unsafe. Last year she said to get a SS chimney liner! I had the company out and the gentleman said that it had to be a direct connect to the stove and that since the connection would be very close to the front of the chimney we'd need a new stove. So we bought a new-fangled EPA certified wood stove insert. I bought a cord of wood last year and burnt 3/4 of it. I ordered a cord this year and so far have maybe a half cord left. I wish I'd ordered another cord this year with the colder weather. The new stove heats OK but is not as big or as controllable as the LOPI (But I still have it stored in my barn. I do enjoy the ability to have a warm fire in our all electric and heat-pump heated home. Heat pumps are a cold heat. Next year, I'll have more wood.

A heat pump is fine in my neck of the woods. Anyone north of I-10 should have a gas furnace for winter incorporated in their HVAC.

I lived in NE AL through 3 winters with a heat pump and said never again would I live in a home that far north that lacked a gas furnace or sometjing similar for heat.

A wood furnace is good if you have access to wood as Mobuck describes.

 

[larry8]

I would never have an all electric home no matter where I live. My brother-in-law has a all electric home and a 2 year old heat pump for heat. Every time The wife and I go there we have a coat with a hoodie to keep warm in his house. He has a hard time keeping the house above 68 deg F. The wife and I are used to 76 deg F in our house When I bought our house I purchased a washer and a gas dryer (to replace the electric dryer). A little later I replaced our electric stove with a nice efficient gas stove. Then when the fridge went out i purchased the most energy efficient fridge available. The furnace failed about 3 years ago so I replaced it with an energy efficient Train furnace and upped the efficiency on a new air conditioner. In all I have lowered my electric bill by just over $40 and my gas bill went up only $4. Now with the electric company redoing the way they charge for electricity I'm saving even more. I am really sorry those people with all electric homes have now much higher electric bills.

 

[Watertender]

My dad ran a sawmill for years so we burned slabwood for most of our heating needs. Grandpa burned wood as well. Grandpa used to clear lots for a couple of local builders and got a lot of his firewood that way. We had a couple of neighbors who didn't have a lot of money and they burned wood to heat. Dad would have them come to help us saw and would give them a couple of truckloads of cut slabwood in payment for their labor.

The first time that I lived in a house that didn't heat with wood as the primary source of fuel was when I married my first wife. We had a gas furnace in the house we rented. When we moved into the house that I own now the place had an oil furnace. I like oil heat and just got the first delivery of oil since last April. We keep the house at 72 to 74 degrees and I would rather be warm than cold.

I don't miss cutting firewood at all!

 

[Mobuck]

" I would like to order 12 cords @ $250 please"
OK, not sure what the delivery fee will be. ;) o_O

 

[32shooter]

I burn wood as primary source of heat. Also have a natural gas furnace. Wood burner will heat the entire house unless it gets windy and really cold. We are getting some cold weather now, I have been saving some locust and ironwood for these cold days. I enjoy making firewood, so long as I don't have to make too much of it. I have enough in the wood shed for at least 2 more years. Hard to beat wood heat.

 

[Mobuck]

'I would never have an all electric home no matter where I live. '
AGREED. Our new LP furnace may be energy efficient but there's no place in the house to 'get warm' (as in when you come in from chores literally frozen). The old wood furnace made the basement warm enough to shower, dry wet clothes, or just stand next to the iron monster and soak in the warmth.

 

[Lt92]

After retirement, my wife and I bought a remote ranch out West at 7,000 ele surrounded by forest.
I've never burnt Ash as one poster said was great firewood, but Alligator Juniper is my pick for the best in my area. We burned 2 cords each Winter in a great Vermont Castings stove... although wood burning can be a pain, there is something primordial about a cozy fire on a snowy day.

 

[Watertender]

" I would like to order 12 cords @ $250 please"
OK, not sure what the delivery fee will be. ;) o_O

Face or full cords? At the sawmill we had a swing saw with an adjustable stop and an old coal loading conveyer to handle the slabwood. Depending on the type of lumber being cut there was a sliding scale of pricing for the slabs. If the customer wanted their slabs it was figured into the price of the sawing. Some wanted them and some didn't. If we didn't have to cut them to firewood length and they took them away as we sawed it saved us the labor of at least one man and sometimes two. Hardwood slabs sold for more than softwood because they burned better.

As I mentioned previously, now I live in a house heated by fuel oil. Last night I was supposed to work a 12-hour shift to provide double coverage at work because of the low temperatures which got down to 2°. My wife called me at 10:45pm to tell me that the furnace wasn't working. The temperature in the house dropped 7 degrees but she didn't notice because she had been baking and cooking until 9pm. I was able to leave at 11pm to come home to look at it. I do my own service work on my furnace and keep parts on hand for it.

Fortunately it was a simple fix. First thing I did was change the thermostat batteries and then hit the burner reset. No flame... Check the transformer.... Plenty of hot spark making a 1 inch arc so I knew that was good. Pulled out the burner insert, the electrodes were burnt back but still in good shape. The diffuser was clean and since the fuel oil sulfur content has been lowered it stays cleaner. Look at the tip of the nozzle and I see the problem. It was dirty with a gob of crud on the orifice.... I removed and changed it and that solved the problem. It took the house almost an hour to come back up to the temperature we wanted. I use a .65 gallon per hour 60° spread semi solid pattern nozzle and it keeps the house plenty warm with most days using less than 2 gallons of oil. Today with the temperature being single digits or even below zero it may use 4 gallons...

Still better than cutting firewood!!!

 

[bearskinner]

We still use firewood, and looking outside at the white ground, and single digit temps, I'm glad the stove is warming the house now.
I get a semi truck load of larch and birch, delivered to my log yard area every 4 years. I have a Kubota log grapple to bring logs right to my sawbuck, at the wood shed (2 car garage size) where I can saw rounds and fill one side of the shed.

Then I'll pull out the gas- hydraulic splitter, and split them all, and just toss them over the center divider filling the other side to the roof.

I'm usually a year ahead with wood availability, and plenty of good dry logs in the log yard ready to go. Even after being retired 15 years, I enjoy the chores, although the equipment I use keeps it from being a back breaking endeavor.

 

[nekvermont]

^^^^ "I get a semi truck load of larch and birch, delivered to my log yard area every 4 years."

Larch? Is that the same as Tamarack? Around here Tamarack is sawn into planks for barn flooring, rot resistant. Is that white birch?
Our premium firewood is Hard Maple (Sugar Maple) and Yellow Birch with some White Ash, Beech, and a little Black Cherry thrown in.
I keep 2 fires going most of the winter and haven't burned any oil in 4 years.

 

[Mobuck]

Dude, that's cheating. I saw that numerous times when I was west of Kansas in the fall.

 

[Johnnu2]

WAY TOO MUCH WORK for me.............. I've had several houses with fireplaces and never lit a fire; just too darn lazy.

J.

 

[coach]

'I would never have an all electric home no matter where I live. '
AGREED. Our new LP furnace may be energy efficient but there's no place in the house to 'get warm' (as in when you come in from chores literally frozen). The old wood furnace made the basement warm enough to shower, dry wet clothes, or just stand next to the iron monster and soak in the warmth.

My grandmother’s house built in the early 1900s had a gravity furnace that had a large grate in the floor near the front door and the stairs. All the heat dissipated through the house from there. I remember coming in from playing in the snow and standing on the grate to get warm. It was a good place to dry all the wet clothes too.

 

[bearskinner]

We use a free standing wood stove, with a 24’ tall double wall chimney pipe, it really radiates the heat, and it stays in the home. Too much heat goes out the chimney if you have a standard fire place

 

[Watertender]

My grandmother's house built in the early 1900s had a gravity furnace that had a large grate in the floor near the front door and the stairs. All the heat dissipated through the house from there. I remember coming in from playing in the snow and standing on the grate to get warm. It was a good place to dry all the wet clothes too.

In our old family homestead we had 18x18 and 24x24 ornate cast iron grates in the floor. The furnace was an old Homart octopus covered with asbestos. It was originally designed for coal but we burned wood in it.

 

[redfernclan]

The only wood we burn is in the shop. Since I retired, we went through a couple of cords the first Winter. I used to love Fir the most because it burns fast and hot. My shop is 1,700 sq ft so the stove never gets choked down. Spent the money and had the ceiling spray foamed. The walls are 6 inch with insulation but I left the open truss ceiling bare when built. The spray foam REALLY helped, didn't know I was losing that much heat out the roof. Now my favorite wood is Locust. Still use Fir to get things going but after the Locust has seasoned a couple of years, it works great. Lots of ground water here so they are all over my property. Usually get 1/2 cord a year just in blow downs and thinning.

 

[DBnoise]

I grew up with heat. Had less colds and felt
healthier when ever I had wood heat. My theory is that the hot surface on an airtight kills viruses and germs and valley that bad stuff as rhe air circulates over it. I built airtights for a while. Cut lots of wood and still have 5 chainsaws of various sizes, from a 14 inch bar up to 36 inch with an 80cc power unit, all Echo, to whittle on some wood.
I am moving back north after living in rhe south most of my adult life and will be building my own sirtight stove. 5/16 tear drop floor plate for the top to increase the suface area, a unique baffle system to introduce air in the hottest spot for that glowing burn just above the baffle, for a hot and efficient burn. Lined with firebrick and big enough for a 36 inch log. The last one i built for my house in Asheville where I lived for a couple years I could fill up, set it for slow long burn, take a 4 day weekend trip and it still would be burning to just add some wood.
My final chapter of my life will be back to my roots. I WILL be warm and toasty!!

 

[tazbigdog]

When I was in VA, we had a Timberline wood stove. Great stove, could heat the whole house. Normal winter would be 3 cords. Heavy snows/colder/longer winter, we would burn 6 cords. I had a 9-cord pile, just in case. All seasoned.