Fire wood

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stephenc
Posts: 311
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:13 pm
Location: youngstown ohio

Fire wood

Post by stephenc »

I am starting to feel old , I spent today cutting firewood . I used to enjoy it .
But today it didn't feel like anything but hard work .
In a normal year between the house and my shop I burn about 7 chords of wood .
With the bulk of it used in the shop .
In the house I only use it for supplementary heat when it gets to cold for heat pump to be efficient .
I have almost two chord left over from last year , and I got at least a full chord cut and split today , maybe a smidge more .

So only five more to go for this year , but as I'll use up what easy to get standing dead wood to meet this year's needs ,... over the winter I'll have to start cutting for next year . Sooo... I guess that's only 12 more to go .... uuhg
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neanderman
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Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Re: Fire wood

Post by neanderman »

Seven cords!!!??? Holy backache!
Ed

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spro
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Location: mid atlantic

Re: Fire wood

Post by spro »

Well I have known.. bitter bitter cold in northern N.Y. but only a miniscule piece of it. Those valleys where snow was constant and electric heat was expensive. Dang man. Tons of firewood . I used to talk about cherry and grains and patterns inside maple and stuff. He's like, You come over here and cut it. ( He had 50 acres) . Cut it down, haul and cut again then split it..over and over. Then his kids grew up and everyone had a car and they split.
earlgo
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Location: NE Ohio

Re: Fire wood

Post by earlgo »

I sure hope none of it was elm. When I was a kid, my granddad had only a wood burning stove in the living room. (Also no running water. The house was built in 1850 or so. It was 20 years older than grand-dad who was 3 when Custer disbelieved his intel.) One year he had a lot of elm wood. I spent more time prying the wedges and axe out of the elm than I did actually making stove wood. Geez but I had hoped to forget that.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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NP317
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Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Fire wood

Post by NP317 »

Ah the joys of a powerful gas/hydraulic splitter! We shared the cost with our neighbor and we're both happier for it.
Makes splitting a cord of wood pretty darn easy.
I recommend such a solution.
~RN
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stephenc
Posts: 311
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:13 pm
Location: youngstown ohio

Re: Fire wood

Post by stephenc »

My days of using a splitting maul or wedges are long gone ... I have a log splitter .
Elm can still be a challenge though if the tree has more twist then normal .

Most of what I have been cutting is ash , the emerald ash borer whiped out just about every ash tree on my property that is bigger then about 12 inches in diameter .

If I have to drop trees for firewood I normally stick with oak , hickory or locust .
I figure if I'm going threw the work I might as well get the most heat for my effort .
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steamin10
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Location: NW Indiana. Close to Lake Michigan S. tip

Re: Fire wood

Post by steamin10 »

Thanks for the reminder. I have two log splitters that need engines. because of the mainteenance headaches of keeping all my small engines running, I am considering a pto shaft driven pump.

in that mode of thought, a dutchman pad on the drawbar socket to mount the pump right on the pto and extended hoses would do nicely without a long shaft hanging out around the tractor. I would use my diesel compact of course.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
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warmstrong1955
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Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Fire wood

Post by warmstrong1955 »

My wood comes in bags.....

No splitting required!

:) Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
stephenc
Posts: 311
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:13 pm
Location: youngstown ohio

Re: Fire wood

Post by stephenc »

Let me recommend the easiest fix for small gas engines on a log splitter .
An electric motor !

That would be assuming that like me you do most of your splitting at home near a power source .
It sure is nice knowing that you park the splitter for 8 months and when your ready to use it all you have to do is plug it in and flip the switch to make it work .
No more gummed up carbs , no more yanking on a rope to start it .
Mine is quiet enough you can carry on a conversation with it running .

It was stunningly simple to convert .... I used a 7.5 hp three phase motor . I had to drill 4 new mounting holes and buy a love joy connecter . Less then a half hour of work .

If you have two splitters you can have the best of both worlds , one for the big stuff out in the woods a gas engine or pto powered . , and one for everything else at home .
spro
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Location: mid atlantic

Re: Fire wood

Post by spro »

Makes perfect sense -which eludes me at times. This house had two huge elms in the front yard. Grand trees but they got the elm disease and died fast. Back in those days, I went up my Dad's 20' ladder and cut them down by any means necessary. Burned a lot but dang! getting there. Elm was the wood they used for wagon wheel hubs and stuff. Couldn't even split ( with wedges and sledges) it unless half rotten.
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