quote:

Originally posted by HK Ag:
I am guessing you guys have a hydraulic splitter, surely you arent swinging a sledge/maul to split that quantity.
If not I dont want to arm wrestle or generally piss you guys off.

I do indeed have a splitter, but still get a great workout cutting and moving logs around. It is my "gym".

I heat with electric heat pump until it gets down in the mid 30's at that point the wood stove gets lit and takes over. Including the outdoor fire pit I probably go through 5 face cords in a year. The land I have is mostly wooded with more standing dead or fallen than I could ever use. The bulk of what I cut is oak, cherry and maple, with some hickory, locust, beech, and birch.
I keep an electric saw in the back of the Kawasaki MULE for cutting up trees that have fallen on the trails. For large trees I tow the splitter to them with the MULE and set it up there so I can bring back split wood to stack which saves having to handle the stuff so many times.

I’m two years out on my woodpile. I never have to pay any real $$ for wood, I just keep my ears & eyes open.

I just got two big loads of ‘sugar maple’, buddy had a house where the area was widened for utilities.

I know it’s not great, but down the road a guy had a load of free Elm, cut. Those 40 degree days/nights Elm is enough to get the temp up. I mix wood too.

I have done a lot by hand, then borrowed. A few years ago I treated myself to an ‘Iron & Oak’ woodsplitter.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:

I know it’s not great, but down the road a guy had a load of free Elm, cut. Those 40 degree days/nights Elm is enough to get the temp up. I mix wood too.

I have done a lot by hand, then borrowed. A few years ago I treated myself to an ‘Iron & Oak’ woodsplitter.

The birch and beech I sometimes have burns pretty fast but it's nice to start the fire with. Once going I generally shuffle between cherry and oak with oak burning slower but it makes those great coals. Basically all wood generates about the same BTU per pound.

I split by hand for many years but burning as much as I was (and not getting any younger) around 15 years ago I bought a splitter at Southern States and oh my the work it has saved. The other thing is many of the gnarly or "Y" pieces that I had to toss aside because they were impossible to split by hand, the splitter takes care of.

Woodaholics . . .Unite!

I built this shed, she's 17 feet long, 7 feet tall to the rafters, and 8 feet deep. Brick floor made from brick scavenged in the woods.

We timbered our farm last year so I had plenty of wood laying around so I bought a splitter. Now my dad has decided he will be heating with wood from now on. I don’t mind though as I hate for it to go to waste and it saves my parents on their electric bill. He is a bit picky though when it comes to the wood lengths. We burn some here for cookouts and back up heat so I keep the longer pieces as our fireplace is bigger and take him all the 16” pieces for his insert.

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:
Woodaholics . . .Unite!

I built this shed, she's 17 feet long, 7 feet tall to the rafters, and 8 feet deep. Brick floor made from brick scavenged in the woods.

Rev. - I like it!

I just can't resist more free wood.

My neighbors are openly making fun of me now. I'm up to about 9 cords in my main pile (All maple, except about 3/4 of a cord of apple).

Goat - what's in the cage on the upper left?

Lol, our mailboxes. I get to host them.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
I just can't resist more free wood.

I am the same. Last Saturday I cut up and hauled home a few big apple trees - in the 95 degree heat. Helluva workout. Some of that wood will be set aside for the smoker.

M O M !
Those guys are back on the internet posting pictures of their wood again !

One just can't have enough wood. Right?

quote:

Originally posted by lbj:
One just can't have enough wood. Right?

Hey Boss! Wood is good!

I grew up in very rural MI, Da U.P.. Wood was easy to come by, often tops & leftovers of a completed logging operation. Nowadays that free option is closed for most. The loggers and/or landowners don’t want private firewood cutters around, often site ‘liability’ reasons.

Much of the time the tops may be chipped too, less to cut from. The road may also be seasonal, unusable once thawed. Many up North have logging trucks drop off a load in their yard, $950 or so.

Contrast that with my semi-rural location, just by word of mouth I at times turn down wood. I seem to get offers throughout the year which I filter by location, type/size of wood and ease of collection. There are times when one has to act fast, helping the giver in some way pays dividends down the road too.