Finally got started cutting

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I've never changed the oil in the splitter and that makes it difficult to start because the pump runs as you hand crank it. My body is getting to where it hates recoil starters anyway so I don't like cranking it when it is difficult to do. Once the snow is melted, usually in late March I get to the splitting. I actually find that it seems to be less taxing and it seems we get more done this way.

I have in the past taken the splitter right out in the woods to split some big stuff but find it works much better to just stack it as it is cut in the winter then do all the spitting. So when done splitting, the splitter gets put in the barn and sits there until the following year.

The first 2 pictures below were taken last spring so it shows how I just sort of throw the logs into a sloppy stack. It works well for us. That last picture shows that after splitting, we simply stack it right there without hauling it somewhere else. Pay no attention to the ugly fellow there.
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This makes perfect sense. Thanks for answering my question.

And it's nice to connect your name with your face!

It's 55 degrees here this evening, which is odd, indeed.

I just came inside from putting our fish pond away for the winter. As I disconnected the pump and cleared the leaves from the surface, I noticed the big bullfrog was sitting on a rock starring at me.

In December.

In Michigan.
 
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Holy cat scat! A frog now?!

I was surprised to find that our temperature has risen in the last few hours. We were at 45 and now at 50. I see Lansing at 54 and Flint at 53. This will make the next few days seem terrible for sure.
 
We've raised him from a tadpole and my kids are worried about him. (his name is Pickles... I know you were wondering.)

I just checked and he's gone now. Hopefully tucking himself back in from where he crawled out of. It's supposed to be in the 20s tomorrow.

I'm probably just forgetful, but I don't ever remember mid-50's in December here.
 
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Holy cat scat! A frog now?!

I was surprised to find that our temperature has risen in the last few hours. We were at 45 and now at 50. I see Lansing at 54 and Flint at 53. This will make the next few days seem terrible for sure.
14 degrees here now with a wind chill of -3, I think it a little colder then that on the ridge I live on.
 
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There was a time that I didn't like how my wife stacked, but she is getting much better at it. I always tell her to stack'm tight.

I think this belongs on another thread, but...

You know you're a wood burner when you post the words "wife" and "stacked" in the same sentence, and everyone is thinking about wood.
 
We've raised him from a tadpole and my kids are worried about him. (his name is Pickles... I know you were wondering.)

I just checked and he's gone now. Hopefully tucking himself back in from where he crawled out of. It's supposed to be in the 20s tomorrow.

I'm probably just forgetful, but I don't ever remember mid-50's in December here.

Think back to Christmas Day, 1982. I remember we had 68 degrees that day. I was totally dumbfounded as we had never seen such temperatures that late. Then we had another day like that within the next 10 days.

I also remember the old saw: Snow for Thanksgiving; mud for Christmas. Surprising how often that comes to pass around here.
 
14 degrees here now with a wind chill of -3, I think it a little colder then that on the ridge I live on.

It is almost here now. Fingers got pretty cold cutting wood today and we didn't work long at it either.
 
Sounds like how we work it, except I usually stack because DH doesn't do well at it (and actively admits to it). We don't fell many trees, but on the occasion that we do, he cuts while I clear. Then he bucks and I move the rounds into the truck (we don't have land to cut on, so we only fell when we're helping someone out). We both unload, he splits and I stack as he splits.

Oh, and no winter felling, cutting or splitting here. Mostly because we scrounge and don't need to worry about muddy access. And thankfully no black flies, I hate those suckers. Just sand flies, which bite much less frequently.
 
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We cut all year round. Bring logs back to the shop to cure then mill or buck. Splitting happens in the fall in the 32'x48' wood shed when it's raining (can't hunt). This wood lot has plenty of dead ash to be cut and deer.
 
Nice looking buck there.

You split in fall. I do hope you are not burning right after cutting?!
 
Nope, we split and stack for next year. The only time I have to split my own wood is when it rains durning deer season (Oct 1 - Dec 31).
 
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