Spring Splitting

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PA Fire Bug

PA Fire Bug

Feeling the Heat
Jan 13, 2010
313
Blair County, PA
This spring has been one of the few times that I've had wood to process when the weather was not hot and humid. It's been nice to work at getting ahead without needing to get everything split and stacked ASAP. The front row is from a score that I collected a couple of weeks ago. It has been real easy to split (mostly oak thanks to a wood ID from helpful Hearth.com members).
wood.jpg

We have had low humidity and high winds the past several days. Great for drying laundry and firewood.
wood2.jpg

With overnight lows below freezing and cool and windy conditions during the past week, I've been burning small and odd shaped pieces.
burn.jpg
 
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It looks like you have it all under control. I'm a springtime buck and splitter too, I enjoy getting out after a winter of cabin fever and getting the wood for the 3rd year away
 
Looks real good Fire Bug. I like to split my wood in the spring too. Gather in winter and split in the spring. Looks like this year I may have to leave some splitting for fall as I now have a lot more to cut. I am easily 3 years ahead now.
 
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PA Fire Bug, looks like you have a great place for stacking, nice work on the wood..

zap
 
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Grass is pretty green too.:)
 
You have a lot of wood there PA but you must need it to feed two PE Supers, how much space you heating with those two beast?
 
Being oak, I hope you do not need that wood for next winter!! Also, oak will be better served stacked in single rows for drying. Around here, we don't burn oak until it has been split for 3 years! Great firewood but hates to give up its moisture.
 
weatherguy said:
You have a lot of wood there PA but you must need it to feed two PE Supers, how much space you heating with those two beast?
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With wood as our only heat source (we unhooked the oil furnance and don't use the electric heat in the basement) I'm gathering all of the wood that I can find. I don't know how many square feet we have. Our house is a split level with the kitchen/dining room and living room on the main floor. The upper level has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We only heat the finished half of the basement. Last winter, we had a coal stove in the basement. This winter, there weren't many days that we had both stoves burning hot at the same time. With two stoves, we can get heat right where we want it. Trying to heat the whole house with only a basement stove left our living room cold. We've never been warmer.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Being oak, I hope you do not need that wood for next winter!! Also, oak will be better served stacked in single rows for drying. Around here, we don't burn oak until it has been split for 3 years! Great firewood but hates to give up its moisture.
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Fortunately, I won't need to burn this wood for at least a few winters. This is only my second year burning wood. The first year, we bought the stove and a load of logs in the spring. I was burning the wood in the fall. I had problems with keeping the glass clean and with keeping the fire burning hot and steady. I also had to clean the stove pipes and chimney over Christmas vacation and in the summer. Burning was much better this winter. I had several stacks of wood to pull from which were much dryer. I have some smaller stacks that are one or two rows wide. We get plenty of wind year round. The back three rows in the top photo are really close. I was trying to fit three rows on one pallet. I've learned a lot from the members of this forum and enjoy reading the posts and viewing all of the great photos.
 
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Those are some purty stacks! :)
 
Looking good, PA. You're in good shape for quite a while by the looks of it. Where are you located in central PA?
 
That Oak you are splitting now looks like its been dead for a while, that be ready to burn quicker then you think. Being a head 2 to 3 years is great, you dont have to worry about what type of wood you cut or if its green or dead, just cut, split, and stack and wind, sun, and time takes care of the rest.
 
Nice job, a lot of work there.

The weather here has been the same.
A bit chillier today. That is fine by me.
I had a small fire using some Ash I cut in August just for fun last night.
 
Scotty Overkill said:
Looking good, PA. You're in good shape for quite a while by the looks of it. Where are you located in central PA?
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I changed my screen name. My old screen name was aroth. I live near Martinsburg in southern Blair County.
 
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Just about all of the wood from the haul is split and stacked. It made enough to add one row and finish off the ends of a couple of other rows (first photo). Most of it was real solid with little or no bark and easy to split. Some was softer than I realized and had a lot of rotten areas. I'll burn anything that it solid after it drys.
100_7212.jpg100_7213.jpg
 
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Great pictures.
A great location to season wood, full sun & wind.
The rolling hills of PA are always pretty. Add a huge stack of wood, priceless :)
 
PA Fire Bug said:
Fortunately, I won't need to burn this wood for at least a few winters. This is only my second year burning wood. The first year, we bought the stove and a load of logs in the spring. I was burning the wood in the fall. I had problems with keeping the glass clean and with keeping the fire burning hot and steady. I also had to clean the stove pipes and chimney over Christmas vacation and in the summer. Burning was much better this winter. I had several stacks of wood to pull from which were much dryer. I have some smaller stacks that are one or two rows wide. We get plenty of wind year round. The back three rows in the top photo are really close. I was trying to fit three rows on one pallet. I've learned a lot from the members of this forum and enjoy reading the posts and viewing all of the great photos.
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Sounds like you got your feet wet already and learned from it. You are a very wise man! Good luck to you.

I sort of wonder about folks who got into wood burning this past winter and wonder if they realize how much more wood it will take to heat in a real winter. Could be interesting for some people.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Sounds like you got your feet wet already and learned from it. You are a very wise man! Good luck to you.

I sort of wonder about folks who got into wood burning this past winter and wonder if they realize how much more wood it will take to heat in a real winter. Could be interesting for some people.
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I am one of those people that just got into wood burning this past winter...fortunately for me i bought the house with a lot of wood already and have been killing myself to get ahead.
 
RORY12553 said:
I am one of those people that just got into wood burning this past winter...fortunately for me i bought the house with a lot of wood already and have been killing myself to get ahead.
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I'm calling dibs on Rory's stacks, in case he really does kill himself... ;)
 
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Woody Stover said:
I'm calling dibs on Rory's stacks, in case he really does kill himself... ;)
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HAHAHA....not sure the DEC would appreciate you bringing wood from NY to IN and it would be cheaper to buy it! have a new found appreciation for how much work goes into burning wood
 
Fire Bug, that's an impressive collection of wood fuel you have there. Lotsa hard work we know. I like the pictures... good job!
 
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