Family help?

My little ones like to help, honestly it's more work for me with them helping but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Wife comes out an helps occasionally too

I hear you on the stacking help
GF has come with me on a few trips, she watches mostly but grabs the half splits that may fall off the splitter - saves me a trip around the other side.
The pups are my stack inspectors - our little yorkie I swear will walk 2miles on a 50ft stack in a couple hours

Normally I do things alone. My wife of 35 years is allways eager to offer help but to be honest, I enjoy the solitude of the work. That and I'ld rather she not get in the way. One thing though that sticks in my mind was the first time she helped me split wood with the splitter. I showed her how to operate it and gave her a quick tutorial on safty and how big I wanted the splits. I was loading the rounds and carryin away the splits and the look of satisfaction on her face when that wood popped open was shear joy. I'm thinkin she was just imagining it was my head she was crackin open every time she pulled the lever back.

My wife helps a lot. She drives the tractor pulling logs out in the open she also pulls stumps out and marks off the wood for cutting and loves to stack wood. A great helper, but if I say I don't need any help she is happy to go do something else.

My wife will control the lever on the new splitter. Like me, she grew up burning wood so she is used to it.

I'm with you Savage, my wife has helped in all my splitting and stacking.

The wood is my job. I had my brother and his family to the house over the weekend. My brother and I have always been competitive. I goaded him into splitting half a cord of lotus just by suggesting he couldn't do it. That was too easy! My brother was really impressed with my Fiskars, and was actually enjoying himself. My 14 year old nephew got in on the action too. Can't beat free labor splitting my free wood! I still have to stack it.

All my girls like to help Dad out..Mama does what she does best ,makes coffee and hot coco for the little ones . Prefer to stack wood myself . Older daughters remind me that ...dad your
not 25 no more then i just bust a few big rounds with the maul and all is silent again

The whole family pitches in...my sons help me by working the splitter and my wife and boys all help with stacking. During the burning season, they all help to reload the back patio w/more splits as it gets consumed.

Funny story, yesterday we heard a neighbor using a hydraulic splitter splitting all his rounds and stacking. My 5yr old says, "Dad aren't you glad we got all our wood done early?"....Just about brought tears to my eyes...

My wife loves to come out and get wood with me. But, when it comes to splitting and stacking, that is usually me, by myself. Although, she has helped me out there quite a bit too. As others have said, it is "ME" time.

My wife does not help cut or stack. She will wheelbarrow a small amount into the wood ring and fill it. Also fill the woodbox. My son started with me when he was 6 or 7. Grown and married now with a liitle guy they both help me and I go help him. Its a great life!

Backwoods Savage said:

Just been wondering how many of us wood burners are lucky enough to have family help? Naturally when I speak of family help, I'm meaning wife and/or sons/daughters. As for myself, we had 2 sons that were great helpers and now it is just my wife and I. Sometimes she is unable to help but I absolutely love it when we can work together in the woods. However, when it comes to stacking, I much prefer her to be somewhere else. I may not be the best stacker but, well, we'll just say her stacking skills leave a bit to be desired.

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You send your wife east Sav, I'll let her stack a few cord.

All my girls have helped with the wood. Stacking it, then driving the garden tractor with cart so they could drive there sisters around, bringing wood through the open window , filling the wheel barrows and then I would wheel them. Oh yes my girls are my biggest help, but now my oldest in a senior in college and my middle daughter in a freshmen in college and my youngest is in eight grade. So just one helper left. I think when my youngest is in college im done with wood and the cold. Had enough of this stuff, to much like work now.

The wife helps quite a bit. She used to stack wood like a puzzle until I explained that there was apsolutely no room for air flow. Since then, a baby rabbit can pop through if it wants to. The almost 12 yr old does, and I usually throw him a couple bucks.

The old lady is a big help. We work at the same place and about once a week we head out directly after to bring a load home. If we bring back pole wood, she often stocks the sawbuck whilst I cut. Splitting she's not crazy about and usually anymore she is around but only helping when necessary.

Like yesterday, she helped with the big mulberry rounds and then tended to the garden until I finished the rest of the mulberry. Then I moved onto apple/crab apple and she and our youngest daughter (6) started stacking.

Our oldest daughter (11) and our son (9) and starting to get the hang of stacking. I taught her how to cross stack this summer and taught them both the finer points of stacking without having everything tip over, which it did several times before they learned I wasn't just blowing smoke. My son has Asperger's syndrome like his old man, so it takes his FOREVER to stack but it is perfect when he is done.

My brother is right across the street and we help each other out as needed. Just yesterday he helped me load some big rounds into HIS splitter and later on I helped hi. To split some giant elm rounds, the hatchet and maul were employed more often that I like.

My little lady isn't into helping me with the wood, but she does keep an eye out in the papers for ads about free trees. I've got a couple scrounges do to her. I started burning wood after my kids were out of the house (mostly) but I've made sure my youngest knows how to safely run a chainsaw.

Firewood for us is a family affair. Both my wife and I grew up with wood heat and the wood gathering that comes with it. In both of our homes the work was a fall ritual..... Head to the bush with a grain truck, the saw, and grab all of the dead wood we could find.

Thankfully now we are a year to two years ahead as we have learned lots along the way.

With 4 children 19, 16, 14 and 12 we know the "many hands make light the work".

To add to the work pool we count our blessings to have my wife's parents sharing our acreage in a second residence.... They do not have wood heat but they have a wood heat addiction still and they have time on their hands.

The majority of our 2013-14 firewood stack was harvested from standing dead ash a year ago by my in-laws.

As soon as the crop is off between our home and the wood lot 500 yards away the in laws will be making daily treks to the bush with the tractor, the trailer and the new Sachs Dolmar 7310 he purchased a few months back..... He wanted a bigger saw than his old Stihl.....

My Wife will occasionally will help stack, but that's just about it. Once she helped run the splitter, and a split popped and shot out at her, that ended that.....she USED TO help me scout for wood, but wants the yard cleared first....and I've been hearing chainsaws running on the weekends, and she sez "don't bother"

My wife grew up on wood heat in the 70's and 80's, her family had a smoke dragon. When I decided to get woodstove in our house, she was mad.....worried about that smoke smell on everything. But after convincing her that these new stoves were much tighter and more efficient, and her actually seeing that, she loves it. She's a big help, keeping he stoves fired when I'm not home....she's got lots of battle scars on her arms to prove it!



She offers help when I cut split and stack, but that's kinda "my time". But, that said, you can't keep my youngest daughter away. When you fire up that splitter, she's out there with me in a matter of seconds!! And she's a great help too! She runs the handle on the splitter, and even does a great job with the stacking.....don't get me wrong, the boys (12 and 15) help out too, but my daughter is a daddy's girl big time!!

Backwoods Savage said:

Just been wondering how many of us wood burners are lucky enough to have family help? Naturally when I speak of family help, I'm meaning wife and/or sons/daughters. As for myself, we had 2 sons that were great helpers and now it is just my wife and I. Sometimes she is unable to help but I absolutely love it when we can work together in the woods. However, when it comes to stacking, I much prefer her to be somewhere else. I may not be the best stacker but, well, we'll just say her stacking skills leave a bit to be desired.

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It's all me. Every stick cut, split, stacked- and I'm quite OK with that. The wife will occasionally keep the fire going (she does love fire).

Our first year here, my brother and his sons came over and helped us get wood c/s/s.
From then on, it's been me, me, and me.
My wife has a bad back and can't help. If the house gets a bit too chilly while I'm gone, she'll add wood or start a fire. Pretty rare.
It would be nice to have some help, but like I've told the grandkids....I do this whether you help or not, so you choose.
Grandson used to help by driving the tractor/trailer, but he's off to college soon, so.......

Taught the nephew how to use a chainsaw...... after a hard days work dragging oak branches aint seen him since