Snow Day = time to cut wood

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ClintonH

ClintonH

Burning Hunk
Jan 4, 2014
168
NW OH
SO, say what you will, but being a teacher has some real perks. Summers off, and SNOW DAYS. I just got the word I have the day off, and so does my little brother (18 y/o, senior in HS). I'm piddling around the house (relaxing by the fire and drinking way too much coffee), then we're going out to a friend's woods: ash trees, hard maple, a few hickory. The owner has no use for the wood and he has a lot of dead fall/unhealthy ash due to EAB. I'll post back some pics, but the last time we went out + my dad and older brother, we did 3+ cord in about 6 hours, hand split. It says it's -11 with the windchill, but we'll get warmed up ;). Any one else going out today to do some cutting?
 
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Did mine yesterday before the cold temps hit. With negative temps you'll either keep busy or get cold for sure.
Another truck load of hard maple to split and stack now.
Back to work today and resting behind my desk.
 
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I'd love to do some splitting today, but a snow day for me just means I'm logged in and working from home. I might take a long lunch though in a few minutes and go shovel the driveway.
 
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All though owning a business is no where as good as being a teacher it does have some perks too, especially a residential contractor

I will be outside tomorrow splitting after I blow the driveway out
I have about two cord all bucked next to the splitter
 
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Clinton, that sounds like a fun day with family. And no, I am not doing any cutting in this cold air. I can afford to wait for the temperatures to rise a bit. It will also help if we ever get rid of all that ice that is mixed in with the snow. My driveway is still a challenge to walk on without ice cleats.
 
I teach as well, and we have off today and tomorrow. Some areas around here got almost a foot. I'm not a big fan of cutting in the snow but I may work in some time to split tomorrow AFTER sledding with the kids!
 
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We took it easy today: only about 1.5-1.75 cord. 1/3 ash, 1/3 hard maple, 1/3 hickory. C/S/S in the corn crib to season. If we have another day tomorrow, we're out to the pond for some hockey. Stay warm, especially folks up in the Northeast. :D
 
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I teach also, and have used snow days to cut a bit and hand split. Today was a bit cold though. My boys spent Monday at a park in T-shirts and stockpiling the basement with wood, it was almost 60 degrees. Going down to 3 tonite.

red oak said:
I teach as well, and we have off today and tomorrow. Some areas around here got almost a foot. I'm not a big fan of cutting in the snow but I may work in some time to split tomorrow AFTER sledding with the kids!
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Got some sledding in today also. I think we might be out all week for this one, too cold to melt the back roads.
 
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osagebow said:
I teach also, and have used snow days to cut a bit and hand split. Today was a bit cold though. My boys spent Monday at a park in T-shirts and stockpiling the basement with wood, it was almost 60 degrees. Going down to 3 tonite.



Got some sledding in today also. I think we might be out all week for this one, too cold to melt the back roads.
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Had 0 at the house this morning, and I don't think we're seeing above freezing temps until the weekend. Back roads like mine haven't even been touched yet. Fine for me with 4WD but a lot of vehicles would have problems.
 
ClintonH said:
We took it easy today: only about 1.5-1.75 cord. 1/3 ash, 1/3 hard maple, 1/3 hickory. C/S/S in the corn crib to season. If we have another day tomorrow, we're out to the pond for some hockey. Stay warm, especially folks up in the Northeast. :D
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Jealous! Down here in the "south" I remember only a few years when it would freeze long enough to go play hockey on a farm pond! But I had so much fun those couple time! I love winter sports, I wish we had enough cold and snow to make it worth getting a snowmobile as well. A neighbor had one in his bar, I remember only a few times as a kid we got enough snow to take it out.
 
federal gubment ....got to love it :) ...had a medical appointment Thursday, MLK day Monday, went in yesterday at 0300 but by 0430 we were closed so I had to go home, unscheduled leave today to clean up after the snow and plow the drive and clean off the wifes car so she can go to work.....6 days off....got a lot of cutting, splitting and stacking this weekend before the snow hit. crank up the stoves today as its a bit chilly for the mid Atlantic @ 7 degrees Fahrenheit with -4 wind chills.
 
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Wow! You teachers! Summers off. Teachers in service. When do you work? Just kidding. Lots of teachers in my family.
I know all the unperks too. Keep up the good work!
 
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I cut some Tuesday also, before it snowed too much. I found a little present down by my treestand covered in vines, in some thick stuff. A nice fallen ash, I cut it up and left it until I can get to it with the quad and trailer. A solid half-3/4 cord and I'm seeing that light at the end of the 3 year ahead tunnel!
 
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D8Chumley said:
I cut some Tuesday also, before it snowed too much. I found a little present down by my treestand covered in vines, in some thick stuff. A nice fallen ash, I cut it up and left it until I can get to it with the quad and trailer. A solid half-3/4 cord and I'm seeing that light at the end of the 3 year ahead tunnel!
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Nice score. Since I moved to our new home in Maine two weeks ago I have been a cutting splitting madman. I probably hauled about three cords of downed and standing dead ash today and yesterday I did approximately two cords. Now that I have my splitting area set-up I can go to town splitting the stuff that I dragged out of the woods with my quad. I will post some pictures tomorrow of my operation.
 
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cuttingedge said:
Nice score. Since I moved to our new home in Maine two weeks ago I have been a cutting splitting madman. I probably hauled about three cords of downed and standing dead ash today and yesterday I did approximately two cords. Now that I have my splitting area set-up I can go to town splitting the stuff that I dragged out of the woods with my quad. I will post some pictures tomorrow of my operation.
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Ash, not elm? I mean it's very possible that it's ash, but in this area there is still a lot of standing dead elm. Posting a pic would help show which type . . . unless you are absolutely sure it's ash.
 
firefighterjake said:
Ash, not elm? I mean it's very possible that it's ash, but in this area there is still a lot of standing dead elm. Posting a pic would help show which type . . . unless you are absolutely sure it's ash.
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I am absolutely sure that it is ash. We have literally thousands of ash trees on our property. I will post some pics tomorrow.
 
cuttingedge said:
I am absolutely sure that it is ash. We have literally thousands of ash trees on our property. I will post some pics tomorrow.
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Hmmm . . . wonder what is killing the ash on your property. EAB isn't up this way yet.
 
firefighterjake said:
Hmmm . . . wonder what is killing the ash on your property. EAB isn't up this way yet.
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A lot of them are in a very wet and over crowded area. I am guessing that the abundance of standing water has caused some damage as well as the fact that this area of woods has not been thinned in years. Many of the ash that I am cutting are smaller and at also probably shaded from the large red oaks and other large trees that make up a good portion of the canopy.
 
If its -9 in NY and NO snow days here, at least yet.
What's happening in Maine? Is the Polar vortex sliding by?
Its pretty amazing to see -7 in Maryland.
I broke down and bought fuel oil. And my delivery guy was all smilely.
 
Applesister said:
If its -9 in NY and NO snow days here, at least yet.
What's happening in Maine? Is the Polar vortex sliding by?
Its pretty amazing to see -7 in Maryland.
I broke down and bought fuel oil. And my delivery guy was all smilely.
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We're getting the cold too . . . seems to be a bit warmer than the last two bouts we had though . . . around my place it's only dropping into the negative single digits compared to the negative double digits we had the first time. It's still cold, but not quite so bad as the first two times we got hit . . . seemed like the last drop in temps we faired relatively well compared to some areas of the country as well.

And yeah . . . we need snow. Had plenty until that one warm up . . . then lost most of it. Gained a couple of inches, but really could use 6 or more to make the snowmobile trails decent.
 
velvetfoot said:
-2 here. Have the day off. Would LIKE to work on processing the log pile, but -2........
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Same temp here right now. I am gonna head out in about an hour and start splitting. Dress in layers and it is not that bad. Yesterday I over dressed especially since I was cutting and dragging stuff up to where I could reach it with the quad. I was sweating within 5 minutes.
 
Yeah, it's not as bad when you're active. I've got the Hot Hands packets and warm boots, so I might give a try as well.
 
We finally got into double digit temperatures this afternoon but the 40 mph wind really makes it feel much colder. Fortunately most of our snow is not blowing too badly. We had a thaw and that helped to pack it down. Might get some fresh snow this weekend but cold for most of next week yet. It is the coldest winter I can remember for quite some time here.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
We finally got into double digit temperatures this afternoon but the 40 mph wind really makes it feel much colder. Fortunately most of our snow is not blowing too badly. We had a thaw and that helped to pack it down. Might get some fresh snow this weekend but cold for most of next week yet. It is the coldest winter I can remember for quite some time here.
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Yes that wind can be a killer! We had a little today and apparently those gusts that you speak of are headed our way tomorrow. It makes it MUCH tougher to keep the house warm when that wind is howling.
 
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