Ill admit it...

I work alone. I don't mind. I would like working with somebody else if I had the right cutting partner, but in the mean time I am happy working alone. I realize that answer doesn't help you at all.

My wife will come with me when I get the wood. Mostly it is me (she is out there helping when she is home) splitting and stacking. Usually have head phones on listening to music.
I love the alone time.

Starting when I was 17 until about 10 years ago it was Dad & I working together all the time when felling,bucking hauling etc.I did about 90% of the splitting & pretty much all of the stacking.He's 84 now & still likes to bring me some water,sharpen a chain for me or pick up a few smaller sticks occasionally.

But no more "heavy" work such running the bigger saws,splitting or stacking for him.I turned 50 last September & still enjoy it very much,though it takes me longer now because of getting tired quicker.I do all the work now - felling,bucking,hauling,splitting etc.Never really worked with anyone else but Dad,though older brother helped a time or two some years back.Definitely prefer the solitude,I work at my own pace,know my surroundings,can concentrate on the job without worrying about someone not as experienced working near me.

Still have the strength that I did at 30-35 but no where near the stamina.All those years of working heavy commercial construction full time is a 2 edged sword.Kept me fit but is taken its toll the past several years also.Its catching up to me finally.

One of my brothers has helped cut a time or two, my dad helps when I cut a lot of the time. I don't even care if he runs a saw(he usually does) I just like having someone there in case something goes horribly wrong. Splitting and stacking I prefer to do alone, I'd just get irritated by someone not doing it "my" way.

As others have stated, I enjoy the solitude. I am a teacher surrounded by 5th graders all day. I come home to three kids and a wife, and they are great, but some days I want nothing more than to be alone in the woods.

As a teacher, I stand and move all day, but I don't get any real exercise. Cutting wood gets me some exercise and it is productive exercise rather than sitting on a treadmill in an enclosed air space surrounded by people.

A tip: it sounds as though you are trying to rush through cutting wood and trying to get as much done as possible in as short a time as possible. Take a breath, slow down and don't feel as though you need to cut a three month supply every time you are out. Take a break. Turn off the saw and take a look around your surroundings for a while. Watch some birds, I.D. Some trees.....you get the idea.

As an iron worker, you don't need the exercise I do: maybe reduce your burn days. Run something else to heat the house part of the year and just burn 2 to 3 months. Somehow you need to turn this back into an enjoyable experience or it just ain't worth it.

Iron Work is a young mans job! I hung iron for 5-6 years and it was fun when I was younger and more foolish but to much like work and physically punishing at times. I am on my buddy that own the fab shop/erection company to get down off the steel and just fabricate or build things that are no so hard on his body. It would be tough to work all week as an iron jockey and then find the gumption to go CSS wood on the weekends.

For me, I prefer cutting alone and doing it a few trailer loads at a time working when I get the chance. If I do it like this the stacks just keep growing and growing. I tell anyone that thinks my wood stove and heat are cool, "You better love it - or it will not be worth the effort!"

Another option is to buy grapple loads and then it is just processing on site and still cheaper than propane.

"Burn out" happens. That's just a fact of life. Given the COLD temps we've had this year, the unpredictability of the weather patterns; it's bound to get to ya!!

I just go in and warm up with some hot cocoa and take a gander at the oil tank level.

Suddenly I get motivated again.

Let's just hope our bodies hold out, and we have a good "backup" person, when they don't!!

-Soupy1957

I like it when Jane comes out and helps with stacking as we talk about anything but work. We both love the woods and outdoors. The deer walking in the back yard as the chickens peck at the ants coming out of some of the splits when they fall to the ground.

But for the most part I like to work alone . Like Boburban I will come home early and cut a few dead oaks down buck them to 16" then split them after dinner.

I have three different piles now two oak one pine ready for Jane to come out and do some stacking over the next week or so. It is something I like to do for many reasons the heat is just the by product.

I love the alone time. I have a stressful job in the medical field that I work alone at also. A splitter and chainsaw is sweet music. My oldest son helps me sometimes, which I welcome just for nice bonding.

Wife and I enjoy going together. We usually take a picnic lunch and enjoy the day. She had never really had a sawmill lunch. I got cheese and crackers, Vienna sausages, can of salmon, and cokes. She loved it. She picks up smaller stuff and marks length for cuts. Plus she is great company. I work with public every day and she teaches 4th grade so we enjoy the time alone. Plus being outside on a pretty day,in the woods is just hard to beat.

I don't like doing it by myself either, but I was cutting 20-25 cords a year while working 50 hrs a week at my business. I am stopping that this year since I have no reason to sell wood any more. When we cut, it was to get as much done as poss in the fastest time poss.

My wife has become very good at splitting and stacking, but I wouldn't let her touch a saw,,,lol,,,I like her with both legs. I have to walk away when the boys are splitting, or it drives me crazy wanting to micro manage them,, so I go cut. They do a good job,,it is my problem.

It will be a vacation to only cut for myself. I was getting to the point of wanting to stop completely, but couldn't . I cut Friday, in no hurry, and it was nice to not measure my progress in stack length. The only thing left to do is call more customers and warn them they need to find a new wood source,,which I am sorry to do, as they helped me thru a bad time by purchasing wood from me.

The good thing, is there is enough wood already stacked to run me the next 5 years. I suppose some of my favorite customers will help me burn some of it.


I don't really need 2 splitters any more, so I gain room in the barn and a couple bucks in my pocket too.


Edit: I was talking to my wife about this thread. She keeps track of our customers and cutting. I was wrong about the volume. We sold 36 cords last year, and 31 the year before. No wonder I am tired.

I enjoy cutting and bucking with friends . . . splitting and stacking though for me is a solitary job.

Keep an eye open at season's end for some face cords at reduced price. I'm usually able to score a couple. Or green and split. Add that to any left overs and the work becomes much more bearable.

I would rather do a little every time than too much as once. Its very hard work. Spread out over many days its not so bad. The benifit comes when looking at the rows of dry and drying cord wood.
Realize you can make it easier on yourself. Only take smaller rounds, have rounds delivered, only stack once, have a cord delivered to get a head now and again. I think its the little things that make it much easier.
And I have also said (to my daughter), if your cold, maybe you could help me with the firewood. Then I would have no problem making it 75 degrees in here.

Kool_hand_Looke said:

I HATE processing wood by myself. I get incredibly bored at a breakneck speed.

My wife "knows" how to cut rounds, move rounds, split, and stack better than me...so she's out.

My brother in law that lives down the road is an idiot. I refer to him as Bob Pinciotti.

My buddy down the road, we can FLY through processing with lots of shop talk, but he's too flakey. I literally GIVE this guy wood. For free. Except for his help and company.

I was running this through my mind today as I'm ripping through 4, that's right 4, black locusts today.

I'm starting to not like processing wood anymore.

Anyone else loners on this same stuff? How do you manage to keep at it?

Click to expand...

Falling, limbing, bucking, and splitting I prefer to do alone, though I almost never do. The only time I actually want help is loading/unloading the truck and stacking.

i do 60 percent of cutting alone but once home my eldest son with out asking helps unload the trailer or ute , the other 40 percent of time he likes to come out and help cut and load etc .... when i am on my own = never in any rush , do some for half hour stop for a break etc then back into it again , rather do half a dozen relaxed trips then 3 or 4 over loaded rushing around helter skelter type trips ..cheers

In the woods I'm almost always alone. I enjoy it - I don't have to worry about how anyone else wants to do things. I can work at my own pace and cut as many loads as I want, or if I want to call it a day with half a load on the truck I can do that. Splitting is also my job, although occasionally some good friends will help. I usually don't split more than an hour at a time, so I don't get that tired of it. I really like doing it in the morning before the kids are up. Stacking is what I get the most help with from wife and kids, and I appreciate it because that's my least favorite part of the whole process. I would get tired of it all if I had to do it in one month, but spacing it out throughout the year helps. In fact when I haven't cut for a few months I get the itch to go out, last summer I got the itch and began cutting until I realized it was 90 degrees.

I wish I had help from folks who saw things the same way I do. I have a BIL who I'd be happy to hold a dustpan for as he sweeps because the teamwork is more like mind-reading. The times we've processed wood together it was like being on a NASCAR pit crew. What a blast. I've got another pal who "gets it" but he simply doesn't need the amount of wood I do, so there's no payoff for him. I can't do that. My biggest fear is being in a 3-legged race with my wife...

As much as I'd like to share the beauty sometimes, it's 90% alone time, and I get into it. But that irony is that adding a second person makes things go 3X faster.

But ANYTHING is better than having the WRONG person helping. That's my fallback mental position.

If i'm splitting and stacking buddy guy on pandora radio helps me ,the day flies by and I get a ton done without it feeling like work.If I'm cutting he's not loud enough maybe I need headphones.
Guy