This is the best time of year for cutting & splitting

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Knots

Knots

Minister of Fire
Mar 13, 2013
1,173
Alfred, Maine
I had other things to do, but yesterday was too nice. Hooked up the splitter to the tractor and went into the woods to do some cutting and splitting. I could wear a t-shirt and not sweat too much and there were no bugs around.

Only sound was the leaves dropping from the trees and the birds. Oh yeah, the saw and splitter made a little noise too...

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Yeah, it's hard to find time in the fall, when you are trying to get other stuff done and beat Old Man Winter. If I have to put off wood until later, and have to come in to warm up once in a while, so be it...
 
Agreed! I just spent a couple hours sunday and monday splitting some Ash. perfect weather for a little manuel labor. jealous of the hydraulic splitters, Did mine with a couple mauls. I'm feeling it today.
 
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I just finished splitting by hand over a cord of red oak, now going to the knotty stuff and white oak, even tough the fiskars works great I will use a splitter. When that is done I will have my three years plan all done.
 
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Joe13 said:
Agreed! I just spent a couple hours sunday and monday splitting some Ash. perfect weather for a little manuel labor. jealous of the hydraulic splitters, Did mine with a couple mauls. I'm feeling it today.
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I here ya. I still do the straight-grained red oak with the maul. It's faster and I need the exercise.
 
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prezes13 said:
I just finished splitting by hand over a cord of red oak, now going to the knotty stuff and white oak, even tough the fiskars works great I will use a splitter. When that is done I will have my three years plan all done.
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Me too - trying to get three years ahead on the oak. The beech in the foreground is for next winter.
 
Yeah i love this time of year as well. Not many skeeters out there, nice colors and smell in the woods and cool enough you're not sweating like a pig. I been cutting like a man possessed the past 2 weeks and will continue into Nov before i start winding down. No better time to be in the woods no matter what you're doing.
Currently working on my 4th year out of wood, not bad considering last year i ran out of dry wood in January.
 
KindredSpiritzz said:
...not bad considering last year i ran out of dry wood in January.
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A lot of people in the northeast ran out last winter. That winter was relentless...
 
I am a lot further south and will wait till the Yellowjackets are gone.
 
Agreed. Spent the majority of the daylight hours last weekend splitting/stacking mostly ash, elm, and some red oak, about 5 cords total. I can run the splitter all day long by myself and make a pickup load in about 40 minutes, but it sure was nice to have two buddies over to help with the stacking!

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Bspring said:
I am a lot further south and will wait till the Yellowjackets are gone.
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Friggin' drunken yellow jackets. At least the cooler weather makes them easy to squish.
 
nmcqueen469 said:
Agreed. Spent the majority of the daylight hours last weekend splitting/stacking mostly ash, elm, and some red oak, about 5 cords total. I can run the splitter all day long by myself and make a pickup load in about 40 minutes, but it sure was nice to have two buddies over to help with the stacking!
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That's what I'm talking about, however I've been putting the stacking off. My least favorite part of the process. Wreaks havoc with my OCD... :oops:
 
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nmcqueen469 said:
Agreed. Spent the majority of the daylight hours last weekend splitting/stacking mostly ash, elm, and some red oak, about 5 cords total. I can run the splitter all day long by myself and make a pickup load in about 40 minutes, but it sure was nice to have two buddies over to help with the stacking!

082500aa38c2463561efefc6e653a65e.jpg


4b886f719ba6cf796bdf944e67a8e976.jpg
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What's in that bottle, nmcqueen?;);) Your reward?
 
I just noticed today one of my stacks has developed the dreaded lean. Only a matter of time before gravity gets it. Feel like crying thinking about having to restack.
 
Lakeside said:
Knott's could you tell us more about this Cool Tractor? Make & Model ?
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1969 Economy Power King. Kohler 14hp. All-gear drive. I love it. Also have a 1967 Economy Jim Dandy (smaller frame and a little less gearing and a 12 hp Kohler). Mine has 16 inch rear wheels. You could get 24" and even dual 24" wheels. Dual trans. Lotsa attachments. I always wanted to get the cord wood saw attachment (not to use - just to scare people with). I had a sickle bar and foolishly sold it.

PK2 019.jpgPK2 034.jpgPK2 022.jpgPK2 023.jpgPK2 024.jpg
 
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KindredSpiritzz said:
I just noticed today one of my stacks has developed the dreaded lean. Only a matter of time before gravity gets it. Feel like crying thinking about having to restack.
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Try this: take a sledge hammer and knock (not too hard) the leaning pieces back in. More like a tap. Work your way through the leaning pieces gradually knocking them back into a more "upright" stance. This approach has helped me stay away from the dreaded restack.
(note - My stacks are on pallets, 40" wide - which is usually 2 rows with the middle filled with shorties/uglies)
 
I thought that tractor looked familiar. The IBM plant has 3 tractors that they used to mow and do grounds maintenance with one being an Econo. I have never heard anything about them. I was snowplowing up there and a few of us were trying to buy them. A big corporation has trouble figuring out how to sell stuff like that and no one seemed to have authority. One was a Ford (one newer than 9N), Allis 30 HP? and the Econo. The Econo ran and must have gone 30 mph or so it seemed on that narrow little tractor when you popped the clutch!

In the end they are still sitting in the shed doing no one any good. We still talk about that we should have just taken them. They probably wouldn't even notice.
 
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I was down your way the other day Knots . . . spent the long weekend with a buddy at his condo in Bartlett, NH . . . on the way home passed through your town.
 
lindnova said:
I thought that tractor looked familiar. The IBM plant has 3 tractors that they used to mow and do grounds maintenance with one being an Econo. I have never heard anything about them. I was snowplowing up there and a few of us were trying to buy them. A big corporation has trouble figuring out how to sell stuff like that and no one seemed to have authority. One was a Ford (one newer than 9N), Allis 30 HP? and the Econo. The Econo ran and must have gone 30 mph or so it seemed on that narrow little tractor when you popped the clutch!

In the end they are still sitting in the shed doing no one any good. We still talk about that we should have just taken them. They probably wouldn't even notice.
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Makes me weep...
 
firefighterjake said:
I was down your way the other day Knots . . . spent the long weekend with a buddy at his condo in Bartlett, NH . . . on the way home passed through your town.
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Stop in! There's plenty of splitting for everyone!

Be sure to stop at Shaker Pond Ice Cream on Rt. 4. Man, that stuff is goooood....
 
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