Time to start splitting in earnest

Damn.. How many years worth of wood do you think you have there?

You Northern boys just operate on a different planet than us.

Firewood Bandit said:

One, it goes pretty fast.

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Seriously? I don't want to estimate how much is there, but it's certainly quite a bit.

Wow, you're not kidding that you have your work cut out for you.

Please tell me you have a boiler outside? That is a mess of wood

You have a lot of firewood.

Firewood Bandit said:

Pretty amazing how the snow/ice doesn't melt under the sawdust.

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Back when they harvested ice from ponds, the ice blocks were packed in sawdust for transport.

Pellet_Pete said:

Back when they harvested ice from ponds, the ice blocks were packed in sawdust for transport.

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They packed the ice in sawdust to keep all summer as well in very large ice
houses most of which burnt when electric came into use to cool. The remains
of one very large one on Rt.24 in Fall River can still be scene on east side of road.

I'm kinda blown away by the lack of snow . . . I thought Wisconsin got a fair amount of snow.

We're a long way away from being able to get out there and start working on the wood . . . unless we want to wade in a few feet of snow.

Firewood Bandit said:

With 4 row stacks, 4 foot 5" tall ( to account for shrinkage while drying) each 6' of pile = 1 full cord.

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I am guessing about 12 full cords?

Nice stack!

That'll keep ya busy for a while.

I have 3 cord or so of maple rounds setting out here, am waiting 'til it warms up a bit before hauling out the splitter.

Sounds about right. My wood furnace went through (officially, after final tally) 11 cords. I had 12 put aside for the year, and fully expected to run out.

I'll be getting a high efficiency unit though I think to replace my dinosaur. My current pile looks very similar. I got 12 truckloads of free pine, so I'm working on processing it all. I've got about 3 cords split right now, oozing in a mass of wet sticky sap. Once it's all finished processing, it'll be stacked along next to the hardwood.

Wow.....that is my kind of playground.

Firewood Bandit said:

Well it's starting to melt, got everything cut up and on pallets. Time to start splitting and clean up sawdust and debris. Pretty amazing how the snow/ice doesn't melt under the sawdust.

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That's a lot of wood, where did you get it all and what is it? Lots of odd and short pieces there.

My father's family had a farm in Saskatchewan where they use to cut tons of ice out of their pond every (early) spring and pack it in sawdust in a big root cellar. They used that as the only refrigeration for the milk from their dairy cows, the ice lasted all summer in there they said.

Good looking stacks Bandit and nice setup. No wood processing going to going on here anytime soon, too snowy soon to be muddy.

Firewood Bandit said:

I have a real ice saw that an old timer gave me. He talked fondly of the days "making ice" in his youth. It is hung in the garage from the ceiling.

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Yes I have a few pike poles around here that was used to move the ice after
cutting and to guide it up to the elevator for storage. I have seen the saw like
tool pulled by horses to score the ice and some one lunger saws used to cut
the ice blocks folks say there are a few sunk in the ponds around here as well.

firefighterjake said:

I'm kinda blown away by the lack of snow . . . I thought Wisconsin got a fair amount of snow.
We're a long way away from being able to get out there and start working on the wood . . . unless we want to wade in a few feet of snow.

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Often yes. That was us the last couple years. This year was a bust for snow. But it made it easier to cut and bring in wood!