First slab wood load.

Finally got out to the sawmill this morning. $20.00, load it yourself. The mill is just a few minutes drive down the road.

Was surprised to find it ain't all dirt, bark and toothpicks as I'd heard say. This is clean and recently cut. Most is already firewood length, just pull off the truck and stack. The majority is meat with little to no bark. Got plenty of oak with a bit of soft maple and poplar for good measure.

Great mix of sizes, too from pallet slats to large chunks. The big stuff got split here at home and stacked. This is our start on the '17-'18 fuel stash. Am on vacation this week, the plan is to make a few more trips to fill a woodpile extension. As the wood already there gets used this season, I'll replenish with slab wood.

EJP1234 said:

Do you mind filling me in where? I'm in MD in between Greensboro and Denton. The only mill I know of is down in Linkwood and Snow Hill... Is there one closer? If you don't mind sharing I'd be all over that deal.

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Glad to, my friend. The mill is on Pearsons Corner Rd out of Hartly, DE. Coming east on Rt 8 from Marydel (Halltown Rd), turn right at the light at the Royal Farms in Hartly. The mill is a mile or so down, on the right. They don't allow Sunday sales but you can stop by any other day. Just put your money in the office door mail slot, drive around to the piles and load up. 6-ft pickup bed is $20.00, longer bed and utility trailers are a few bucks more. They won't load it for you, you'll have to do that yourself.

Stopped by the well again this morning for what turned out to be a full load of oak. Apparently they'd recently tipped a lot of oak tailings and partial rounds, all cut to firewood length. While I was scrounging that up, an Amish kid on a loader dumped a skip full of freshly cut oak and poplar next to where I was working. The poplar can lay there for whomever wants it... but I scarfed up all the oak I could stuff in the pickup.

Was chatting with the missus this morning, said we should've been doing this years ago. I've been dropping trees, limbing, bucking, loading out rounds, getting the little tractor stuck in them muddy woods. Then splitting & stacking it all. With this gig, all I got to do is pick it up, toss it in the truck and drive it home. Pull it out of the bed and stack. Easy peasy.

tiswood said:

I think that mill used to load you and charge by the scoop years back. But you got a better load when you hand pick it. It sure beats cutting your own either way.

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I asked the superintendent sometime back if they'd load me. He said not any more... a knocked out rear pickup window nixed that practice.

Went back to the well early this morning for a 3rd load. From the looks of it, one more load should finish this stack. True, it won't feel like a chore if we replenish the stacks as we go. This week I've been loading, driving, unloading, splitting the big ones and stacking every day to get this added space filled. Gets tiring at our age. Once a week or so, I can live with that.

The ground at the mill is rutted and can be treacherous on a good day. Today it was frozen, covered with frost or both. Drove down into a rut and the rear tires spun. Shifted to reverse and turned 'em again. Well hell. Put it in 4WD, that took care of that.

The SheWolf gave me my Christmas present early, a new hookaroon. Sure came in handy this morning. I mined all the oak from a couple of recently tipped areas and was still a bit short. Drove over to where a conveyor was dumping fresh slabs from the mill and used the hookaroon to pull some nice oak chunks down the mountain. This little jewel sure saves your back when unloading as well.

Stopped by Haas' meat market on the way home, picked up some provisions for the SheWolf. She needed some hocks and a ham butt. Fresh collards, ham and black-eyed peas for supper.

Life is good.

Thanks guys.

Got the 4th and final load in this morning. We're out of stack space and I haven't even gotten to the long pieces yet. They have to be cut and split.

Took a little longer to scrounge up a load of oak; guess they've been milling more maple and poplar lately. But I did hit a mother lode of red and white oak 2x4s all cut roughly 16 - 18" in length. The rest, I picked off the conveyor pile. Pickings were a mite slim there, too.