View out the barn attic window this morning. Another ten cords in the barn. You can see the clothesline near the top of the shot. I ran out of room. The clothesline is sunk into concrete bases, so I'm not going to move it. Sometimes you gotta compromise with other family members.
But warm. This is what you get when you cut a tank and haul a load every day after work. Actually, in my case, three days a week. If you plug away at it, eventually you don't even really notice.
Very nice Eric... But you might want to put a securty fence/system up- with the price of oil/wood- there might be some that think 'aw- he won't miss a cord or two'. :ahhh: Save some for the rest of NY !
thats some gold in them thar hills. in all seriousness, I can never post pics of my 6-8 cord wood pile after seeing that, that, that PILE of sweet warmth.
I've got a couple of junkyard dogs living in that pile. Actually, there's plenty more where that came from. I'm in the process of thinning out part of the company property that was basically abused in past decades and now it's mostly beech. I'm leaving all the maple, yellow birch and black cherry, which will hopefully start to make up a greater share of the species mix on the stand. But the beech is pretty hard to eradicate. I've got about 15 acres done, and there's plenty more to go. And the part I started on 3 years ago could really be hit again--I was a little timid at first, and left more beech than necessary. It's a weed from a timber point of view, but great firewood. Just a rough guess here, but I'd estimate that I'm getting about 5 cords per acre. I've been doing 4-5 acres a year. This summer I cut about 30 tanks or roughly 15 cords. Had to cut back because the new boiler should burn a lot less wood, and I'm obviously about out of room to store it.
Beech is a very good burner. Alot of people don't usually want that (scrub) Black cherry, well around here anyway. Looks like (from the second picture) you are doing a really nice thining and selecting of that lot- you can always 'see' when someone cares about the finished product. Well done. I read those 'west coasters' postings last night- talking about all they had was 'doug fir, aspen, pines of various names'- I had to laugh, talking about UPS shipping cost for a nice cord of HARDWOOD ! :ahhh:
Thanks for your interest. The Adirondacks are similar to northern NH in some ways. Unfortunately, the "best" trees on that particular site aren't all that great. The site better suited to yellow birch than hard maple and cherry, and they've been picked over pretty good, not to mention all the mechanical damage from careless skidding. So, I'm leaving the best and cutting the rest, but it still looks like a high-grade in places. You do the best you can with what you've got. I am encouraged to see some nice cherry seedlings popping up any place there's a mature standing cherry. It's pretty satisfying to compare the thinned areas from those that aren't, especially after a couple of years when the slash dies down.
Nice to see the rewards of the hard work, Eric. You have the Bank, Insurance Co, and Gold's Gym right in your back yard. Now all you need is a nicely restored JD 440 C in the picture and you would be in heaven. When was the last time you burned any Oil or other fuel? We had " Family Day" Last weekend and put up 12.5 cord cut, split and stacked. One more session this weekend and we will be in pretty good shape for the NH winter. Hbbyloggr
A couple of weeks ago I had to take a trip up to Maine and I hadn't shown my wife how to work the EKO yet, so I turned on the gas boiler and electric hot water heater. Now that she knows how to fill the boiler, we're pretty much up to speed. Funny thing, our last utility bill was so low that she paid it twice. So now we've got a credit with National Grid. That's the first (and hopefully the only) time that's ever happened. Still use the gas dryer. I have to maintain the connection (and the monthly service fee) for those times when we're out of town and can't tend the stove. That's probably the only good thing about oil vs natural gas.
Eric - You've probably already answered this, but do you buck and split right there in the bush? Do you make paths so you can drive your truck into the woods with you?
I buck the blocks after felling the trees, then leave them there until the following summer, when I haul them home and split them. The woodlot I'm working on is full of old roads and skidder trails, but I do spend a fair amount of time clearing brush and slash and cutting down stumps so that I can drive right up to where most of the wood is laying. So it's an integrated operation--cutting a tank of new wood and hauling a load from the year before. Takes about an hour and a half, on average, after work. One advantage is that the older wood is usually much lighter, which means I can average a third of a cord per load. So if I do that three days a week, by the weekend I've got a cord to split up and stack. The year-old wood also splits a lot easier than green stuff. One disadvantage is that it stains laying there unsplit on the ground, so it tends to look pretty crappy by the time I get it stacked. Keeps me in shape, keeps the bills down and the family warm and benefits the woodlot. There's no downside that I can see, except for the occasional sore back.
WHEW! Thats some money in the bank........lots of hard work you got there.......you dont have to worry about drying your laundry now. Happy Holidays! The WoodButcher
I really should have made Eric the HARD one to beat in the woodchopping game, but I was not thinking!
I saw Firefighterjake's thread about missing member's and remembered the post that got me interested in this forum! At the time, I remember thinking to myself, "How crazy, obsessed, and WARM, is this Eric guy!" Thanks to all who share their experiences to help others.
