Dark at 5 is forcing an adjustment in the scrounging schedule

[SolarAndWood]

Had to do a load at lunch and then get the second one in while it was getting dark. Last load tomorrow morning as it was pitch black by the time I got home. Its amazing how much wood comes out of a big silver maple.

 

[wapiti39]

Very nicely done.........

 

[SolarAndWood]

Can't take credit for that drop, the guy in the orange hat is the pro. It was 40" and the middle third of it was gone for 10'. I wouldn't touch that even if it weren't in the middle of a suburban development.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

......and no time for splitting after work is making me tweek a bit! Damn daylight savings! I thought we were going to do away with this antiquated sunrise/sunset scheduale!

 

[SolarAndWood]

Damn daylight savings!

At least W extended it for us a few weeks. I'd be ok with going to work in the dark if we at least got a few hours of sunlight afterward.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It really depends upon where you live on the DST. For some it is bad one way and for others it is bad the other way. You are about an hour earlier in morning and again at night than we are. I recall noticing that a lot when we were at the Woodstock factory in September. Wow, it gets dark earlier out here! But then, the sun came up earlier too.

This is why if you read any old books that you find most farmers were out working around 4:00 am every day during summer. Not so in our area. For us, I well remember, we got up at 5:30 for the daily milking. It was light out there for a few months of the year.

Just think; the sun sets earlier for another several weeks before it starts going the other way. Or just think about those fellows from Alaska and the Yukon. It gets dark just a tad early for them too! lol

 

[SolarAndWood]

Or just think about those fellows from Alaska and the Yukon. It gets dark just a tad early for them too! lol

Yeah, but they get some sick summers. Kinda makes you feel bad for folks in the tropics that have to live with 12 and 12 year round.

 

[SolarAndWood]

It really depends upon where you live on the DST.

I notice that every time I am in upper Michigan. Between that, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and bloody NY taxes, we might move west

 

[thewoodlands]

Solar nice haul, we have the new flood light hooked up out back for some night splitting. I just need to haul the rounds out this weekend and I'm ready to go.


zap

 

[SolarAndWood]

Thanks and I may need to try the flood light Zap. I've got this idea that splitting is something that is done in the sunshine.

 

[Troutchaser]

Love the night splitting. Probably split and stacked 2/3 of my wood last year in the dark. Gotta love that. Cold, snow flying, stove cooking inside, me sweating outside.
Silver maple is one of the few trees a man could plant and later harvest for firewood. Great work.

I have the pleasure of living on eastern time and working on central. We live 1/2 mile from the county line and central time zone.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

I have ALWAYS wondered what peoples lives were like that lived right on the time line! That is crazy stuff! :ahhh: For me, its like theorizing the space/time continuum - or pondering quantum physics......too much for my zen mind to handle!

 

[Troutchaser]

For me its trying to remember if the truck clock is set to home time or work time. Or if the cell phone made the switch or not.
I'm always an hour off.

 

[DiscoInferno]

Fun fact - most of Michigan's Upper Peninsula is on eastern time, except the counties bordering Wisconsin are on central. Because of the shape of the counties, there is an area where you can drive due east and wind up leaving the eastern time zone into central time (and vice-versa). The UP is great because it's fairly north and it's much farther west than most of the eastern time zone. Fireworks on July 4 usually don't start until at least 10:45PM EDT; in DC it's more like 9:30PM EDT.

If I had my way the sun would always set at 9:00 or later, and it would just be dark all morning in the winter. I'm a late sleeper and when it starts getting dark at 4:30 here I don't get a lot done outside.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Yup, after the time change it really sucks. Luckily I get off work at 3:30 and get home at 4, so I have about 2 1/2 hours to work, but if I'm going to cut or something then it's still not enough. It normally takes at least 2 hours to buck a full truck load of wood, plus load and unload time, there is just no way I could get a full load done after work, so I save the cutting for the weekends now. I come home and split & stack for a couple hours before going in to clean up and eat dinner.

 

[ChrisNJ]

Damn interesting thread, I love that trailer and its a great scrounge score, makes me wonder if my truck is able to tow anything.

I dont mind the daylight savings thing as 2 days in a row now that I got up with the kids the wife came down and said I could go split which I enjoy in the morning before work. But also I need to change some lights so that I can split in the evening as well as 5pm darkness is kinda lame, no to mention scrounging in the dark is harder.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Picked up the last load this morning. Should keep the splitter well fed for a while.

 

[lukem]

This DST change has cramped my splitting schedule as well. I'm on the far western edge of Indiana so I get more daylight in the evenings than most on Eastern Time, but in a few weeks it will be pitch black dark at 5:30. My splitting area isn't lit and too far away to run a cord for halogens, so unless i use the headlights on the truck I'm SOL.

I have 5 cord in the back yard that needs split and with deer season starting my weekends are getting full too.

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

I only cut during daylight. I load & split a fair percentage in the dark. Split with a 500W flood setup. I also like to use a nice LED Head Lamp. I keep one handy and another in each vehicle.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Damn interesting thread, I love that trailer and its a great scrounge score, makes me wonder if my truck is able to tow anything.

The trailer works great for scrounging as you can slide through gates into back yards, back down tight driveways, etc. It has a 5K axle on it. The axle and brakes save a lot of abuse on a light duty truck. I stack 5 x 8 x 4 high and round the top when necessary and it still tows pretty well but gets a little tongue heavy especially if you don't get some weight behind the axle. Dumping doesn't buy you a lot with stacked rounds though. As soon as you get them over 4' high stacked tight, they lock together pretty good and don't like to dump.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Split with a 500W flood setup.

I may give that a try but I fear that I may be a sunny sky splitter.