you ever just grab a piece and think - damn that’s a nice split

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Stevebass4

Minister of Fire
Nov 18, 2006
845
Franklin MA
using two year old wood (running low) that has been covered and kept dry - i can't help but think when i grab a split but to think damn this is nice stuff to burn
 
It's nice when you get to play with the finest piece of ash you have ever laid eyes upon.

Hopefully that won't be the only ash you get.

Especially if you have to wait 2 years again. I need ash more often than that!

:coolsmile:

pen
 
Some madrona piece has stunning grain, I wince a bit at burning that. But it's the finely figured maple that's really painful to burn.
 
:) i was more talking about how dry the wood is and how well it burns :) i dont really see any grains running through my splits

i know next year and the year after will be much better and hopefully all the wood i grab will be primo because of all the work i did to get 2+ years ahead this year
 
"you ever just grab a piece and think - damn that’s a nice split"

yep I have....
 
Stevebass4 said:
using two year old wood (running low) that has been covered and kept dry - i can't help but think when i grab a split but to think damn this is nice stuff to burn
Yes, all the time. This morning I was moving wood from the stack onto the porch before the big storm hits and was thinking all the while how nicely seasoned it was. This particular wood was cut, split, stacked 3+ years ago. Never been covered though.
 
I have to be honest, I was thinking more like BeGreen as well.
 
I split a beautiful red oak a few months ago that made some of the prettiest splits I've seen in a long time. It was almost a shame to split it for fire wood. I couldn't help but think what pretty cabinets or flooring it might have made in the right hands. Then again, it will look pretty going into my stove.
 
That is funny, I think that all the time. I also will save back the really nice stuff for special cold times. Usaully what happens is the wood will not get burned and just sits...... It is -12 here right now, I wish that I hade some of the special logs right here next to the house instead of covered with snow 350 feet away. Boy, I am smart saving back the good stuff eh?
 
It's hard to imagine that anyone who gathers, cuts, and splits his own wood wouldn't think and feel that from time to time. From beginning to end, it's such a satisfying endeavor.
 
I just put a couple of huge oak 1/2 logs for an overnight burn and had the same thought. I broke my a@# getting these, walking through the woods on rocks risking a broken ankle to get these primo rounds. This peticular oak was down for years, suspended off the ground by rocks. The wood looked like it was petrified. Man, don't I have anything else to burn?
 
Stevebass4 said:
using two year old wood (running low) that has been covered and kept dry - i can't help but think when i grab a split but to think damn this is nice stuff to burn
Ja, I'm burning some really nice dry stuff now. It was processed before the wood I burned last year. It is in the part of the shed that is FILO, meaning first in, last out. This Summer I redesigned the other half of the shed so that I don't block so much in behind the new stuff. Mind you, the new stuff is good to burn too, just not as good. Still have another year's worth outside to move into the space I'm opening up now but I'll have to update it with the new design too.
 
I am just starting to move into "prime" wood. thus far, I have been burning willow, pine, branch rounds and somewhat punky wood - shorter fires, worked well to take the chill off. Now the temps are colder, snow on the ground and I'm moving to those splits that look soooo good compared to what I have been handling/burning!
 
I have a whole cord of red oak splits.
Just red oak splits. Picture perfect stack of hand-split red oak splits. Wish I had a nice shed to showcase them.

It's been a bit sad watching them turn grey and lose thier characteristic smell.

Next Winter they will become a puff of smoke.
 
Here's one.....did you ever grab a split from the pile and think "Damn, I remember you, what a pain you were!" It happens too often for me. We must all be sick......
 
Can anyone post some pics of some beautiful splits. I know I have looked at a block of maple and said this one will keep me warm
 
my 14 year old son and I were recently loading up a cord in the trailer and I commented how many of these specific pieces I remember splitting/stacking and how sick that made me to recall wood like that. Of course he agreed and just keep throwing it into the trailer rolling his eyes. We are both proud that every stick this year as well as next years burn was completely done by just us, and when we it around is shorts this winter we smile again.
 
I used to hide my love for wood scrounging, cutting, splitting, stacking, & burning like an alchoholic hides booze. I feel a lot better knowing I'm not the only one...
 
Stevebass4 said:
using two year old wood (running low) that has been covered and kept dry - i can't help but think when i grab a split but to think damn this is nice stuff to burn

At my age, I am refined enough to not 'GRAB' split tail anymore . . . but I still often say "Damn!! What a use for wood!"
 
itsanaddiction said:
I used to hide my love for wood scrounging, cutting, splitting, stacking, & burning like an alchoholic hides booze. I feel a lot better knowing I'm not the only one...

dual farm boss's you have the fever....
 
FuzzyOne said:
We must all be sick......
Speak for yourself. There's nothing wrong with me. I don't identify with individual pieces. They are just dead BTUs. I may have religious moments at my woodshed like Danny DeVito at the salad bar in Tin Men, but I don't give individual splits any special thought except perhaps how well it will pack in for an overnight burn.
 
How many times have you said this?
"Dammit, that was the one I needed to finish packing the stove last night."
 
FuzzyOne said:
Here's one.....did you ever grab a split from the pile and think "Damn, I remember you, what a pain you were!" It happens too often for me. We must all be sick......

Yup. You handle the darn things so many times, its hard hot to get familiar with them.
 
Ja, it's like the animals on the farm. You don't give them names if they are going to end up on the dinner table, or in this case in the stove.
 
Like this slab of 2yr old shagbark?

WB
 

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