@Woodsplitter67 - do you sell firewood on the side or is all this gear just to keep your 2040 fed ?
I’ll have to admit, it’s encouraging to see someone invest so much in keeping their VC product happy.
So I started selling fire wood in the fall of 2020 to people I know. It was mostly out of my stash. I didn't like doing that. This past fall 2022 I started selling Kiln dried wood to the people that were purchasing from me It was 500 dollars per cord delivered. The farthest drive is 10 minutes and the closest is is like 800 ft. and I just drive it down the road with the skidsteer.
I own a business and I have alot of equipment, I had this equipment well before I started processing wood for myself. Once I started processing and realized that I wanted to switch to wood heat, I went and purchased things to make it easier. I keep a skidsteer at my house, you've seen the pictures.. its from 1999 not worth selling, runs great and still looks good. Its older and outdated the men dont use it. I have 7 machines total. I like stuff whice is kind of a problem... Im all over south jersey.. the machines are rarely all at the shop so its easy to stop at a job on the way home pick something up and drop it off to where the wood it. Most locations are 15 to 20 minutes from my home.
I have a huge advantage over most, in that if I wasn't selling wood Id still have all of this. I purchased the grapple bucket a number of years back to make moving log length easier to use and purchased the dump trailer because I got tire of driving to the shop and getting dumptrucks to haul the wood, it was just inconvenient..
I truly believe that when things become difficult were less likely to do it, its not fun.. With all the gear I have... it is fun, and pretty easy and best of all not time consuming. My son and I worked 4 half days.. starting at 7am and done at 12pm.. we scored at least 6 cords of wood.
The time spent in the woods cutting, or at home processing becomes more quality time then work. My son and I enjoy this.. we laugh, enjoy hot coco in the woods, we will walk back to the truck and take a small break and snack on a meat and cheese platter with Ritz crackers. When we get a little tired.. thats it, were done
It didnt start this way. I thought that I was going to be just a weekend burner, or a fire here and there during the week. It quickly grew to primary heat. Some of the was due to the savings in oil, but mostly because the quality of heat is so much better, its completely relaxing sitting here by the stove while I type this. I enjoy my stove because, Im not a slave to it, my wood is super dry and my burns are long. Dial the air back and do hot reloads every so often. I leave for work at 6.15 am.. the stove is loaded again from the overnight burn, I dial the air back, at 8am when the wife leaves for work she turns the air all the way back, when I get home at 4/5pm... stoves still going with coals.. just add wood turn the air back up get to temperature, turn the air back.. get ready for bed.. turn air up, fully load the stove.. turn air all the way back... wake up.. repeat process.
Heres a couple pictures from yesterday's haul.. that trailer was maxed out..
