February Firewood Festival

[Simonkenton]

This big black walnut fell over in the meadow last June. No rot in the tree, it was growing right next to Bear Creek and the creek had undermined the roots.
Really big black walnut for around here, 26 inch diameter.

First cut is the trickiest, you can get the saw jammed up.

The Fiskars maul doesn't play games.

This drum gave me a hard time, I had to bust it with the 9 pound hammer and the steel wedge.
Once I had it in two pieces, the Fiskars finished the job. These are massive heavy drums, haven't lost a bit of water, probably 125 pounds each, some heavier than that. You have to split them anyway, why break your back loading up the truck? I busted them in to six, or eight pieces.

The trunk is in my truck. It puts a smile on my face to put a load of firewood into the Nissan.

 

[Caw]

@Simonkenton - side note but is that truck a manual transmission? Nissan is one of the few that still offers it. Really getting hard to find one these days .

Nice haul!

 

[Simonkenton]

This truck is a 2010 I bought used, two years ago. It is an automatic.
I looked and looked for a stick shift but as you say, almost impossible to find these days.

 

[Prof]

I wouldn't change a thing--from the tools to the process. My grandfather always said, "Make the big ones smaller and they are easier to lift." He heated with wood well into his mid 80's. When I see guys tossing rounds onto trucks like the ones you are dealing with, his wise words echo in my mind. One of my neighbors called me a couple months ago to cut up a couple decent (about 22 inch) hemlocks and haul them away. I made the rounds smaller while he heaved whole rounds into the truck. A couple weeks later he was having a hernia operated on. I may have been able to lift an unsplit round--I also may have gotten a hernia or thrown my back out. I'm in it for the long haul., so I'll keep busting them up. Better exercise anyway.

 

[Simonkenton]

I split up that wood, in the OP, and stacked it in the woodshed. Today, I went out to get another truck load. 26 degrees, and 18 mph wind, very light snow. The black walnut tree keeps getting smaller. I got another load. Took an hour and a half to cut it and split it and load it up. Used the little Husqvarna, it was singing today. The Husqvarna puts out high rpm it has a unique sound. Good day to have a big Norwegian wood stove.

 

[logfarmer]

I love burning walnut, don’t get much around my parts. Have 1 walnut on the farm and I will not cut it down lol.