This morning was so clear and calm. While I was quietly splitting by hand, I could hear all the crickets chirping, the birds singing, and neighbors' saws running from miles away. Everyone in the area is beginning their winter wood piles, some probably even throwing it in the stove as it's cut since it's been cooler at night lately (40s).
The chickadees were extra curious, perching very close to me and telling me their life stories. At least that's what I think they were telling me, not being fluent in chickadee. They should be this country's symbol. They're way cooler than any other bird!
I got a special request from one of my regular customers. He wanted a load of dead pine to add to the oak in his campfire. He said the oak is great, but he likes how the pine pops more. I never cut any pine, it's a waste of time with more dead oak laying around than I could use up in ten lifetimes, but who am I to argue with an open wallet. If he wants a load of dead pine for the same price as he pays me for loads of oak, so be it. He's right about the snap crackle and pop anyway. Pine does pop a lot more than oak. White oak does a little, but still not nearly as much as pine.
There isn't a lot of pine in the woods anymore, since it was pulped off a few years ago. It used to be the jackpine was so thick in places that you couldn't walk through it! Now there are a couple small plantations of norway pine, and some young white pine sprouting up, but the jackpine is all gone.
So this morning I found a dead norway pine that had been broken off in a storm a few years ago.
Here it is all cut up. The bottom few pieces were kind of iffy, but the rest was acceptable for a campfire:
Split:
Loaded up and ready for transport:
Stacked and waiting for customer inspection/approval before delivery. Then I buy beer:
Also this morning, while I was limbered up, I did a little project for my good neighbor:
And then this afternoon I went fishing! Do you think an old fashioned hand-splitter like me would have a fancy powerboat to cruise around the lake with? If you answered "HECK NO!", then you are correct:
The chickadees were extra curious, perching very close to me and telling me their life stories. At least that's what I think they were telling me, not being fluent in chickadee. They should be this country's symbol. They're way cooler than any other bird!
I got a special request from one of my regular customers. He wanted a load of dead pine to add to the oak in his campfire. He said the oak is great, but he likes how the pine pops more. I never cut any pine, it's a waste of time with more dead oak laying around than I could use up in ten lifetimes, but who am I to argue with an open wallet. If he wants a load of dead pine for the same price as he pays me for loads of oak, so be it. He's right about the snap crackle and pop anyway. Pine does pop a lot more than oak. White oak does a little, but still not nearly as much as pine.
There isn't a lot of pine in the woods anymore, since it was pulped off a few years ago. It used to be the jackpine was so thick in places that you couldn't walk through it! Now there are a couple small plantations of norway pine, and some young white pine sprouting up, but the jackpine is all gone.
So this morning I found a dead norway pine that had been broken off in a storm a few years ago.
Here it is all cut up. The bottom few pieces were kind of iffy, but the rest was acceptable for a campfire:
Split:
Loaded up and ready for transport:
Stacked and waiting for customer inspection/approval before delivery. Then I buy beer:
Also this morning, while I was limbered up, I did a little project for my good neighbor:
And then this afternoon I went fishing! Do you think an old fashioned hand-splitter like me would have a fancy powerboat to cruise around the lake with? If you answered "HECK NO!", then you are correct:
