My wood pile story

[maplewood]

So here's my story - with pics.

I had a hard time finding firewood this year (I buy 8' to tree length). Usually it only takes one or two calls in April to get a load of 12 cord by May. But with most pulp mills and saw mills either cutting back or shutting down, wood cutters are not out in force cutting softwood to fulfill contracts, and in doing so, cutting hardwood to sell on the side to us burners. And the only local pulp mill that is doing well takes both softwood and hardwood, so anyone cutting for them had nothing to sell. After almost 20 phone calls, and 18 saying, "I can't get you any", I finally got two guys who said, "maybe - I'll call you back".

Finally, on the 10th of June, one of my "maybe" guys called back. He's bringing a load - 12 cord! Mostly maple, a little birch. $1,600. (Also shown, Katie, 11)

So we cut this up over the next 2 weeks. (And split it with a maul and wedges.) (Also shown, Dad, 72, Joel, 15, and his girlfriend Jessica, 16)

And voila, we're done! All split, stacked and raked up! (Katie again, Kyle, 13 and our golden retriever, 2)

But there's more to this story.... Remember I said I had two "maybe" guys?
20 minutes after taking that last picture, I was downloading it onto my computer, when the phone rang: it was my second "maybe"! He was ready to bring 6 more cords - tomorrow! "Bring it", I said. And he did. We put it right next to the other stacks.

So we started into this pile. It was a lot easier splitting - less twisted pieces. Still mostly maple with a little birch thrown in. (My sister, 49, and Kyle again.)

And now we're all set for at least 2 years: my 18 cords cut down to about 17. My splits are 6" or smaller, 18" long. The rows are about 33' long each. Two ranks per row of pallets. Just over 4' tall. There's a small rank hidden in back with "nubbin's" - small
pieces 6"-12", for my PE stove.

Now before you ask: yes, this is going to be wood for this winter. I know - I'm supposed to be 2 years ahead. I'm working on it! I usually burn 10-11 cords a winter, but I have a new Econoburn to install next weekend, and I'm hoping to get down to 6-7 cords!
My moisture meter says I started at 38%, and inside my re-split splits I'm down to 32%. Inside my fresh-split rounds I'm only 34%. I'm hoping by September I'll be in the mid 20's. And I store all my winters wood in a heated basement - it'll have to finish drying there. (I've always had the winters wood stored inside. I'm third generation of this thinking. I have a log kit home - no moisture problems, no bug problems, no dust problems. I usually turn on a dehumidifier in the woodroom for a few weeks, but that's it.

Thanks for letting me share my story.
Happy burning.

 

[Ted69]

giddy up!
well done..I read every day and do not post too often...so I feel your posting is worthy!! thanks for the picts
Ted

 

[rdust]

Looks great! I can't imagine splitting that much by hand.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Loved the story maple...and way jealous of the processing area and the highly skilled labor.

 

[Ratman]

I bow, along with most here I'm sure, to your wood pile and work ethic superiority.
Great great job!
What you do now is trade a cord of wet for a 1/2 cord of dry with someone to buy you some drying time.

 

[maplewood]

Thanks, guys. I give my dad a lot of the credit for his help and support to get this done. He's recovering from:
- prostate cancer and surgery
- an arterial stent that caused a mild heart attack, that required 3 more stents to be put in, that are now all closed over
- pulminary fibrosis, requiring oxygen and massive steroids.

That was all in 1.5 years! After he was on oxygen for a month, and was as weak as a kitten (he couldn't get up from a sitting position by himself), he started his slow road of recovery. But he wouldn't "exercise". He's a worker, and that's his only way to exercise.
When we started on the wood (he insisted on coming - I was thrilled) he was able to sit or stand and watch, and to help move about 10 pieces in a row as I cut them, then he would sit down again. Winded, weak. a bit mad at himself and the state he was in, he would shake his head as he sat watching me cut and throw for a tank full, then while sweat poured off me as I split that days cutting, he kept saying, "I can't do that anymore. Wish I could help you, son." Of course, I was very happy just to have him sit there and watch, and chat as I worked.

But he kept at it. 10 pieces became 15. Within a week, he was standing for 1/4 of a tankful at a time, and changing from pulling my cuttings from the pile and rolling them away with his foot to lifting them and tossing them. He would come out in the morning, by himself, for 1-2 hours, and split first 10, then 20, then 30 pieces with a wedge and the back of the maul - tap, tap, tap.

When the second load came, he was standing for a full tank full. Some pieces were 16" through - at first he would catch this from the pile, pull it onto his thigh and walk it to or use a leg thrust to put it onto our pre-split pile. By the end of this load, he actually carried that same 16" piece in his arms over to me to split. And he was swinging the maul half the time, and using the tap tap tap on the wedge the other half of the time.

What an improvement this month of cutting was to my dad's health!

So he wants to do more. And my mom is thrilled with his recent recovery, so she's on board. Between my sister and I (next door), we have 12 acres of thick, young re-growth. Mostly fir, spruce, and a little pine (90%) and some maple and birdn (about 10%). Some of it is crowed thicket you can't walk through, with 2"-3" tree butts. So dad and I started this week, an hour a night, thinning, cleaning and harvesting a little at a time.

He's my motivator and my example and my encourager. He's not perfect, mind you, but he's my dad.

Thanks again for your thoughts towards our wood pile.

PS - no, he doesn't burn anymore. Nor my sister. He's just doing it for me. But he's doing it!

 

[quads]

Coming from a fellow hand-splitter; that's beautiful! And a great story too. Brings back memories of cutting wood with my dad. Thank you.

 

[maplewood]

Coming from a fellow hand-splitter; that's beautiful! And a great story too. Brings back memories of cutting wood with my dad. Thank you.

Thanks, Quads. I've enjoyed reading all your posts, too.

 

[PapaDave]

"Of course, I was very happy just to have him sit there and watch, and chat as I worked. "

That kind of thing too often is left unsaid. It's important.

 

[smokinj]

Thats a great story!

 

[LLigetfa]

Nice read.

I've had the same problems in the past to get logs and as a result had to burn less than ideal wood so I know how that feels. My situation is further complicated in that my yard and driveway is such that I can only take a large truck delivery in the Winter on frozen ground. A few years ago I had to buy a few cord of Elm from my neighbor in June after my grapple truck guy let me down. Not only did he beat up my yard and driveway but that was also same year burning which was miserable. This upcoming Winter will be the first in a while that I have enough wood from the year before to burn.

I envy how you have so many family members involved. I'm a one man show and it gets lonely. My father lived too far away and his health was too poor to travel and so he died without ever seeing my place except for photos I sent him. Anyway, enough about my sad story...

That looks like some nice wood but I wonder about why so much is left in the round. I can understand that hand splitting, one might tend to say "good enough" but if burning same year wood, split in half, they dry that much quicker. I guess an OWB isn't as fussy about dry wood. I have a friend with an OWB that burns same year Birch that just stays in 8 foot lengths in round with bark on it and he bucks it up just before he burns it. I find that Birch won't dry at all in log length and will rot. Birch, bucked and split, I find that 3 years is better than 2, and same year burning in my stove is an exercise in frustration.

 

[kbrown]

What a great set of posts. Just goes to show you that anyone can benefit from wood burning! Although I would love to own a splitter, I actually find it very theraputic to split by hand, gives me a good sense of accomplishment and reminds me that good hard work will always pay off! That doesn't say using a splitter is not hard work; been there, done that too. The hard work starts all the way back to just trying to find wood!

 

[kbrown]

Looks great! I can't imagine splitting that much by hand.

Agreed. Just how long does it take to split that much anyhow? Do you use only a maul or is there an arsenal of mauls, axes, wedges you use? Please share!

 

[rdust]

Awesome story about your dad!

My dad is 59 and when I cut he's almost always with me since I won't cut alone. I told him my plan was to keep him young! He questions my intent every once in a while if my goal is to keep him young or kill him! ;-) He was just told he has diabetes a couple months back so his diet has changed drastically and he started walking 2-4 miles a day. He said this year he's going to have to drag me around when we go cutting or hunting this year since I won't be able to keep up! lol

 

[maplewood]

Thanks again for your replies and posts.

PapaDave - You're right about the chats. One day when one of us is gone, they'll be the memories the other one will cherish.

LLigetfa - I know we are all encouraged to hear each others horror stories. We're not alone in this, although there's many hours of lonely work. I am very fortunate to have good storage area, access and hard gravel driveways. I have 5 kids, 11-19. They all helped a bit with the wood, but dad and I did most of it. I split about 90% of the wood - the most I've ever done. Only some of the wood 5" diameter or less was left unsplit. Knowing this wood was going to have less than ideal drying time, and from the threads I read here that said smaller was better for the gassifiers, I kept swinging the maul. (And my Enonoburn is an indoor gasser, not an OWB. Even my soon-to-be-gone Kerr TW-200 is indoors.)

heatit - I have two 6 pound mauls - one wood handle, one fibreglass. I have a simple wedge for the nasty pieces. If it won't go in 6-10 hits with the maul, I bring out the wedge. I'm stubborn enough when splitting to swing that many times before I start to give in. As for time, especially with my first load, the 12 cords, I spent more time splitting than cutting (there was a LOT of twisted grain in that load). I aimed for 1 tank full per night. About 3/4 cord. About 30 minutes of cutting, with dad throwing it out of my way, and then about 1.5 hours splitting. I usually took a kid or two to help stack. So the evenings were about 2.5 hours each, and Saturdays were about 4 hours. Dad and I almost laughed when splitting the second load - most pieces broke apart with the first hit. Yeah, I've used a splitter in the past, too. One load of mostly beech (20 cords) was a no-brainer to rent a super 2 way splitter for $75/24 hrs. We split about 14 cord with it from Friday night to Saturday noon. Some pieces turned 90 degrees over the 18" length!

Ratman - I think I'll be okay without trading some wood. I'm confident I'll get into the 20's before I put 8.5 cord into the basement (and 2 more in the garage), and with some de-humidifier time and the infloor heating, I'll have it dry. Next year will be better, with the extra time seasoning. And I've started on the third year already - a mix of fir, spruce, maple and white birch from my own property - the wood dad and I are thinning.

Ted69 - I didn't post for over a year after joining. Actually, it may have been 2 years. I enjoy reading, gleaning, learning, and laughing from the other posts. I know I'll never put on a pair of gloves left outside without beating and crushing them first, and I'll always brush off before relieving myself in the woods, even though there's no known black widows in my province!

My best friend thinks I'm nuts for all this work. He burns oil and propane - for about $2000/yr. My wood, even at $130/cord tree length, and even at 11 cord with my old boiler and Pacific Energy, only cost me about $1600 - plus my time. He thinks I could be doing other/better things with my time - like join him at the gym! (Let's all just laugh at that ironic statement. Other threads have dedicated themselves to that topic!)

Happy burning. (And as LLigetfa's tag line says, maybe that happiness is just a touch of insanity - but it's happy nontheless!)

 

[gzecc]

Maple, You really know how to make a guy feel inadequate. Man that is a lot of work!

 

[Bigg_Redd]

$1,600 for 12 cord. . . $133 per cord. . . I see that you are in Canadia. How much is $1600 in real money?

 

[BrotherBart]

$1,600 for 12 cord. . . $133 per cord. . . I see that you are in Canadia. How much is $1600 in real money?

$143.63 USD per cord.

 

[kbrown]

Looking at the pics and knowing all that was split by hand is quite inspiring Maplewood! I was just outside this afternoon finishing up some cherry I got from a CL post and boy were some of those twisted; but just as I was goin to give up I remembered your post and it really made me feel like a whimp! However, I think I may have to borrow a splitter again to handle the pear wood. Not a dent with the maul or the wedge. Fresh cut this past summer; maybe I will try it again this winter during a deep freeze.
Some would say that your time is worth more than the $400 or so difference between the cost of your wood and your friends yearly propane bill, but I like the fact that you have more than one year supply and his oil/propane bill will probably go up each year! In my book, just the memories you are creating for yourself and your kids are priceless. Spending the days cutting/splitting/stacking wood with the family are more memorable than "boy, I remember those day's where I would pull up a chair next to my Dad at the kitchen table, watch him take out his favorite pen, the sound of the click and way it would easily glide over the paper as he would write out that check to the gas company!" ;-P Yea right, that's what memories are made of!! :lol:

 

[Dix]

Nice job, on many, many levels

 

[Bobbin]

I am charmed. A very nice read, indeed!

I especially liked reading about your Dad. Mum is now dead but she lived here with us for 3 1/2 yrs. as her health and her mental acuity began to wane. It was very hard to watch but we accomodated her as best we could. And we kept her "busy" and doing "chores" until the end. I believe having a "job" is what keeps us humans vital and healthy. I have very, very fond memories of weeding a garden and having Mum working right along side me. She was in her late 70s at that time and she was fine crawling around but needed a hand to get back fully upright. We laughed about that. And we have some dandy photographs of her out and about in the yard.

It's nice that you have some photographs of your family activity. You're right, when your Dad is dead and gone you will see those photographs and you will remember what a nice time you had with your family getting in the wood. You do a lot of important talking over the simplest, most menial work.

Thanks for the lift today.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

$1,600 for 12 cord. . . $133 per cord. . . I see that you are in Canadia. How much is $1600 in real money?

$143.63 USD per cord.

The question was meant as a smart@$$y and jingoistic slight. Thanks for ruining it with a straight answer. We should take this act on the road. . . to Canadia!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Maplewood, this turned out to be a great thread. Lots of good posts, so maybe I should add my two cents worth.

First is congratulations on a job well done. And to top it all off, you also got to work with your family. Adding Dad into the picture really topped it off nicely. To hear about his progress after such a difficult time is great. You made me think about the time a few years back when I also was so weak after a long hospitalization. So I could relate to what your Dad was going through and fully understand his need to do it.

The splitting by hand is also something I can relate to. We (I had two boys; now they are men living a long ways from home) used to do most of the splitting with an axe. Hard stuff was done with a sledge and wedges. (Rather than one wedge, we used up to 3. That way, if one got stuck you could loosen it by using another wedge. Sometimes you can even drive two wedges together in the same spot to split the wood wider.) Yes, it is hard work, but it is also enjoyable work and now every time you pass that wood pile it will bring back memories.

It is true what Thoreau said about a man having pleasure looking at his wood pile!


To you fellas that say the work is lonely, I say fantastic! I do just about 100% of all the work alone now but still enjoy it. I've always enjoyed working alone more than working with people around (except family). Now that I work a lot slower, I'll cut for a bit and then sit on the atv to rest and those times, sitting there alone resting, especially on a beautiful winter day.....there is just something therapeutic about it.


btw maplewood, you said you would break out the wedges if the log didn't split within 6-10 hits. Wow! I'd give it 3-4 maximum!

 

[maplewood]

Hey. I'm enjoying your comments and stories.

LLigetfa - I finally figured out your comment about leaving wood in the round. I think you are referring to the wood closest to the camera in the last picture. It was an afterthought. A 14" fir tree fell down this summer near my piles, so we bucked it up and tossed the 3 dozen pieces on the end of my nice hardwood rank. That's the rounds you see. It has since been split, and blends in much nicer.

Bigg_Redd and BrotherBart - $130/cord Canadian converts to $120 US. And I won't comment much on the "real money" joke here: the Ash Can is the place to vent on how an 11.4 trillion dollar national debt makes greenbacks more like monopoly money!

heatit - don't think too highly of me for splitting by hand. Once, when dad was sitting on a chunk watching me split part of this load, he said, "You're like a steam engine". Wow, I thought. That's a rare compliment from my dad! "You mean I'm powerful and tireless" I asked? "No, you're huffing and puffing and sweating - sit down before you have a heart attack." And as for my heating costs compared to my friend, I'll add 3 more things in my favour: his house is 2/3rds the size of mine, I have a 22' cathedral ceiling in my 24'x24' living room, and I have two more kids than he does (I pre-heat my DHW with the boiler). I'm saving a lot more than $400. But you are right - either way it's the memories.

Bobbin - 100% - we need to work. Dad retired at age 46, due to smart management and humble requirements. But he didn't stop "working" until his health took a nose dive a few years ago. And now it's that old work ethic that is bringing him back to a measure of health that surprises his doctors. Glad you have pics of your mum.

Backwoods Savage - dad has learned to pace himself, too. I think it's a double blessing - it keeps him at his work safely and healthily, and I think he actually appreciates the work done at multiple stages of completion now, where before he plowed right through to the end and only appreciated it when it was all done. You're absolutely right that this has become a good thread. I've enjoyed the positive vibes both going out and coming back.

Hopefully my next topic will be just as enjoyable. Next weekend I start the removal of my old boiler, and start the install of the new Econoburn. I'll keep track of things with pics, and post the results in about a month or two.
Happy burning!

 

[LLigetfa]

Once, when dad was sitting on a chunk watching me split part of this load, he said, "You're like a steam engine". Wow, I thought. That's a rare compliment from my dad! "You mean I'm powerful and tireless" I asked? "No, you're huffing and puffing and sweating - sit down before you have a heart attack."

LOL When I working construction, an old carpenter commented, "WOW, like lightning!". "That fast" I said, beaming with pride. "No" he said, "never hits the same place twice, do you want a cast iron frying pan?".