Running the saw and splitting wood is a therapeutic activity I thoroughly enjoy.

[Itslay90]

Who feels the same ! ?

 

[Dieselhead]

It’s a love-hate relationship on this end. It could be worse…If I bought electricity, propane or the wood!

 

[all night moe]

I enjoy it.....as long as I'm not married to it.

 

[GG Woody]

I enjoy almost everything about it. The rewards are huge, so much better than a gym pass, and sets a good example for the kids as well.
I don't love cleaning the stoves or the chimneys, but it's not a huge task.

 

[marty319]

I love it,I'm 1 plus cords into my 3 cord harvest.i can sure feel it now as I get older.

 

[pmsfarmer]

I concur...it is awesome exercise. No gym. No fees. Flexible. Includes strength training. I'm 74, hoping for 85.

 

[PaulOinMA]

I also enjoy it. Fun swinging a maul.

That last small tree I cut isn't splitting. Will let it dry and wait until it freezes to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Woody5506]

Going into my 10th year I think I still love it but I've certainly changed my ways over the years. No longer really scrounging wood off CL or fb but rather just call up a neighbor down the road with a tree biz who drops log loads at the driveway for free. Sometimes it can be more work to get rid of scrap, cut offs, wonky knotty stuff etc but way easier on me physically than loading over 3 cords a season into my truck from various houses.

I also find i'm less anxious to get the burning season going. Once I'm in the swing of it I'm fine, but by May I'm tired of shoulder season, and constantly starting the stove from cold. Last year we burned from October to early June here in upstate NY which I see you're from too @Itslay90 . With having such a long shoulder season I keep wondering if maybe a Blaze King should be in order for our next house when we move sometime in the somewhat near future.

Sorry for a rant. Long story short yes I still love it, mostly.

 

[bholler]

As someone who does a physical job all day long i really dont have much desire to do it when I get home

 

[Itslay90]

Going into my 10th year I think I still love it but I've certainly changed my ways over the years. No longer really scrounging wood off CL or fb but rather just call up a neighbor down the road with a tree biz who drops log loads at the driveway for free. Sometimes it can be more work to get rid of scrap, cut offs, wonky knotty stuff etc but way easier on me physically than loading over 3 cords a season into my truck from various houses.

I also find i'm less anxious to get the burning season going. Once I'm in the swing of it I'm fine, but by May I'm tired of shoulder season, and constantly starting the stove from cold. Last year we burned from October to early June here in upstate NY which I see you're from too @Itslay90 . With having such a long shoulder season I keep wondering if maybe a Blaze King should be in order for our next house when we move sometime in the somewhat near future.

Sorry for a rant. Long story short yes I still love it, mostly.

Yes, that’s good. I love it as well, and I know what you mean. It’s in the 50’s right now.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I agree 100%. I have always enjoyed cutting down trees and running the saw. Splitting with an axe, and making piles.
I love wood burning stoves. Here is a pic of a wood shed I saw last week on vacation. Love every thing about it. Most of my
wood work took place when I was younger, although I did get a new saw running this spring and cut up some maple. In the
city now, and opted to get a pellet stove for the basement.

 

[Woody5506]

Yes, that’s good. I love it as well, and I know what you mean. It’s in the 50’s right now.

yup and into the 40s at night. I'm still holding out on a fire though, as the days have still been pretty warm here like upper 70s low 80s. By October I get tired of the chilly house though and will do one fire at night.

 

[Itslay90]

yup and into the 40s at night. I'm still holding out on a fire though, as the days have still been pretty warm here like upper 70s low 80s. By October I get tired of the chilly house though and will do one fire at night.

Nice, I usually wait till my house is 50-55 degrees

 

[djlew]

I realized that as long as it's a leisure hobby for me and not required for me to heat my house I enjoy it. I spent last burning season struggling to get ahead and it almost ruined the hobby for me but now that I have other means of heat, it's one of my favorite hobbies. Collecting, splitting stacking, at my own leisure is the best part about it. After last year, if I had to continue that way, I'd just buy wood.

 

[Woody5506]

I realized that as long as it's a leisure hobby for me and not required for me to heat my house I enjoy it. I spent last burning season struggling to get ahead and it almost ruined the hobby for me but now that I have other means of heat, it's one of my favorite hobbies. Collecting, splitting stacking, at my own leisure is the best part about it. After last year, if I had to continue that way, I'd just buy wood.

You just have to get over the initial hump of wood hoarding. For me that meant the first couple years were a bit tough but luckily it was before I had kids so I actually had time to scrounge and put up 3 years worth of wood. Although that took longer than a couple seasons to accomplish. But once you get your supply set, and just replace what you burned each season it's not so bad. In my case I split and stack throughout winter which here winter lasts forever. Splitting and stacking 10-12 face cords (as we call them here in NY) or 3.5-4 cords throughout a winter isn't too bad. Well, unless there's 2 feet of snow on the ground. Then it is pretty bad. My goal typically is have it all split and stacked by late May.

My co worker is a new wood stove user and he's learning the hard way that you can't make excuses of "not having time" when it comes to processing wood. I tell him you better make time for it, it becomes a lifestyle, and when you think you have enough wood, go ahead and triple that and keep going. He will be getting a brand new stove though soon, and although he will likely go through less wood, he will find how important DRY wood is.

 

[djlew]

You just have to get over the initial hump of wood hoarding. For me that meant the first couple years were a bit tough but luckily it was before I had kids so I actually had time to scrounge and put up 3 years worth of wood. Although that took longer than a couple seasons to accomplish. But once you get your supply set, and just replace what you burned each season it's not so bad. In my case I split and stack throughout winter which here winter lasts forever. Splitting and stacking 10-12 face cords (as we call them here in NY) or 3.5-4 cords throughout a winter isn't too bad. Well, unless there's 2 feet of snow on the ground. Then it is pretty bad. My goal typically is have it all split and stacked by late May.

My co worker is a new wood stove user and he's learning the hard way that you can't make excuses of "not having time" when it comes to processing wood. I tell him you better make time for it, it becomes a lifestyle, and when you think you have enough wood, go ahead and triple that and keep going. He will be getting a brand new stove though soon, and although he will likely go through less wood, he will find how important DRY wood is.

I finally feel like getting the stove back to being supplemental/hobby is what makes it so much more fun for me. I agree with you though, once you are ahead, you have that luxury of being leisurely with processing and has the same effect. Now that I am burning less wood I finally have that "get ahead" pile and find some good stuff on the side of the road and process it whenever I want. I'm in a good spot, I have my '26 pile that could last me a bit into '27. I have rounds I need to process for '27 and '28, and that's just what's in the shed! It's also less stressful for me to start a fire when I want to and not when I have to. That is going to be a huge relief for me going into this season.

Yup, to empathize with your coworker it was the worst having to process THAT DAY's wood if you didn't do it prior, or if that wood is wet, and even worse if you have to buy a cord mid season and you get the stuff that's been piled uncovered and split 3 months prior. I do not miss those days. Lots of folks don't realize it until their stove is installed and it's the start of the burn season that they should've spent that previous few months getting a good plan together for a wood pile!

 

[Whitenuckler]

I realized that as long as it's a leisure hobby for me and not required for me to heat my house I enjoy it. I spent last burning season struggling to get ahead and it almost ruined the hobby for me but now that I have other means of heat, it's one of my favorite hobbies. Collecting, splitting stacking, at my own leisure is the best part about it. After last year, if I had to continue that way, I'd just buy wood.

I know what you mean. I had a house that had electric heating once. It had a wood stove with a masonry chimney. I order to save money I started burning lots of wood. Soon I ran out of good wood, and bought some poplar from a guy. I was not thinking properly re burning crap wood and I believe that eventually lead to a blockage and chimney fire. After that I bought a tandem load of hardwood logs and a new saw. I always felt under pressure to burn and save money. At that stage it was no longer enjoyable. You need a nice steady large supply with a year ahead of seasoned wood. That is of the things I like about my pellet stove. The only stress is ordering pellets and having them delivered each year.