Work Done 2023

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More progress on the storage area yesterday. Just in time for a log delivery! Was going to start bucking today but it's going to rain.

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I had more trail and area cleanup that needed doing before winter hits so today most of it got done, it wasn't raining when I started but that changed after clearing a walking trail of a dead pine, that was my first stop so I was soaked when I came in.

I usually split the rounds and then burn it in the outside fireplace but with the possibility of getting a good amount of snow, all the rounds and branches were dumped on the pile in picture 4294.

Picture 4293 was a small dead pine that was out in a walking trail and the other pictures are of areas I cleaned up today.

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On 10 - 15 - 23, I was getting rid of my last trailer load of pine on the pile in picture 4096 when I noticed something running from the woods to our driveway, up the big old pine the bear went. The bear was about 75 yards north of me so once the bear started heading up the tree I looked in the direction it came from, there was nothing so I finished unloading and then called it a day.

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Had a good old fashioned tree cutting party this weekend. Cut down a bunch of dead oaks for a recently widowed neighbor of a friend. Got 6 loads cut and delivered to fellow burners in the neighborhood. Took one home at the end of the day Sunday.
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Since we didn't get much snow overnight or this morning, I planned on getting some work done outside until they took the warning off, that's when it started snowing pretty good.

I decided I would make more spaghetti sauce for some meals we'll have before or even after Christmas, that's 252 ounces I've made recently, 84 of that will go to a neighbor.
 
About the only thing I did today was bring the Christmas gifts down to our neighbor, pumpkin bread, spaghetti sauce, chocolate roll and a face cord of Ironwood that will be ready for next year that will go down in the fall of 2024.
 
Took delivery yesterday of wood cut on a construction site by a tree service. Paid them $75 / cord for the effort of loading it up and bringing it here. Two more loads coming tomorrow, and more next week.

It's starting to pile up. I've got around 5 or 6 cords here to split and store, plus a similar amount to collect, and there's a custom mill about 10 minutes from me that has 6 to 8 cords of clean, dry(-ish) decent-thickness slab wood that they are asking me to buy for $20/cord. Gotta pick up the pace splitting and storing.

Some kinds of problems are more troublesome than other kinds. I look at this kind and think "inexpensive comfortable heat, plus a lot of exercise". :)

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Nice.
Hope you have enough fuel/wood for this heating season😉. Aside from this pile😳
 
Nice.
Hope you have enough fuel/wood for this heating season😉. Aside from this pile😳
This is my first year with this stove, so I'm not certain what my usage/year is. I've got one-and-a-half 10x20x8 open-sided Costco canopies full of wood that's been stored for around 4 years. Should be enough for this year and maybe the beginning of next year. I'm looking to 2024/25 and 25/26.

It's all PNW softwoods, though, so it gets used up quicker than those Eastern hardwoods that I keep reading about. :)
 
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Took delivery yesterday of wood cut on a construction site by a tree service. Paid them $75 / cord for the effort of loading it up and bringing it here. Two more loads coming tomorrow, and more next week.

It's starting to pile up. I've got around 5 or 6 cords here to split and store, plus a similar amount to collect, and there's a custom mill about 10 minutes from me that has 6 to 8 cords of clean, dry(-ish) decent-thickness slab wood that they are asking me to buy for $20/cord. Gotta pick up the pace splitting and storing.

Some kinds of problems are more troublesome than other kinds. I look at this kind and think "inexpensive comfortable heat, plus a lot of exercise". :)

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"Plus a lot of exercise" lol yeah no doubt.

We bought forested land on the side of a mountain and cleared for our place. I need to get a buggy to get down into the woods to haul wood out.

Exercise this week. 2 easy days cutting downed red oak and pine. Today was the "exercise" day. How do you get wood out of the woods without a buggy of some sort? You throw it lol. Up the hill and repeat as needed until you get to the driveway. I threw probably 30' of 12"-15" trunk up the hill, 3 jumps till it hit the edge of the driveway. Golf cart up the drive to the splitter.

Stove is toasty though, makes it satisfying in an immediate gratification way.
 
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You are set for this year then. Perfect. Keep looking ahead with wood processing. Do not think about this “hardwood vs softwood” crap. All irrelevant😉
 
Do not think about this “hardwood vs softwood” crap. All irrelevant😉
The species and hardwood/software category are somewhat relevant when it comes to planning how many cords I might need in the future compared the type and number of cords I've used in the past. Could be relevant if I have a choice between the effort of processing or storing different species of wood. Other than that, I'll use anything that will burn.

Having access to the more-efficient-per-volume hardwoods is pretty rare in the PNW, so the issue almost never comes up anyway.
 
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We’re into an area with some ash today ! A little smaller cottonwoods and a few poplar left but mostly ash. Can’t argue about that !
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I cobbled a 3/4 wrap from an 044 on my little 026 and is has quickly become the handiest saw ever ! This ash was almost too big for the little 16” bar !
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Mow ‘em down and load ‘em up !
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Two smaller loads today. We had to shut down from 12-330 as my littles had their Christmas program at school today. Twas fun as always lol
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Got the oak bucked and stacked, waiting for an empty shed to call its home for 3 years.
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Then it was unseasonably warm, so decided to have a fire and some barley pops.
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I saw one of those YouTube logger guys sticking wedges in the logs so it didn’t pinch his saw and thought I’d give it a shot. This works awesome !!
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Santa brought me an early Christmas gift with a 32” Sugi light bar and a pair of square ground full chisel skip chains. It’s bonkers how fast this setup cuts !! I’m going to have to dive down the square ground rabbit hole now it seems 😎
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We put in three loads of pine today before the heavy rains start tomorrow night. I stacked more chitty pine today that I'll finish tomorrow and that will give us 6 cord up for next year.

We still have 7 face cord of pine left for this heating season, hopefully we have some left.

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Today I decided to clean the inside and outside pipe on the wood stove with the SootEater, about four inches of soot that would cover the bottom of a one pound coffee can came out. That's more than usual but the dead pine we're burning is 6 to 8 months stacked.

It was all fluffy ash but we do use the Anti - Creo - Soot spray.
 
My work for today was making a pie for the wife, I had promised her a few weeks ago that I would do it under her watchful eye. We'll let it setup in the fridge overnight and then have some tomorrow.

The pie crust is store bought and I should've left it in for another two minutes. In picture 0921, you fold the whipped cream in the custard.

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