Work Done In 2026

[Turbo89]

Fixed my chinesium saw and went to get the rest of that ash, which was a little less than a truck load. Not too bad for some free wood, that left piece near the tailgate gives some scale, that’s Half of the bottom slice of the tree.

 

[bigealta]

Had this red oak taken down by the tree guys, it’s the third or fourth big oak that’s died from either Oak Will or some other oak disease. It died within a few months after it flushed out in the spring and was dead before Midsomer. It’s been standing dead for a year. Was too close to the house for me to mess with.

 

[bigealta]

I’m using the CRV too. Got about a cord or so. I transported to my house, re cut, split and stacked. A little bit of a problem was the tree guys cut it all up into random sizes I would’ve much preferred them to just leave it and let me cut it, but they came a week early and I didn’t know until they were already done with the job. They also were supposed to put it up by my driveway, not drop it and leave it kind of down the hill, which was a big PITA..

Oh yeah and you can see in pic 1 that they also dropped a big limb on my 8x8 patio borders which knocked a few rows of pavers loose. This tree guy worked here years ago and did a great job. I know him, he's been in business for probably 40 years at least. Guess he sent the B team crew to do this hack job.

 

[djlew]

It felt good to finally get the fiskars maul, chainsaw, and splitter out after battling some lower back pain. The pain is still there, but I am learning to stop and not push it... it helps! A good motivator was knowing that if I don't get to splitting soon, the fires are going to be lackluster this coming season. I probably got a third of a cord split and stacked over the weekend. Slowly but surely...

 

[bigealta]

It felt good to finally get the fiskars maul, chainsaw, and splitter out after battling some lower back pain. The pain is still there, but I am learning to stop and not push it... it helps! A good motivator was knowing that if I don't get to splitting soon, the fires are going to be lackluster this coming season. I probably got a third of a cord split and stacked over the weekend. Slowly but surely...

It sounds crazy but hand splitting actually helps my lower back. I use a very light maul with curved wood handle (basically an Axe handle). It's easy to swing and you can whip it around fast if you want to swing hard. The heavy mauls don't work for me.

Also i try to not bend over to stand up splits that need to be resplit. Use feet to prop them up. Split right on the ground rather than picking up and putting on blocks or stumps.

 

[djlew]

It sounds crazy but hand splitting actually helps my lower back. I use a very light maul with curved wood handle (basically an Axe handle). It's easy to swing and you can whip it around fast if you want to swing hard. The heavy mauls don't work for me.

Also i try to not bend over to stand up splits that need to be resplit. Use feet to prop them up. Split right on the ground rather than picking up and putting on blocks or stumps.

Funny enough, I noticed that it felt like a really good stretch while splitting. I went to PT briefly, and learned some good techniques like the "golfer's lift" for stuff like picking up the splits. Also... not overdoing it helps a ton! lol

 

[bigealta]

I did not know the golfers lift move, but i do almost always use the maul as a support when picking up splits to stack or toss in my SUV. Gonna try adding the leg lift part now too. Thanks

 

[Turbo89]

A neighbor had a big ash tree dropped, i talked to the tree guy and he dropped it right by my wood pile, probably 1.5-2cords worth. I guess I’ll be burning a lot of ash next year, lol.

 

[weee123]

Moved some firepit wood over to the rack with the 8n over the weekend.

 

[NickW]

Last week I scored some oak and red pine from a friend. Obviously way more interested in the oak, but I had plenty of room for the pine in the truck and trailer so I got it out of his way. Trailer is oak with a couple of pieces of pine on top, truck is all pine. Figuring about 3/8 cord oak and 5/8 cord pine. We'll see what the yield really is when I get to css it. Got it unloaded and stacked on pallets.

Red pine according to the BTU charts is way better than white pine or fir and I have a stack to burn this winter to test it out mixed with aspen & black ash.

 

[Turbo89]

busy day in the wood yard, I split all of that big ash I got, less the one piece those few big chunks sitting beside the splitter. Easily 1-1/2 cords worth (on the other side of the splitter in this pic). I then stacked some rounds by the splitter, and then cut all of the limb wood with my chop saw. This was a big ash tree I got from the neihbor. Lots of littles, so I guess I’ll have no shortage of kindling this season.

 

[Toasty-Yote]

It felt good to finally get the fiskars maul, chainsaw, and splitter out after battling some lower back pain. The pain is still there, but I am learning to stop and not push it... it helps! A good motivator was knowing that if I don't get to splitting soon, the fires are going to be lackluster this coming season. I probably got a third of a cord split and stacked over the weekend. Slowly but surely...

Same here. During the early stages of COVID when I was barely active my spine recovered from Brazilian Jiu Jistu but every other joint in my body got more painful from the lack of activity. Keeping it moving is the best way to keep pain at bay in my experience.

 

[Toasty-Yote]

busy day in the wood yard, I split all of that big ash I got, less the one piece those few big chunks sitting beside the splitter. Easily 1-1/2 cords worth (on the other side of the splitter in this pic). I then stacked some rounds by the splitter, and then cut all of the limb wood with my chop saw. This was a big ash tree I got from the neihbor. Lots of littles, so I guess I’ll have no shortage of kindling this season.

View attachment 348627

Sounds like a fun day. I love using a mitre saw on the smaller stuff. Never have to sharpen and it goes really fast. You just have to make sure you cut in a way that won't bind.

 

[Toasty-Yote]

A neighbor had a big ash tree dropped, i talked to the tree guy and he dropped it right by my wood pile, probably 1.5-2cords worth. I guess I’ll be burning a lot of ash next year, lol.

I feel like most people that gather their own firewood on the east coast will be burning a lot of ash for the next ten years or so until the bulk of it dies off.

 

[Turbo89]

I feel like most people that gather their own firewood on the east coast will be burning a lot of ash for the next ten years or so until the bulk of it dies off.

Agreed. My area I littered with dead ash trees, in fact I have 4 I should take care of, and probably will this fall.

 

[NickW]

Shoulders deep in the little old Bobcat...

 

[thewoodlands]

Since our older tarps were getting leaky, we bought a roll of 6 mil black plastic, we would've bought 9 mil but they didn't have any. Today we cut the new plastic down to a certain width & length and put that on the stacks. We have 23 face cord of hardwood covered, we won't need that much this year but it's covered.

 

[thewoodlands]

Even though some of the older tarps seemed good, I covered almost 8 face cord of wood yesterday with the new 6 mil plastic. 2 face were hardwood and almost 6 was shoulder season wood, the old tarps went back over the new. I have 4 new plastic tarps left, they won't be five feet wide but they'll still cover the top of 4 more face cord.

After I did the above, I mowed the yard which was good since we have another rainy day.

 

[Turbo89]

One of my tree guys came through with a full trailer and tree truck of oak. 2nd load in the last few weeks. I bucked a few logs that rolled away from the pile after work, but there has to be more than 3 cords here. That front log is 32” across, the lower half of the tree is on the other side of the stack, it measures 44” across.

I guess I need to button up my chinesium saw port job, so I can pull out the 30” bar soon. I may cut a few slabs off and make some coffee tables.

 

[MRD1985]

Would be nice if I could find a tree company to do that for me..

 

[Turbo89]

Would be nice if I could find a tree company to do that for me..

It took a few years to build some relationships, but they’ve been panning out. I helped this guy when a worker called out last fall for half a day, and he’s taken care of me quite a few times since. The other guys I connected with through chip drop, cost me $20 to make the connections but both have since dropped loads of wood.

 

[MRD1985]

It took a few years to build some relationships, but they’ve been panning out. I helped this guy when a worker called out last fall for half a day, and he’s taken care of me quite a few times since. The other guys I connected with through chip drop, cost me $20 to make the connections but both have since dropped loads of wood.

Been trying for a few years now. No luck finding anyone to drop free wood. Everyone wants money around here

 

[John Lehet]

Built this shed this summer, for green wood to be a year ahead. In late June this was bare ground. Photo from a few weeks ago. I’ve done a bit more work on the shed and have put a lot more wood in it since then, but unfortunately most of the new wood is pine from some big rounds that were last on my splitting and stacking list.
I spent a whole lot of time thinking about the siting, and this was the best I could do close to the house. There’s lots of room far away, but my Kubota BX bucket is small, and those tractor trips really add up. It’s quite close to the dry-wood shed, but that ground is not passable for a long period between freeze and early summer. Water runs on that ground in front of this shed all through spring. Because it’s backed into a rising slope, the front is high (even though I cut into the slope quite a bit with my tractor). I load the front with the tractor bucket. This shed would suck if I didn’t have a tractor with bucket.

 

[MRD1985]

Built this shed this summer, for green wood to be a year ahead. In late June this was bare ground. Photo from a few weeks ago. I’ve done a bit more work on the shed and have put a lot more wood in it since then, but unfortunately most of the new wood is pine from some big rounds that were last on my splitting and stacking list.
I spent a whole lot of time thinking about the siting, and this was the best I could do close to the house. There’s lots of room far away, but my Kubota BX bucket is small, and those tractor trips really add up. It’s quite close to the dry-wood shed, but that ground is not passable for a long period between freeze and early summer. Water runs on that ground in front of this shed all through spring. Because it’s backed into a rising slope, the front is high (even though I cut into the slope quite a bit with my tractor). I load the front with the tractor bucket. This shed would suck if I didn’t have a tractor with bucket.

I’be been thinking about building something similar, but much larger. Too many other priorities financially right now to even seriously consider it though.

 

[Dieselhead]

I picked up a 1 Y/O BK princess back at the end of winter. Slowly been working on the basement install. Hearth is done, next will be to punch the pipe through the wall and up the side of the house. It will be getting a wood chase to conceal and help keep the flue temp warm. The new chase will tie into an existing wooden chase that currently only penetrates the roof (it serves the BK King’s flue pipe). The portion from the roof up will be stone veneer and the chase up the side of the house to the soffit will be cedar shake. Busy end of summer/fall for me. Also for the first time it will be a nice warm 100% wood heat winter!