How'd it go today?

[BlackSmith]

The jewelweed around our place likes it damp and shady.

 

[lxskllr]

That's why I was thinking north side of the house. That part of the yard stays fairly wet, and only gets indirect sun if I keep them close to the house.

 

[treebilly]

why do you stacks rounds before you split, seem like a lot of extra work

I do it to make the splitting go easier plus I need the room. This way it keeps my mini in the not so nice part of the yard. I kinda got way behind so I’m hemmed up if I don’t do it this way. Also once I put the splitter in place I can go down in the evenings or early morning to split. Not that my neighbors complain but I don’t feel right firing up a chainsaw at 7 am on a Sunday. Splitter is quiet. But yeah, you’re right. It seems like a lot of extra work. Hoping to knock out a good amount of splitting when (or if ) the ground freezes.

 

[cory]

Good on ya for thinking about neighbors. I'm the same way, I hand split and that is kinda loud too, just different

What kind of splitter do ya have

 

[No_Bivy]

i do similar...cut everything so I can chip at with splitter when I feel like it. Wish I had a mulch bucket to scoop more rounds at once

 

[flushcut]

I’ve been processing wood much the same way. Logs come back to the shop and get decked up until some down time. Then they get split length ways with the atom splitter, sawn into chunks, and stacked for splitting into totes. The wood wall does double duty, it helps dry it out and acts as a snow fence. I’ll get a pic tomorrow.

 

[treebilly]

Good on ya for thinking about neighbors. I'm the same way, I hand split and that is kinda loud too, just different

What kind of splitter do ya have

I use a tw-6 and the TM splitter. The TM is what I use to make them manageable and the Timberwolf for the finish. Jason bought the TW-6 a few years ago while I was out of town. Found a deal and jumped on it. The log lift is great and it’s a nice machine. The working height sucks though. A few other minor complaints but that is my biggest issue with it. I’m hoping to try out an eastonmade 22-28 with the box wedge this Saturday. If it lives up to the hype I might order one. It’ll be over a year till I’d receive it though

 

[cory]

I think Brendan V stacks up lengths approx 10' long, then splits them with the screw splitter on mini excavator, then saws the split, seasoned lengths to approx 3 or 4 feet for the outdoor boiler.

Crazy efficient.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Yeah, he busted up some nice white oak for the owb last year. He must have plenty of it down there.

 

[cory]

No doubt. I saw a lot of locust in his pile too

 

[Tree09]

If it's too short crib it up to what you need, it'll be more stable than if on tires. I've even seen people weld trailer jacks on so you can lift different stuff.

You guys must have huge stoves, I'm jealous. I can't believe I'm typing this, but i may be a convert to hand splitting. Now hear me out, my insert is kinda different, you open the big door in the front to load, so long round logs have a tendency to roll out, especially as the ash builds up a bit. So just for giggles i tried cutting the logs to the smallest dimension of the stove, around 7 to 8 inches for the height. As I'm doing this i feel dumb because I'm running a saw and not smashing boulders apart. But then i realize I'm not muscling them around either, and maybe running a saw is easier than any form of splitting short of automatic processors. So I'm left with these cookies, and it's easy to just let it flop on the ground and since it's so short, it shows minimal resistance to my monster maul thing i somehow have. The handle is too short to comfortably use for stuff on the ground (it's made of pipe ) and it would be nice to have the longer length to hit even harder, so I'll likely do that someday.

Anyways by doing this, now stuff that needed to be split before, like up to 8 inch stuff, now is simply done and ready for the fire. Same with the splits, you can quickly and easily knock the logs down to an exact size to maximize loads. With my wierd loading stove these are very easy to load, I'll simply shove the coals to the middle and cram a big block log on each side, which helps the large logs that are hard to start to get going. No logs rolling out, last longer thru the night, but the best part is that you never touch them til they are small, and you could just scoup them up with a machine just as easy making it no touch at all. I'm sure i made more faster with my buddies splitter, but this was surprisingly effective with what is honestly little effort. Thx @Nutball for sharing this method, i didn't get it at first but for my little stove this is more than fine for me for now.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Is it bad when your house is so cold your soda is freezing inside the refrigerator?

 

[stikine]

Is it bad when your house is so cold your soda is freezing inside the refrigerator?

Well, don't really care about the soda, but if the beer freezes that's a whole nother issue.

 

[SeanKroll]

You can stack 2 or 3 on the splitter as well.
My gf's stove takes 10" OK. 12" definitely maxed, exactly sideways.

Sometimes easier to swing a maul and leave them on the ground. Or at least faster.

 

[flushcut]

Pic it’s about 150’ long
We’ll move the splitter down the line and leave full baskets in our wake lined up the same way. Full sun lots of wind.

 

[Tree09]

I assume you guys are selling firewood dealing with that much stuff?

 

[treebilly]

I haven’t sold in quite a few years but I might restart. It depends on how it goes splitting this winter. The totes are making it easier with less handling though.

 

[cory]

"Full sun and lots of wind" dat stuff 'll dry in 6 months!

 

[Jonny]

Back to work at Uncle DuPont’s Funny Farm. The nice thing about this shift is I can use a week of vacation and if I time it right it equals 12 days off. It was pretty depressing pulling into the parking lot this morning though, I forgot how it smells here. New year, so I got a shitload of vacation burning a hole in my pocket. Must think about summertime.

 

[SeanKroll]

I haven’t sold in quite a few years but I might restart. It depends on how it goes splitting this winter. The totes are making it easier with less handling though.

Are you still doing your own tree work on weekends?


I may look into the IBC totes for personal use.

 

[flushcut]

I assume you guys are selling firewood dealing with that much stuff?

I stopped selling firewood a few years ago and don’t regret it. No time for short money. All that wood is going thru the wood stove, my fire place at home, and our burn ring on the patio. We keep a few wood boiler guys fat and happy. Since this is the first real year at the shop I am predicting 20 baskets burned. Nine burned so far maybe a face cord shy of three cords.

 

[flushcut]

I may look into the IBC totes for personal use.

You will not regret it.

 

[lxskllr]

Today was a muddy mess. Laidout stormwater management and road today. Weather was pleasant. About 32°, sunny, and not a lot of wind. Got home, and found this in my mailbox...





Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it's ZOMG! good. Restrained sweetness, and excellent flavor. It's got all the right flavors a jul cake should have, without going over the top like most of them do. 10/10

Thanks Brian! @BeerGeek

 

[cory]

Haha! I saw the pic and said to myself that it looks like the nut bread Brian gave to me!

It was good, indeed.

 

[treesmith]

We finished ours this morning, John. Great with a cup of coffee early in the morning!