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Serving my addiction...

Started by mrcaptainbob, May 09, 2011, 11:14:17 PM

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mrcaptainbob

I have a bit over five and a half months of winter wood split and stacked so far. I'm culling the storm damage from a neighbor's farm area. Through his good graces we get a lot of heat. I do have to admit, this wood cutting business and splitting it is (has!) addicting! It's getting to be chore to get back to the house!

doctorb

I know where you are coming from.  If you wish to come over and cut, split and stack some of mine I'd be glad to help continue your dependent behavior. :D

I, too, am almost done for next winter and some of the next.  Still have about 3 cords to get into the shed.  Last summer I didn't finish before August, and I don't think I had as high quality fuel as I would have liked.  It burned fine, but could have been better.  This year, with my upcoming total hip, I was determined to put up all of next winter's wood (50% will be 2 years dried by then, 50% one year), plus about 5 cords for the following year up by June.
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

Al_Smith

 I suppose I have maybe 3 years ahead .The oak is no problem but some of the lesser stuff doesn't hold up to weather real well so that has to taken into account when you burn it .

It's good exercise no doubt about that .However if you get a little long in the tooth the novelty of swinging  an axe to split it soon becomes less enticing .That's why they make hydraulic splitters I imagine .Then again nobody said you have to get it all done in one day either .

Tom

That's why God made a tomorrow, so you don't have to do everything in a day.  :)

Al_Smith

 :D Oh it's one thing if you are selling the stuff and another if you just burn it and have a zillon cords already to go .

I suppose there  might be 4-5 cords in the oak pile .I'll get a-round -tu -it someday or several days .

Now the ash is a horse of a different color .With that damned green bug there's at least a half dozen 100 footers dead as a door nail .Most will be salvaged for lumber but there's still tons of firewood in the lesser quality stuff .Killed every danged ash tree on the place . :(

mrcaptainbob

Gees...two and three years ahead??? Not sure if I have the room to store THAT much! This 5.5 months of wood is 10x6x30 foot long. 130 feet for two years and almost two hundred feet for three????

DaveP

doctorb,
     Good luck with the new hip.  I had mine done last summer and was back in the woods on light duty in two weeks.  I do use a splitter, though.

doctorb

Dave-

Already have one on the right.  Going for a matching pair!  I, too, did well after my first one.  I was walking 4 miles a day three weeks after the surgery. 
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

Dean186

Quote from: mrcaptainbob on May 11, 2011, 11:28:53 PM
Gees...two and three years ahead??? Not sure if I have the room to store THAT much! This 5.5 months of wood is 10x6x30 foot long. 130 feet for two years and almost two hundred feet for three????

mrcaptainbob, 

That is a lot of wood.  My calculations for 10x6x30 are 14 cords.    It is a little easier for me burning 7-8 cords a year to get 3 years worth stored.

I will be shutting my stove down in a week or so and I have about 18 cords left.  Which means I need to gather about 6 cords this year.  Last year I cut and blocked about 20 cords and split 15 cords.  You are right about it becoming addicting.  It was hard to get started, but then I found it hard to stop.  There is another downed tree, let me get it blocked and loaded, I would tell myself.

mrcaptainbob

I need to continue the house improvements, paying special attention to insulation and especially air leaks. It's been a chore with this 145+ year old house. Much headway was made last year and I hope to continue it this summer with double the results. That will help cut back on the wood consumption and add to the general comfy feeling. I would like to keep getting ahead of the stack/seasons, though.

Al_Smith

Geeze that old house must be like heating a barn using that much wood .

I only burn 4 to 5 cords on the average year myself .It really isn't that big of a deal to store 15-20 cords .Placed on pallets maybe 3 wide and 24-30 feet long .No problem with 5-7 cords per stack covered with a blue tarp during winter .

mrcaptainbob

Comparing it to heating an old barn is pretty accurate. My wife could not place candles on the library counter as the breeze in that area flicked the flame out! As an aside, barbed wire was used in the basement at one point to hold up a water pipe. Found a few electrical 'issues' involving lots of black tape around a a branch wire on another circuit where the insulation was scraped back and the new wire merely wrapped. And this was in a wall about six inches from an outlet box. So heating issues sort of took a back seat priority-wise. Much, much progress has been made. The heat loss has now been cut by a bit over 50%, if you can believe that!

Al_Smith

I suppose barbed wire could be in use in leau of baling wire if that's all they had .

That knotted tap joint was standard operating practices back in the days of knob and tube wiring .

All I can say is just be thankfull you aren't cutting wood with the methods used when that house was built .

mrcaptainbob

Good point, Al. Never thought of it that way. The problem with those problems is they existed on the 40 year old addition. The really old part was in proper to-code condition. That barbed wire holding the pipe thing....it was just looped on the nearest nail...living here has been a really neat experience. Good or bad, a great experience.

Al_Smith

 :D I grew up in one of those big old 3,000 square feet farm houses . The old man used to buy around 12-15 tons of coal a year to heat that old barn .Typical of 1919 building, knob and tube wiring, no insulation at all .

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