Firewood on a Hakki Pilkie 1x37

[barbender]

I had a neighbor ask me to process their wood, gosh, it must be 3 weeks ago already. So I brought the processor over, and the skid steer. Processed one day, and the fan hub bearing on the skid steer let go. I knew something was amiss with it, so I had the replacement part in hand- I thought. Wrong part. So then I had to order another. When that got here, we had dropped into a spell of really cold weather, with highs in the low single digits. 

I've still been filling in out in the woods forwarding for guys, it seemed like the few days it got close to 20° I was out in a forwarder. I went out and processed on a few of the cold days anyways, but I ran into something that is the scourge of frozen weather processing- hard frozen mud on the logs. At 0°, it's no different than cutting into concrete😬 It is hard to get much done when you have to sharpen or swap chains every log🤦

Live and learn, I guess🤷 Today is supposed to get close to 40°, hopefully we will FINALLY get that one off the list! 

[GRANITEstateMP]

barbender,

Thats what discourages me about doing winter wood...all theconditions are working against ya!  My processor can be moved and I used to do it a lot more.  Now I tell people it's a minimum 12 cord to move it, then price the work so that it's near the same as buying direct from me (my per cord rate + going rate for processor wood).  When they do the math it usually don't pencil out.  I'd much rather work from my landing, pre-sort the undesirable logs out, and throw a tantrum when something breaks in my own space with no people or cameras!!!

We are looking at our second above freezing day in a row, maybe 40!  Heading out to get stuff done.  Grapple will be going back on, sorting / trimming to get done today.   The farm will end up with a pile of "uglys" so its a win all around

[barbender]

 I definitely need to raise my prices, or just charge by the hour.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Well, it was a cold and a little windy weekend, but I got a start on log sorting and loading the back half of my log deck.  I waited til after breakfast on Sunday and started in on a pile of logs.  Most required minimal trim so that they'd feed on the processor easier (I only got a baby processor).  My logs range from 14-20' feet.  12-14' is ideal for the processor.  If a log has a bunch of sweep or a kink, I usually cut it there and put the (2) 8-10' logs in my "shorts" pile to process when I'm alone and everything takes longer, might as well be a real long time!  I figure I got about 3 cord of logs moved from the pile onto the deck.  Another cord in the shorts pile.  Probably added a quarter to half a cord in the Uglys area. Uglys are either hand cut, go to the farm to feed the outdoor boiler, or I have 1 or 2 customers I can sell them to at a close to break even price for stuff that is a time suck.  Good to have options.

I got a call Monday as I was laying out another round of wood to trim up.  My buddy said it'd be a good day to take an atv ride.  He was right, it was mid 20's, a weekday, and the trails were empty.  We are getting warmth and rain a couple days midweek, so we took advantage. This was the view from Middle Mountain (894ft?) in Pawtuckaway State Park in NH.  We were looking over at the Fire Tower, sorry flip phone don't take the best pics!  Got in just shy of 22 miles, and had a great ride.  Pics to follow.  We are planning a night ride tonight, my son is super excited, cause he's coming to...I even cleared it with the wife, cause it's gonna be a bit of a late one! We are parked next to a 50' granite cliff on this little pond (Round Pond). we took a little walk around, really neat place, I'll try and find other pics.

[Corley5]

The joys of winter firewood production  I took the first couple really cold days off. The cold continued and I couldn't take that many days off. I caught up around the Holidays for two days and had 50-60 face cords on my list the rest of the winter. Frozen dirt was a real issue but now I've got an Oregon auto sharpener and a couple hundred chains  I caught up a week ago. Heading out the door to finish tapping trees. It's been winter this winter. The last couple were mild. This one more like average winters used to be 

[barbender]

Frozen dirt is brutal. It is like cutting concrete!

[GRANITEstateMP]

concrete has more btu's!

[GRANITEstateMP]

Corley,

I've been putting off starting my yearly order tally sheet. I figure if I don't start it, they aren't pending .  

Our snowpack is melting quickly.  I buck for two tanks of fuel yesterday, blocking up wood for ME. I have a couple more Mondays off before we go back to a five day a week schedule.  My goal is to get a BUNCH of the little, nuisance projects/chores I've been putting off DONE. After I post this, my trusty To-Do list is getting a full makeover.  Hopefully by the end of today its got some items crossed off!

[Spike60]

Crossing things off the list is a good feeling indeed. Just crossed off #7 for today, so I'm done on the official items. 1st day in the 60's over this way. Gonna go back out and putter and enjoy the sun. 

[Bruno of NH]

I did firewood only from Christmas till this last Monday. The wood splitter motor blew up at 3:00
Ordered a new one will be here Friday. 
Started the mill up for the first time this year on Tuesday. 
Frozen mud on firewood logs make for lots of work
I only get tree service logs for my firewood 
They have mud 

[GRANITEstateMP]

Bruno,

I try and avoid mud the best I can.  If that means no cutting when its muddy,.then we switch to plan B, C, D...

I didn't get much done for my firewood this week, BUT, I did knock some things off the ol' To Do list and that is big.  Friday, I helped with firewood at the farm.  They are clearing an area that is going to be screened for bedding  sand in the barns.  They had knocked trees down and just needed to limb them, then haul the firewood back to the farm. It was a productive afternoon, but now the burn pile is big again!

One of the big projects left on my To Do list was to put up a SheShed / Screen House for my wife.  It's based off the firewood sheds that we have been building, but we added a floor, and it'll get a front wall too.  My wife went away for the weekend and me and a buddy got the frame up.  I have another few boards of the siding to do, but we got over an inch of rain, so that'll have to wait.  More on that in a different thread

Thats most of the structural stuff (minus the skids) that I precut to length


Last pic I remembered to take!

[GRANITEstateMP]

Finally got a little bit of tome AND dry weather this weekend and knocked out the first two cords on the processor in forever.  It sure was nice to start crossing things off my list, but a few things got added too. Had to order a new tube for a wheel barrow tire, and at some point I really need to lift the processor and redo my blocking/cribbing setup.