The Daily Firewood Picture Thread

[barbender]

I went out and did a mobile job the other day, my second one. It's kind of nice to just process the wood into a pile, hook up and drive away😊 21 cords total.

 

 The customer loaded me with his centermount, he just stayed up there and dropped logs right into the chute all day. I never had to even touch my live deck lever😊





Hooked up and ready to go home.

[SwampDonkey]

Be a few months before I get to 2024 firewood, after Thanksgiving weekend to be precise. ;D 2023's is all stacked and drying since 2 weeks ago. Stacked out to 11.5 cords, I had 2.5 cord left from this winter, so looks like I cut 9 cord last fall.

[21incher]

I have been trying to clean up the EAB killed blow downs from this springs windstorms. Finally drying out enough to get them. One load a day kills me with all the muscle loss after the vaccine that I can't build back.. 


 

[jimbarry]

Well we have our summer's work ready to go.


 

[cutterboy]

Cleaning up a logging site. Red maple.


 

 
I could have gotten two logs from that tree if it had been straight. As it was I couldn't get one 5foot section without a bend.

               Cutter

[thecfarm]

My Father use to say, that tree is so crooked it won't even make straight smoke.

[SwampDonkey]

Then........my dad would reply to that; 'It'll all come out straight ashes'. ;D

I've found red maple easy to split compared to sugar maple or yellow birch, when green. There's some nasty curly grain once in awhile though, but runs out up the log. There used to be a big market around here for curl red maple, but it had to run the log length. A lot never went more than 4 feet, so no money for that.

[g_man]

A couple years ago I modified my old Speco/Husky splitter so I could turn the beam around the other way. That put the work station close to the trailer so that it was only a short lob to load it.

I added another set of hinge pin ears and a set of lifting lugs.




 



 


I had some big blocks to break down into manageable chucks to finish up this years wood and had to turn the splitter beam back around to run it in the vertical mode. Takes about 15 minutes - disconnect two hoses at the valve, pull the hinge pin, lift the beam, turn the trailer frame around, lower the beam, and reassemble.




 




 


I used the tractor carry-all as an aide to move and position the big blocks and carry away the chunks.




 




 


After those I had 8 more. These two plus  6 more that aren't in the pic.




 


gg

[Corley5]

It's been fairly busy. Wood's coming in and going out with more coming in more going out. We're about to enter the early summer lull. Winter's coming ;) The diesel conversion is working well. Added a diesel Tiny Tach and a throttle cable. 2850 rpms seems to be the spot. Need to replace the mower exhaust manifold/muffler combo with a vertical one to get the exhaust in the air.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[barbender]

I am definitely jealous of that live deck👍 

[Old Greenhorn]

I'm jealous of the whole operation. You could knock out my yearly supply needs in a few hours, no doubt.
------------------------------
 I have been working on mine, but my energy levels are so low these days I am wondering if I have that 'long covid' from my bout last august. I have to push myself to start each day. But the last week or so I am seeing improvement and today I did a 'full round' which for me a 1/2 cord, cut split, and stacked. I used to be able to do twice that just a year or so ago. I started this morning with a 1/2 load on the trailer, I bucked and split the rest of the load, then stacked it all, returned the trailer and bucked and split another 1/2 load before I ran out of wood in the pile. I am not nearly as far along as I would like to be, but am feeling better about it as I plug along. Here is the shop pile as it sits tonight:



 

I didn't measure, and I should, to get an idea of the volume, but it's somewhere between 3 and 4 cords. That's 2 rows and I would like to add a third because a lot of this is really really poor punky wood. But I split and stack it anyway, because it will burn and make BTU's and it would just be junk laying around in the yard I would have to burn to get rid of. But I will need another row, just to be safe and not suffer through another winter like I just did. I figure 4 cords for the shop and 4 for the house. I have not split one stick for the house pile yet and I have nothing left from last season except a small pile of good emergency storm wood I saved, just in case. I was waiting until better wood was coming off the splitter for the house stacks. As I am out now, I will start grabbing logs I had been holding to mill into lumber. Time to face facts and if I ain't milling it, I should make it into firewood now when I need it.

[Wlmedley]

I'm starting to come to the same conclusion Tom.From now on firewood is going to take priority over lumber up here.I know how much firewood saves me on my electric bill and any lumber I have may or may not be sold.I like a sure thing. I guess I could burn lumber but it seems counterproductive  :laugh:

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I have been having some long hard talks with myself trying to adjust to this 'reduction' in my working abilities, or rather productivity capacity. It's a tough conversation. I have a number of logs I put by to make lumber from but since I have been milling at Bill's, nothing is going through my mill. That's just the fact of my life now. SO I have two very nice ash logs by the mill and a couple of RO logs that have been on the log pile drying for 3 years that were never really good saw logs anyway. I also have 2 red maple logs I took down last year I wanted to mill because they were lightening struck 16 years ago and survived. I wanted to see what's inside. I just have to face facts and accept reality. I know that if I can get my firewood done by mid-June I will have a productive summer season without worrying about the heat next winter. The big mistake I made last year was giving into work demands first and trying to fit in the firewood in between, which, obviously now, did not work out and I scrambled all winter.
 A good firewood pile is money in the bank. I always knew that, but I had to re-learn it last season, the hard way. I'm lucky this year, Bill has his 'spare' TW-6 parked in my driveway while it is listed for sale and I can do half a trailer load of split wood in about 30-40 minutes, probably less, but I don't count it very close. With the load loader and the 6 way wedge it is much faster than my little Swisher for sure. I am not so sure that thing will be available much longer when somebody steps up to pay his price, which is on the high side because it only has 150 hours on it. Gotta make hay when the sun shines, right?

[NE Woodburner]

If you can find a way, and I know this is hard, to get a year or more ahead it really makes a big difference.

It took me several years of cutting a bit extra each year, but I now have 2 years of seasoned firewood ready to burn in my wood shed so the wood I am cutting now is for 3 winters from now. Gives me a bit of cushion. I had a bad year a few years ago with work schedule and lots of competing commitments and virtually cut no wood that year. I was OK because I was ahead and caught it back up the following year. Now that I've been ahead for a while it somehow seems easier to keep up (Yes, I know that doesn't make sense). I may even be a bit too far ahead, but it's been working for me so I will try to maintain...

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, I know, and you're right, it is hard. For me it's not so much the work or the wood, I could figger that out, but it's a place to stack and store it to keep it dry-ish. I did think about your suggestion when I was out there today and there is a spot I could build a woodshed by the shop, but the house wood is always restricted by storage space. I have no way to lift and move pallets or bundles to put for easy access for the house. I have to keep thinking on that.
Just like with any sawmill, it's the material handling that is the real challenge. If I could nail that before I get too old, I would have it made.

Edit to add: Of all the storage and handling methods I have seen and read about here on the forum in the last 5 years (or more counting old threads) I really like the racks that JimBarry makes which could apply well to my situation. He has a lot of thought into how he handles wood. I would just need to have some cover on them (simple tin) and make an area I could store them (a challenge for me here) and then a way to move them up by the house. I can borrow a machine for seasonal moving, but not sure I could get a machine here for a week or two while I split and fill them.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Tom, I finally got around to building a shed this year. The plan is for 3, with approx a years worth in each...just need to stop doing customer orders and start filling MY shed!


and to get it filled with firewood before I fill it with other stuff...bikes, atv, mower, splitter. Oh man, I already need to put a lean-to off the sides

[Big_eddy]

While watching 90 mins or so of Jim and his wife splitting wood one day, i noticed he had a large bin he was tossing hunks and chunks into. I had a few oversized pallets around, so a few mins with the chainsaw, screw gin and air nailer and I had some bins too.I don't have forks, so I built these so the front posts are just a little shorter than my inside bucket height. When the bucket is tilted back, the front posts jam upwards inside the front lip of the bucket, and can't come out. They are GREAT. Just load, scoop and go. Tilt and drop to leave. I have been using them while splitting for

 

 

  trash and kindling, and to collect rotted or soft wood for the backyard fire pit and the (insatiable) pool heater.  

Really handy way to move quite a bit of wood around without having to handle it more than once. I've set aside a few more oversized pallets to make some more. 

[RIMwood]

This is my DIY firewood processor, more of a system really. Super cheap and easy to build.
             https://youtu.be/i73MBfzjkCk           

[barbender]

We had to make about 70 bundles this morning, then go deliver 200, and 1/2 a cord of loose wood that had to be stacked. It is too hot out🥵



 

[cutterboy]

I cut down an ash tree this morning for firewood. It fell into the thick brush and vines.


 
Dragged it out with the tractor to an open area so I could work on it. Yes, that hairy vine is poison ivy.


 
I got it cut up, loaded up and carried up to the barn where it got stacked.


 

 

 
The emerald ash borer is in my ash so I'm harvesting as much as I can.

   Keep on cutting.....Cutter

[Big_eddy]

I had a dead poplar half fall hanging over the trail, so I knocked it down and cut it up. It was surprisingly solid for standing dead poplar, so it went onto the house pile, not the firepit pile. 


 

[barbender]

Cutter, I think if I cut through any of that Ivy vine I'd end up covered in it😬

[doc henderson]

I bought cattle exam gloves at TSC and use those but even if you pull the vines off, you can get it if any oil remains on the bark.  A chain saw does a good job of aerosolizing the oil.

[cutterboy]

barbender and doc, I was as careful as I could be with that vine. I used my Logrite hookaroon to pull it from the tree. Only sawed through it to cut the tree down. It was cool here today and I had a hoodie on with the hood over my head. So far no problem except that typing about it is making me itchy.

[doc henderson]

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