The Daily Firewood Picture Thread

[Old Greenhorn]

Geez, I never ever thought of the 'prep time to burn time ratio' before, but mine is not really good and now I'm even more depressed. :-\ To be honest with myself in the last 8 years or so I rely more on firewood than I ever had in the past. When I was working, firewood had to take a back seat, I was working 50 hour weeks and whatever time I had, I did the best with to get the wood in. Once or twice I would buy wood, but mostly I just sucked it up, beat the heck out of myself, and got my 2-3 cords done in my 'spare time'. Nowadays I am not only burning in the house, but also heating the shop and both are pretty full time, so 8 cord or more for the season and it seems like I spend a lot of my year doing wood. Since I can't do 8-9 hour days doing just firewood, I do a few hours at a a time, then do other stuff. This makes it take forever, and this year I screwed up and have been making wood every few weeks right up until now. And I got a cord delivered by a buddy last week.
 I can't quit, I need the wood, so what to do? For me, I wasted a lot of time on junk wood I should have never put time into. Yeah, it made heat, but not much and it went quick. Good clean, solid wood is the way to go. I had some, but not a lot. Most of that went in the house pile and that half is in good shape. If I run out, it will be at a point where we really don't need that stove anyway. But the shop needs heat if I am to work out there at all, which is everyday.
 Now you are making me think Bill and that makes my head hurt.

[Wlmedley]

Tom, my problem is I can't bear to pay the power company $300 or probably more a month in the winter to heat my house when I live in a forest. I've always burned wood and even enjoyed working it up. Going from a splitting maul to a hydraulic splitter slowed down the process but I didn't have a choice being my shoulder is worn out. Being self sufficient as possible has been a lifelong hobby of mine although I have mostly failed at it but I'm a stubborn man and will keep trying 

[SwampDonkey]

If I had the time and the weather I'd cut pretty steady here, but half days. Some would be left on the ground as it would be small and break down fast, some used as wet crossings for more trails. I've got a lot of thinning to cover. My 8-9 cords I cut I spread out over 4 weeks. That's cut, bucked and split and sitting in my yard. I take a couple days in April and stack it all under cover. All done with for another year.  With the shop I might be able to burn 2 more cord. I barely burnt 1-1/2 cord in the old shop inside the barn. The new shop is not huge, 20' x 24'.

[Al_Smith]

A couple weeks ago when it was below zero I had a wind fall dead shag bark hickory,100 footer .It's been in the high 40's lately so I made a few cuts yesterday . My word hard as a rock .I thought my little 024 Stihl was plentry on the top .Well it wasn't , today I'll break out a bigger shooting iron .On the base it's around 3 feet then I'll get a bigger saw .Mean while looks like I'll get plenty of file time . I doubt I can make an entire tank of fuel before it needs filed .

[hedgerow]

Tom  I don't mess with what I call junk wood. Cotton wood, willow , elm they all go into the brush burn pile. I only process a little ash, mulberry, locust and hedge. Mostly what I have left on the farm we do most of our wood at is hedge {Osage Orange}. I have two guys that exchange hunting rights to help me cut wood. When they come to work I want to get as much done a we can. No since in processing twice as much wood to get the same amount of BTU's. I burn the Garn year around to heat my domestic. I have enough trailers that I have 15 cord on trailers. Just the AM I pulled a empty out of the shed and put another load of hedge about three cord in front of the Garn barn. That load should take me to spring. The two weeks we had in Jan with sub zero every day I peeled threw the wood. Back to one load a day now. I just don't process wood in the winter. I hate to say it but we do it in the summer as that is when I have time. 

[SwampDonkey]

My experience with aspen and fir compared to sugar maple and beech is an extra cord, so 5 cord of maple and 6 of aspen. I always have extra wood, better than not. All depends on the house and the stove used. I remember a stove my grandfather had in the garage you could ride to Boston on it and still be cold. The one in the sugar camp would have you sweating in an hr. Both uninsulated buildings. :D

[GRANITEstateMP]

I remember a stove my grandfather had in the garage you could ride to Boston on it and still be cold:D

Swamp,

That's a pretty good line, it made me chuckle!

[Don P]

A load for the wallet and a load for the widow today. I think I musta got a game of tennis in there sometime the way it feels, time to quit typing 

[SwampDonkey]

Swamp,

That's a pretty good line, it made me chuckle!

Common saying about crappy stoves up this way. :D

[cutterboy]

Another storm victim. I cut this large branch up yesterday and got a nice load of firewood.







The next step will be to cut the tree down. Should be one good log and a lot more firewood.

  Keep on cutting.....Cutter

[thecfarm]

cutterboy, I notice the next much snow. But common for your area. I have not been out in the woods much. But think I have about a foot, no bare ground to be found here in Chesterville, ME.
We had a bad windstorm in Dec. I have a lot to clean up.

[SwampDonkey]

I think we had close to 10" here, but it's dropping this weekend.

[barbender]

We've got about 1/2" on the ground. This is the least snow I've ever seen in a MN winter.

[SwampDonkey]

In 1981 we had none at all here. Uncle and I burnt spruce bows on the weekends. The year the leaves came out in February. 2006 we had hardly nothing, but not as warm, lots of ice and crust. I thought I was going to thin early that year. Went north of here 30 miles and was 3 feet in the woods in April in the hills. :D

[21incher]

No snow  here and working on getting rid of more dead ash. Nice having ready to burn  standing firewood. Hate the mess though as they shatter when they hit the ground.  Only have about 10 big ones left.

 

[DHansen]

Working on some red oak for the 2025 heating season. 

[beenthere]

The red oak won't be dry for the 2025 season, partially dry for 2026, and great for the 2027 heating season (if it is split). Takes a long time for red oak to dry for good heating btu's. It will burn up before that for sure, but not good heat. 

[DHansen]

beenthere, I agree with you 100%.  I should have phrased that better.  I have plenty stocked up for next winter already and it will get split soon and will be a couple years before I burn it.  Just like to keep ahead of the game.

[SwampDonkey]

Apple wood I could never get dry even after two years. Tried it one winter, then when I switched over to sugar maple it was a world of difference in heat. Some people love apple wood, I don't. I'd rather burn aspen and fir. :D

[Big_eddy]

DHamsen, nice 322. They are fantastic. Love the liquid cooled Yanmar gas engine in them. I have one too.

[DHansen]

Thanks, Big Eddy.    The 322 comes in handy.  Small enough to maneuver right to the work area.  Light enough to not dig up and leave ruts. Plenty of traction even when I have the tire chains off.  But heavy enough to handle my needs.  I still have my first 318 from 1985.  Picked up two 322 about ten years ago.  Easy to work on and parts are easy to come by.  For my firewood projects it a perfect fit.

[jimbarry]

The wood yard is a little closer to operational status.

But wait, there's another 10-12 inches on the way.

[Hilltop366]

Feeling pretty lucky down here in Yarmouth Co. after that last storm completely missed us. Don't think we will be so lucky this time, suppose to start snowing around 3pm.

[Don P]

We were having high winds today so I was playing in the shop, when the power went out. But I had gotten the free lathe to run with a new start cap from the Red Green pile. Me and the hound went cruising for trouble and saw there was a large ash top in the bottom and the state dirt road was blocked. We went back and grabbed a saw and the loader and got that outta the way. Mostly I've been burning the punky things whole but there might be some wood in it. We hopped back in the truck and kept heading up the mountain looking at the line. Something must have felt wrong, I was looking up for where it crosses the road and couldn't find it, stop[ped to focus, and it was right in front of me. I looked down into the hollow and another big dead ash had taken it down. Well now I'm in a predicament, this thing is dangerous. I boogied back to the house and got dispatch to scramble folks and grabbed a sawhorse and pallet and went up to block the approach and the getaway sides. As soon as I got the far side blocked an elderly couple rounded the corner and were very thankful I was there, they couldn't/ wouldn't have seen it. I wandered down to one of the standing dead locusts and started making firewood when the power company truck showed up. I went up to watch the road for them while they went down into briar hello and then when they got back up to the road I got the loader again and grabbed the stump and bottom 8' off the bank. So, not a preferred haul but as the buzzard said to the chicken hawk, "Lord'll provide"  

[SwampDonkey]

Warm in here, 82°F on aspen BTU's. 12° out in the abyss.