THE firewood thread

[Ole and Lena]

http://www.amazon.com/ECHO-CS-590-TIMBER-WOLF-CHAINSAW/dp/B00CHRP8XS This is my new saw. The local shop gave me $50 less than this price. Put it through some wood this weekend, sawed about a cord of nasty green elm into firewood at the neighbors and felled and bucked a 34" cottonwood. I think this is a great firewood saw for somebody serious about burning wood. I wouldn't want to log with it, not as "snappy" or light as my old Husqvarna 262 was, but plenty of torque for big logs and quite good handling for a ranch grade saw. We'll see how the durability and cold weather performance is after a couple of years. So far I'm quite impressed for the price.

 

[CanuckBock]

Canuck, great post. Especially the pictures of the wood stacks. Really shows the dynamics for proper drying. Single or double row, open to the air on both sides and racked off the ground on skids allowing air to chimney through the pile. Wood dries mostly out the ends, not the sides. Properly stacked, even green hardwood will season well within a year. Pretty wet and snowy here, I like to top my open piles with some flat splits about 2X8" to shed the shed rain water and snow melt. Those flat splits also make for a hot burn when you need fast heat. If you have wood with loose bark like oak or elm you can use the bark slabs for this or some scrap plywood laying about. Never tarp a rack, it will trap in moisture and grow fungus. There is also a teepee method to open air drying that works well in dryer areas. It's a decent option to start the drying process when cutting in winter and hauling wood to the farmsite isn't practical until spring/summer.

Don't feel bad about those large birch logs. Birch is a short lived tree, they would likely die soon anyway. Firewood is a good use.

Thank you...

I have used some old wind boards along the top of the walls of wood to sorta keep some of the snow/moisture off the racks of firewood...got lazy and just tossed them to the side this round but thinking I should go back...behave & put them back up.

I admit to having tarped splits I was in the midst of stacking to the racks. It was mostly in the winter and usually (not always it seems as of late the past five years or so) we have a DRY climate during winter so no real fungus wants to grow at those temps and conditions. I tarped because I don't find much delight in having to literally DIG the splits out from UNDER the last snow fall (soaking wet work gloves just sorta put a burr in your bonnet) and if left a bit longer than over night...the untarped piles were where I had to end up using a mallet to actually UNstick/smash the lower 1/3 of the splits out from the ice that seems to grip the pieces. That makes a fun job of stacking splits quite a bit tedious!

Stole some birch splits last night from one of the storage piles...dry in the sense it did not require two hands to pick a piece up like when it was first split...so not too shabby.

First serious snow today (5 to 10 cm / 2 to 4 inches and potentially more), so wood could not be ready any time sooner! Probably see that wood stove going 24/7 now....or maybe we will get a few more weeks of pleasantries before Old Man Winter decides he needs to stick around.

Here is some of that kind of bark you mention, this is off the Birch.

It peels right off the wood and rolls up all on its own accord



We keep a cart full (covered up) by the back porch step--consider it cheater's kindling!

It goes up like gas on a burn pile. Like how it just rolls up into its own little tinder logs which makes it a real pleasure to use. Wish we had an unlimited supply.

Came home last night with a brand new "calf sled!" I have finally managed to destroyed the two that served us last year and needed a better more skookum replacement... This one will do as my critter water (5 gallon pails) and feed plus bedding hauling & whatnots but also takes over where the two wheeled cart stops during the warmer seasons...as my firewood to the porch wood box transporter. It is quite one thing to have firewood in the racks held in waiting and quite another to have them fire side for burning! Hmmm...are we digging a hole and filling it in perhaps?

My Hero is measuring for size of bolts for where my rope tug line will go
​

Looking forward to EMPTYING the racks...means I get to re-stack those piles into more walls of wood once again. Who says you need to "join a gym" to work off that second helping of homegrown heritage turkey dinners, eh?

"Another scoop of gratuitous gravy anyone...??"

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[RichnSteph]

Ole,
Thanks for the link to the axe. I've seen them at the Home Depot or Tractor Supply here (can't remember which) and will be picking one up this season. Everything I have on the property, only an acre so far but we plan on another that's next to us, is oak (Black Jack mainly) and walnut so I'll need something that will give me the best split per strike.


Canuck,
For years when we'd go hiking or camping I'd be sure and pick up a few pieces of birch bark here and there as we walked. When it came time to start a fire is was a breeze to get it going. In looking through all your pictures I just wanted to say how much I love and admire the way you live. I know it probably has its bad and tough times but I am truly envious of you and your chosen lifestyle.


RichnSteph

 

[CanuckBock]

Canuck,
For years when we'd go hiking or camping I'd be sure and pick up a few pieces of birch bark here and there as we walked. When it came time to start a fire is was a breeze to get it going. In looking through all your pictures I just wanted to say how much I love and admire the way you live. I know it probably has its bad and tough times but I am truly envious of you and your chosen lifestyle.


RichnSteph

Hmm...so I suppose if birch bark is so flammable...smoking whilst canoeing IN a birch bark "boat" (along with its sealing components of animal grease and pine pitch

) has its overly wild side to it, eh?

Ever been accused of being "excessively happy" with the life style you have chosen? Won't sell many newspapers regarding that type of news flash--pretty durn sure of that! I have my own BYC thread on living out in the Great White Northern Boonies here in Pear-A-Dice (link to it in my sig file)...the weather CAN seem against the better plans of rats and huMANs but one gets by on a song and a prayer...always half full of fun here.

I will try not to flaunt it but there are no BAD sides to this life choice. You work hard, you play harder. You don't have insomnia because you end each day mentally and physically tired, 'cause you gave it your all and very best for the day...you feel like the pleasantries you enjoy are something you worked at to reap the benefits from. Sure you can just crank up the thermostat in the house and simply put a few more hours in at the plant to pay the bill with $$ but does it give you as many benefits to your very inner soul compared to heating with wood?

I suspect the life you lead in self-sufficiency is more in tune to the one we humans were meant to pursue. You can be more of your own master to your own destiny when you leave out the middle men and can go from start to finish and provide the food, water & shelter you and the dependents need to exist on.

Simple basic down to Earth living like the whole process of heating with wood. There are enough angles and duties to keep it interesting, lots of planning and scheming out the whole process...enough exercise (as much as you want pending what tools you want to administer to assist in the job) and lots of fresh air intaking to really make it more of a healthful hobby than a chore. Have some dry ready for use firewood in reserve so you never feel under the gun...you get sick or things come up that scream louder for your attentions...yeh, you'll get to the wood another day once you look after that squeaky wheel. Plan your accidents/disasters I suppose. If they never come to pass...GREAT! Like that is gonna ruin yer day. You'll just kick with a bit of an inheritance to pass on..."Whoo--The place comes with WOOD!"

I have always loved going for "wood" and we make a day of it. A rather silly ridiculous DAY because when we moved here and went for wood, my poor old man just rolled his eyes.

We had the truck and trailer, all the chain saw gear (I make him wear the safety stuff; chainsaw pants & the helmet with face guard--too many ER reports include the word "CHAINSAW!" and I am too lazy to train up a new replacement for the working one I got now!), hot coffee in the thermos with a delicious homemade lunch (hmm...must remember to stop for the LUNCH!), AND it was cold enough there were no bugs to bother you (hate bugs buzzing about to distract one). The kicker part was our son was a kid way back then and we had brought the dogs and his cat along...Yeh, the C@T.

My husband mumbled something about needing a "bigger" hauling trailer for when we got round to getting the sheep for the ranch so that they too, could come along to eat grass while we all went to "cut wood."

He has always said it takes much longer and more effort to include the family in the work bees, but if you stop and think about it...what is the rush? You live, you die; so it is all about how the journey in between the two goes along, eh? Always about the ride, not the destination we figure!

​

So yes, we now have TWO trailers but the sheep, goats, llamas and poultry all stay home when we go out to cut wood together. I know a good thing and when not to overly push it past the point of how much any man can handle! He is after all, just a man. Ha ha ha...a very TOLERANT & accommodating family man!

I think the best approach is to plan your demise; if you live long enough, you are going to get old and that by itself limits your abilities. We got so many turns at how long our bodies last...an expiry date of what ?? 100,000 ?? blunt force traumas to the joints...or more? I know lots that love to swing an axe to split their wood (bully to them) and let them fly at that...but the first thing I bought (let me rephrase that...the Hero let me think I bought it because the payments came outta MY wages and made me feel like I was special in helping to contribute!) was the wood splitter. You can rent one and be under the gun to get it all done in as little time as possible OR you can own it and use it at your leisure; less stress and more on the FUN in regards to working for yourselves on your own schedule!

The cave man had all sorts of free loaders show up when he discovered how nice living was with fire to cook his food, keep predators away, warm up & light the cold, dark cave...attracted all sorts of riffraff like the wolf...

women who linked up and knew a good thing when they found it!

Heating with wood is like the introductory item to knowing if it came right down to it...you'd do just fine and dandy in the middle of no where's, able to look after yourself and the fam...prospering despite adversity. There is a very human aspect to the practise of burning wood...may we never lose that ability to exercise that option. Hot air blasting out of a register just don't really cut it, eh?

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[wyoDreamer]

I grew up helping my dad cut and stack wood. He cut down the tree and chuncked it up. I helped as much as I could to load it into the trailer, but a 12 year old girl can only lift so much and that wet oak was heavy! We would unload it into a pile and let it sit for a week or so. Then dad would split it with an axe and I would stack it between 2 trees about 4' tall. Only had one stack fall over in all the years and stacks I made, and that one was on a hillside. Dad wouldn't let me unstack and restack it when I saw how crooked I went trying to keep up with his splitting, it was too late in the day and we had to get home. We were going to have to load it on a trailer and take it home to stack in the backyard in a month anyway. Then we would move a 1/2 cord into the basement every Saturday morning.

So lets see, that firewood was moved 5 times! Who needs a fire to keep warm?

We have a fireplace in the house we just bought, but it is old and not really in good enough shape to burn in. Besides, those old fireplaces are basically just holes in the roof and let out a lot more heat than you can get out of them. We have been talking about adding a pellet insert to use for heat. We have 25 acres, but it is all pasture and hayfield, so we don't really have anything to cut for firewood. I am sure DH will find a way to add a woodstove to one or more of the outbuildings, so we will be cutting firewood soon enough. He has 2 Stihl and I have a Husky, so I am afraid it is in our blood now.

 

[Ole and Lena]

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/support/working-with-chainsaws/felling-cut-straight-from-behind/

Let's talk tree felling. Above is a link to one of the best resources short of working in the woods with a seasoned timber faller. Most of this is based on the work of Soren Eriksson who founded the science of modern saw ergonomics, safety and combined it with generations of tree falling experience.

I can tell from your stump or butt log if you knew what you were doing when felling a tree. We all make mistakes, even professionals, but please make sure your mistakes only result in additional work pulling down a stuck tree. Some basic safety tips as tree falling is inherently very dangerous.

1. LOOK UP! Overhead wires, dead tops/broken limbs (widowmakers), ice balls, etc. are all dangers to be aware of. If you doubt your safety, trust your gut-don't cut. Also look for any branches or vines that may entangle your target tree and change the direction of fall.

2. PLAN YOUR ESCAPE! Be prepared to evacuate the stump area when the tree begins to fall or if something goes wrong. If you are in danger, leave the dang saw. They can be fixed/replaced, you not so much. Use a spotter whenever possible. If all goes well, you should be able to step away at a 45 deg angle and watch her drop.

3. PLAN YOUR PROJECT! Size up your tree. Look for anything that will throw chaos into your physics. Snow load, uneven limb weight, rot, cracks in the tree, changing wind, etc. Preliminarily clear your work zone. Check for kids, dogs, vehicles, buildings etc within 1 1/2 times the height of the tree. Decide ahead of time if you might need a wedge, felling lever, cable, etc. If the answer is maybe, be prepared to use it. Plan your felling strategy, plan a failsafe contingency, pick your target area for the drop.

Now you're ready to drop a tree. 1. Cut your wedge. The front edge of your saw is at a 90 degree angle to your bar. Use this like a sight to line up your target. Cut down to 1/4-1/3 the total diameter of the tree. Cut the bottom of the wedge and knock it out. Re-check your sight laying the saw bar flat to the top of your wedge.

2. Re-clear your work area. Look up again. Make sure your escape is still clear. Begin your back cut if a small diameter tree. Cut to about 1" of hinge. Use a wedge if necessary. If you really need cable tension to rock your tree over center, I'll share a neat trick. Cable a tree or stump near the ground at a 45 deg angle from your tree towards the direction of fall. Loop the cable over a limb on your tree at least 8 feet up, then have your buddy or a cable winch positioned 90 degrees to the other side of your tree. This will put tension in your intended line of lead without placing anyone in harms way.

Those are just some basic tips, the best way is to learn from an experienced faller. Good luck, be safe.

 

[RichnSteph]

Hehe. The last time I felled any trees it was with D8 Cat bulldozer.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I asked for a woodcutting face mask for Christmas while we were cutting wood this spring. I do a lot of the limbing once the tree is on the ground, so I was tired of getting chips in my face. Now that we moved and are not going to be cutting much wood, I will need to come with something else to ask for!

DH does most of the tree falling, and once I limb them up, mark them into lengths and cut off the tops, he will cut it into chunks. Anything that I can cut into lengths with my little Husky, I do. he very seldom got into trouble. Once or twice he got the saw pinched in the tree while cutting it down. Once the wind changed direction on us with a strong gust and twisted the tree a little bit just as he finished his cut and the other time I can think of - he was trying to get it to fall a different direction than it was leaning. We had everything with us to shift the tree and get the saw out both times. Once all it took was a wedge and the other time, we used a rope that we put around another tree and used the truck to pull it over.

We are always very careful when we are out in the woods cutting firewood. Dogs stay at home, if at all possible. No distractions allowed.

 

[ShockValue]

Great posts. Glad I found this thread.

I'm pretty new to doing the firewood thing. My dad did it when I was little, but since that time we've never had anything but an "ornamental" fireplace. Used it once or twice just for kicks.

When we built our house a few years ago, my wife and I insisted on having a nice wood burning stove. Yes, we have a new and efficient heat pump, but if we're burning wood that I got for free or cheap, then why not do it? The heat is nicer, I enjoy the work of it, and it (although it might sound kind of weird) there's something very primal and satisfying about seeing the product of your hard work make your family comfortable and safe (money is nice too, but it's very ethereal...)

So.. After a year or 2 of fighting with a cheap chainsaw.
... I bought another cheap chainsaw...
And then after having to buy wood because I couldn't cut my own, I finally plopped down a couple hundred and bought a very old but nicely running Stihl 028 pro. With a new chain it's a dream to run (at least compared to the other old POS saws I was fighting with...)

Most of the wood I've gotten so far is scavenged and dirty, so I'm having a hell of a time keeping my chains sharp. But I'm done for the season with just a little more stacking to go.

Wood varieties in order of occurance: Douglas Fir, Red Alder, Western Hemlock, Big Leaf Maple, Pine (of some unknown kind), Pacific Madrone.

I left a chimney in the middle of the pallets in hopes it will dry a little faster

 

[Ole and Lena]

Ever been confused by saw chain nomenclature? Just buy the OEM chain from your big box store or whatever your local dealer has on the shelf? You might be working too hard and not getting optimum performance from your saw.

http://www.baileysonline.com/PDF/saw-chain-101.pdf This is one of the best references I've found for sorting out the mystery of saw chain.

No, I don't work for baileys, I just buy some things from them and use their stuff as an easy reference. They deal a lot with pro loggers and carry some specialty products you won't likely find on any store shelf.