For those of you who split wood by hand

[madddawg]

I agree with both of you, depending on how long you are going to be up that's the size of the wood you need...Did I just say that?

time for another beer break

[Doug9345]

There are several reasons that I've split wood on the small size besides the one mentioned. One is my hands are realitively small which means I cut a lot of wood smaller to make it easier to handle. I could also pack it tighter into the furnace. Another was if I ended up putting some wood in late. If I knew I was going to use it in 3 months then it was split finer and put nearer the furnace to that I could get it to season faster. When he have a big old piece that is simply too much work to get smaller you need to be able to put wood next to it to ge tit to burn.

[Salsacharley]

Gee whiz Dennis,

Are you letting your wife off of taking care of these tasks?

You are getting soft, buddy.

Charley

Originally Posted by Tom A To

All I can say is you have a lot more energy than I have. After felling the limbs and trees and then cutting them up and hauling them up to the shed, I have to unload them into a nice pile. Later I have to split them with my gas-powered jobbie and move them into the wood shed and stack them again. When I need to use them, they get loaded again into a cart and brought to the back deck. I'm thankful that Eli Whitney invented the log splitter.

They say that firewood heats twice. Not always so. For me it heats half a dozen times. It is one reason that I can keep my weight down to 220lbs.

[Worth1]

I just know I had a friend that rented a log splitter.
Him and his buddy got carried away and split up a giant pin oak into kindling.
Not one piece was bigger than about 2 inches.
Stuff burned up like hay.

Worth

[Tom A To]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

Gee whiz Dennis,

Are you letting your wife off of taking care of these tasks?

You are getting soft, buddy.

Charley

You know, Charley... I try not to work her too hard. She has other chores that need to be done and we can't let those slide. For one thing, she has to take of our growing dog, Max. You don't think I'm gonna pick up dog poop from this guy, do ya?



Also, since our kid moved out 15 years ago, I decided it was time for her to have a new baby. That's a little work (but not much).



Oh wait, that looks like our grandchild...

[madddawg]

Wow! you don't want that dog raising his leg on you!
Was there alcohol involved in that? Or Did the never use one before and they were playing with a new toy? Or both?

[tjg911]

i try to select vs split! i do split the really large stuff that would be hard to fit into the stove usually into 2 pieces.

i get a good selection of all sizes so i just start setting them into 2 or 3 different piles as we get into latter january. soon those 2 medium and small piles will be handy. i don't mind splitting wood in fact i like it but when it is 50 degrees and sunny in late march or april splitting is not as much fun as now.

tom

[nnjjohn]

splitting with a maul is easy ..i use beer too to lubricate my swing muscles just a thought and sorry if i might be a bit off topic but, feel this is important note.. I recommend professional chimney sweeping from my experience.. I enjoy burning wood too.. but soot cause fires this season I burned about 2 cords of seasoned oak and had to clean more because of soot ash buildup.. I highly recommend professional installation as well as flue/stove maintenance ,, by code..use a class A stainless steel (insulated double lined flu kit) and I clean my stack using the recommended wire size brush with a set of rods .. i don't like the thought of chimney fires so I sweep and vac .. cleaning everything every month during the burn season.. I even change the register cap about twice a season when i feel it is time to give the dirty one a bath and good wire brush..(i have two so when one gets too creo'd i swap them) I also cool off my stove before taking the top off and check for chimney ash (dutchwest vermont castings) and shop vac where the damper meets the bottom flu collar. But wood splitting is fun..I think of the bad people and pretend I'm chopping..oh nevermind.. i won't there

[Worth1]

So your telling me my homemade chimney made out of coffee cans and duct tape isn't good enough?

Worth

[brokenbar]

I agree about small pieces burning quickly. In Wyoming, wood was either cottonwood which burns slow and hot but man, does it make ash fast, or pine which is another name for burns up right before your eyes! We had a hydraulic splitter and only ever split the most gigantic pieces. Our stove had a 42" opening and could hold a 4 foot log. Of course, one had to lift the dang heavy stuff and get it in there! NMJ (Not Mary's Job!)

[brokenbar]

Tom...I love your mato avatar! (I think I grew that variety once...hmmmmm)

[Tom A To]

Originally Posted by brokenbar

Tom...I love your mato avatar! (I think I grew that variety once...hmmmmm)

Thanks! It's a little cheerier than Jicarilla the Nez Perce guy. I don't think Native Americans grew tomatoes, did they?

It reminds me of the little tomato chap in the Tomatoville header. Does he have a name?

Hey! It's eerily similar to your avatar!

[Cole_Robbie]

I saw a similar idea on a youtube video. They were just wrapping the bungee around the log itself. I think it looked easy in the video because they had very dry wood that was very easy to split.

I burned wood to heat my greenhouse the past two springs. I am going to try going without it this spring, and just starting a little later. It's too much work.

I had some good fires, though, this old furnace has a blower on it that makes a huge difference:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps32c604e5.jpg

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Tom A To

Thanks! It's a little cheerier than Jicarilla the Nez Perce guy. I don't think Native Americans grew tomatoes, did they?

It reminds me of the little tomato chap in the Tomatoville header. Does he have a name?

Hey! It's eerily similar to your avatar!

Yeah I find this creepy.
I thought Mary was talking to herself.

Worth

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by Tom A To

Thanks! It's a little cheerier than Jicarilla the Nez Perce guy. I don't think Native Americans grew tomatoes, did they?

It reminds me of the little tomato chap in the Tomatoville header. Does he have a name?

Hey! It's eerily similar to your avatar!

I think I read someplace that the Tribes in So Cal, AZ, TX near the Mex border did grow tomatoes...little cherry dudes that they ground up with Ahi (a kind of chili pepper) and made a spicy sauce.