Worth it's weight in Gold.

[Redoverfarm]

Spent the majority of the week getting in next years wood supply.  If you haven't got a splitter and you will be dependent on wood as your primary heat source I highly recommend getting one.  I often think how the pioneers cut the entire wood supply for their drafty farm houses and log cabins only to use an axe or wedges.  Majority of the original houses were heated by fireplaces and they were not efficent by any means.  Even with a hydrolic splitter it took almost two days to split somewhere in the neighborhood of 5- 6 cords.  The splitter belongs to my BIL and he was kind enough to loan it to me.  I have hand split this amount in the past when I had the outside furnace.  It usually burned about 8-10 PU trucks a winter.  Since wood is not my only source now I can get by with between 3 & 4.  But it was no treat and I don't really miss the exercise.  I was fortunate to have easy access this year.  My new neighbor had power put in to his cabin and they cut a 40' ROW about 3/4 of a mile on his property.  So I used the tractor to stockpile the logs at a landing and then cut them up and split them at one location. Almost all were hardwoods ( White & red oak, hickory and ash)   

Here is a picture of half of the Right of way.



Here is the splitter.  It is a 22 ton.





There is probably another 2-3 cords I have stacked elsewhere but will wait until later to work on those.

 

[glenn kangiser]

Gotta do mine soon....but I have lots of dry oak down - just have to cut it and get it to the woodshed.

My granddad used to put in 10 cord every year, the hard way.

[Ernest T. Bass]

How would you have time for anything else in the summer? You really can't afford to not have an efficient house in a harsh climate..

We got our wood in early July, but most of our stuff is pretty green so it needs a little extra time to dry. 4 cords of mostly Popple.. The stuff splits pretty easy by hand, and we have a lot of hands... Also put up about a cord of Ash for next year. Ya' gotta take it when it's available..

[Redoverfarm]

Yeah Andrew.  I really hate to take the time needed to work on the cabin.  Alot to do between now and the snowfall but this was a neccessity.  Not so much for this year but for the next.  It takes about 12 months for most of the hardwood to season out to burn.  Always running a year ahead or at least try to .  Hopefully I can stock pile enough this year to last for a couple of years.  Easy to get to and as you say available.  Won't be as easy in the following years.   I usually get a permit from the National Forrest to cut "Dead & down" stuff but it is a tree here and there so it takes a while to gather up enough.

[cordwood]

 A neighbor of mine asked me one day how I keep my saw chain sharp? I told him I don't use a tractor. His look was predictable I told him every time he drug a log to the house and cut it up he was cutting the dirt he ground into the bark by dragging it and dirt dulls a blade faster than anything. He looked at me for a minute and then said sharpening the blade was easier than trying to carry each piece of wood to the house. I told him I use a TRAILER He shrugged and left.
I'll burn about 6 cords this year and about half is split with a tailer mounted splitter like in your pictures, The other half I split with a maul just to keep in practice .

[peternap]

Good looking pile John and
Plus 1000 on the splitter

[Redoverfarm]

Cordwood I really didn't drag mine that far. I now have a set of forks that I can open to 5' width.  I pulled them to the edge of the road and then used the forks to carry them to the landing.  But you are right in that any wood drug on the ground will pick up stones, dirt and the like in the bark and dull the chain.

The biggest problem I have is with the chain sharpening.  I do pretty good until it gets about half worn with routine sharpening.  Then the alignment of the kerf starts to wonder left or right.  Not too noticable on smaller stuff but when I cut something 18-24" it starts to take it's toll.  Eventiually I just as well replace the chain because it will not function properly.  I think it is because one side of the chain is outcutting the other.  But how to correct?  Any suggestions or instruction?    

[cordwood]

 Use a guide that clamps to the bar! If you are right handed like me you can free hand the right side (away from the motor) pretty even but on the left side I look Charlie Daniels sawing on a fiddle!
The angle on the teeth gets uneven and I end up cutting way left at the bottom of a big log. Works good for carving animals out of stumps though, Just remember to move front to back when changing sides or else you cut the little bears head off!!!!

[desimulacra]

Just curious but the only time I used a splitter it took tooo long. I could split by hand a lot quicker. Is that different now?

[Phssthpok]

Just curious but the only time I used a splitter it took tooo long. I could split by hand a lot quicker. Is that different now?

Depends on the wood you're splitting. Around here the doug-firs grow straight and tall. Well seasoned fir literally EXPLODES apart when smacked with a maul due to it's straight grained nature......until you get toward the top of the tree where the limbs form some pretty impressive knots that are all but impossible to bust save with a hydraulic splitter.

Even soaking wet (as in, wear a face mask to avoid the back splatter) doug-fir splits fairly easily as long as you're not working the knots.

[Redoverfarm]

Some of the hardwood was manageable with a maul.  My son picked up some straight grained 18" stuff and actually split it about as fast as I could on the splitter.  But occassionally he would run into a tough one ( limbed section) and sneak it into my pile for the splitter. It did give him a little appreciation for the job though.  .  Of course I wasn't as sore the next morning as he was. 

[MountainDon]

The biggest problem I have is with the chain sharpening.  I do pretty good until it gets about half worn with routine sharpening.  Then the alignment of the kerf starts to wonder left or right.  

I own ten chains. I use a hand filer to sharpen them a few times. Then when they get iffy I toss them in box and when I have at least 7 or 8 that need to be sharpened take them into the saw dealer. I get a break on the price in quantity and they work like new again for a while.

[peternap]

The biggest problem I have is with the chain sharpening.  I do pretty good until it gets about half worn with routine sharpening.  Then the alignment of the kerf starts to wonder left or right.  

I own ten chains. I use a hand filer to sharpen them a few times. Then when they get iffy I toss them in box and when I have at least 7 or 8 that need to be sharpened take them into the saw dealer. I get a break on the price in quantity and they work like new again for a while.

I have a dozen or so chains for each saw and just change the chain in the field.
When I get home, I have the same sharpener the dealer has

[MountainDon]

I can't recount the number of times I've almost bought one of the Oregon machines. If I'd done it when I first thought of buying one, it would have been paid for several times over.