# Making wood



## Sage (Feb 26, 2017)

It's been a very cold, long winter. Last fall I split a trees worth of hard black locust. Large pieces, about 30" plus across. This is how a lazy guy does it..


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## Johny99 (Feb 26, 2017)

Nice toys


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## mikewatkins727 (Feb 26, 2017)

Sage said:


> It's been a very cold, long winter. Last fall I split a trees worth of hard black locust. Large pieces, about 30" plus across. This is how a lazy guy does it..



That's NOT lazy! This from a guy who as a 10 year old helped his dad cut 150 yd worth of locust fence posts and set them in the ground


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## jswordy (Feb 27, 2017)

Call me lazy then. But I sure didn't feel lazy. It's an annual event on my farm, several pickup loads. Locust is a nice hot firewood. I own the splitter. Bought it at auction when the rental place closed.


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## Sage (Feb 27, 2017)

No way this old body could have moved those 200 lb, big rounds, of locust. Once split in half I could slide them around to finish the job. A lot of work even if you have the equipment.


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## Arne (Feb 28, 2017)

jswordy said:


> Call me lazy then. But I sure didn't feel lazy. It's an annual event on my farm, several pickup loads. Locust is a nice hot firewood. I own the splitter. Bought it at auction when the rental place closed.



Hope you have a youngster along to get those chunks of wood out of the front end of the truck. My knees and back are hurting just thinking about it. Arne.


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## cgallamo (Feb 28, 2017)

I split with a gransfors bruks. But not locust - the worst it gets at my place is hickory.


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## Sage (Feb 28, 2017)

This is the easy way to hold a log for cutting. This is the top half of a 60' tall pine that had died last year.


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## jswordy (Feb 28, 2017)

cgallamo said:


> I split with a gransfors bruks. But not locust - the worst it gets at my place is hickory.



Need to split some osage orange. I did that a few years, too. Good hot wood.


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## jswordy (Feb 28, 2017)

Arne said:


> Hope you have a youngster along to get those chunks of wood out of the front end of the truck. My knees and back are hurting just thinking about it. Arne.



All me, baby. All me.


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## Mismost (Feb 28, 2017)

Dad is a wood burner...has a little pot belly stove....he lives in town. He rides around going to construction sites and picks up cut offs. Snags tree limbs off of curbs. Folks bring him wood. He cuts it all down to size and stacks it away. I swear, he enjoys collecting it as much as he does burning it. He's 88 and it gives him something to do...collecting firewood, trapping squirrels, feeding birds, fixing lawn mowers, and going to Church...that's about it for him these days, and he likes it that way.

I got rid of my wood burning stove last summer. Just don't need it down here in South Texas....but I ain't told Dad yet!


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## mikewatkins727 (Feb 28, 2017)

jswordy said:


> Need to split some osage orange. I did that a few years, too. Good hot wood.



JSW: That's my preferred stove wood. Just don't burn it alone, mix it with something else, or else you run the risk of a too hot stove. I like using the osage in my work shop. Stuff is TUFF! Just can't get many long, straight grain pieces. (Wonder why?)

Have lots of ash around here, thanks to the Emerald Ash Borer.

Mike


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## Brian55 (Feb 28, 2017)

We heat the house almost exclusively with our wood burner. Didn't burn through much wood this year here in northern IL. We had a very mild winter, let the furnace kick in way more than usual since many days it wasn't worth starting a fire just to let it go out a few hours later.


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## vacuumpumpman (Feb 28, 2017)

I also own a log splitter that I help out with the Boy Scouts - It has a hydraulic lift to pick up logs 500 pounds and split them 1 - 4 or 6 ways in 1 push 

it is very impressive and can be dangerous, if you are not paying attention


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## Brian55 (Feb 28, 2017)

vacuumpumpman said:


> I also own a log splitter that I help out with the Boy Scouts - It has a hydraulic lift to pick up logs 500 pounds and split them 1 - 4 or 6 ways in 1 push
> 
> it is very impressive and can be dangerous, if you are not paying attention



A Timber Wolf isn't "just" a log splitter. It's the Lexus of log splitters


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## vacuumpumpman (Mar 1, 2017)

Brian55 said:


> A Timber Wolf isn't "just" a log splitter. It's the Lexus of log splitters



Yes - I know 

It does make life easier !! I'm surprised you knew the brand of Timber wolf?


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## Brian55 (Mar 1, 2017)

vacuumpumpman said:


> Yes - I know
> 
> It does make life easier !! I'm surprised you knew the brand of Timber wolf?



Yep, there may be one in my future when old faithful (collection of random parts, poorly welded together, powered by a late 70's 8hp Kohler) finally gives out.


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## jswordy (Mar 1, 2017)

mikewatkins727 said:


> JSW: That's my preferred stove wood. Just don't burn it alone, mix it with something else, or else you run the risk of a too hot stove. I like using the osage in my work shop. Stuff is TUFF! Just can't get many long, straight grain pieces. (Wonder why?)
> 
> Have lots of ash around here, thanks to the Emerald Ash Borer.
> 
> Mike



I have a custom made stove made out of plate steel with firebrick liner. Burned it straight for 3-4 years. Get it lit and going, shut down all the air vents, close the damper and there ya are for 8-10 hours.

Just be careful when you open that firebox door. Am I right? 

We burned wood only for heat and did not have central HVAC for 10 years, then got the HVAC just for the AC side of it, and burned wood another 10 years for heat. Five years back, we replaced the old HVAC with a really nice one. Now we burn wood only when it gets below 40 degrees F, which sometimes like this year, is not very often here. This way, I can keep us supplied just off the deadwood fall from the farm and I am not under that constant pressure to haul wood to the door every other day all winter. 

There is still nothing like a warm stove when it is cold. The older I get, the more I like it.

27 years of old faithful...


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## mikewatkins727 (Mar 1, 2017)

Oh so true, Wordy. Close down air dampers & you are set for the long haul. And opening the doors?! Just watch out for those "hopping mad" embers. Hedge, or osage orange as it is also known as, has a habit of spitting out hot coals.


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## jswordy (Mar 9, 2017)

mikewatkins727 said:


> Oh so true, Wordy. Close down air dampers & you are set for the long haul. And opening the doors?! Just watch out for those "hopping mad" embers. Hedge, or osage orange as it is also known as, has a habit of spitting out hot coals.



Also know as bois d'arc, because the Indians used it as bow wood. It'll dull a chainsaw blade, let me tell ya. Always have a sharp spare.


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## treesaver (Mar 11, 2017)

I'm 70, and still heat the whole place with wood. Have a big outside wood boiler, and floor heat in the shop and house, and have not used an ounce of propane or anything else. The stove takes pretty big chunks, but as the years go by, I find I keep cutting the chunks shorter! That stove will burn anything, and was heating the last few days with prunings from my vines!


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## vacuumpumpman (Jun 25, 2017)

I had some help to take down some cotton wood that were too close to the power lines. 
Day 1 = we fallen and cleared and bucked all the wood

Day 2 = we split and stacked the wood 
Day 3 = I can barely move = day of rest


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## Sage (Jun 25, 2017)

Just got word from my buddy that he took down another tree and has some "big chunks" for me again.


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