Firewood

[Pony Soldier]

After years of cutting firewood I think I am on the edge of change. At 74 I may have to limit myself to trees less than 20" in diameter. I'm in the process of splitting nearly 30" blocks of red fir. I got them to the house but now picking up and holding them on the splitter is a brutal endeaver. Even in halves. You make a lot of good wood but boy does it challenge your body. At the time and the night after.

 

[survivalistd]

Getting old is overrated for sure°

 

[Elkslut]

Can your splitter adjust to cut vertical?
Leave those oversized ones for the young.

 

[Pony Soldier]

No. It mounts on the three point hitch on my tractor and is horizontal. Life just hurts as you get older.

 

[Ridge Runner]

still splitting mine by hand but my firewood is mostly for ambiance so I only need a cord or 2 a year. Also got 16 yrs to go to catch up to you in age.

 

[IdahoBeav]

There is nothing wrong with sawing rounds into halves or quarters before you start to split. If you run the bar parallel to the grain, it'll shear nice shavings that work great for fire starter.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Have seen some nifty splitters made to run off a skidsteer or a mini.

 

[JustABritCrazy]

I’m 64. Still split 4 cords of mixed hardwoods each winter with a maul. Confess to looking at a 13 ton splitter a little longer every time I walk into Lowe’s.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I'll be 84 next month and I quit burning firewood 20 years ago. I have a pellet stove and just love it. You have to be a little careful with the quality of the pellets you burn, generally the more expensive the pellet, the better it is. Mine has and automatic starter and it's connected to a thermostat....set and forget it. Just keep it full of a 40# bag and clean out the ashes every 2 or 3 weeks. I usually burn a ton of pellets a winter (+/_ depending on how cold the winter is). A ton of pellets usually cost about $500.00.

 

[Wheels]

I split 2-3 cords each winter, figure I have to touch the wood 7 times before it gets burned.. Really thinking about just buying split wood and not having to deal with it anymore. There are guys selling split oak locally for $150 a cord delivered, could sell my splitter and pay for a couple years worth.

 

[Pony Soldier]

We live in the lodgepole stands but something of a permafrost belt. No hardwood but need larch or doug fir to get enough btus to survive. We burn wood from late sept to july. Some years a little more. Our January record is -75.

I can still swing a sledge but it hurts my arms for two days after. I split wood with a hydraulic spliter for 5 hrs today. Probably will have another 4 days of that plus stacking.

Just an exercise program to fix me up for horse shoeing.

 

[5MilesBack]

Yep. There are years I tell my wife that natural gas is cheaper than my labor to cut/split/etc all that wood.......so we just run the furnace. On the other hand I really enjoy cutting and splitting, and I never pass up the opportunity for fire wood. So I always do have quite a bit, but my splitter will go vertical so it's much easier with those 30+ inch diameter trees. I'm also still waiting for a "hard" winter down here. Haven't seen one of those in decades though.