Well this year we decided to try something different. If I was to follow my usual pattern when it comes to fire wood, one of two things would happen.
- I would come home with the 4′ lengths of wood, unload them and think to myself – “Boy, I’m sure glad that’s done.” I would then procrastinate with cutting it into stove lengths until bad weather forced me to do something, which would probably mean cutting up part of the stack and leaving part, breaking it up into several days separated by a month between each, finally getting it all cut up around March or April when I don’t need it any more. I would split the wood as I needed it each evening as Janis fixed supper, making the splitting of firewood a part of EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WINTER.
- The second option would probably be to get all the logs cut up into stove lengths and stacking the whole lot. This would also mean going out into the cold every evening as Janis fixed supper to split the night’s and next days firewood. Still making splitting a part of EVERY SINGLE DAY OF WINTER.
Another side to my “modus operandi is that I have never made provision to stack our firewood under cover and so we regularly have to deal with wet wood during times of snow or rain.
This year would be different! We were going to split it all and we were going to get it under cover – Man, that’s ambitious (at least for me!) It would all start with getting these 5.5 cords of pine cut into 18″ lengths.
5.5 cords waiting to be cut up
Matthew and I tackled the project with gusto, making both chain saws sing. Here we have done half and are just getting started on the second half. The saw dust here is about 5″ deep throughout the area. We sifted all of it through a screen of poultry netting when we finished and got 5 barrels full of great pine bedding for the laying hens nesting boxes and to spread over muddy areas.
Matthew keeping at it
I really wanted to try and get all this wood split up before stacking it this year. We also had a large pile of seasoned elm to split up that was stacked at the far end of the field. If you’ve ever tried to split dry elm, you know that it was a job for some heavy duty hydraulics, so I called the local rental agency to get the largest splitter they had. It turned out to be a 30 ton splitter that we rented a few years back. You can see a picture of it here. We rented it at 10 AM and split the elm until dark. We started in on the pine at sunrise the next morning and got about a third of it done. This means that we still had 3.6 cords left and no splitter. About that time my neighbor came walking up to see what all the noise was about. After chiding me for renting the splitter he graciously offered to bring over his little electric “DR” Splitter. I was happy that he offered but I did not think a small electric splitter was what I wanted. Ed only burns wood to supplement his gas heat and probably burns less than 1/2 cord per year. I really didn’t believe that any tiny electric toy would get the job done, but Ed persisted and ran home and a few minutes later he appeared on his lawn tractor pulling this little DR. I’m sure that had he looked closely he would have noticed that I was suppressing a smile. This thing was so small that even being mounted on a home-made trailer, it was too close to the ground to work with. I had to set the trailer up on log blocks so that Janis could sit down and run the control comfortably. There was simply no way this could split all the wood I had left. Even with the 30 ton splitter, the ram would get so hot we couldn’t hardly touch it. I was sure I was going to burn this thing up in no time at all.
Teeny, Tiny, Baby, Splitter by DR
My smile disappeared as I plugged in the extension cord and Janis manned the control. I was amazed at what this thing would do. It was faster than the big rental unit and with it being so much smaller, we were able to move around it faster as well. The pile of split wood quickly began to grow.
the DR splitter
This little “Toy” quickly proved to be a genuine work horse. I kept expecting it to get hot but it never did. In the end, it split about twice as much as the large splitter and never missed a lick. Ed did let me in on a little trick that I think will help anyone who uses any size of splitter. He keeps a block of paraffin wax with the splitter. Any time the machine slows down, you rub a little wax on the splitter wedge, which lubricates it allowing it to easily slip into the wood. It speeds up the process noticeably. My neighbor has several DR products and I know he is a believer in the company. I have to say that I am now a believer as well. One fantastic advantage of this quiet little splitter is that you can hold a conversation without neighbors a half mile away hearing you because you are trying to be heard above the roar of the gasoline engine. Janis and I just talked about all kinds of things and before we knew it … the job was done!
Well, we now have 5 cords of pine under cover with a half cord outside along with 2.5 cord of elm. It’s all split and stacked. I think I will enjoy not having to go out for that task every day this winter. In the picture below you can see a stool by the block, which is where I split kindling.
All split and stacked
In the patch of sunlight you can see the shadow of my ax handle. It is stuck in my splitting block outside. That ax will be lonely this winter… and I do not plan to console her.
Allen
