Who is cutting wood?

[~mikey b]

nothing.

[systemoverblow'd]

nothing.

I certainly don't know how to be a dirty hippy with a fucking retarded beard like you. Super glad I never learned that fag shit.

[~mikey b]

night night Honey

[systemoverblow'd]

F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5

[~mikey b]

that's not the safe word

try again

[gaijin]

That bungee is a good idea if you're working in a team. One guy can set up a dozen bungees, one guy splits down the line. I can see utilizing that for my beech forest next spring. Beech isn't very knotty and splits in one strike. But that means splitting in the field, and not at home, wasting all the little chips that fly off. I use the chips between newspaper and kindling for faster flare-ups, less paper, tighter kindling stacks.

I have his axe, that Fiskars, and it's amazingly fast. Highly recommended.

I rarely cut kindling from whole logs though. I split all my logs down to burnable logs (burnies), then split those burnies into kindling throughout the year. I don't see using the bungee idea at home.

[stfu&gbtw]

That makes sense. Everytime I split wood it was for camp fires and it always turned out to be 1/3 roughly but for those that do this on the reg I didn't know if this was a handy idea. I'm sure some small wood stoves couldn't handle 1/3-1/2 logs. But what do I know really?

I always split into 1/4's or smaller, but not with a bungy. A tire ring works better. Take your old tires and bolt 3 of them together in a stack. Put your round in there and have at it. Smaller pieces provide greater flexibility in heating the house. There's nothing worse than loading the stove and realizing it's going to be 85 in the house. For loading overnight, putting 10 small pieces in the stove stacked flush is very similar (but not exactly the same) as putting 2 or 3 big pieces in. Besides, you'll always get some big pieces out of the rounds that are just too knotty and don't want to break up.

[refried]

I've tried the bungee trick and it works pretty well. It keeps the round on the block in one piece without it falling off the block every time you split it. I'll get 8 big pieces of wood from every round, so it does keep me from having to stop between every swing to put another piece of the round on the block. It's also easier to load one split round than it is to have to pick up pieces skattered on the ground.
I use cedar for kindling, Every couple months I'll split a round and store it in the house, It gets nice and dry and lights easily.

[buttahflake]

cold, cold, cold...
ten below this morning!
here is my setup down in the basement.
woodstove next to the oil furnace.
switch on the stove hood, kicks the blower on when it gets hot.
air circulation is crucial.
run both to start on these wicked cold days, then just run wood all afternoon.

from today.

[stfu&gbtw]

cold, cold, cold...
ten below this morning!
here is my setup down in the basement.
woodstove next to the oil furnace.
switch on the stove hood, kicks the blower on when it gets hot.
air circulation is crucial.
run both to start on these wicked cold days, then just run wood all afternoon.

from today.

Nice looking rig.

-10 back east is no fucking joke. Stay warm.

North Central CO last night: 38 degrees. Threw one too many sticks in the fire and had the windows open for 2 hours.

I'll be splitting the rest of my pile (~3 cords) this weekend. Probably in shorts.

[DougW]

^^^ not sure why you'd want to split it that small unless you were just making kindling. I'd split that log into 1/4's or 1/3's, which kind of defeats the purpose of bothering with the bungee. My wood also doesn't split any where near that easily.

Why do people spilt wood so much? I only split so it will fit through the door of my wood stove. On my property none of the wood is that big so really only have to split maybe 10%. I would rather let it dry for a year under cover after being on ground for a year than split a higher %. Larger pieces take longer to burn which is plus in my book as always have more of a problem over shooting temp wise.

Another thing - people make kindling out of big wood? WTF - I take a totally different approach. When I cut up a tree I will cut branches down to 1" dia down to 16" and treat them like any other piece of wood and stack them in the pile. So there's always kindling mixed in the pile so can start with nothing but a bit of paper.

For all the branches off a pine I'll chop them down to ~12 lenghts with an axe and throw into garbage cans. I could burn them all but burning them takes work too.

[XXX-er]

people like to think they are more connected by splitting kindling with an axe, they like the zen of a splitting mall cleanly cleaving the perfect peice

this doesn't happen in real life with knot choked 18-24 " rounds ... give me a motorized wood splitter ANY day and yeah it only has to fit thru the door of the stove

I can usually get the fire going with all them paper flyers that
come in the mail

[Grape_Ape]

Nice to see system...(what a ghey username) is cunting up yet another thread.

Anyway, my 2 cents about cutting wood: I am fortunate to have a wood burning stove in a neighborhood with shitloads of old maples, oaks and beech. I just keep an eye out and pilfer from trees that fall from storms. Free wood in the city!

[XXX-er]

cold, cold, cold...
ten below this morning!
here is my setup down in the basement.
woodstove next to the oil furnace.
switch on the stove hood, kicks the blower on when it gets hot.
air circulation is crucial.
run both to start on these wicked cold days, then just run wood all afternoon.

I had a neighbor who built a more refined version of this ^^ he had an air plenum around his heater (which you almost have) which was connected into the air ducts of his forced air gas furnace system

he used an old furnace fan to force air around the wood heater and up into the duct system, there was a thermostat upstairs controling this fan, so the fan would force air into the ducts until the house temp got to his setting at which point the fan shuts off, he made a flapper valve which fell closed when the fan shut off to isolate the wood & gas systems

as long as the fire box got stoked the fan would cycle on/off to keep the house at a comfortable temp

if buddy left and the fire goes out the gas furnace comes on at whatever temp its thermostat is set for

he burned about 6 cords a yr to heat a 1200sqft house thru the winter in kelowna, the only gas he burned was for the water heater

[Grange]

Growing up we had a wood burner in the basement. We went through 9 large pick-up (long box) a year. I remember carrying wood when I was 4 and my parents gave us kids a penny a stick.

[gaijin]

Why do people spilt wood so much? I only split so it will fit through the door of my wood stove. On my property none of the wood is that big so really only have to split maybe 10%. I would rather let it dry for a year under cover after being on ground for a year than split a higher %. Larger pieces take longer to burn which is plus in my book as always have more of a problem over shooting temp wise.

Another thing - people make kindling out of big wood? WTF - I take a totally different approach. When I cut up a tree I will cut branches down to 1" dia down to 16" and treat them like any other piece of wood and stack them in the pile. So there's always kindling mixed in the pile so can start with nothing but a bit of paper.

For all the branches off a pine I'll chop them down to ~12 lenghts with an axe and throw into garbage cans. I could burn them all but burning them takes work too.

Pine? And, not split at that? I assume you clean your chimney often. No offense, but it sounds like a dirty burning strategy. I hope it's safe.

I split kindling because it burns better/cleaner/hotter for the start. Even with hardwood I can get my stove up to full burning temp in 20 minutes = a cleaner stove pipe.

Back in my youth I used to just start the stove with paper and logs. It's absolutely possible, but I don't find it to be nearly as warm, nearly as quick, and not nearly as clean and safe as having a pile of kindling virtually explode into a bed of coals.

[DougW]

Pine? And, not split at that? I assume you clean your chimney often. No offense, but it sounds like a dirty burning strategy. I hope it's safe.

I split kindling because it burns better/cleaner/hotter for the start. Even with hardwood I can get my stove up to full burning temp in 20 minutes = a cleaner stove pipe.

Back in my youth I used to just start the stove with paper and logs. It's absolutely possible, but I don't find it to be nearly as warm, nearly as quick, and not nearly as clean and safe as having a pile of kindling virtually explode into a bed of coals.

Only if it needs it to get in the stove. if its really dry then what would be the diff. Any way we burn a mix of pine and aspen so it burns pretty hot so when we clean there is nothing but some soot. No creosote at all.

My point from a time eff point of view why not just cut up the branches with the rest of tree then use the 1-2 in branches as the kindling rather than creating in out of rounds. A 1 in piece of Aspen dry burns very quickly.

[gaijin]

I hear ya. No creosote from pine must mean it's very well seasoned pine. At that point, a log is kindling. lol

Cherry, Apple, Peach, Pear etc, on the other hand is a different story. It's not going to start with paper. Not very splittable either. Fruit trees from farms are knotty as fuck. I cut 1-2 cedar trees a year just for kindling to complement all the fruit trees I get from local farmers. Damn, firewood season is 3 months away.

I also thoroughly enjoy 30 minutes with an axe and a beer after work. Meditative medicine an axe is.

[bushman]

10 cords of red maple and white ash. It looks pretty good. I think I may buy another trucklload. $950.00 for the load delivered.

[freeheelwilly]

kiln dried is expensive.
$285 delivered.
no bark, no bugs, no hiss, just high quality BTU's.

Good grief! Designer firewood for people with more $ than brains.

I pay $70 a chord - split and delivered. Plus I cut a bit myself off my woodlot- free. All top hardwood - Ash, Maple, Oak, Beech. Some Cherry. Birch I split up as kindling. No bugs, no hiss. My two stoves can turn my 2750 sq.ft. home into a sauna if that's what I want.

Dude, you're doing it wrong.

[Meadow Skipper]

I pay $70 a chord - split and delivered. Plus I cut a bit myself off my woodlot- free. All top hardwood - Ash, Maple, Oak, Beech. Some Cherry. Birch I split up as kindling. No bugs, no hiss.

Fucking easterners. They need their own firewood thread so that westerners that have to burn softwoods don't have to endure the gloating. What I'd give sometimes for a load of dry oak.

Not that piñón and juniper don't have their rewards. They just don't last like hardwoods.

I gotta get out and cut when it stops raining.

[freeheelwilly]

Fucking easterners. They need their own firewood thread so that westerners that have to burn softwoods don't have to endure the gloating. What I'd give sometimes for a load of dry oak.

Not that piñón and juniper don't have their rewards. They just don't last like hardwoods.

I gotta get out and cut when it stops raining.

According to Riptard, the west is absolutely LOADED with hardwood; the shit's growing on trees.

[buttahflake]

Good grief! Designer firewood for people with more $ than brains.

I pay $70 a chord - split and delivered. Plus I cut a bit myself off my woodlot- free. All top hardwood - Ash, Maple, Oak, Beech. Some Cherry. Birch I split up as kindling. No bugs, no hiss. My two stoves can turn my 2750 sq.ft. home into a sauna if that's what I want.

Dude, you're doing it wrong.

drop a knee, suck a cock.

[freeheelwilly]

drop a knee, suck a cock.

I haven't dropped a knee in nearly ten years.

Why don't you buy a Stickley dining room table and sideboard and cut it all up for firewood? I'll bet that shit's dry!

[Danno]

70 a cord of hardwood, split and delivered? Jesus fuck.