Post pictures of your woodpile/splitting area

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You might have forgot to take off the corners multifaceted. Looks good tho. Not easy to do that I wouldn’t think. Got a half load of apple yesterday. And put it on my 10” chop saw. Got right at 4 wheel barrows which is 100$ so not to bad. Just don’t wanna run out of apple.so I’ll take whatever amount. Got cherry, ash and now apple on this pile, guy told me the ash was oak, I was 90% sure it wasn’t, but you can still cook with ash, I’ll use it outdoorDB414A68-2BDD-48B1-8B7D-94EE7D2244D4.jpeg EBE89B24-6631-4183-9700-2F4383190A6A.jpegFB0148D8-A1BC-40B8-8E4C-688FA17E786A.jpeg18A9508B-FA1F-40B1-B14B-3A6B249B5A55.jpeg
 
I didn't know that Black Locust was planted in Australia. Is that considered a "junk wood" compared to the other primo Aussie hardwoods available to you?

It certainly is, which seems harsh. I think that when Australians think of North American trees, they think of the big softwoods only and generalise to say that it is all lousy firewood. I burned two sticks of locust yesterday morning and it seemed ok but not enough to really tell. In theory, the specific gravity of locust is 0.77 which puts it in the lower to mid-tier eucalypts that I mostly burn. BUT, the growing environment seems to make a difference to the extent that US planted blue gum can be 25-30% less dense than the same tree in Australia. With the harsher summers here, maybe Oz grown locust may be denser than in its home environment? Dunno.

I never used to see BL when I was driving around but now that I know what it is, you see patches of it here and there. Sometimes farmers may have planted it as windrows. Its invasive qualities are evident though.

Below is a burn pile of dry locust logs which the farmer I got the last lot from is planning to torch when fire restrictions are lifted in a few weeks. That's a big locust in the background too. Though it may be closish in BTUs to locally sold firewood, no-one would buy it because they don't know what it is. Me, I'm going to cut this lot and burn it this year so then I don't have to do any stacking in the shed :happybanana:.

14th Apr 1.jpg

Everything still looks nice and green....how long until you will be needing heat there, Cowboy?

We have lit the fire several times on cooler nights and mornings but not burning full-time yet. This week is going to be 25-29°C though so we won't be burning again for a bit but we'd expect to be burning more or less full time by the end of the month. Everything will stay green here until the end of next summer when it'll brown off in the heat. We've had a few rain events the past 6 weeks that perked everything up again.
 
It certainly is, which seems harsh. I think that when Australians think of North American trees, they think of the big softwoods only and generalise to say that it is all lousy firewood. I burned two sticks of locust yesterday morning and it seemed ok but not enough to really tell. In theory, the specific gravity of locust is 0.77 which puts it in the lower to mid-tier eucalypts that I mostly burn. BUT, the growing environment seems to make a difference to the extent that US planted blue gum can be 25-30% less dense than the same tree in Australia. With the harsher summers here, maybe Oz grown locust may be denser than in its home environment? Dunno.

I never used to see BL when I was driving around but now that I know what it is, you see patches of it here and there. Sometimes farmers may have planted it as windrows. Its invasive qualities are evident though.

Below is a burn pile of dry locust logs which the farmer I got the last lot from is planning to torch when fire restrictions are lifted in a few weeks. That's a big locust in the background too. Though it may be closish in BTUs to locally sold firewood, no-one would buy it because they don't know what it is. Me, I'm going to cut this lot and burn it this year so then I don't have to do any stacking in the shed :happybanana:.

Hmm... Well, BL is only endemic to a fairly small regions in the North American continent, but is widely planted all over the United States, and from what I can understand the density and quality send to be pretty consistent from what I can gather. I know it's not Australia, but the climate can vary quite a lot here depending on where you are and it can grow. Yes, it can be invasive though is less of a pest than other species like ailanthus. I've cut trees and had them coppice again within a few months... Even with uprooted ones.

Ha ha, it's not hard at all. Super dense hardwoods aren't dear to me. I have plenty of oak, ash and sometimes locust to burn and it's norm than enough for my needs. Here in the Mid-Atlantic we don't have too harsh of winters, Ash and cherry have just enough BTUs to keep us warm while we're home, and we don't run out stove constantly, so more dense wood only affords us less fuel consumption. One winter I was opening the windows at night while burning oak ... Just got too warm inside.
 
Hmm... Well, BL is only endemic to a fairly small regions in the North American continent, but is widely planted all over the United States, and from what I can understand the density and quality send to be pretty consistent from what I can gather. I know it's not Australia, but the climate can vary quite a lot here depending on where you are and it can grow. Yes, it can be invasive though is less of a pest than other species like ailanthus. I've cut trees and had them coppice again within a few months... Even with uprooted ones.

Ha ha, it's not hard at all. Super dense hardwoods aren't dear to me. I have plenty of oak, ash and sometimes locust to burn and it's norm than enough for my needs. Here in the Mid-Atlantic we don't have too harsh of winters, Ash and cherry have just enough BTUs to keep us warm while we're home, and we don't run out stove constantly, so more dense wood only affords us less fuel consumption. One winter I was opening the windows at night while burning oak ... Just got too warm inside.


TBH, the super dense hardwoods that sink in water have more limited use IMO than the mid-density stuff. Certainly if you are looking to get warmer faster then the dense stuff is either next to useless or you need to split it to kindling size to get it to burn. The super dense stuff is only really useful overnight or if you want to shut it down less to get more out of it for a long burn in the same time as fully shut down mid-range hardwood. If Aus grown BL is similar to US BL then it'll do just fine and the farmer just wants it gone so it's a win-win. The disdain many Aussies have for anything that is not red gum or ironbark has more to do with ignorance than anything else.

For a firewood seller though (and this farmer does sell some), I do get it given what he has available. He can cut up a 30-40" DBH peppermint or white gum that goes straight up without a branch for the first 80 feet or a 20" BL of uncertain value that is full of forks and bendy bits. BTUs are much the same but it is more presentable and buyers know what they are getting. I figure I'll just cut like a mad thing and everyone's happy.
 
"It's as easy as 1-2-3" I said to my granddaughter.

She said "This is fun Papa!"

And after one piece she said "I'm all done!"

Oh well, she's only four... so we went and had milk and cookies to celebrate being "all done".

easy-as-123-SM.jpg

As for the strength to weight ratio of that lift - I think she wins me big time.
 
"It's as easy as 1-2-3" I said to my granddaughter.

She said "This is fun Papa!"

And after one piece she said "I'm all done!"

Oh well, she's only four... so we went and had milk and cookies to celebrate being "all done".

easy-as-123-SM.jpg

As for the strength to weight ratio of that lift - I think she wins me big time.
Awesome buddy!
 
Don't want to sound too critical - lots of really nice wood sheds posted in this thread.

But how come so many have the (horizontal) wood retaining slats attached to the outside of the structure, where shifting wood would push them off; instead of inside of the (vertical) posts, where the weight of the wood would press the boards against the structure, instead of several screws or nails?

Just easier to build?

Philbert
 
Finally finished (well, mostly what I had room to stack) - my monster woodpile from over the summer last year. Since my surgery over the winter I couldn't get to until I was cleared by the doc to do work and weight bearing in late Dec. STarted chipping away at it, then got the axe chopping bug, cut a bunch of wood doing that, then come spring a got wild hair up my a$$ and attacked the woodpile. It was huge, probably 25' long by 12' wide and about 7' tall at its peak.

Before:
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After:
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Also, here is my all axe-cut wood (no saws allowed)
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I'm estimating a total of around 8 cords, which will put us well over 3 years ahead. So glad to be almost fully recovered and back to work again. The wood is about 40% White Ash. 30% Northern Red Oak, 15% Shagbark Hickory, 10% Black Cherry, and 5% Black Locust — and it was all 100% split by hand with one 4.5 lb axe:

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