What's the best weather for firewood cutting?

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Today is the best day for wood cutting. There is rarely a perfect wood cutting day. I cut pretty much all year which means when it is raining yeah I get wet. Hot dry summer days are the most productive. They are uncomfortable. Get up at 4 or 5AM start cutting at 6 get some warmed up coffee at 10 watermelon at noon a nap until 3 cut until dark. If the wood is damp it can only be cut because other wise it is too heavy. So summer is when it gets done. The winter months are OK just very unpredictable. Thanks
 
We never thought it was an option to NOT help when I was growing up.

Same here....

But Ive got to temper the hard ass/hard work ethic with the fact my kids are extremely intelligent and prone to eggheadishness rather than manual labor. Our kids are almost 180 degrees opposite of me. Straight A students, one is starting band, the other in marching band. Both are right on the edge of testing out of their current grade....

Thats their "job" right now. I started working at 13, 40 hours a week because the incentive to earn money was greater than the incentive to get a good education. I didn't have the guidance to instill the notion that getting educated was more important than working full time at 13. My wife and I have decided that we are going to focus on them maintaining their grades rather than teach them that the way to a good life is solely through hard work.

Make no mistake though, they have their chores and I maintain a very high expectation of adherence to processes and details.
 
Same here....

But Ive got to temper the hard ass/hard work ethic with the fact my kids are extremely intelligent and prone to eggheadishness rather than manual labor. Our kids are almost 180 degrees opposite of me. Straight A students, one is starting band, the other in marching band. Both are right on the edge of testing out of their current grade....

Thats their "job" right now. I started working at 13, 40 hours a week because the incentive to earn money was greater than the incentive to get a good education. I didn't have the guidance to instill the notion that getting educated was more important than working full time at 13. My wife and I have decided that we are going to focus on them maintaining their grades rather than teach them that the way to a good life is solely through hard work.

Make no mistake though, they have their chores and I maintain a very high expectation of adherence to processes and details.


I graduated 3rd in my class (99.something average from 9-12 grade), worked a job too (some weeks was 45-50hrs) plus did all the chores at home. I had enough credits I could have graduated as a junior. Didn't though.

Dunno how I did it, these days I work about 80 hrs a week and I'm worn right out!
 
I will agree it was a nice day in WNY and i cant believe the bills won.

What's so hard to believe about beating the Jets? :)

I like Fall and early Winter. Ideally from first frost until first real snow. Frost finishes off what's left of the bugs and high weeds. Couple inches of snow on the ground is fine, but deep snow is a lot more work and takes the fun out of it.

But like most, I cut when the opportunities are there. Exception is when it gets real hot. 80 degrees and I might still grab a pickup load. But start getting near 90 and I'm not cutting period. Could be the greatest score in the world and I'm thinking, anybody wants it, they can have it.
 
I freaking hate heat and humidity. I sweat like pig, even during the winter in the right conditions. Though the winter is my preference, if it's above 20°F with no wind and plenty of sun, that's ideal, and I'll be happily working with no coat while staying warm without overheating. Early spring and late autumn are tied for second.
 
I like to cut it on a waning moon. That is when the moon is getting smaller . Also Sept and Oct the sap is down, I think this helps too. I know it is best to cut on a waning moon
David
On that note I was told by a foresters that trees hold the most moisture during the first full moon of August. After that they go into decline.

I personally try to drop trees in the fall, winter, or early spring.
 
I plan on dropping trees this weekend as long as it's not windy. The bills are out of the playoffs so it's time to drop trees. I'll cut them up later on. I found about 10 to 12 dead ones. One I'm not sure what to do with. It's going to fall on something. May end up cutting living trees down to drop this one.
 
Year round, I have started wearing gloves in warm weather since I've found Black Widows in the wood pile. Often the wood split in the winter is just thrown in piles because the racks are still full, and I'll stack in the warmer months. That's when I've found the Black Widows, Joe.
 
So far for me it has been october n november....temps about 45 to 60...of course no humidity.
Since its the wife n I that do it all...those temps work the best....we have about 3 cords to split n stack,...might be a little while...
 
I cut today it was 39 and rainy/melting. Not ideal but I had some trees that needed to be cut and the ground is still frozen as well as the water on the wet lands. I did some cutting a few weeks ago in about a foot of snow and 12 degrees. It was nice but dragging logs out sucked. It's a great work out though.
 
Idealy 20-25 degrees is my favorite. But whenever I can cut normaly wins out. Throw summer t-stoms in the mix and I wind up cutting in hot and humid garbage. Seems to be the way it works out. Boiled the gas in a saw 5-6 yr ago. 95 plus. never again. Heat to hard and me and my stuff.
 
in my area, Oct/Nov is usually very rainy and Dec/Jan often has too much snow on the ground to reach the wood, so I look for blow downs, after hard winter winds or ice storms now and into the spring, roads permitting. The forest closes down in summer and early Fall due to forest fire risk so that's when I'll do my splitting and stacking at a leisurely pace under shade trees - I try to stay 2 to 3 years ahead.
 
I hate being cold and wet, so when it's dry and in the 50's or 60's works best for me. Not winter time in Oregon anyways. I had really wanted to offer up some smart-assed answer like "When the tide is out and Jupiter aligns with Mars," but I couldn't think of one so I won't.
 

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