How Cold Will You Cut...?

[Curlycherry1]

Cold has never stopped me. When I was putting myself through school cutting wood during breaks I could not let the cold stop me so I was in it at every break. My record was about 20 below and it was that way for a solid week. I just left my car running with the heater on so I could get out of it once in a while. I was just dropping and blocking back then so it was easy to keep moving the keep warm.

Deep snow was a bigger problem for me. I was in the CNY snow belt region and 1977 was a bad year. We had over 5' of standing snow in the woods. I was cutting on snow shoes for a lot of the work which is dangerous and hard. In the spring I had to cut all the stumps down lower to the ground and I got as many and 2-18" pieces off of some of the stumps.

Next to where I was cutting they were logging 100 acres that year that had to be out by spring due to the wetness of the land. They had two dozers in there with wide tracks moving snow around all day long and then letting the ground harden before the would drop and skid the logs out. The forester said the idiots that bid on the job never thought about the work that would be needed despite the window of time they were given in the contract.

 

[sunguy]

How Cold?

My partner and myself go into the Manitoba Jackpine forests when there is no winds and the month is either January or February. The daytime highs usually soar to about 25-30 below Celsius! Are we nuts... no, because nobody else is out there to find my woodlots which are on Crown Land! Usually enjoy cutting 4-5 cords of Jackpine ...10-14" diameters.

 

[kswoodcutter]

Cold is no problem

The cold doesn't stop me from going out. I just make sure I have something to clear the ice from my beard and I'm good. That and a wool sweater and wind breaker. It's the snow thats a nuisance to me. I don't seem to get near as much done and wear out quicker. Plus I have to borrow a 4-wheel drive to get back into the timber.

 

[Longshot]

It's the heat that tells me when to stop, not the cold!

 

[KD57]

Sometimes it gets cold here, but the coldest I have cut is -8, and I got hot even then. My Dad has always sd. it cannot get cold enough to cut, you will still work up a sweat.

 

[Marc]

I'll cut down to a windchill where unexposed skin is uncomfortable, if only because it sucks to make barehanded adjustments on the saw, and if I'm forced to wear a face mask, it always fogs up the safety glasses.

I love working and especially splitting in the cold though. No hot sun, no bugs, no leaves. Primo firewood harvesting season.

 

[STLfirewood]

Temp doesn't matter to me. But it not like up north. Zero degrees is about as cold as we get. I will cut split and deliver in that temp. As long as your moving your fine. I get colder on the skid steer plowing snow at 15 degrees with no heater then I do at zero working the wood pile.

Scott

 

[Cowboy Billy]

I prefer to cut when its about 50f. I hate to cut when its 40f to 28f and the snow melts and everything is wet. 28f to 0 is not bad as long as the wind is not blowing. What kills me is more than a foot of snow. It just wipes me out. I usually cut up where I drop. But two weeks ago I was cutting at my cousins and it was 6f and 1.5 feet of snow. I was cutting 20"+ maple trunks the the tops were blown off. And dragging them with a tractor through the snow over a 1/4 mile to the barn yard and cutting them up. I have to say it was the easiest cutting I have ever done. Some of the trunks were 40' long. Where I stopped pulling them they still had 6-8 inches of snow under them. I cut a cord and a quater on one chain and did not pinch the bar once. The snow under the trunk supported it perfectly. I did have to kick the logs from time to time to make sure they were cut through. But it was Good

Billy

 

[KMB]

Since moving to the south, too me it NEVER gets to 'cold' to be outside cutting, splitting or whatever. I love it this time of the year. Since moving down here, fall and 'winter' are my favorite times of the year. Come summer...it can be tough on me as I become a faucet in the heat.

Kevin

 

[wdchuck]

When I was new at this, and scrounging, the weather didn't matter.

Now, call a logtruck, process it when convenient, and always stay two years ahead. No pressure, and life is much easier, and considerably safer(for me anyways).

 

[slofr8]

I cut for a living back in the '80s and if the equipment would start we'd cut. -10 to 15F was great as we were cutting spruce and fir and the limbs would snap off on the way to the yard. Now I only cut my fire wood but have to stop when the snow gets deep. Doesn't make sense to move snow for me but let me tell you single digit to low teens is when I want to do my splitting. It's almost funny to see the wood brake apart with very little effort.
Dan.