New to wood burning

[stihly dan]

40 in rock maple.

 

[waldershrek]

40 in rock maple.

Holy moly! :msp_scared:


How many whacks did that take?

 

[stihly dan]

Alot! If I remember correctly there wwas 40 to 50 pieces in each round.May have been 8 wacks to get 3 chunks. Then 1 wack a piece.

 

[waldershrek]

How often one of them Fiskars need sharpening? I was looking at them last night and I see Fiskars has a sharpener to go with it. How does that work?

 

[stihly dan]

Haven't heard good things about the sharpener. I like mine dull, just feels better to me.

 

[zogger]

I was surprised at how fast even the rounds have dried just sitting there for the last 2-3 days. I've decided I'm just gonna cut all this wood and then go back and split at least the big chunks. I have some chunks that are barely moveable by hand so they should be more manageable when split. Plus they should dry a little which will only help things. I'll take some pics tomorrow of the progress. I'm also probably gonna end up getting the fiskars axe. What's the biggest chunk anybody has split with one?

36 inch oak and close to that hickory.

It really doesn't matter the size, as you can start at the outside and work your way in, although I did split three of those big oak rounds in halves down in the field by runing a crack right across the round. I had to, I could neither get them up to roll or flop them into the cargo box, just too heavy for me, guesstimate over three hundred lbs apiece. Halves I was able to move with some difficulty.

 

[Hedgerow]

36 inch oak and close to that hickory.

It really doesn't matter the size, as you can start at the outside and work your way in, although I did split three of those big oak rounds in halves down in the field by runing a crack right across the round. I had to, I could neither get them up to roll or flop them into the cargo box, just too heavy for me, guesstimate over three hundred lbs apiece. Halves I was able to move with some difficulty.

That would be the natural way to go about it, but I believe the OP has an OWB, and does not want to whittle it down. He just needs to take a 20"x24" and knock it into two 10" x 24" long pieces for handling purposes... I'd use the big 12# monster maul myself... 1 hit and done... But yes, the fiskars is a great tool.
But I tend to be a bit of a cave man in those regards...

 

[zogger]

That would be the natural way to go about it, but I believe the OP has an OWB, and does not want to whittle it down. He just needs to take a 20"x24" and knock it into two 10" x 24" long pieces for handling purposes... I'd use the big 12# monster maul myself... 1 hit and done... But yes, the fiskars is a great tool.
But I tend to be a bit of a cave man in those regards...

ah! Well, I can't comment then, because I never cut to twenty inches long. I can technically put a piece that long, awkwardly,into the stove but it messes up packing it then, because of the angle. I try to hit 16 or a scosh under that. Easier handling all around for both of us and it fits the stove better.

IF I was trying to feed an OWB, I would think hard about getting a larger truck and grapple, sell off the big logs as saw logs, and only keep the smaller diameter stuff for personal use, like all those long branches that need nothing but cutting to size that loggers usually leave behind.

 

[Hedgerow]

Yea... The OWB's tend to change your perspective a bit... I just do like you though... 16", small splits... Cause I sell so much of it.
Seems all the women folk and submissive male's tend to like small light pieces of very dry, easy to light firewood...
And they're willing to pay for it...

 

[ponyexpress976]

How often one of them Fiskars need sharpening? I was looking at them last night and I see Fiskars has a sharpener to go with it. How does that work?

Most of my wood comes from the "urban forrest", back yard trees and such. Nails and other random bits of metal (more bullets than I care to remember!) are encountered pretty regularly by the fiskars. I use an el-cheapo axe sharpener from ace hardware to touch things up...couple pulls through the device and we're back in business.

Gonna have to try WoodHeatWarrior's idea of a small box filled with sand and oil to store the head in. My coating is pretty well gone and any moisture in the air results in the head turning a nice shade of orange/red.

 

[waldershrek]

Well I finally got my uncle the plumbing/heating/electrician over to at least get the stove filled with water (apparently the previous owner drained it every year :bang. Of course none of the knobs and shut off valves are labeled so we had to figure out what everything was first. Got that figured out pretty quick though. Then he goes to take the flue box cover off the the bolt that holds the cover sheared right off when trying to back it out. No big deal, we'll just put some heat to it and get the busted piece out. But then we notice the flue box is full of junk, ash and creosote. Mind you I was under the impression that the stove had been cleaned prior to closing. I grab a scraper and start cleaning and discover the sides and bottom of the flue box are rotted to the point there are holes in them and ash is falling out of it. We then go around to the other side and look in the burn chamber and that isn't cleaned out either. Even worse, there was about 8 inches of hard cresote built up along the back wall and the floor. The four tubes that run back into the flue were BLOCKED with ash and creosote. I mean blocked to the point that we couldn't see light on the other side when shining it we put a flashlight on the end.

So I have some 3/16" plate being cut to weld to the sides and bottom of the flue box along with a new piece of angle iron for a cross brace. I had to get a seven foot bar with a spade welded to one end to break through the junk in the tubes, the scraper and brush made for them wouldn't even fit. I also had to use that bar and spade to break the stuff off the floor and back wall of the burn chamber. It appears they were burning garbage though as on the bottom of all that mess there was plastic and papers and aluminum foil

Need less to say, I'm not thrilled about the condition this stove was left in. Hopefully my plates will be cut by tomorrow and I can get them welded in and get this thing ready to go.