Rain, Sleet, or Snow...do you still go?

[farmer steve]

i'm to busy with the farm market to cut wood in the spring and summer.hate to cut in rain but the colder the better.4wd drive truck and tractor we go. we saw and haw. hate the mud though 'cause i hate makin ruts.

 

[Steve NW WI]

That's one good thing up here, no mud to worry about till April.

 

[Gologit]

I don't mind cutting when it's hot and I'll cut firewood in the rain or if it's snowing. Mud? Not if I can avoid it. A little planning helps avoid having to do any of those things.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

Some of ya'll are determined.

Firewood isn't exactly easy work in nice conditions. I skip the rain & mud. Snows not a deal breaker though. Kinda nice actually. Plenty of nice days to get it done. Besides, I'm usually working on wood for two years down the road or excess to sell.

 

[Dalmatian90]

Kind of like Spidey, when you're behind the 8-ball you do what you have to do. Had one year I shoveled through 30" snow to fell the tree I needed to heat with that week 'cause there was no way my truck was making it into the woods. Other times I was out when it was zero.

With the fire company I've cut up trees to re-open a road in heavy rain and wind...but worse than the weather was having to worry about fellow firefighter "helpers" and what they were doing with the brush as I was sawing away! Makes the work go quick, but I'm used to not having to worry about what someone else is doing as I'm cutting.

That said, it is nice now starting to get a bit ahead to decide if it's raining or snowing or below 20 that it's a good day to work on projects inside the house

 

[rancher2]

Kind of like Spidey, when you're behind the 8-ball you do what you have to do. Had one year I shoveled through 30" snow to fell the tree I needed to heat with that week 'cause there was no way my truck was making it into the woods. Other times I was out when it was zero.

With the fire company I've cut up trees to re-open a road in heavy rain and wind...but worse than the weather was having to worry about fellow firefighter "helpers" and what they were doing with the brush as I was sawing away! Makes the work go quick, but I'm used to not having to worry about what someone else is doing as I'm cutting.

That said, it is nice now starting to get a bit ahead to decide if it's raining or snowing or below 20 that it's a good day to work on projects inside the house

 

[rancher2]

Back when I sold firewood seems like we were always out in the cold and wet getting dead wood to burn because we had sold all of our good wood. Not anymore I cut wood when it is nice or a little hot and stay in the warm shop [ Wood heated] and enjoy my fruits of my labor when it is cold and wet.

 

[Johnny Yooper]

Late October of 2010, after takin' some time off because of my daughter's lung issues, I decided to start burning wood for heating the house again... I didn't have a single stick of firewood. I started cutting standing-dead elm on Halloween morning... managed to hook my knee with the saw and make a quick trip to the emergency room... came home and started the saw right back up. That winter was one of the wettest, snowiest we'd had in years; started out with rain and freezing rain in November, sleet and ice storms in December, and by mid January the snow was waist deep in the woodlot... and it didn't stop snowin' until April.

I was out every Saturday morning cuttin' splittin' and haulin' whatever I could get to so I could keep the fire goin' another week; in rain and mud, in sleet and ice, in snow and wind, wading through crotch-deep snow in sub-zero temps... windchills -30°, -35°. I kept the woodlot roads, paths and trails semi-open by drivin' the little tractor through them every other night or so after work (in the dark). I mounted a winch on the front of the tractor so it could pull itself out as needed. It was pretty slow goin' some days, but I managed to get enough in the house to keep the fire goin' every week... never turned on the gas furnace. Rough guess, I burned something in the neighborhood of 8-9 cord in that old smoke dragon... 8-9 cord of "not-so-great" firewood, some wet, some "punky", some wet and "punky".

During the first part of the season I'd come in the house soaking wet and covered in mud... later, soaking wet and covered in frozen mud... and later yet, soaking wet and just frozen. When March rolled around the rain, sleet, ice and mud started all over again... only it was that really "greazy" mud with the frozen ground under it (you have to experience it to understand it). No, the saw didn't "fizzle down" in rain or drizzle... once-in-a-while the fan would suck-in some powdery snow and short the ignition, but it would start right back up.

There isn't any weather that has to keep you from making firewood... it's just a matter of determination. Mud is probably the worst for slowin' down production and creating "extra" work... and likely a bit more walkin' rather than drivin'. When it was really muddy (or when the snow was the deepest) I'd hook all my cables, chains and straps together and winch the logs onto more solid ground, even up onto the road... some days spend half the day just winching and pulling, damn slow goin'. Winch a log 50-75 feet, remove one of the extension cables and winch again, and again, and again... then hook 'em back together and start all over on another log. Nope, nothing has to actually stop you from making firewood... but some things sure can take any enjoyment out'a it.

Believe me... people who live off the land, or live by workin' the land, don't stop because of weather, mud or anything else... the "need" makes it a matter of determination. Those with the determination get the job(s) done, those without the determination... well... move into town.

*

It looks like the only difference between you and me is one layer of flannel.

 

[woodchuck357]

Heavy rain is about the only weather that puts me inside.
Storms that put trees and limbs across the roads, summer or winter, rain or sleet, ice or snow, mean I'm out keeping the roads open. Just part of volunteer fire department in my area.

 

[mainewoods]

One nice thing about having firewood a year or 2 ahead is that you don't have to go out in crappy weather unless you want to. Wet slippery wood just increases the danger factor, but sometimes there just is no choice when you don't have enough to carry you through. Sure is nice to be able to pick your days to cut wood though.

 

[theswampthing]

I'm a carpenter and I worked outside for a good 10 years in the winter. Snow and cold don't bother me, but I won't do anything in the pouring rain. I enjoy the cold and snow. The heat of the summer is what kills me.

 

[JeffHK454]

Nope..I never cut in wet or snowy conditions. I slipped while navigating a large downed Ash and separated my right shoulder by falling with a saw in my hand and landing on the trunk at my armpit... Firewood ain't that important to me and if I've put myself behind the 8ball by not getting my wood supply ready then I guess I'll have to buy a load.

Also , as most here have heard I've seen first hand what catastrophic damage a saw can do when everything doesn't go just right..one slip could be your last.

 

[Circle B MN]

I prefer to cut in the spring and fall. I will fell trees after the snow falls, but don't do much processing. Just stack em logs for better days.

 

[flyboy553]

I cut all winter long, even down to -30 degrees. I hafta cuz that's when I am layed off. Bobcat in the woods sure does help!
Start a fire to burn the brush and keep on cutting so the fire doesn't go out. If you get cold cutting firewood, you aint cutting! But when I take a break to fuel up and sharpen the chain, well, that dang heat isn't a bad thing to have around!

Ted

 

[memory]

I don't mind cutting in the snow but will not cut when it is raining. I don't mind the wind so much either, I can take the cold pretty well. As long as the ground is frozen enough to not cut ruts with the equipment, we will get out there and cut as long as there is not too much snow on the ground.

We are pretty fortunate, we don't work a 9 to 5 job and we can kind of pick when we go out especially in the winter time. We work on a dairy farm so the farm is our job.

 

[Steve NW WI]

I cut all winter long, even down to -30 degrees. I hafta cuz that's when I am layed off. Bobcat in the woods sure does help!
Start a fire to burn the brush and keep on cutting so the fire doesn't go out. If you get cold cutting firewood, you aint cutting! But when I take a break to fuel up and sharpen the chain, well, that dang heat isn't a bad thing to have around!

Ted

We're gonna need some timestamped pics from tomorrow (today?) morning to prove it. Still, it probably won't be -30, but we'll settle for -20 or so.

Call me a wuss. I'm gonna spend tomorrow burning wood and enjoying an inside temp close to a hundred degrees above the outside temp. -13 here right now, guessing it will drop some more before dawn.

I have enough chains to sharpen and old saws to work on that I don't have to feel guilty about staying in though.

 

[Vermonster]

We're gonna need some timestamped pics from tomorrow (today?) morning to prove it. Still, it probably won't be -30, but we'll settle for -20 or so.

Call me a wuss. I'm gonna spend tomorrow burning wood and enjoying an inside temp close to a hundred degrees above the outside temp. -13 here right now, guessing it will drop some more before dawn.

I have enough chains to sharpen and old saws to work on that I don't have to feel guilty about staying in though.

The only things that get me moving on those days are Pintails, Split-Tails and Whitetails.

 

[theswampthing]

The only things that get me moving on those days are Pintails, Split-Tails and Whitetails.

Hahaha, I've definitely hunted ducks in some stupid weather. All done hunting #2.

 

[flyboy553]

We're gonna need some timestamped pics from tomorrow (today?) morning to prove it. Still, it probably won't be -30, but we'll settle for -20 or so.

Call me a wuss. I'm gonna spend tomorrow burning wood and enjoying an inside temp close to a hundred degrees above the outside temp. -13 here right now, guessing it will drop some more before dawn.

I have enough chains to sharpen and old saws to work on that I don't have to feel guilty about staying in though.

No, no cutting today, but not because of the weather. My only grandson's 10th birthday party today, at my house, and I have been out of state working, so you can imagine the cleaning I gots to do.
If I am not plowing snow tomorrow, I will be out cutting. And just for you Steve, will take a pic with the date somehow in the picture. I don't have time to be a wimp! hehheh

Ted

 

[artbaldoni]

I will cut with snow on the ground. Will not cut while snowing or raining. I only cut for my own heat so no big deal. On a rainy Saturday I work on the saws or do the work inside that I have neglected while out enjoying the nice weather cutting.