Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[zogger]

Good luck splitting the Elm!

Cutting all my elm and sweetgum 12 inches anymore. Even that might be too long for hand splitting. 16s just sucked. I mean it is doable, but....I'll try some of these once the leveraxe gets here,if it still sucks, I may go to 8 inches, just fat cookies.

 

[MustangMike]

I heated my house with wood for 25 years, and split it all by hand, except one year when they gave me Elm. (I would buy the truckload of logs and cut & split it). I could not split it, so I rented a splitter and it could not split it either. Ended up noodling most of it.

 

[benp]

Cutting all my elm and sweetgum 12 inches anymore. Even that might be too long for hand splitting. 16s just sucked. I mean it is doable, but....I'll try some of these once the leveraxe gets here,if it still sucks, I may go to 8 inches, just fat cookies.

I just watched a video on the lever axe 2 since I saw the squawk on it here.

Ummmmm....no.

That is made by Scandinavians for Scandinavian stoves. Period. Their way of doing wood burning is a touch different that ours. Their wood is different. The stuff is perfect straight grained. There are no gnarlies.

I just watched a guy split a round into 20 pieces that normally would be quartered....TOPS.

Was it fast....Absolutely. Did it look like minimal effort......yep. Does it look like it would apply to any species native to the U.S.?......Maybe...sorta....kinda.....good luck.

I would maybe go after 12" pine, paper birch, or white ash camp wood with that. Camp wood.

A Fiskars would annihilate it in real world North American applications.

If you don't have a Fiskars or it's not in your reasonable future........pm me. Santa might take heed.......with a rider.

 

[zogger]

I just watched a video on the lever axe 2 since I saw the squawk on it here.

Ummmmm....no.

That is made by Scandinavians for Scandinavian stoves. Period. Their way of doing wood burning is a touch different that ours. Their wood is different. The stuff is perfect straight grained. There are no gnarlies.

I just watched a guy split a round into 20 pieces that normally would be quartered....TOPS.

Was it fast....Absolutely. Did it look like minimal effort......yep. Does it look like it would apply to any species native to the U.S.?......Maybe...sorta....kinda.....good luck.

I would maybe go after 12" pine, paper birch, or white ash camp wood with that. Camp wood.

A Fiskars would annihilate it in real world North American applications.

If you don't have a Fiskars or it's not in your reasonable future........pm me. Santa might take heed.......with a rider.

I have the original supersplitter fiskars, and have been an ...insufferable...fanboy of them on numerous threads. Yep, like it, number one in my wood bustin arsenal.

I also did the Tom Clark "match trick" with it..one of my better all time shots.

 

[benp]

Good man

 

[svk]

Finally I'll be firing the saw on Sunday. Have to get several species ready for next weekend's Fiskars/Leveraxe/Maul/Splitting Axe shoot out.

There's several top dead birch coming down along with oak, maple, spruce, and tamarack to be used as test subjects. Keeping my eye out for a straggler elm but haven't seen any this far north in years.

 

[MustangMike]

I hope you will include vids, and also, test what size wood the Leveraxe will split. Will be hard to convince me the Fiskars is not #1, but I hope there is a Leveraxe at Bob's GTG. I remember when the Monster Mauls were #1 to me, the bigger, the better. The Fiskars changed that fast!

 

[Zale]

Spent the morning going through the "scrap" pile at the nursery where I work. The boss lets me take all the pieces that aren't "perfect" for the customer. We've been getting tractor trailer loads of kiln dried wood from Pa. for the past 4 years to sell to the customers. We got the word a couple of weeks ago that there will be no more loads coming. The supplier is out and anything thing that comes out of the kiln goes into bundles due to the higher gross margin.

 

[dancan]

Overcast and a bit of drizzle here today ......But , I aint waitin for the sun so off I go to get some spruce and a bit of hardwood
I hooked up my trailer to the utv and off I went .

Before I go cutting I do dress with my gear , chainsaw pants and boots .

Some of today's wood , a bit of firewood and a few fence posts , good old black spruce .

Even had to run the skiddah today .

Works even with the trailer hitched up

A small load of some spruce and red maple for today .

 

[MustangMike]

That is the spirit! Great job Dancan.

Raining like cats & dogs here today. I'd need a boat to go out there.

 

[svk]

I hope you will include vids, and also, test what size wood the Leveraxe will split. Will be hard to convince me the Fiskars is not #1, but I hope there is a Leveraxe at Bob's GTG. I remember when the Monster Mauls were #1 to me, the bigger, the better. The Fiskars changed that fast!

I've got to empty all of the crap off my phone to get some storage space but I'll do side by side comparisons of all entrants. Also I'm looking for a high end splitting axe to borrow to include as well. As long as everything arrives with enough time I'm sending the LA to mechanicmatt as soon as I'm done testing it next weekend.

 

[dancan]

Mike , if it was raining , I'da stayed home LOL but a little bit of drizzle is ok unless it's around 45* or less .

 

[Philbert]

Dancan,

Where do you store all this wood you scrounge? Do you have, like, a fleet of non-running minivans at home that you stash it in?

Philbert

 

[dancan]

Philbert , I don't have much wood .... Really I don't
I'll try one of these days to take a measure but I'll guess at about 10 cord on hand , 3 of which are for next years burning season .
I would like to find a cord or two of dead standing spruce to burn this winter but I'm not having much luck .
Last year was the first year that I've heated with wood and I was burning it as it was being cut so I have no idea how much I've burnt .

 

[zogger]

Philbert , I don't have much wood .... Really I don't
I'll try one of these days to take a measure but I'll guess at about 10 cord on hand , 3 of which are for next years burning season .
I would like to find a cord or two of dead standing spruce to burn this winter but I'm not having much luck .
Last year was the first year that I've heated with wood and I was burning it as it was being cut so I have no idea how much I've burnt .

As much as you hustle, you'll do fine and eventually be years and years ahead.

 

[dancan]

Philbert , while I have the mobility I have now I'm cutting when I get a chance to , if my ankle goes south I'll be looking at an ankle fusion so that means another surgery and time lost for recovery , not including the loss of mobility , it's taken me 2 years to get up to where I'm at now so hustle for wood is the new 49 LOL

 

[mainewoods]

Always enjoy seeing a trailer load of wood. Especially from a UTV man.

 

[dancan]

Well, I looked at today's load of wood and came to the conclusion that less wood in the utv made me more tired than more wood on my trailer and it also got me home sooner which gave me time for more beer but made more mess in my driveway.

 

[dancan]

Looks like Mikes rain is gonna be here today so no scrounging or working on the woodpiles .

 

[MustangMike]

Cold weather has arrived, in the 30s this morning, but I have a wedding to go to.