Split or cut

[goof008]

I need some help deciding what to do. I am having surgery on my shoulder in 10 days. I'll be out for min. 6 months. I have a stack of Ash rounds that need to be split, but I also need to go cut more for next year. Which do I do. 90% of the wood I cut is standing dead Ash, the rest is wind blown Oak or Maple. I don't cut green trees as there are plenty of dead/dying where I hunt to let the live ones grow. Do I split or cut this weekend?

 

[habanero]

If you're worried about having the wood dry out, I think I'd cut. Most of the research I've read shows wood loses most of its moisture from the end due to the vessles already in the wood. So just cutting it to length will drastically help it dry out.

Since the wood is already dead, though, I don't know if moisture is a real concern. In that case, I'd look at what activity hurts your shoulder the most. I'd do whatever is hardest on your shoulder now before the surgery. Since they're going to be in their fixing it anyway, you might as well give them plenty to work on...

 

[lobsta1]

Cut now!
I've had a total of three operations on my two shoulders. Smashed the left one twice while skiing & tore the rotater cuff on the right compensating for the smashed left.
If you do the cutting now, the wood will start drying. Also, no matter how hard I worked at the physical therapy, it was the wood splitting that gave me back full range of motion.
Al

 

[goof008]

The splitting is what reminds the most that my shoulder is messed up....I seperated it, so when I really reach back and swing, it clicks or pops. I figure that splitting in the summer will be good therepy too.

 

[bama]

It is hard to go out and just cut a few logs, but you can just split a few. I would cut as much wood as I could and then split as I felt able. That is what I do in my yard, since I get snowed out of the woods from Jan-March. I never get snowed out of my splitter!

Good luck on the surgery!

 

[turnkey4099]

I think I would do the splitting first. In the recuperation/therapy phase, cutting is going to put less stress on the shoulders than splitting will. I would think that a few hours with a saw would work in well with whatever therapy you will be doing.

Different deal for me, two artificial hips. Didn't slow me down much but I was out of the woods for a few months.

Take your therapists advice on excercises to heart. Work at them. I always added more reps than he assigned without overdoing it plus added extra sessions.

Harry K

 

[goof008]

yeah, I know to listen to the therepist, after two knee surgeries, that's the only way to get going quickly.

 

[logbutcher]

Cut Now

I am having surgery on my shoulder in 10 days. I'll be out for min. 6 months. I have a stack of Ash rounds that need to be split, but I also need to go cut more for next year. Which do I do. 90% of the wood I cut is standing dead Ash, the rest is wind blown Oak or Maple. I don't cut green trees as there are plenty of dead/dying where I hunt to let the live ones grow. Do I split or cut this weekend?

Cut now. Don't do the "work thru the pain" stuff; you'll feel it years later. That macho game worked when the body was young, strong, and dumb. Listen to your expert therapist and orthopedic surgeons and give your old :hmm3grin2orange: body time to recover. We didn't, and now pay a price of big time whining :biggrinbounce2: .
Anyhow you've got the easiest splitting wood of all: ash, oak. It'll be there when you're ready. Or, splurge for a small, easy electric splitter. They work.

 

[goof008]

My surgeon already things I'm crazy!! My wife is a nurse and works with him on occasion...he's even gone as far as to call me a bone head....I hate sitting around, unless it to watch football. Anyway, asked the question because so many people on hear say how bad it is to leave wood unsplit. And I may have time to do both, or at least get some splitting in since a buddy called and mentioned a guy he cuts lawn for has about 10 Ash that were cut this fall sitting in his yard and would be happy to get rid of them.

 

[turnkey4099]

My surgeon already things I'm crazy!! My wife is a nurse and works with him on occasion...he's even gone as far as to call me a bone head....I hate sitting around, unless it to watch football. Anyway, asked the question because so many people on hear say how bad it is to leave wood unsplit. And I may have time to do both, or at least get some splitting in since a buddy called and mentioned a guy he cuts lawn for has about 10 Ash that were cut this fall sitting in his yard and would be happy to get rid of them.

Yeah. That ash is now no good, it's been sitting too long. I will allow you to dump it all at my place and I'll figure out some way to get rid of it for you.:hmm3grin2orange:

Harry K