Anyone cut firewood for health/exercise?

[turnkey4099]

Not heating with wood, but have split plenty w/ a maul for camp fires and giving wood to friends who heat w/ wood, but wanted to highlight a tool we got last year that has made splitting wood a much easier chore for small amounts, the Logosol hand splitter. A friend, who does heat w/ wood, his wife complained their only problem was an ongoing lack of kindling to start fires, so I ordered one for them. So easy to split dry wood to smallish sticks that are easy to start. I even will dump wood strips in my chimney charcoal starter and get them burning with nothing but newspaper tied in knots.


View attachment 731682

I split kindling with the splitter, Split slabs off rounds then stack and run back through producing kindling. 15 minutes will usually result in 2 5gal buckets full.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Yep. Sometimes I will split that way just for old times sake. Ejoyable, slow but steady stacks up pile.

I have to watch what I am doing, splitting bhy hand yeilds bigger splits, sometimes too big while with the splitter I tend to split too small.

I am fortunate to have an old Fisher that will take a 10" x 20" log, then hold a fire for hours as it burns. I don't bother to split anything smaller than a 6" round, and most branch crotches feed into the stove without splitting. Splitter wood is a nuisance because you have to feed the stove every couple of hours.

 

[turnkey4099]

My maul is 6 lb. I need to post a picture. It is a non-stick maul that never gets stuck in a split. I have shopped hard for another like it, and have never been able to find one. I can't even find a picture of one on the web. I bought it 25 years ago, the same year I bought my chainsaw, a Husky 51 that is a real workhorse.

For the last 20 years I have run nothing but Red Line 2-cycle oil in my chainsaw. It's designed to lubricate hot running air cooled 2-cycle racing bikes, and not much runs hotter than a wide open chainsaw chewing through big logs.

Red Line also burns clean and never fouls plugs. I had a cheapo leaf blower that used head bolts to attach the handle. When the handle broke I pulled the head while I was fixing it. The cylinder was shiny bright and almost white glove clean. NAPA stocks the stuff.

Fiskars has a 10lb maul 'dead blow' IIRCC. Will not ever stick from what little I used it. Same as their "splitting ax". When I first tried that I could NOT believe what I was seeing. Split stuff with it that I used to use the 10lb maul.

 

[oosik]

Around here it would certainly have to be for your health. Firewood just does not sell.

Neighbor tried to make some money on firewood.

- first problem ........ does he deliver - NO
- second problem .......... he cut, split, stacked into one full cord piles. Several complain that they could not get it all in one trip with their pickup.

He quit.

 

[Fuddy1952]

That's like this great big red oak I cut here. I tried giving it away free. A fellow told me if I cut it in 18" lengths, split it, delivered and stacked it he'd take it.
I hauled it off to edge of woods to rot.

 

[AchingBack]

I'm 78, been cutting and burning wood for 40 years, but not because I need any exercise. It's a matter of economics. I'm not thrilled with the task.

 

[deezler]

I'm 78, been cutting and burning wood for 40 years, but not because I need any exercise. It's a matter of economics. I'm not thrilled with the task.

User name checks out. Can you still save money over a gas furnace, if you buy pre-split/dried firewood for say, $100 a face cord?

 

[MossRoad]

User name checks out. Can you still save money over a gas furnace, if you buy pre-split/dried firewood for say, $100 a face cord?

$100 a face cord would be $300 a cord. My gas bill is only $135 in winter.

As I've mentioned in the past, burning firewood to save money is a losing proposition if you put a monetary value on your time.

If you do not put a monetary value on your time, need the exercise, enjoy the activity, and get the wood for free, (as I do all of the above), then it's a worthwhile activity. Buy I could make enough money working the same hours spent harvesting firewood at McDonalds and come out ahead VS what it saves us in gas bills.

 

[AchingBack]

User name checks out. Can you still save money over a gas furnace, if you buy pre-split/dried firewood for say, $100 a face cord?

Gas isn't available where I live. My alternate source is a 49 year old forced air electric furnace. The only options are installing a HVAC system, or propane. The western states are beginning to ban natural gas.

 

[oosik]

Around here a "face" cord means NOTHING. Wood is sold by the cord or half cord. Face cord is not a legal unit of measure.

I have electric heat - S165/month for four months. $45 to $55 for the remaining eight months.

I spent ten years horsing around my gigantic Ponderosa pines. That was enough. I can still remember the sore back and legs.

However - I DO miss a nice fire in the wood stove. I don't miss the stink bugs/volcanic ash/dirt that came in with the wood.