The thing about firewood

[timill]

is that it warms you several times.

We had a couple of dead trees felled when we moved in here (standard Tennessee method - chainsaw to prepare the fell, and a length of line, a block, and a pickup truck to do the actual felling) and the feller chainsawed the trunks into firewood lengths.

On Monday we hired another chap to split the logs - he reckoned a couple of ricks (whatever that is) so about $80. In fact he spent much of the day at it, estimated the pile at 6-7 ricks ($240) and there's still as much again to split.

So this week I've been moving the split wood up from where the trees were to the lower porch and stacking it. I now have a pile about 8'x2'x2', and the original pile doesn't look any smaller.

Who needs a gym?

Comments

[nojay.livejournal.com]

My father was in the coal-mining industry as a pit engineer, originally working on steam and later electro-hydraulic equipment. As a miner he got an allowance of "concessionary" coal, heavily discounted at about 10% of the list price for house coal. We went through about seven tonnes a year in a family home in Scotland (wet and cold but rarely below zero centigrade in winter, never hot in summer). By volume, that would be about 2 cords.

When he retired, the concession went down to 5 tonnes a year and I used to go up to his cousin's farm to their timber wood to bring down van-loads of pine to supplement the coal. I'd also pick up anything like broken pallets or other scrap wood as targets of opportunity.

[mkillingworth.livejournal.com]

This is good red oak, and the trees were dead, so much of it was already dried out. And a rick is nominally half a cord.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Doesn't matter if the trees were dead or not. Seasoning only really starts when the wood has been cut into lengths and the grain ends are exposed so it can dry out.

Oak will take longer to season (a couple of years stacked) than pine or other softwood. If it's red oak then you will need a splitter, unless you want to end up with forearms like Popeye. Problem is that once you have your own splitter you start looking around for other trees to take down and turn into firewood. That means getting a chainsaw and a pickup truck and a hound dog -- no, scratch the last one. Samson will have to suffice. P.S. give him a scritch from me.