Alternative forms of Outdoor Recreation!

Well, I realize that this ain't for everbody, but gettin' to cut my own firewood on MY place is my idea of RECREATION!

I had already cut a cord of round wood off the tree before the Big Freeze. I still have a little bit of that left on the porch. A piece of that Green wood will burn all night!

I vowed to get it ALL cut up this week and I got the last Big log cut off late yesterday afternoon.

If anybody on here is interested in a Logger's Helper job, you can apply on here. I have 2 more downed trees to do. The pay is low, the working conditions are ruff, and the boss can be and will be at times an A$$hole!!!

But the food benefits are worth it, I'd bet!!

Pap

Coach
That is sure enough a job! Reviewing the applications is easy I bet. That had to be a monster tree. Glad you down to the short rows with it now. And I agree with Pap about the meals!
Walker

I love that kind of work.

I have been doing that for 30 years now, but am starting to wind down, the back finally gives out. I also split by hand so that didn't help, but it was fun.

We split all our wood from around 1970 til around 2010 like this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H2d2GTBga6I

It is still the fastest way to split the 12”-20” with no knots.

Yep, make sense. That tire method is a great idea. Only found out about it after I quit needing firewood. Lol.

Pap

I was out of breath just watching!!!
I just buy mine now....split, delivered, & stacked....If I could only get them to stop by daily and load up the fireplace!!!

:-)Rocky

Well, I'm impressed for sure. We never did it that way!
Thanks
Walker

We heated with wood when I was a kid. I cut and split enough for a lifetime. I am allergic to it now.... plus I don't have a fireplace.

Coach, I have seen that before, it is a great idea, I just never had a old tire laying around.

Sidney:

We always got ours (used & wore out) from a place here in town that sold tires.

We also learned after several years to get them to turn the tire inside out. That would make the tire stand up taller and would “give” better when you hit it with a maul.

Then we would nail the tire down to a piece of 3/4” plywood.

Same setup makes a good feed trough for cattle.

Coach

I gotta admit I enjoyed cutting and splitting wood the.most when both my son and daughter were still here to help. I always did almost all the splitting but, as y’all know, what wears you out most is having to set it back up as you split. Having them to do the other parts,......picking it up, loading, unloading, stacking and especially setting up every block to split was wonderful. Honestly what was also wonderful was all the talking, picking and laughing we all 3 (& sometimes 4 with my Maggie) did as we worked together. They both continued a few times early college years. A lot of good talks might never have happened otherwise. I learned it couldn’t when I built a splitter for the 3 point hitch on the tractor. Glad I didn’t do it until later. I’ll post some worker pics if I can find any.

Duke, when I was younger the talks with my dad were great. We had an old Mccullough and a new home light. I would try to get the homelight if I could! Thanks for mentioning the thoughts!
Walker

Duke
Same situation with my kids. I worked in the woods as a forester for many years and always took my chainsaw with me. When I came upon a good standing dead tree, I'd cut it down and buck it up. When I got home, the kids would help unload and I would start splitting while one put the next one one the block and the other one stacked. Great times and great memories.

Pap

When my son was in High School, he would get 5-6 of his buddies (mostly football players) to come over after school.

They would try to show off and see who could split the biggest log with the fewest number of licks.

I would sit out there and brag on every single one of them. My Bride would go up to Dairy Queen and get a round of Double Cheeseburgers for them. They would get a cord split & stacked in no time.

They are all grown now but they still talk about it like it was great fun!

I sure miss their help!

good chopping effort

More "Outdoor Recreation" from the past week or so.

Split Wood on the Ground
First Day Results
Finished up! 40 ft. long x 5 ft. high (T-post ever 3ft. or so for support)

Nobody took me up on the WONDERFUL Career Opportunity (logger's helper) so I ended up doing it all myself!

Great job Coach! Impressive

Tom Flynn

Tom pretty much covered it. I would love to have a rack like that, it would last me all winter for sure.

Thanks guys. It was fun!

They said that we had a bad storm last night, but I never knew about it.

My daughters got me a FitBit watch for Christmas and it said I got a 96 sleep score last night.

That is a nice rack of wood for sure. Lots of sweat in there! Is this just heating wood or is it for cooking too?
Walker

Walker:

All of this wood came from a huge Post Oak tree that had blown over last Fall. I’ll use this to heat with next year.

I’ve got another stack of Red Oak that I cook with. It came from two big Red Oaks that had blown over in 2018. It was about the same size as this stack but I had to burn about half of it this year.

I’ve got another big Red Oak blown over out in the woods. I hope to be able to limb it and snake the log closer up to the house. If I can keep it off the ground, it will keep fine until I can cut it up and split it next winter.

Coach

I have been taking advantage of the COOL weather this week (highs in the 60s) to do me some logging! Not so easy to do by myself.

If anybody is looking for a "Career Opportunity" as a logger's helper, the work is hard, the pay is low, the Boss is an A$$#0LE, but the food is good!

"Boy, fetch me a wedge and a maul. Also, run and tell momma I'll be a little late for dinner."

I’ve got 2 more sections of that BIG Pin Oak cut down in the Bottom.

I’ll have to let it dry out some before I can get them out.

I liked to have not made it out with the first one.

That's some nice fire wood Coach!! Cutting firewood warms you many times before it gets to the stove or fireplace.

Pap

Pap:

You right! That is why I took advantage of the cool weather.

Firewood was going for $300 a cord in Dallas back in the Winter. I wouldn’t mind having 3 or 4 extra cords laying around next Fall. That could be a new Randall knife!

Coach

Some enterprising kids were selling it at $2/stick in Van Alstyne during the "Big Freeze."

I got mixed feelings on that but for the most part I think if you didn't prepare (we were given more than a week warning), you kinda earned the right to pay that price.