I need a break. I spent all day prepping for Winter. I walked through the woods today and cut up 8' sections of downed Oak trees. I shouldered them out of the woods and went back for more. I felt like the Ant from Aesop's Fables, "
The Ant and the Grasshopper". Tomorrow I'm going to be the Grasshopper. The high is supposed to be in the mid 40's and I'm going riding!
I made a Sawbuck out of two pallets and two short pieces of chain. It worked pretty slick. I cut 6, 16" lengths from each 8' section. It went pretty fast.
Then I had to split it..
The beauty of the day was not lost in work. I managed to finish dinner just in time to see this..
Tomorrow, I'll move the wood out of the driveway and go for a ride!
Erik:
ReplyDeleteIt sure seems like a lot of work getting ready for Winter. When I was much younger, it was my job to split the kindling wood and start the fire in our coal burning furnace, but you need the wood to start the fire before you shovelled in the coal.
Nowadays we have natural gas and all we need to do is turn the thermostat up. Our fireplace was converted to a gas insert long time ago
I am getting tired just looking at your photos. Have a nice ride, we have pelting rain here
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
It is a lot of work, but I enjoy the activity. Anything that will help me cut back on the propane use this winter will be a nice side benefit too. Last winter it was $1.90/gal, this season it's down to $1.55/gal so that's a plus. It hurts to write a check for almost $700.00
DeleteI didn't have much for wood last season because we moved in in January. I wanted to be ahead of the game this year.
Great job getting all that wood brought in. A lot of work but so worth it to be toasty warm this winter.
ReplyDeleteI remember one winter when Brad and I cut all of our wood with a hand saw. Was a big job but was nice to have the wood stove going when it was snowing outside.
Have a great ride today.
It is nice to sit in front of the fireplace and watch the blowing snow outside! Maybe a cup of hot chocolate and a good book, motorcycle related, of course!
DeleteThose pallets make a good looking sawbuck. It's nice that you have long burning hardwood to burn. All we have around here is a lot of spruce, aspen and cottonwood and some birch. The spruce and aspen burn fast and the cottonwood produces so much ash that it isn't worth the trouble to burn. Birch is fine but not as good as what you have.
ReplyDeleteI no longer burn wood and seeing your posts are a great reminder to me on why. Hope you had a good ride...
I enjoy the work, but I know if I had to use wood as my primary heat source, I feel different about having to do all that work.
DeleteThe nice thing is, all the wood I've cut is old dry Oak. I bought an inexpensive moisture tester and almost all of it is under 15%. A summer storm brought down 2 Maple trees. Their wet wood is in a different pile out back.
There's a pair of 18" diameter Oak trees in the wood behind my house. They blew over this summer. I want to cut them up too, but green wood is so darn heavy that I don't know how I'd get it out of the woods! An online wood weight calculator says that an 8' by 12" green Oak log weighs 553#... I better get my tractor running and use it as a skidder!
Erik - looks like you've been working hard. I can see quite a crib stacked up in your garage. I'm sure it will all be worth it when the winter wind is howling and the snow is swirling ... and you are cozy and snug in front of the fire enjoying a hot cocoa. There is nothing so comfortable.
ReplyDeleteIt will be nice to be prepared! That wood pile is 19'(5.8M)L x 4'(1.2M)H. There's more outside in covered racks that I made out of palettes.
DeleteBring on Winter! after I go for a few more rides that is....
I wouldn't mind having you here with your chainsaw a couple days. And ax.
ReplyDeleteNot missing snow? ; ^ )
I'm not missing the snow either.
DeleteSounds like I'd be put to work...
Erik:
ReplyDeletewhere are your ride photos ?
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
I went out Thursday for a ride. I took out the little Yamaha Wr250x. It was the WRONG bike for a cold Fall day. No wind protection. I froze. I plan to get some time in on the FJR(more wind protection) today. I'll remember to bring the camera this time too...
DeleteHappy New Yeay..
ReplyDeleteHi
I've been looking for ideas to build a perfect saw buck and I came across your pallet one. I think its a simple and practical creation.
I'm just wondering have you coated your saw buck to preserve the life of it, and is it lasting, or have you made a MKII version of it. I'm going to make one one from 2 pallets. Fortunately I can get my hands on pallets fairly easy.
Cheers
Andy
Andy, I'm still using the original 2 pallets. They're still living out side, next to the wood piles. They have weathered a bit but still work just like they did 3 years ago. They may have been made from treated wood but I'm not sure. I never painted or stained them... they're just the way I got them.
ReplyDeleteErik