Fiskars Firewood Fun

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Northeast Ohio experienced a warm-up this week and most of our snow has melted back to expose the mud and half of my wood pile.
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Today I decided to get in some exercise and lose some of the extra weight I have put on being cooped up inside my house this winter. I pulled out my handy Fiskars Super Splitter and took some swings at the large oak rounds laying in my driveway since mid-January. These were dumped in my driveway by a friend who asked me to bring my Dolmar 7900 over to his farm to cut up a large oak that had fallen.
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If you recall from an earlier post, the Fiskars Super Splitter is a fascinating tool and comes with the Ohio WoodBurner Seal of Approval for all woodcutters, wood mongers, and wood addicts who enjoy splitting firewood.
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The Fiskars Super Splitter works just like the traditional maul but has two distinct differences. It weighs just 4.25 pounds and is RAZOR sharp. Most mauls have a keen edge but not so sharp that they stick in the wood if the log doesn't split. Also, most mauls come in 6 or 8 pound weights. The Fiskars really shines when you have a lot of logs to split as the light weight becomes noticeable as its less fatiguing. I also love the handle as it keeps vibration to a minimum and it fits my hand very nicely. I have total confidence in the Fiskars construction which allows me to swing like Babe Ruth going for the cheap seats! Put simply...the Fiskars is a Joy to use!

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So that was my workout for today. Oak is a nice splitting wood. Except for its unpleasant odor, which is reminiscent of vomit...it opens up easy and doesn't leave you with a mess of splinters and bark. Do not hesitate in getting one of these Fiskars gems. Rumor has it Fiskars is coming out with a longer handle version, in response from discriminating wood splitters who were bothered by the 28 inch handle. Honestly, the shorter handle has never been an issue for me despite my Greek-god like 6'2" frame...but hey, now I have an excuse to buy another one!

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OWB

Firewood For Sale...I'm Rich!

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I was at a local grocery store today and they had a display of bundled firewood out in front of their entrance. I pulled out my 8 year-old cell phone and snapped a quick picture to share with you.
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I almost choked when I saw they were asking $5.99 each for these small bundles of wood! Holy Cow! First I thought to myself, "who would pay that much for such a small amount of firewood?" The bundle contained about 7 pieces of firewood which probably comprised of about two medium sized logs before split. As the old saying goes...to each, their own. By looking at the display rack the store was certainly selling them nicely. There were only about 5 bundles left. The advertisement said the firewood was kiln dried and was free of bugs and crumbs. Ugh...The indignity of stooping to the level of a person who would heat their house with wood. The filth! The smoke! Ugh.... I can imagine the poor manager of this store had probably fielded complaints from angry customers in the past because the firewood dropped a chunk of bark on their carpeting as they carried it to their fireplace. After too many people griping they decided to find a firewood supplier that would shake off all the loose bark. If I were to ever spend that much money for one of those firewood bundles it had better sing and dance for me before I toss it in the stove.

I did some quick calculations in my head and figured if this grocery store could sell this small bundle of firewood for $5.99...that makes me a MILLIONAIRE!!! Why am I burning my wood to heat my house? I need to shove my logs in a mesh potato sack and sell them to people shopping for milk and eggs!!

OWB

A Big Storm!

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In case you haven't heard, there is a pretty big winter storm surging across north America so I hope everyone throws an extra log on the fire tonight.
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Today, I took advantage of the "calm" before the storm and did some rearranging to my wood pile. I have a section of wood that is not under a roof so I spent the evening moving some of that wood under the roof of my wood shed. This area of the wood pile has a lot of smaller round logs I like to throw into the Hardy H2 to help the larger logs burn. Below is a picture of the wood shed and to the right is the wood I pulled from the snow and stacked under the roof. The small rounds I pulled are mostly maple and black cherry. The split wood to the far right is honey locust.


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The shed was totally full of logs to start my burning season...that is four rows deep of wood. You can see how much I have burnt this year by how empty the shed looks now below. The logs I just moved into the shed are to the right in the picture below. Now that I have done this work, I am ready for the storm! Tonight the freezing rain and icing began covering my Hardy H2 in a small layer of ice. When I think about how the ice and snow builds up on the top of my Hardy H2...I'm impressed given it's holding 100 gallons of 170 degree (f) water! It's pretty nicely insulated!
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Now I will wait and see how bad this storm is. If there are a lot of trees downed by the ice I have a feeling my phone may be ringing in the morning. A lot of people out my way know I am always looking for wood.
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OWB