Cutting and Hauling Firewood

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I haven't written in a while. Spring brings me a lot of distractions from my blogging, namely coaching baseball and softball. I help run our local summer baseball/softball league, coach a number of teams, and run a skills clinic for the younger players in our area. Once the snow melts my interests get tugged in many different directions.
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Whenever life gets too busy for me I can always "get away from it all" by heading out into the woods and bring home next years heat. This is just what I did recently when northern Ohio's winter was chased away by 60 degree temperatures. The ground dried up enough for me to get my truck out of the barn and load up the saws. I had a couple locust trees given to me by a local farmer friend so I quickly dispatched these guys into firewood and trucked them home. Here are some pictures of my haul. Sorry I forgot to take the camera with me to the cutting site. It was an old farmhouse the owner tore down. He filled in the basement and bulldozed down the trees that used to shade the house.
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This is me, my truck, my saws, and the locust...

Here is the locust as it sits in the bed. My truck is a 1977 Ford F150. It is a great truck...I would be lost without it. Sometimes I can't figure out what's more important for my firewood acquisition, the truck or my saws. I cut this load with my Husqvarna 455 Rancher. It fired right up after setting silent all winter. It is a great saw. The Rancher feels perfectly balanced in my hands and runs powerful and smooth. It's a great saw and I recommend this Husky to anyone who cuts a lot of firewood.

That's all for now. I will try to keep posting my exploits this summer as I bring home the wood. Safe cutting everyone!

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OWB

Stay a While...Warm Yourself By The Fire!

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I have been busy at work this week and hadn't posted in a while. While I'm slogging away, sit back...relax...and enjoy the warmth of the Hardy H2! I took this picture the other day while loading my Hardy and thought I would share it with you. There is something special about heating with wood. I think this picture explains all that needs to be explained!
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OWB

To Split, or Not To Split...That is the Question

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A regular reader of this blog, CM, had written me asking if I split the wood I burn in my Hardy H2 and was curious if round wood burns longer.
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Here's the deal with firewood and what I have learned while heating my house with wood. While gathering firewood is labor intensive, the BIGGEST investment of your labor to procure firewood is splitting it. Even if you invest $1500 to $2500 for a good hydraulic splitter...you can never escape the reality that splitting wood is A LOT of work. Of course cutting, lugging, hauling and stacking too can be laborious...but splitting, from my experience, is a major commitment. Because of this the only time I split a log is when its too big to fit in the door of my Hardy. An OWB will burn a round log without any problem and it is also my experience that the round log will last longer and burn just as hot as a split log. If you recall from an earlier post, I had purchased a maul and had a lot of fun splitting wood. I found swinging a maul to be a great workout and split wood does make loading the furnace easier because a log split into four pieces is easier on the back and knees than it is as a whole log. Look at it this way...everything is a trade off.
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If the log fits in my firebox door, I throw it in as is. All the labor I save not splitting logs I can invest in cutting more wood and bringing it home, or playing catch with my daughters. Now, the trade off is a round of wood will take longer to season (dry out) than split wood and can be more difficult to lug around and toss into the furnace. Don't laugh at this because even the toughest Ohioan can get a stiff back or bum knee after four months of tossing logs twice a day into the Hardy. Either way you do it, split or unsplit, you want to devise a plan that will yield a steady supply of seasoned wood. I burn the wood that is in my shed, which has seasoned for over a year. Once it is burned I will restock it this spring with the cut wood I brought home the most recent fall. By the following winter the rounds are fully seasoned and ready to go.
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Allow me to be honest. I think anyone with an OWB must be a responsible owner and be concerned for their neighbor's enjoyment of their homes. You should avoid burning garbage, tires, shingles, or green wood because these things smoke excessively and tend to anger people you shouldn't be wishing to anger. The cruel fact is that green wood smokes a lot more than seasoned wood. However, you may live in an area like me where you have no neighbors...so burning green wood isn't as big of a concern. If you don't have seasoned wood, you may be forced to burn what you have...so in goes the green stuff. Green wood will burn...but not as hot as seasoned wood...so you will burn more of it to get the same amount of heat. At times if I burn a green log, I will throw it in the firebox last so that it can be kiln dried for half the day before it gets its turn to set on the grates.
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I hope this adds some insight into my approach to how I work my wood pile. This approach works for me but you may find that splitting is better for you...which is fine. Your mileage may vary! Thanks for the letters and interest in this blog. Keep them coming.
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OWB

Wood to Burn

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I took a couple snap shots of my wood shed today. I thought these pictures would be a good way to show how much wood I have burnt through this winter. The woodshed you are looking at measures 16' by 8' and I stack the wood about 6 feet tall inside it. This comes out to about 6 cords of wood under the roof. This isn't the only pile of wood I have pulled from this season because in the fall I had about a half cord of pine that I used first before the weather turned cold. In the fall and spring I use my small logs and pine to burn since this stuff burns up too fast in the cold weather. I think I use about 12 cords of wood each burning season, which is a lot of wood when you think about it. An outdoor wood burner uses A LOT of wood...much more than a fireplace or woodstove. Also, keep in mind that I didn't fire up my Hardy H2 until after Halloween this fall due to the warm weather in October and into November. Given everything, I think I'm doing pretty good in my usage so far. I'm happy...I know the gas man isn't!
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Anyhow...here are a couple views of my wood pile as it looked today. I keep four rows of wood under the roof and a fifth row to the right of this picture. The unmanaged pile in the foreground is fresh cut stuff from this fall. I will be moving these into the wood shed after burning season for next winter.

I would estimate that I am half-way through my supply in the wood shed. Keep in mind that I have about three times this amount in strategic piles around my shed that you cannot see in these pictures. Most of the wood I cut this past year came late in the fall and needs to season before I burn it up. I suppose, if I were running short on wood, I could burn the green stuff but that is the luxury of having a wood pile as big as mine now. I probably have about another two years of wood cut up...and that is not counting what I hope to get this next year. Cutting up firewood has become my most favorite hobby...well maybe a close second to baseball, but its something I look forward to doing at any chance I can get.

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OWB

Tales and Tails From the Woodpile

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No pictures of this interesting development but last night when filling my Hardy H2 with its evening's compliment of wood, I was startled by something ...At first I thought it was a snake as I saw the tapered end of its tail disappear into the stacks of logs. Upon further review it was an opossum who made a nest in my woodpile! Cute little bugger. The area of my woodpile I am currently picking from is over a year old, so this guy must have taken advantage of the logs as they went undisturbed for a while. He had made a nice pile of leaves and even went as far as to pull a piece of kindling over his structure for added support. It looks like he has been there for a while.
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Not being a mean spirited woodburner, I placed the log back on top of his nest and gave him the night to remain nestled in his warm bed. This morning he was gone...and as of tonight still no sign of him. I don't know where he ran off to, or how far. For all I know he only moved one cord back into my woodshed and made another nest. Other than birds and an occasional mouse who runs out from under the back of my Hardy, this is the only wildlife I have stumbled across in my woodshed. The mice have been trouble as I have seen where they have chewed on the insulation of my Hardy and even nibbled on some wires. I figure they can only get so far on the wires before Mr Hardy decides to bite back. As for the opossum...he can stay but I may even consider building him a nest myself if he would help tidy around the place, shovel some ash, and stack some wood.
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Here is a photo of my Hardy and the woodshed after a recent snow fall. I'll be sure to tell my new opossum friend you all said "hello."

Bored...But Got Wood

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One of the things I enjoy about my Hardy H2 and all my Chainsaws is I have a lot of things to keep me occupied during the doldrums of winter. I have attached some pictures of a project I have completed recently...I made a clock out of a log.
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Here is the story behind this. In the world of chainsaws a common occurrence is a bunch of people who have...and love...chainsaws will get together and see who's got the best, or smoothest, or fastest saw in the county. When you get all these saws in one place the wood tends to get cut up real quick and the next thing you know...you have a bunch of saws without any wood to cut! Bummer. However, us who love chainsaws have come up with a solution to this problem, which is, we cut "cookies" off of the log...instead of cutting the log into firewood pieces. A cookie is a 1 to 2 inch slice of a log that allows the saw to experience a full cut but in reality you are just cutting off a little bit off the edge. The result of these "cookie cuts" is you have a bunch of cookies laying around at the end of the day.
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Well...I am not one to let wood go to waste so I collect the cookies and throw them in my Hardy H2 and let them heat my house. As I was gathering the cookies I found a couple walnut cookies that had very nice color and I decided to keep them. I didn't know what for but I thought I could find a use for them. They were too clunky for coasters...but eventually a light went off inside my head and I decided they would make a nice clock. Here is a picture...


I went to a craft store and bought a clock motor for $5. I then gathered some 9mm and .22 spent brass and drilled holes where the numbers would go. Voila...a clock! Not bad if you ask me!
This picture below shows how I routered out the back so the clock motor sets recessed in the cookie...thus allowing the clock to rest flush on the wall.



This picture gives you a good view of how thick the cookie is.

This is what the clock looked like before I started. Walnut is a gorgeous wood. The bark is also nice. So far the clock is still functioning and the wood has not split. I think I may be on to something. Maybe I should become a clocksmith?

Anyhow...I just wanted to share this with you as I get bored at times when the winter weather forces me indoors and my mind starts to wander. I consider this a value added service from me and my saws. I have been itching to buy a new saw by the way...I have a feeling a Dolmar 7900 is in my future.

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OWB

Hardy Grates

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In earlier posts I have written about maintaining the grates in your Hardy H2 or H4. I have been doing a pretty good job keeping my own grates rotated and free from abuse...but last night I noticed that the center grate was starting to sag...certainly from excessive heat from letting my ash build up too high. The Hardy has a forced draft system and the ash has to be managed so that it doesn't get too high. If you let the ash build up, the coals will rest too close to the grates and the excessive heat will melt them. Or if you keep the ash too low you run the risk of the fire going out. Even though I am aware of the risk of not emptying the ash regularly, I must have been negligent as when I got on my hands and knees and peaked up into the ash bin I noticed one rung of the center grate had broken in half and was sagging. Below is a picture where you can see...about mid way down the grates...one rung sagging and broken. Not a good thing because if I don't do something I will be making a trip to the Hardy store and laying down $50 for a new one.

Again...this is what I see when I get onto my hands and knees and peek up into my ash bin door. This is the underside of the grates with the coals beneath them.

I had to take action so I decided to let the wood burn down over night and, the next morning, I pulled all three grates out. I decided to move the middle grate to the front and I flipped it over so the sagging part was now facing up. This will help straighten it out. While the grates were out I noted I had another grate showing damage so I flipped it over and put it in the back. The best grate I placed in the middle as my experience shows the middle grate takes the most abuse from heat and weight of the logs. Below is a picture of the broken grate when I had them all out. I was surprised to see that I had not one, but two broken rungs. It's probably just a matter of time until this grate fails and I will have to buy a new one. Remember...too much ash means too much heat!

Once I had the grates in I shoveled some coals from the ash bin and dumped them on top of the grates. I threw in some kindling and the fired roared back to life. All of this was done this morning in 8 degree (f) weather in just about 15 minutes! Each time you remove ash you should peek up inside your ash bin and look for sagging grates. Grate Maintenance must be part of your routine with a Hardy OWB. You can see from my experience that its easy to lose track...especially with the horrible weather we have been dealing with in northeast Ohio.

OWB