Wood Fuelin'

Today was a productive Labour Day.

Now that chainsaw season is on, I'm in a rush to get a bunch of wood cut and split for winter's fuel.

The general rule is to cut and stack the wood for a year of air drying before you burn it. Wet wood doesn't burn too good, see? It smokes mostly and it lines the chimney with something called creosote which can cause dangerous chimney fires.

Because of this, I'm mostly cutting down standing deadwood trees along with cherry and birch trees which will burn okay even if they're wet.

So, today I finished dropping and cutting up a bunch of trees, then used the ATV wagon to haul the wood to the office area. Then I towed the gas-powered log splitter to the office along the forest trail I'd just cleared with the chainsaw and split about a bush cord of the stuff. Now all I have to do is stack it like in the photo.

I don't know how many cords of wood I'll need this winter. And I really should be stacking enough for two winters - so next year's will dry properly.

After I'm done with the office wood, I need to cut, split, haul and stack about five cords for Ma Pocock's fuelwood for two winters hence.

And before you start screaming at me for poluting the environment, using gas to cut and split the wood, I gotta tell you I don't think I could do it all by hand. Chop down trees with an axe, Swede saw each 12 inch log section, then maul split each one? Maybe when I retire and have nothing else to do all day. Or I get married....

You know what the really hard part is? Comedy. No - carrying each cut log from the forest floor to the wagon trail over uneven ground covered in webwork of cut branches ('slash') and knocked over saplings. Many, many times and near tripping all the way. It's a pain in the ass, tiring, but I'm grateful I have the ATV to haul the stuff away.

Still, it's better than office work.