(11-18-2019, 08:05 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Finally: Check with professional tree cutters. They may pay you (a percentage of what they cut) for the wood

(11-18-2019, 08:26 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Depends on the wood. Maple and oak wood? Good chance. Pine? highly doubtful. Morning wood? Well, depends on the tree cutter. It's Fred, you have to be clear on these things.

(11-18-2019, 05:58 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Anyone here cut their own firewood?

This will be the third winter since my father died and I moved in with my mom.  My mom chills and insists on using a wood stove to heat our house.  It is a modern two-story brick split-level home.  It has central heat and air, but when my mom gets a chill she says the air coming out of the registers (electric heat) just is not warm enough.

We live on a 150 acre farm with unlimited access to trees, but unfortunately they are almost all on hillsides.  This makes it tough work to get the wood out.  I am old and soft from working in an office for years, so I usually just work 2-3 hours at a time cutting wood.  But this last Saturday I hired a couple of my cousins sons to help and I wanted to get as much done as possible while I had them.  So I ended up working myself way too hard.  The chainsaw I have now (Echo 590) is really too big and heavy for trimming.  So it wears me out to swing it around for long.  Then I worked the pneumatic splitter.  A can sit to do this, but it involves moving huge pieces of wood onto the splitter so my entire upper body was hurting.

When I finally finished and went in to shower I could not bend my arms for long to do things like wash my hair without my biceps cramping.  I had plans to go to a party Saturday night so I laid down to try and take a short nap about 5:00.  When my mom woke me it was close to seven and I could barely walk when I tried to get out of bed.

This is the type of work I used to do on a regular basis when I was younger, but it kills me know.  I really need to get back to some form of regular exercise.  Either that or start buying all my firewood.

(11-18-2019, 08:46 PM)Synric Wrote: Yep I've been doing wood since I was old enough to lift a piece onto the wagon. The only time I haven't had to do wood was the 8 years I was stationed in Lousiana and Overseas.


The thing about wood heat is that once you're used to it nothing else compares it really different. I have free natural gas and still heat with wood...even though I have a couple wall heaters in the basement.

And yes Farm work is very hard with very little return.

(11-18-2019, 05:58 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Anyone here cut their own firewood?

This will be the third winter since my father died and I moved in with my mom.  My mom chills and insists on using a wood stove to heat our house.  It is a modern two-story brick split-level home.  It has central heat and air, but when my mom gets a chill she says the air coming out of the registers (electric heat) just is not warm enough.

We live on a 150 acre farm with unlimited access to trees, but unfortunately they are almost all on hillsides.  This makes it tough work to get the wood out.  I am old and soft from working in an office for years, so I usually just work 2-3 hours at a time cutting wood.  But this last Saturday I hired a couple of my cousins sons to help and I wanted to get as much done as possible while I had them.  So I ended up working myself way too hard.  The chainsaw I have now (Echo 590) is really too big and heavy for trimming.  So it wears me out to swing it around for long.  Then I worked the pneumatic splitter.  A can sit to do this, but it involves moving huge pieces of wood onto the splitter so my entire upper body was hurting.

When I finally finished and went in to shower I could not bend my arms for long to do things like wash my hair without my biceps cramping.  I had plans to go to a party Saturday night so I laid down to try and take a short nap about 5:00.  When my mom woke me it was close to seven and I could barely walk when I tried to get out of bed.

This is the type of work I used to do on a regular basis when I was younger, but it kills me know.  I really need to get back to some form of regular exercise.  Either that or start buying all my firewood.

(11-18-2019, 09:51 PM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: 150 acres, Jesus.

(11-19-2019, 12:19 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I remember at the gym a couple of years ago there was one of the really muscular guys. Not like the bodybuilders in tv but all defined muscle. I told him I was curious about he hat he does to look like that. There’s no way you get biceps like that just doing standard curls. He asks if I’d like to run through it with him. I said sure I’d give it a shot. He had me do some barbell curls to gauge what weight I would need, and then ran me through six or so different versions of curls using drop sets. I couldn’t completely straighten my arms for three days. They literally would not go all the way out.

(11-19-2019, 12:19 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I remember at the gym a couple of years ago there was one of the really muscular guys. Not like the bodybuilders in tv but all defined muscle. I told him I was curious about he hat he does to look like that. There’s no way you get biceps like that just doing standard curls. He asks if I’d like to run through it with him. I said sure I’d give it a shot. He had me do some barbell curls to gauge what weight I would need, and then ran me through six or so different versions of curls using drop sets. I couldn’t completely straighten my arms for three days. They literally would not go all the way out.

(11-19-2019, 12:22 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Random thoughts by michael. 

(11-19-2019, 01:00 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Well, they say getting old ain’t for sissies. ‘Cept they don’t say “sissies.”

(11-18-2019, 08:05 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Finally: Check with professional tree cutters. They may pay you (a percentage of what they cut) for the wood

(11-18-2019, 08:45 PM)bfine32 Wrote:  You cannot cut down and split a tree today and put it in the stove tonight. 

(11-18-2019, 09:11 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: You need a vertical hydraulic splitter.  Tow it to where you need to use it, stand it up at the log, and pull the lever!

(11-18-2019, 09:51 PM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: 150 acres, Jesus.

(11-18-2019, 10:19 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: You don't send you kid to college to be a lawyer with a 1/2 acre?

(11-18-2019, 11:45 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Pneumatic log splitter??  Aren't you a spoiled child.  Some of us had to use axe, wedge and maul..

(11-19-2019, 05:06 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I know all about that.  My dad claimed that I could turn ax handles into kindling faster than anyone he ever knew.

Seriously though, have split a good bit of wood with a maul before.  It is actually 10 times faster than using a splitter.  But my shoulders can't take that anymore.  I can't even throw anything very hard overhand any more.  Plus some wood (elm, pine) is almost impossible to split. And even good hardwood is tough to split when it has a lot of limbs and branches.