Time to revive this ancient relic of a thread. Going by this same disc golf course I spotted a short trunk section that had been laying there a couple years. Not a lot of solid wood left there but enough worth cutting to satisfy the urge. I bucked a couple rounds, then hefted the first into the truck. Dumb move The second one got noodled on the spot. Not much good ash left around here so I’ll take what I can get.
What’s left there is half punky crotch sections with handfuls of dirt in every void If I was desperate for firewood I’d attempt a thorough salvage operation but luckily I don’t need to.
No round left behind. Yeah my hefting days are over especially if i have to unload and later lift to the splitter. Even some of the cherry from Saturday i shouldve halved.
Great thread—it was before I joined and so I appreciated reading it for the first time. I really enjoy all parts of the process, but after thinking about it I surprised myself because stacking might be my favorite. You make a lot of progress quickly when stacking. It’s a decent workout with a lower potential for injury. The finished product is a beautiful privacy barrier that appreciates in value with no additional work. After you stack, things are nice and neat—no loose ends or unfinished work. You’re done working on that wood for a couple years at least. It’s also the safest and easiest to fob off on my young kids and their friends! Stacking FTW!
My hefting days were over a couple years ago. Like you, I realized the potential for injury. Even quarters can be an issue if I twist wrong or get one a tad too big. I still advocate splitting on the spot, machine or maul. Smaller pieces to move, they can go from trailer to stack. No more loading and stacking rounds, splitting and piling, and then moving to stack. It takes more time on site, but saves a step or two in the long run. The alternative is to quit wooding, and that I have no intention of doing yet.
I enjoy the entire process. But mostly the warm house. I used to hate stacking. I would split about 2 cords at a time and throw all of the splits in a pile and then have to stack it all at one time. That got old fast. I broke my neck a little over 5 years ago, and bending over to pick things up is not comfortable at all. Now I try to position the splitter a few feet from the stack and position the dump trailer a few feet from the splitter. Place rounds on the splitter out of the trailer and take splits off the splitter directly to the stack, 4-5 splits at a time. I used to use 18” bars exclusively, but have switched to 24” and 28” bars so I can buck standing up. Least favorite for me now is picking up rounds to load in the trailer.
