A Pile Of Hickory

Dammit, I knew I wasn't going to get any sympathy from you guys!!

 

You ain't kidding Dave! Feeling a little better now so it's working!

 

You ain't kidding, the big rounds were so heavy! Had about 15 of them so it was a long day!

 

I have almost an acre and a lot of that is some huge azz ledge that's very common in this area. Totally unbuildable so that works in my favor!

 

never burned hickory before.. cut it and split it before but never burnt it. Looks like a good score. I also split everything by hand, unless the fishers and mister maul won't take care of it then to the splitter.. bending down to the splitter makes my back hurt worse than swinging an axe. but yeah, its not easy work, not for the faint at heart..or weak.. lol

 

You're not kidding man! I used to split with just a maul when I just burned on the weekends but I burn primarily with wood know so I had to up my game. I like it but I'm a little out of shape but I'm sure that's going to change real soon!

 

Fire wood heats you several times before you burn it
Good calorie burning work.
Saves the cost of a gym membership too

 

Yeah I was lazy this past year and didn't have time to cut split and stack. Reality has set in that I won't have much next year so I've been out late every day this week in the dark cutting, splitting, loading. Needless to say I realized how out of shape I got in a year of not doing it on a regular basis.

 

Indeed, splitting and stacking may be hard work but all of it pays off in the end.

 

I have someone at work who pays 100 a month for a gym membership, he may be stronger than me basically but I asked him to split a chord with me and he was tired after a quarter. Splitting is some serious work.

 

Pretty muscles compared to working muscles ,
working muscles win hands down.

 

All my buddies use ancient home made slow splitters. I'll outsplit them almost 3:1 Using an axe..unless it's knotty stuff.

 

The stuff im splittn is super stringy too..

 

How I look at it basically. If I cant earn the muscle through honest labor it's useless.

 

I prefer the axe/maul, there's a good days labor in swinging the axe. American Elm is nasty wood to split but I did about a cord of it with a maul and a splitting wedge. Amazing how far knowing what you're doing will get you.

 

A job well done, nice pile of Premium BTU Hickory

 

Dont get me wrong i like swinging the x27...but...i have a $hi÷ ton of rounds to get split up and limited time so once i get caught up ill still swing my maul

 

I haven't set foot in a gym (except for rehabilitation of a couple work related injuries abut 15 years ago) since I was 16.
Worked in the woods part time since I was 17,small local tree service for 3 years after that & heavy commercial construction since early 20's.I'm 51 now & still split all my wood manually (minus a few gnarly or knotty monsters that get broke down with one of the big saws).

All those years of climbing ladders/scaffolding,carrying heavy objects has kept me in shape,but its taken a toll also.I still climb some trees on occasion,not very often however.Finally starting to slow down & I get tired much quicker now,though my strength hasn't diminished yet.Another 5-6 years & that will happen however.I plan to be retired about that time,so no worries there.

 

This saw doesn't oil well at all, after doing some googling it's a common problem with these newer Stilhs. I've pretty much got to clean the ports out every use it seems.

 

Stand them all up, then go to town, unless they are knotted up bad, the fiskars will out split a splitter for the first two hours. there is a technique to using the fiskars, I don't use the splitter for much at all. I'll drop a tree, chunk it up, then split it up. nothing for 2-3 cord a day split and stacked. in my prime I could split 5 1/2 cord a day without getting worn out... now its too much work, I'd rather drink a beer and split one. lol