Do You Have A Wood Processing Routine? - Here Is Mine Just For Fun

For me, I use wood processing as exercise and have a pretty solid fall/winter routine. Keeps the joints moving.

1. Prep both chain saws the night before.
2. Up first thing, prayer and praise, then at the crack of dawn I am yanking the pull string
3. I fell a tree and start bucking. The size of trees in my AO means that I generally go thru one tank of saw fuel oil per tree, or close to it, felling and bucking and setting the twiggy branches aside for bonfire pile
4. Once I run one saw dry, I set it on the tailgate and yank the pull string on the 2nd saw and keep going

So the net result is that I am felling and bucking two small/medium size live oak or red oaks per day and am done by 8:30 am.

I come back later with my big honkin' Northern Tool splitter and split, then stack inside a box made out of wood pallets, one on the 3-point of my tractor, and one on the front forks.

Then I set them under cover and leave them for a year.

I am GUESSING that at the end of this fall/winter season I am going to have 20 cords of wood (in North Texas where I have about two months of fireplace weather which is a subject for another day)

I wish I lived where most of you guys do and had a long winter. I love winter. So I take advantage of the cold and slam firewood like I lived in Alaska.

Do you have a routine? Comment on mine or tell me what your process is.......

 

I like your routine, very efficient, but what is "AO?"

I am not too far from you (and your clime is probably a little colder) and I know what you mean but maybe you should burn in a firepit outside if you feel you have only two months of fireplace use. I would think you could burn a fire even in a fireplace at least 3-4 months. But... I admit the climate is warming in these parts in my lifetime and have said so many times! Summers are hotter and winters are milder.

 

Sorry, I just don’t know if I believe you without pictures to prove it I mean, in theory it sounds like a good process! All joking set aside, sounds like an efficient process

 

Nice routine! Sounds like you should have enough firewood for a good long time.

be careful what you wish for. Winters up north can be pretty brutal, I’m glad I got firewooding to keep my sanity (JK). And some days, like today was to cold and snowy to CSS! I’ll take a short winter, long summer any day.

 

My neighbors are too close so I let them have quiet until 9. I usually sharpen when I’m done cutting, so they are ready when the feeling strikes. I cut enough rounds to keep the splitter busy for a couple days or more. Stack on Sunday.

 

Area of Operations.

Sorry. Old habits die hard

 

1. First I check all our trails to make sure they're clear of any downed trees.
2. If I don't have any downed hardwood across the trails, I scan the hills for damaged trees.
3. Fell the damaged tree or trees on the hill and buck up.
4. Roll the rounds down the hill and either split or haul out in rounds.
5. Drink lots of water and pizz on a different tree.
6. Fell more Ash and diseased Beech before they get real bad.
7. Work on the lot our house is on, fell some of the dead pine on said lot, split & burn.
8. Always have the saws ready/cleaned the night before with plenty of sharp chains on the back of the Rhino.
9. Make sure the Rhino is full of gas and the oil is good before hitting the hills.
10. Check the air pressure on the Rhino and the trailer tires every so often.

Because Backwoods Savage always talked about once you get a years worth of firewood go for two and three if you have the room for stacking it, I don't have to bust my azz like when I started, thanks Sav.

 

I dig it man! I dig!

 

It was definitely a cold, windy and snowy day. They closed I-90 from my area to the South Dakota border. It was actually white out conditions in town, outside was basically driving blind

 

Yep, my routine is run around like a chicken with it's head cut off then go cut.
Seriously, get everything ready the day before and pack up and head out in the morning, not too earlly as I am retired.

 

I had started the season telling myself that I was going to buck my firewood in the woods and split it, then load it in truck/trailer before bringing it to where I store it. I am working in an area with a deadline (whenever the contractor decides to come and remove the rest of the tree row), so instead, I am bucking the wood to length then transporting it to my wood yard to be split at a later time and stacked. Like several of the other members, I make sure I have sharp chains and enough fuel the night before so I can hit the ground running in the morning. I try and cut as much as I have time to cut so that if there is a day I only have enough time to load and transport, I already have some wood cut and can still make a trip.

 

When youre done cutting im just getting up and looking for coffee. I hate mornings.
Since i dont have a woodlot and scrounge my wood roadside or through connections and am self employed, i can be cutting and filling the truck for a couple hours and splitting the next day. I try not to do extended periods of firewood making then ill get too tired and its no longer fun.
I have multiple saws and will take whichever one(s) ill need to work it. Usually have them sharp and ready, but not always. Extra chains always with me.
I prefer firewood making in the cold, but will do it year round. Time and energy dependent of course.

 

New abbreviation here. Took me a long time to learn most of them. PA was one
Processing
Area
Is that a military term TacMed ?

 

yes sir

 

I don’t really have a routine. My saws and equipment stay prepped. I cut on my own property. When the weather is good and it strikes me, I go cut. When it’s no longer fun, I stop. Another advantage to being 7 years ahead on firewood.
I’ve had friends out cutting during an ice storm because they had to. No thanks. And they didn’t learn a thing.

 

First off welcome! Secondly I got AO. Third if you answered yes sir I'm guessing NCO? Fourth THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!
Skidder & saws loaded the day before, two trucks & trailers usually. Leave at daylight, cut to 12' skid & deck logs for a few days. Next session is leave at dawn with tractor & dump trailer, two trucks & trailers again, haul logs dump & stack on my landing/deck at home. Usually 7-10 cord on any given day depending on distance. Most Saturdays in the winter are then spent bucking & splitting in my backyard. Random tree jobs here & there in between. Saws are always sharp & ready, just put 3-4 I think I'll need in the truck. Other gear, fuel, etc. is always in the truck.

 

I don't have a plan. Just go load up saws, fuel and bar oil, an ax or two, splitting maul, tool bag into the side by side. It doesn't matter when I start, usually sometime between 10am and 2pm, then often cut till dark, unless I get hungry.

I usually cut a tree or two down, then I de-limb and cut up the smaller limb wood, stack the brush as I go, then I cut the trunk up, usually, then I split up the rounds on the spot, noodling the hard ones if I need to. Come back another day and haul to the house and stack. But I might mix it up, it just depends on how it goes. The main thing is the wood gets cut up and split on site, and the brush stacked in a brush pile, then hauled usually on a different day or I go home and remove saws and gas and oil from the back to make room for hauling in the side by side. I can haul about a half a face cord at a time on my side by side, and that's about right, as I don't get too wore out, that way. I don't have far to haul, usually, and I am in no hurry. I am not trying to make money or sell wood commercially.

 

one of my neighbors enjoys watching pickups running back and forth with the “oh no! It’s November! Gotta get the firewood “. Just like November sneaks up on them.

I go cut when the mood strikes me. I equate an hour of cutting gets me a week of heat. I feel a little urgency to keep the shed topped off, so I don’t have to dig into another wood stack. I have one complete holsen haus for next year and working on the next. I have some longer cuts waiting for loading as soon as it is daylight.

 

Roger that. Thank you for the greeting as well!

 

SEVEN YEARS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXCELLENT, SIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man if I could get to where you are I'd be sitting PRETTY! (Of course, seven years supply of wood in North Texas is like 1 1/2 cords but lets not mention that.... )