I had big plans to split and stack 3-4 cords of rounds today and tomorrow. Weather changed over the last 36 hours,hitting60 degrees with a lot of rain. Started into the woods and tractor was wrecking the roads on the first pass. Before I started dragging the axles, I turned around and parked it as I have many trips. Very frustrating. If I were cutting, non issue. -20, non issue. So what weather or conditions shut you down?
Mud. Can stand the cold down to the mid teens and will happily work outside into the mid 80s (any hotter and it's moto time), but I hate mud....hot or cold. I'm also shy about hitting the woods if the wind is above 15 mph.
For alot of west coaster types its two things. 1 alot of us cut on usfs land and cutting season is may 1 to dec 31. Number 2 is from dec to mid april the snow is deep and most of the land is steep equals no cutting.
deep snow and mud not a fan of 95ºF firewooding any more either. When I was younger the heat never bothered me at all. rain, of course although I set up tarps once to work under.
Climate inside or outside the house can affect my wood cutting/splitting: heavy snow, rain, below zero, weather related arthritis, abundant mosquitoes, wife has other plans. I have cut wood when it has been over 90 degrees but not so fun. My splitter won't start if it is below 20 degrees without some major effort. I cut wood in the later fall, winter, early spring, and split in the late spring on into early fall. Normal ritual.
I do not feel too bad. Keep thinking I am getting soft and not worthy of hoarding status on days like today.
I hate splitting & stacking when your wood is snow covered and melting, like just above freezing. It's hard to keep dry, hands & belly that is. What snow on the ground is getting slushy & slippery. On the other end of the spectrum, high heat & humidity. Even near naked except some boots & shorts and I'm heading to the river.
Rain over a sprinkle: Just don't like getting my small engines wet. Probably a little too over protective, but I abused a snowblower when I was younger and pizzed away what was at the time a significant investment.. much more conscientious since then, probably to a fault. Deep snow: The first year in this house, I determined we would not pay for a drop of oil with the owb in working order. Having started with no wood, it was a matter of cutting and splitting enough (hopefully) on Sunday to last the week. It was a great year for it, having seen weeks where the high temp was around 10 and it snowed enough that we had snow under some shady trees almost till June. Working a log pile with several 10"+ snow falls on top of it sucks, as does hand splitting all 12+ cord by hand. Decided right then and there to get on a multi-year plan and invested in hydraulics the following spring.
Temps that are too hot. Bugs that are too bad. Temps that are too cold. High winds. Extreme wet weather.
QUOTE="yooperdave, post: 605650, member: 1287"]Temps that are too hot. Bugs that are too bad. Temps that are too cold. High winds. Extreme wet weather.[/QUOTE] I'm with him!
Rain is the only thing that keeps me in. Snow isn't a concern because I'm from SC. If it's a weekend, and the wife doesn't have plans for me, I'm out at my dads place cutting, splitting, and hauling red oak around!
Things that would keep me from working on wood: snow, mud, rain, too windy, too humid, too many bugs, too hot, too cold. As I am typing this I'm wondering how I ever get anything done!
I need some cold temps and snow so I can skid some logs out for milling. Love working in the snow, unless it's more than 2 ft.
Same here. I think I melt above 80°, especially if I'm not in the water. I'll cut when it's windy, I even cut when it was 50 mph gusts a few weeks ago, but my head was on a swivel, and there was no felling that day, only cutting stuff that was already down. That was my limit, and I would probably called it a day had I not driven a half hour and invested time and effort to get it done.
