Yesterday my 17yo son and I decided to try out the Fiskars X27 splitting axe I won in last fall's initial "Karma/ Pay it forward" thread on the old pro-boards site. My diesel powered log splitter is sitting in my dad's back yard 45 miles away with a flat/ruined tire and we've got about four cords of logs here at home that need split so we thought it was a good day to try to be productive. We used a small pallet with a solid plywood top and a tire on top of that to hold the logs and the Fiskars did amazingly well on the ash, hard maple, locust and cherry logs. As we were splitting a guy drove by real slow watching us then came back around and stopped to talk. He had bought the house just up the street 2 years ago and there were some big logs in the back yard from the previous owner and he wanted to know if we wanted to come get them for firewood. His neighbor's driveway around the corner went right up to the logs so we asked permission to park there to load. The other neighbor was more than happy to let us use the driveway but he said the locust logs were eight years old at least. We were using an old Dodge Dakota and got two loads, probably 2/3 to 3/4 cord. The wood was rock solid and we were able to get started splitting it with the Fiskars too. This stuff could probably be burned right now in a pinch but it should burn great next year. We've always processed the wood in the lot behind my office. This was the first time we ever split wood at home and it paid off with a locust scrounge just a couple hundred yards from our front door. I'll snap a pic or two tomorrow.
Great story. I miss my 17 yo, now he's 22 and so the times have changed. I don't think I'd get him to help split for me now as he did back then, he's got one foot out the door already. I'm a solo at the woodpile now so I'd find a way to go to dads for the hydraulic splitter Enjoy him while you still can BK
That's a great deal, can't ask for more then to have someone stop and ask you to take locust off their hands.
Here's the stack of logs we were already working on and the locust rounds on the left. (We were surprised by an inch of snow this morning at the house, 2" at the office.)
Thanks, we do. My oldest son is 21 and in his third year of college. He wants to be a priest. He just got back to Miami last night from a nine day mission trip to the Dominican Republic and they were stranded there due to the snow storm in Washington DC. He goes to college in Virginia and all the flights into DC were cancelled last night. He and I did everything together before he went away to college but his younger brother is filling his shoes admirably.
Brian your story reminds me of a conversation I had with an old neighbor. He has moved out and now lives about 8 miles from us but still owns land here. I asked about some old oak that the crew left. Most were actually cut to 16" or 4'. I thought they had been there 10 years but was corrected and they had been there 12 years at least. Laying right on the ground, there were only a very few that we had to leave because of punk. Then he made some comment about a couple large limbs that broke off a couple white pines in his old yard. Figured he would somehow have to try to get them cut up as nobody would want that pine for firewood. I just patted him on the back and told him to not worry a bit as I'd help him out by cutting them up. Wouldn't you know, more broke off this past summer and now we get both trees. But, of course, nobody will use them for firewood. I'll just remove them from his old yard as a favor.
