We had a good Summer here for getting firewood. I got a lot more cut and moved than I had planned on after getting the Polaris Ranger. A little at a time and it got done. Was nice working on the ridge as there was usually a good breeze blowing up from the canyon and we had very few hot days. I’ve got some splitting to do and a couple of small projects I hopefully can get done before the big rains hit. Am also in the process of adding 4 acres of land to the homestead. Looks to be plenty of future firewood on there. How was your Summer? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I had the most productive summer I’ve ever had. I won’t bore you with the details here but you can check out my “the March to 150” thread. BUT summer isn’t quite over yet!!
Good summer here but I do not do firewood in the summer unless it is to help someone. We really have only had a month and a half of summer as June was cool and wet. I will think about firewood again in Oct.
This exactly. After 20 years of processing firewood I’ve learned there are 3 seasons that are better than summer for doing it. Ready to be done with temps in the 90s but got a few weeks more here probably.
I also don't cut in the hot months,July August and September are very warm here. Also got to consider high fire danger on national Forest lands. My favorite time to get firewood is October 15 to December 15 as we usually don't get any significant snow till after Xmas.
I hate doing firewood when its hot, but that always seems to be when friends have storm damage or other firewood to offer and I can't say no.
I scrounge my firewood, so when a good score comes along I take it, regardless of the season. Despite the dump supply drying up, I got a lot of wood this summer. In late May, I got a big Mulberry trunk off Craigslist that yielded about half a cord. Then in June, a neighbor a couple blocks over had 6 or so black locusts cut, and was nice enough to let me take them. That was about 2 cords. Two weeks ago, I brought home 0.8 cords of Aspen poplar from a Craigslist offer 8 miles away. And currently I am bringing home sugar maple from WeldrDave's property in western NH, and there's a lot to get. What really helped me out was having the use of Mwalsh9152's splitter for the summer. As well as all the wood listed above, it split all the unsplittable uglies in my yard, which was bonus wood!
Hot/humid and me, go together like water and oil. No splits have been stacked for a few months. Hoping to get back to CSS'ing as soon as the air changes.
There's not a lot been done here this summer. I don't even have the big oak al taken care of but will hopefully get back to working on that and the other wood soon. I tried doing some yesterday but couldn't take the sticky weather. So far today it is worse. One of those rare nights when we had a low of 71 degrees and fog this morning. Yuck. But I'll be on the road much of today so will be in an air conditioned car most of the time. Weather promises to improve by tonight. Hooray!
No cutting for me this summer, I have been doing some splitting and stacking as I still have a fair bit of rounds left from last fall.
I agree with every statement about cutting in the heat. That being said, the wood I have dry and ready was had in the summer, and this one so far, I’ve scored major oak in. I don’t like to, but a hoarders gotta do what a hoarders gotta do. When these opportunities present themselves I have to oblige.
This summer was more preparing my setup than actually CSSing any firewood (did I use that term right?). Bought our first house this week that has a woof furnace in the basement and I bought my first chainsaw/axe/splitter/all the gear that goes with it. I plan to buy a 6 cord load of tree length logs and CSS them(might be harder than I expect). I'll be posting some pictures when I get everything all set up!
Welcome to FHC KeswickRidge! Is the wood furnace the only heat source? It might be a challenge starting from scratch, heating with 100% wood.
Thanks! There is also an oil furnace that we plan to remove ASAP (to lower home insurance) and the last owner installed a new ductless heat pump this spring so we will be trying to use the ductless as much as possible (to save$$$) until we can install a wood stove on the main floor. The house is quite small (1400sqft) so we can probably do most of our heating with the ductless heat pump. The previous owner also left us 2 cords of well seasoned firewood so we will be using that sparingly to get us through this winter. I've cut and split firewood with my father in law the last few years for their house and just love the process of it all so I was very excited when I finally had an excuse to buy my own gear!
We have a ductless heat pump as well, we bought it mainly for the AC, but it does a fine job heating. I'm glad you have some dry wood! Sounds like the previous owner did well by you. Be sure and visit the stove forum, lots of good advice there. Modern EPA Stoves and Fireplaces
I have done well this year on the firewood front. Made 3 trips to the mountains and have plenty of beetle kill for burning and for milling. I also acquired some ash that is already split and stacked. I have elm coming out my ears now and just today a person on a farm out here has some more dead elm and told me I can get what I want. Life is good. I believe I am out to about 4 1/2 years worth of wood drying before it gets used in its rotation. That will allow me to share a little with the family.
Cut & hauled maybe 15 cord, split most of it, sold a few, got orders for a few more. Hit two more big scores on farms, like lifetime supply scores. Been hot & humid a lot of weekends & that's slowed things up some. Few storms = more trees. I need about 36 months of 20 to 40 degree temps with sun & a few inches of snow & I'll be caught up. I've got 10 cord dry stacked & ready, another 15ish laying around in various stages of processing & about 400 to go get from different places. This is never gonna get finished, but oh well. Few leaves are starting to turn & they say it's gonna cool off a bit so I'll be at it this weekend. I hope we get a nice dry fall.
I was CSS up to June here in south central PA. Too hot and humid after that for me to want to do any CSS after that. I'm half way to my 3 year plan. I want to finish the 3 year plan this fall and winter. Hunting season is coming up fast and I will probably not be able to CSS as much as I could in late winter and spring. I do have several (6+ large trees) coming down this fall on my property that should get me close to the 3 year plan. All in all the summer was productive with other projects around the homestead.
