Journey to your three year plan

Midwinter · May 24, 2019

Ward Hoarder said: ↑

Growing up in a milling family slab wood was always abundant. Never really cut round wood much for firewood. Local mill owners passed on. Family retired/ sold the mill. I got married and moved to another county. Lots of dead and damaged trees was on property so round wood was the new go to wood. So then came bigger saws, hydraulic splitters,wood moving equipment etc. Came across a few pictures of me and some of my family shooting black powder rifles and pistols probably 30+ yrs. ago. You can see the slab pile in the background. It was probably 40' deep 12-14' tall and 100-150' long. Local mill down the road use to sell cut up slabs for about $5.00 a pick up load, all you could haul and sawdust was free.
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LOL, "round wood"!

Chazsbetterhalf · May 24, 2019

Backwoods Savage said: ↑

Some good questions there.

New equipment had nothing to do with the plan.
Wood is acquired on our own land.
Only help was that my wife used to help but now it is just me. I might add though that for the past 4 years we've had a get-together at our place and the guys like to run saws and split wood, etc, etc. This means that my work load has decreased a lot!
It's been so long ago that I really don't remember when except to say that it really started in my childhood. We had no 3 year plan then but we always had extra wood put up so as to make sure it was dry by the time it had to be burned.
On a different forum, if I remember correctly both Scotty Overkill and myself began to promote the idea big time and it caught on. This is a good thing.

Another thing that really adds to the need for the plan is that several times I've had some unfortunate things happen so that I could not put up any firewood. 35 years ago in September I had an accident that really put me down. Of course we were okay for a while but were finally forced to buy some wood. I went to a fellow I've known since childhood and thought he knew what he was doing. Sadly, he cut the wood, split it and brought it to me. Well, it was ash so you can burn that right away. Right? Well, you can actually burn most any wood right away if you really want to or need to but that does not mean it is easy or good.

That winter we almost froze. The fire had to be tended to it seems all the time and nights were terrible. I knew something had to be done quickly. Then came a call. Another friend had some white ash that had to come down. Could I use it? Well, does a bear go in the woods? I had help. It was still a struggle for a few years but eventually I got so I could work maybe an hour at a time and eventually we got back to the 3 year plan. At one point I had 21 full cord of wood cut, split and stacked and we have not burned wood that was less than 3 years in the stack since.

I might add that the accident was only one time that held me back. I've had some sickness and operations that put me down for a while. But I've not been in a position that I did not have wood on hand that was ready to burn. The last time was about 1 1/2 years ago when I had an emergency surgery. No wood cutting to be done that winter (it happened in November). Now here is where it really pays to have some great friends and fellow hoarders. Just a short time after I got home from the hospital several hoarders came and after a short visit they said they were ready to work. What needs done, they asked? Wow. Here is a sampling of some pictures from that day.
View attachment 211273 View attachment 211274 View attachment 211275 View attachment 211276
That's one day I'll never forget and once again, thanks guys.

Getting back to business, it does take a lot of work to get ahead 3 years; some more than others. Many find that if they put up just 1/3 more than they need it is not so difficult. After 3 years, you are all set. It is sort of like priming the old pitcher water pumps. Pump like crazy and prime it and soon you'll get water but once the water starts coming, just some steady easy pressure keeps the water coming. After 3 years you will feel as though you are coasting just putting up one year's worth at a time. You will never be sorry.

In addition, no more worries about creosote or hard starting fires or running out of wood before the winter is over. Also, you will find that you have really saved a lot of work because you will find that with the good dry wood you get more heat which means you burn less wood which means less work for you and a happy and warm family.

I hope this helps.
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Lol from the "1st" GTG of 5 people that I counted in pic to 70 this year, impressive. Shows how much we have grown here.

JustWood · May 25, 2019

Grew up in logging/sawmill family.
Started a firewood business at 18.

amateur cutter · May 25, 2019

Grandpa heated with wood, Dad heated with an insert, about 60-70% I'd guess. First two years here had to heat with propane, & hated it. Bought an old wood furnace off CL & went to cutting. Grew up making firewood with an old buzz rig run by a Case VAC tractor, that was something. Grandpa always wanted dry firewood because it made it easier to keep heat in the house. Knew nothing of a three year plan, just that you always needed plenty of wood in the stacks. Cut when you can & get it put up was his way. That's just what I learned, so I started cutting & putting up wood. First winter was a bit rough due to limited supply, but I made it. Now I've got a bigger splitter, couple tractors, dump trailer, a dozen running saws, & numerous properties to cut on. I try & cut every Saturday even if it's only for a little while. Usually have plenty of dry wood on hand & just keep making more. I burn 12 cord a year give or take so I make a fair amount of wood.

Backwoods Savage · May 25, 2019

Chazsbetterhalf said: ↑

Lol from the "1st" GTG of 5 people that I counted in pic to 70 this year, impressive. Shows how much we have grown here.
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That wasn't our first gtg for sure but for sure it was 5 (actually 6) great guys who just got together to come and help Dennis & Judy. That is just one more of our great memories.

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Journey to your three year plan

Midwinter

Chazsbetterhalf

JustWood Guest

amateur cutter

Backwoods Savage Moderator