Welcome to the club, sounds like you’re gonna fit right in around here. I like your nice neat stacks. It pretty cool the way we all do what works best for our situation and then share it with the rest. That’s how I’ve picked up a couple new ideas to try. And don’t worry about only having one saw & one axe we’ll be glad to help get past that
Hey Ford101 , welcome aboard. I usually say it smells like nice warm heat. Smells best after it's been in the sun for a while and mostly dry. When burning, I don't smell it......unless I go outside. My SisIL needs small splits, so when I'm bucking up logs/trees, I'll make an effort to cut a couple/few from each log for her. She just took a small load a week or so ago.
Every once in a blue moon you’ll find a red oak that Really stinks like Urine. Call em pizz oaks. Haven’t had one in 5 years but they’re out there. No idea what makes some more odious than others unless it’s just a different species. Kegerator. Sure could have used one of those in my younger years. More into spirits now. Welcome to the forum. Anyone with a kegerator will fit in just fine here LOL
I like it a lot. Very sharp and swings fast. I used to get tendonitis with a wood handle splitting maul from the shock. The Fiskars has been great, no sore arms.
Interesting point about the shock of the wood handles. I have a small fiskars splitting axe I used to use for kindling worked great. I used regular hardware store maul with a fiberglass handle and also had no problems. Then I upgraded to some fancy heirloom splitting gear from Gransfors Bruk. I have the small splitting axe and their maul. Beautiful tools and boy are they functional! Super SHARP ....both literally and aesthetically. After a season splitting with those hickory handles though I ended up with “tennis elbow” for the first time. Stayed with me the better part of 6 months! Not super painful but man was it annoying! Every hand shake or lifting of the slightest thing with an outstretched arm I had a dull nagging pain. Anyway I was supposed to go to physical therapy 3x a week.... I just said hell with it I’ll give the elbow a break and bought a hydraulic splitter. Worked perfectly! My elbow feels great and so far I think it was cheaper than the PT would have been!!! Now I’m working on an excuse to buy another saw.....hmmmm.
Small cracks starting to form at the log ends, I assume this is a good sign. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
good looking stack. The cracks are often referred to as "checking". Good sign as the wood shrinks as it dries. Does Mrs. Ford101 still like the smell? I was splitting some red oak this afternoon and thought of it!
A bigger stove will definitely be in the works once we get a bigger house! Haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks for the info! She hasn’t complained about the smell so I guess she warmed up to it or the stench went down over time. Personally I like the smell haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That sir, is a sign that indeed, the ends are starting to dry. Note though, that it is the ends. That says absolutely nothing about the interior of the wood. Too many get excited about the ends cracking. Funny though. Scotty Overkill (thanks again Scotty) cut us a large cookie from a white oak he took down on our property a few years back. Some of the guys that were here signed their names. Too bad we didn't get everyone's name on there but this is a keepsake for sure. I lathered it big time with linseed oil. Yet, with in a week, it cracked big time. So was it dry enough to burn, being as thin as it was. I think by this coming winter it would burn nicely. Sorry, but that is the way with wood and the drying of it.
It’s been exactly one month since I cut this sucker down. Definitely making some progress. Moisture meter indicated the moisture was around 34-35% at the center of a fresh cut log. This is decent progress considering it was at 50%. The ends are very dry at less than 10%. Fingers crossed that we read 20% or less come the heart of winter. If not we have enough cherry to last all year at any rate, it’s drying faster than I would have anticipated. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I haven’t actually measured the temp, which I will certainly do now, but man does it get hot up against the house in that corner. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
