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Who would rather NOT have help with their firewood?

Spike60

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I don't know about anyone else, but I can't stand to have anyone help me when doing my own wood. First is that it seems no one can stay on length. I've always cut to 16" and have a good eye for it. But it's difficult for anyone to stay on length if the person they are helping cuts to a different length than they do for themselves. If the "helper" is used to cutting 18" or 20" wood then they will naturally gravitate back to what they are used to. It's a royal pain to have to trim 3-4 inches off to fit in the stove. I've seen some guys seemingly not even pay attention to length at all, with just random lengths. I've been in other group cuts helping someone and some guys are willing to taylor what they are doing to what the owner wants, but others get annoyed if they have to pay attention to anything. Just want to get through the pile and on to the beer cooler.

Plus in our saw centric world, everyone likes to run the saws, but nobody likes to run the splitter or transport/stack. Saw work is really a small part of the overall job. It's easy to blast through a log pile with saws, but this isn't help for me. It really just makes a big mess on the ground. I'm never in the mode where production is an issue and I need to get a lot done. I'll do a couple 3 logs, run the blocks up to the splitter and split them. Never like to leave a pile of blocks down at the log pile. I'm into that neat and orderly A-B-C approach, which I guess means I'm just plain fussy. :)
 
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Wood Chopper

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It depends "who" the help is Bob as you mentioned. The best help I have had is my neighbor's boy Ethan is in 9th grade and is a good kid. My father and I do all the bucking and Ethan is either feeding me on the splitter or at least keeping the rounds close to me, stacking off the splitter or throwing the splits into the dump trailer if we are bringing the firewood home. I don't have to tell him what to do which is nice.
 

Dub11

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I don't know about anyone else, but I can't stand to have anyone help me when doing my own wood. First is that it seems no one can stay on length. I've always cut to 16" and have a good eye for it. But it's difficult for anyone to stay on length if the person they are helping cuts to a different length than they do for themselves. If the "helper" is used to cutting 18" or 20" wood then they will naturally gravitate back to what they are used to. It's a royal pain to have to trim 3-4 inches off to fit in the stove. I've seen some guys seemingly not even pay attention to length at all, with just random lengths. I've been in other group cuts helping someone and some guys are willing to taylor what they are doing to what the owner wants, but others get annoyed if they have to pay attention to anything. Just want to get through the pile and on to the beer cooler.

Plus in our saw centric world, everyone likes to run the saws, but nobody likes to run the splitter or transport/stack. Saw work is really a small part of the overall job. It's easy to blast through a log pile with saws, but this isn't help for me. It really just makes a big mess on the ground. I'm never in the mode where production is an issue and I need to get a lot done. I'll do a couple 3 logs, run the blocks up to the splitter and split them. Never like to leave a pile of blocks down at the log pile. I'm into that neat and orderly A-B-C approach, which I guess means I'm just plain fussy. :)


So are you trying to say Walt can't eyeball worth a chit?



All joking aside last wood party I went to I moved over to the splitter pretty quick as to avoid making any "off" cuts. Plus ya stay busier that way.
 

Junk Meister

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So are you trying to say Walt can't eyeball worth a chit?



All joking aside last wood party I went to I moved over to the splitter pretty quick as to avoid making any "off" cuts. Plus ya stay busier that way.
Yeah but I will bet you were splitting into the BUTT not into the CROTCH ..
Just trying to help establish a standard for splitting.
I have heard you get a better split "In the DARK of the MOON"
 

Spike60

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So are you trying to say Walt can't eyeball worth a chit?
.

Yup, he's as bad as anyone. LOL We were cutting at a friends house and I told him 16" max w0uld fit in the guy stove. Everything was 4-5 inches too long. Told him to hold off and I'd chalk them off. I'm walking over to the guys house to get the chalk and he can't wait 3 minutes; just keeps cutting. Guys always get punchy with the saws and just want to keep cutting and slam through the wood. It was kinda weird. Told him I wasn't going to shorten them up, and he didn't do it. We just left it all there to rot.

But he's gotten much worse on the receiving end. Some of the larger GTG's we used to do at his place were really bad. Much of the cutting was processing large maple and ash tops. Guys would limb off the brush, not move a stick of it and then just drop the usable wood right on top of it. What a mess that was. I'd be clearing the brush and then stacking the wood and a couple guys would say, "gee you took a lot of time on the one top".

One time he spent the day before a GTG dragging trees to a landing so we'd all have something to play with. One guy got there early, went up the hill and cut up the whole pile. Didn't leave anything for the rest of us. Never seen Walt actually get mad like that. He was ready to boil over and had to sit on a block to calm down. The guy was a good friend as well, so you really couldn't blow a cork on him. That was pretty much the end of the big GTG's. :)
 

Junkyard

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For my shop it doesn’t matter, it’ll take up to 30” logs. For the house is a different story. 16” works best although about 20” will fit. I usually put the help to work splitting and stacking anyway. My boys are too young for saws and I really have to watch the oldest on the splitter so I’ll save him the small stuff that’s one pass and doesn’t need a hand on it.

I do it for my sanity anyway. Don’t want to give any more of that away!
 

Simondo

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For me Bob.....Having help with firewood has only covered some felling and extraction on the whole over the yrs.
I have a "time trade" with a friend who has a decent 4 wd tractor with a front loader along with a timber winch when we need it. Hilly ground so there is no driving a truck to load logs for me. We tend to extract up into the fields and then I cross cut into 8ft lengths for the grab to move to where I proses these lengths into cut and split logs.
Photo0856.jpg Photo0860.jpg
Its my thing from here on in , cutting and moving the wood to stack and season . I do a Hr or two sharing out the work between x cutting , splitting and moving the wood to stack ....variety is the spice of life for me with these jobs.

Photo1531.jpg
I also do a lot of this around the fields , turning this ......
Photo1536.jpg
Into this.
I Fell it , x cut it where it is and then transport it to the stack site .
I like to do a bit when I want and the weather allows without having to condense all the work around having help.
Not that I have many offers ! :D
 

00wyk

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For me Bob.....Having help with firewood has only covered some felling and extraction on the whole over the yrs.
I have a "time trade" with a friend who has a decent 4 wd tractor with a front loader along with a timber winch when we need it. Hilly ground so there is no driving a truck to load logs for me. We tend to extract up into the fields and then I cross cut into 8ft lengths for the grab to move to where I proses these lengths into cut and split logs.
View attachment 226929 View attachment 226930
Its my thing from here on in , cutting and moving the wood to stack and season . I do a Hr or two sharing out the work between x cutting , splitting and moving the wood to stack ....variety is the spice of life for me with these jobs.

View attachment 226933
I also do a lot of this around the fields , turning this ......
View attachment 226935
Into this.
I Fell it , x cut it where it is and then transport it to the stack site .
I like to do a bit when I want and the weather allows without having to condense all the work around having help.
Not that I have many offers ! :D

You need a ported 421 ;) Just let me know when yer ready, mang.

The only people that help me with any regularity are the estate owners. We work together very well as a crew.
I love running the splitter, and using the tractor. I am pretty efficient at it, too.
I'm nearly born to make firewood.

167382080.jmGUdmdI.gtc4.jpg
 

sixonetonoffun

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I get a little help from 1 buddy. He is used to furnace sized chunks 20-24". I shoot for 17.5" or under. Some how I wind up with a lot of 12" chunks when he cuts for me. Not that my chunks are perfect either.

Where I really appreciate help is on the splitter. Hope to get an elevator this year. That would cut down on some handling at the splitter. Get tennis elbow just thinking about it.

He usually comes if I need a technical take down or pull down. I can cut windfalls on his farms when it fits. This year it didn't fit.
 

P.M.P.

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I harvest firewood mostly on my own.
It's nice when my son is helping but he's a busy man nowadays. He always liked to use the crayon on them so I don't go buck wild. I usually mark them to 16"
 

Spike60

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I couldn't burn wood without help from my dad. My boys also get in on most of the action...

Family is the one exception for me also. When my Dad, or my brother come up they know the drill on how I do the wood and follow the program. Dad and I have a good rythum on the splitter and work both fast and safe. The 3 of us have long had an understanding that who's ever house we are at, it's his project and the other 2 are there to help, not go off and do their own thing.
 

Dub11

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Family is the one exception for me also. When my Dad, or my brother come up they know the drill on how I do the wood and follow the program. Dad and I have a good rythum on the splitter and work both fast and safe. The 3 of us have long had an understanding that who's ever house we are at, it's his project and the other 2 are there to help, not go off and do their own thing.

This should be a little rule everyone should try.
 
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Locust Cutter

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I guess my answer is "it depends". For my sale wood (which is getting smaller with time), I'd prefer to do that with just my Dad, or one additional buddy who's learning, and pretty attentive to length when I give him a marking stick. For my wood, I'm getting to the point where I'll take it anyway I can get it, even if it means some additional trimming. If nothing else, the 1-5" chunks work well in the smoker, or get donated to the fire pit.

I've actively cut with my Dad for 30 years now, and we have a rhythm down. Sometimes other friends come and play, and we just make the best of it, but, most everyone I cut with seems to prefer 18-20" firewood, so it's pretty easy to have an acceptable range.
I get the OCD thing, but sometimes it's more about the quality time with family/friends, than the persnickety precision of doing it by yourself.
 

CR888

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The 'right' help is hard to come by, teaching them young is good as they only know the way 'you' do things so original thinking is down to a minimum. My nephew has been helping me since he was 6, he's about 10ish now. Loves wood, saws and axes. I generally pay him with yogurt or ice cream but he's done alright, not many 10y/olds have their own MS150c rear handle pro saw, a Hults Bruk custom 2lb axe, a hatchet, Stihl blower and all his own PPE. He actually gets it done stacking wood and stuff, I like it when he is helping.
 

Simondo

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You need a ported 421 ;) Just let me know when yer ready, mang.

The only people that help me with any regularity are the estate owners. We work together very well as a crew.
I love running the splitter, and using the tractor. I am pretty efficient at it, too.
I'm nearly born to make firewood.

167382080.jmGUdmdI.gtc4.jpg
I have had the first one you did (I know Mk 2 is done) for Andrew with me in the past. I like the small saws a "Lot" ...but will change up to a ps-6100 on the larger trunks. :)
 

Dustin4185

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My son helps me a lot and my daughter is learning. That’s about all I like to help and I may still loose it on them from time to time! If I help someone else, I try to cut to their needs. Usually it’s the big stuff since they don’t have a big enough saw. Then I swap to splitting or stacking.
 

Dustin4185

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The 'right' help is hard to come by, teaching them young is good as they only know the way 'you' do things so original thinking is down to a minimum. My nephew has been helping me since he was 6, he's about 10ish now. Loves wood, saws and axes. I generally pay him with yogurt or ice cream but he's done alright, not many 10y/olds have their own MS150c rear handle pro saw, a Hults Bruk custom 2lb axe, a hatchet, Stihl blower and all his own PPE. He actually gets it done stacking wood and stuff, I like it when he is helping.

I got my 10 year old a MS241. He is the same way. Always wanting to be in the wood pile. He is getting to the point he can re-split easy stuff like red oak with an axe.
 
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