# My Pile



## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

I wish I could say this was an extraordinary pile of wood, but it's pretty much the usual pile of wood I have been putting in my shed every fall for the past 25 years. For roughly 15 years previous to that I put an even bigger pile of wood in my folks barn. Before that, I didn't own a chain saw.

This is 14 pickup loads or about 8 cords. I should have some left over come spring:

http://www.sweettimeapiary.com/pics/wood2.jpg
http://www.sweettimeapiary.com/pics/wood4.jpg

This only half the wood I cut this summer. The rest I cut for my daughter for a wedding present.

I'm getting too old for this.


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

Nice pile! You must be predicting a long cold winter. On the other hand........it seems like a lot of work just to make a few "slam dunks". You don't have a ladder?


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Oldbee said:


> Nice pile! You must be predicting a long cold winter. On the other hand........it seems like a lot of work just to make a few "slam dunks". You don't have a ladder?


I am predicting a long cold winter. Here in Maine, that's more often what we see anyways, so it's not a stretch.

Funny thing about that slam dunk... my son came by this afternoon to help throw some wood and commented, looking up at the pile, that he didn't think and old guy like me could throw wood that high. So I picked up a stick, and threw it into the basket 

Young Whippersnappers 

And yah.. I'll need a ladder to get that stick outa the basket. I can't really climb the pile, she's ready to come down as it is. I piled it pretty steep to keep it mostly out of my driveway..


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Dad use to make me stack the wood. Not sure how my brother got out of it...


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

*The wood pile*

"I am predicting a long cold winter. Here in Maine, that's more often what we see anyways, so it's not a stretch". Well,..... that's good??............I miss those "winters" when we sat by the fieldstone fireplace that my Dad built with the little "waterfall" on the side, [my idea]. OB.
"The rest I cut for my daughter for a wedding present". Wow!, just like the 'old days'; when a flock of chickens and a pig or two would 'suffice'; neat!. A wood burning fireplace: perhaps one of the last 'vestiges' of our primative beginnings. I like the house!.......rustic!......though I haven't been there....so.........Maine-ish.


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## Keith Benson (Feb 17, 2003)

George Fergusson said:


> So I picked up a stick, and threw it into the basket


Oh - the physical therapist called, your appointment for the shoulder injury is at 2:30. She mumbled sometrhing about knowing better "at your age". 

Keith

PS: Nice pile though, nothing beats a real wood fire.


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

I thought you were supposed to wait until it got cold to stack the wood, so it can "warm you twice"...

Wish I had a wood stove. Had 5 trees taken down and they are laying in the woods, and not a darn use for 'em.


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## Troutsqueezer (May 17, 2005)

It must get awfully cold up there in Maine. I only use one cord of wood per year and I use it to heat exclusively but then, I'm in CA. 

I wood say that if you cut and split wood yourself, it heats more like 5 times. 

Once when you cut it from the tree, once when you throw it in the truck/trailer, once when you move it from the truck to a pile, once when you split it, once when you stack it in the shed. 

Absolutely the best and most fun tool I own (next to the ATV) is a 26-ton log splitter.


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## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

>only half the wood I cut . . .
>Nice pile . . .
>Whippersnappers . . .
>make me stack the wood . . .
>wood burning fireplace . . .
>nothing beats a real wood fire . . .
>"warm you twice" . . .
>most fun tool I own . . .

Thanx for the memories


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Dee Bee said:


> Absolutely the best and most fun tool I own (next to the ATV) is a 26-ton log splitter.


A splitter for one cord of wood? Sounds like overkill to me!

I burn about 5 full cords a winter (and another couple of cords of slab from a mill, for kindling), and split it all by hand. It is so easy when you are splitting hickory, oak, ash and maple. Kind of nice to wake up on a frosty morning, do some splitting to warm up before chores. And not have to hear the whine of an engine, either! 

MM


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## Troutsqueezer (May 17, 2005)

Yah but...

I don't gather just one cord at a time. I usually have three or more cords stashed in the shed. 

Also, I use the splitter to split the finer pieces of redwood and cedar for kindling. It goes fast that way.

Also, have you ever tried to hand-split eucalyptus? It is stringy and doesn't split easily. I have a lot of that on my property along with oak. It burns well tho. 

Also, the older you get, the more you want to motorize your chores. My back ain't what it used to be. 

Also, I have a 85 year old mother who lives in the forest and guess who splits and stacks her wood? It ain't my 26 year old son, that's for sure.

Also, no, wait a minute, I'm out of also's. Did I mention FUN? Arrr Arrr Arrr....


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

I go through 15 cords minimum a winter here. I haven't cut enough yet though, think i'm about 8 cords shy. I have one of those outside wood stoves, an man do they go through the wood, seemed like a good idea when I bought it, though.


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

> I thought you were supposed to wait until it got cold to stack the wood, so it can "warm you twice"...


Well yes, there is that, but I have a slightly different theory.

I believe that wood actually gets it's latent heat from the handling, and the more you handle it the more heat it contains. For that reason, I make sure I handle it as many times as possible before actually putting it in the stove, to get the most heat out of it. To support this theory, I submit that an 8" maple tree growing in the woods costs about $2 and it won't heat your house at all. Cut it down, cut it up, split it, and haul it home- in short, handle it a number of times, and that same tree is worth about $31 and will heat your house admirably as long as it lasts.


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

You know, the scary part is that that actually makes sense to me!


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Dee Bee said:


> Also, no, wait a minute, I'm out of also's. Did I mention FUN? Arrr Arrr Arrr....


You used up your allotment of "also's" for the remainder of the year. You do have quite a few "in addition's" available though...

I'll trade you my elm for your eucalyptus. At least it smells nice, right? Elm the nastiest stuff to split, it also goes by the name "piss-elm" which probably evolved out of settler's contempt for its inability to split. I have to cut elm very short, cut grooves in the face, and use wedges to get it close to splitting. Unfortunately, due to Dutch Elm disease, there is always a bunch of elm hanging around.

MM


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

I see your elm, and raise you logs of locust cut last May.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Hobie said:


> I see your elm, and raise you logs of locust cut last May.



I'll take your locust - make mighty fine fence posts - last forever. Need to put some posts in the vineyard next spring, and looking for locust... Need about 300 posts. Willing to pay some $ for some straight running posts. Seriously.

MM


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

There's about 6 of them (maybe more), 12-18" diameter and roughly 10-foot lengths. Some may have twisty grain and bark inclusions. Not the nice 4" diameter trees that you can just cut to length for vineyard posts. I can't move 'em. I'd love a few locust posts myself, but I can't talk the sawmill down the street into dulling his blade. In the mood for a road trip? Seriously.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Hobie said:


> There's about 6 of them (maybe more), 12-18" diameter and roughly 10-foot lengths. Some may have twisty grain and bark inclusions. Not the nice 4" diameter trees that you can just cut to length for vineyard posts. I can't move 'em. I'd love a few locust posts myself, but I can't talk the sawmill down the street into dulling his blade. In the mood for a road trip? Seriously.


I'll tell ya - especially if they have some burl, and you can cut them into blanks, they make some nice turnings on the lathe. Sell 'em on the 'bay. 

MM


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

I have acres of black locust... they burn wonderfully...they make great fence posts, they make great 4x4 or 6x6 posts, but the stumps are tough to get out of the ground! I hired a guy with a Cat 980 loader to pop 60 stumps out this spring...most came, but not without difficulty.

Nothing like a great big pile of wood with the winter months coming. I love the heat from my Vermont Castings wood stove...


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## Troutsqueezer (May 17, 2005)

Everyone's got their favorite, reliable way to start the wood stove. Here's mine:

I buy the twelve packs of fire starter blocks and cut them into 1 inch by 1 inch pieces with my scroll saw and put them into a container by the stove. This lasts me for one season. 

I put two pieces of kindling in parallel on the bottom, then place two of the starter cubes in between them and light them. Then I place two more pieces of kindling over the burning starter cubes on top of and perpendicular to the first two pieces of kindling I put in. Then I immediately put on three pieces of oak, almond or eucalyptus and I'm good to go. Works every time. Leave the door cracked for a fast start or close it if not in a hurry.

Favorite thing to do in the Winter: Stand in front of the stove and warm my butt.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Dee Bee - 

I use Fatwood for starting - works very well. Otherwise, I use the technique you described. Never fails. Hate using wadded newspapers, too smoky.

MM


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

MapMan said:


> Dee Bee -
> 
> I use Fatwood for starting - works very well. Otherwise, I use the technique you described. Never fails. Hate using wadded newspapers, too smoky.
> 
> MM


Starting fires isn't a problem- I use whatever I have handy- usually newspaper and kindling, etc. I usually have a pile of birch bark around, which can't be beat and some old combs and frames are good too. In the fall and spring I mostly burn softwood- pine and hemlock slabs, and garbage. When winter sets in long about mid-November, I start one fire and it never goes out till spring


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## Ann (Feb 18, 2006)

*Our pile*

Here's the woodpiles up in Maine. We've got about three times that down here in Mass but I don't have a photo of it yet.










Greg buys tree length every few years or so and whittles away at it as we need it. Down here we had many hardwoods taken down, thus the piles around here.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

George Fergusson said:


> I'm getting too old for this.


Hey George - how big is the wood pile this year? Getting time to get it stacked and ready for winter.

I actually rented a splitter this year - last week I split 20 full cords of primarily oak over four days. After splitting four cords manually, I thought that I'm also getting too old for this, and rented the beast... 

I still felt it in my back with the splitter, moving heavy trunks into position, some measuring 2 1/2 feet in diameter, and bending down to set them in front of the maul. But, the splitter rental more than paid for itself - ten bucks a full cord rental is better than a surgical bill.

MM


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## Eaglerock (Jul 8, 2008)

George, you made me wonder if I really wanted to read your thread with it titled, *My Pile* :shhhh:

Nice pile...of wood.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*Nice Pile*

Down there in the Valley of The Logs.


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## WannaBee (Apr 23, 2008)

*Heres our wood pile*

Here on the Rez the Indians say " you can tell how bad the winter is going to be by the whitemans pile:waiting:
















WB


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## Gene Weitzel (Dec 6, 2005)

Courtesy of Ike, I have a wood pile that makes most of these look like a box of matches. LOL. Myself, my 3 sons, my nephew, my son-in-law and my brother, all with a chain saw in hand, and we have not even made a dent in the trees that are down (all hardwood). When I get the time, I'll post some pictures.


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

Ok...now you guys just have me wishing for the old days before i moved back to "the city".....my favorite thing was to get done after a day of cutting and spliting....black jack, post oak and a 12 pound maul.....sit down tired and sore and look out at my "pile"!! Then throw a few on my consolidated dutch west and drink some coffee. I burned about 15 rick a year but then again this is Okla (mild winters). The only other heat we had was a small "light with a match" unvented gas stove in the bathroom. Good times....good times. The two things I have missed the most....bees and my wood burner!!


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