Back in 2011, when I purchased the land for our camp site, I had to clear a portion of it for the cabin. In doing so, I found a clump of pines with a hollow area in the middle of it. Probably sixteen square. I dubbed this area, the 'log room'. I collected many pines in the clearing job, bucked, and stacked the chunks between the trees in the log room to season. Covering the tops of the racks with tarps. Since then, many of the trees have fallen, leaving the small hollow area to be more of a clearing. Need to upgrade. So I built a wood shed. Used the floor area of a metal shed that Ma Nature took down with an huge snow load. The floor consists of compacted sand, a metal grid, and exterior plywood. Roughly ten by twelve. Hauled to camp my list of pressure treated lumber, and constructed the structure. Took three days to construct. Still waiting for the metal roofing to come in, and the temps to cool down. I'll post a pic when finished.

Nice looking wood shed.

I take it that you'll leave the air holes in the walls.

Last that I heard, metal prices have came down a little bit, but still very expensive. I'm sure that lumber was high dollar too.

Yea, I believe my design will allow enough air circulation for seasoning without worrying about snow and rain slowing the process. My only concern is that it's an open shelter for critters, snakes, and wasps nests! And yea, the lumber was not cheap. But hey, wood don't grow on trees ya know!!??

Frank- the carpenter.

Yes, looks like a good design. Just thinking, if you haven't already, it would probably be a good idea to build a few shelves.

A place to store the wasp/hornet killer, mouse traps and a snake hoe. Could also store your timber chains, gas and oil and all.

Looks like it'd make a good skinning shed too. Could hang a deer, at least keep the rain/snow/sun off the meat.

One thing that I noticed, looks like you have a nice wide door. Not sure how far the wood shed is from the camp? You've seen these 2-wheeled carts, that you can pull or push. Those things will haul 3 or 4 hundred pounds, that would be more than a days supply of firewood. Or a wheelbarrel. Would save a lot of trips.

Looks good. That should keep your wood dry. I wouldn't have used pressure treated lumber for that.

Yea Tim, I've got a large shed that houses all of the suggestions you mentioned. I made the wood shed entry opening four feet wide. Don't need to bang elbows carrying wood, in or out. And I've got one of them little garden trailers that I tow with one of the ATV's. It's only a hundred feet or so to the cabin from the wood shed, but that little wagon will save many foot steps. Now I have to make some wood. Last early winter I girdled several maple trees so they would start the seasoning process while still on the stump. Well I checked them out recently and it did not work. Them trees are fully foliated. I thought I got through the cambium layer, but maybe not. I'll still fell them this fall/winter.

Frank.

Looks good. Now you have to fill it!

This is probably a silly question, but I'm gonna ask. Did you use mostly nails or screws?

They are constantly coming out with new tools, better design, longer lasting batteries, etc.

I'm just not up to date with the new stuff. But I see folks using nail guns, that will sink a dozen nails before a man with a hammer could put 2 down flush.

Another thing that I was thinking about. Don't they make some kind of "magnetic screw holder gizmo"? Just say, that a feller would be working off of a ladder, and you need to sink a screw at arms length. If you're using something like a 2.5 inch deck screw, they are hard to get started. It'll flip off, or just be hanging there.

I'm not sure what they'd call it? But I'd like to have one.

I put almost everything together with screws. And yes they do have magnetic bits.

I fastened all the framing/structural members with an older, Senco spike gun, the biggest one made by Senco at the time. I used 3", galvanized 'D' headed spikes. All the wall slats were fastened using Senco's staple gun. Staples with half inch crowns and inch and a half legs. And sure, they make a magnetic bit holder for drill/drivers. Some are equipped with a sleeve that slides over the screw to hold it in place while you stab it into position. When I'll install the metal roofing, I'll be using a magnetic bit to drive hex head screws. It seems the art of using a hammer is not taught anymore. No need to, it's all pop guns now. There's a method to pounding the hammer. It's all in the wrist. I've seen some of my apprentices use it like a club. All arm, from the waist on up! Terrible.

Frank.

The good thing about screws is that you can easily remove them and readjust if necessary. They, also, don't seem to work out as much as nails.

Ok, I was thinking that they make some type of "spring loaded, magnetic screw holder". Similar to a socket, that will still let you screw it in flush.

I have magnetic bits, some are and some are not. But when you're off balance and using just one hand it's a pain in the butt to get a screw started sometimes. Most times!

Last evening I searched: Drill drivers. All kinds of stuff popped up. One thing that I thought was interesting, it was a short video, from Senco. They had and extension for the drill, and like belt-fed screws, kind of a push button deal. The way it was made, a man could stand up and put down deck boards.

I think the attachment was 100 bucks or so? Carpentry is a good line work, gook skill to know.

I've used those selftapping metal screws with the hex head. They sure are a big improvement over using roofing nails. Years ago everyone coming off of the roof, had a purple thumb nail.

Talking about nail heads working out and all. About 30 years ago, I had a man build me a porch and a set of steps. It's all nailed together with a hammer.

Above I mentioned the nice wide door to Frank's shed. When Willie built my steps, he'd planned to make them 3 feet wide, and I asked him to go 4 feet. That was a good decision. I'm sure that extra foot has saved a lot of knuckles from be busted over the years.

From time to time the nail heads work up, as they do I've replaced them with deck screws.

I remember one day, Willie and I were taking a break, lunch break or something? He and I were talking, and he said: Tim, I wish I had a Penny for every nail I've drove with that hammer.

I guess that's about the time that these pop guns took over.

Well here ya go folks, the final product, complete with a little gingerbread. Still have to fell, buck, split, and fill the thing, but still too hot for that kind of activity. I also included a pic of my camp so you'll get a feel for the layout.

Well done!

The shed looks very nice. Deed honest, I wouldn't leave the saws out in the weather.

Here's a curiosity. This small chunk of tree has been sitting in this same spot for a couple of years. It's in the garage at my house. Some kind of little critter has been living inside the chunk. You see the little piles of saw dust from the tree. I occasionally blow it clean, but still comes back so what ever is in there still lives. It's been drilling for a couple of years. Any thoughts on what it could be?

Well here ya go folks! Had my kids up at camp helping with making wood.(kids? they're in their 40s and 50s!!) I'm figuring we made two face cords. I did all the chain sawing, they did all the bending over to pick up! Hydraulic log splitter took the brunt of work, but still needed to handle the chunks. I know I've got three more maples to fell next visit. Hope the snow holds off till that task is completed.

Looking good! Leave some big ones so you'll have "all nighters."

Looks good. Stay warm.

Just spent a week at the cabin. Had to bring in trees I had felled last time but was unable to buck and haul the chunks into camp. Filled my cargo trailer, parked it, and hauled in more with just my truck. Used my 30 ton splitter and filled the wood shed. Still room for more, but I believe we have 3 years worth of wood for heat now.

Looks great!

I am not "doing" any firewood this year. I have to lower the inventory.

I miss it. But my back doesn't!

Yea, I hear ya about the back. The stack on the right side was done last time by my kids. That was one trailer load they split and stacked. Didn't realize just how much work that was until I did the left and rear stacks this past visit by myself. That's a lot of bending over and lifting. Used to split all by hand so the machine makes it a lot easier. But, still gotta do the bending and lifting. Rested for a couple of days after, doing some plinkin' with a new pewer, but I still love making wood!

That is a pretty stack of wood. I can see daylight through the stack and the end of the shed, so it's getting plenty of air. Never know, after this coming summer, I figure it'll all be cured about the same?

I'm sure that would have made a big difference, if you'd have had a helper or 2. Figure when the block splits, half of it is going to fall on the other side of the splitter. Some probably needed split again, a time or 2 or 3.

Two or 3 guys working together can accomplish so much more, than one man can alone. If you switch off, from time to time, using different muscles and all, and the end of the day you're still good to go. You might be tired, but you won't be beat.

I've looked at your construction, it's built to last. Cabin and shed. I'd make sure to tell the kids/grandkids, use all the wood you need, replace what you use. You'll never run out.

One thing I have learned about wood: if you tell someone to take the camp fire wood from pile "X" they'll take your best house wood from the closest location.

Yea, I hear what you're saying Brian. But I've included my kids (kids? geez, two of them are in their 50's, and one is close behind) in all my important decisions, which include firewood. I've got split poplar that are felled my Ma Nature. Use this for campfires. Thinking about starting a stack down the middle of the wood shed, to use in the cabin for starters in the morning. They burn quick, and hot, but don't last long. Good enough to start the bed of embers. My kids follow the rules, as they've seen the 'wrath of dad'!

I agree with Musher's firewood theory. I guess to some people, firewood is firewood. Thinking about my Granddad's wood pile and stacks. He had wood for the kitchen cook stove, wood for the bigger stove and fireplace wood. And always had a box of rich pine sticks, split up small for fire starters.

I don't heat with wood, but I have a lot of friends that do. I was out the other day, noticed a rich pine snag along the trail. I wasn't pushed for time, so I figured I'd saw it off and bring it home. It was a small snag, a little over your head, but it was solid.

I cut it up in little blocks and loaded it on the truck. Had maybe a total of 75 pounds? I gave it to my friends. We're not there yet, but we're coming up on that time of year, where a person can kind of let the fire burn down during the day. Then fire up the stove good for the night. Nothing works better to get a flame going than a couple little sticks of rich pine.

Give them 5 minutes, in a bed of hot coals, and you'll have a fire.

While we're talking about firewood, I'll remind everyone, that's a dangerous job.

About a year ago, my buddy Wardney was out and broke his arm. He wasn't running a chainsaw at the time, he was unloading. I talked to him the next day, he just got tired, kind of winded himself, got his feet tangled up and down he went. He broke both bones in his forearm, just above his wrist.

Wardney is 80-couple years old now, and it's really slowed him down. Still doesn't have much strength in his strong hand.

I talked to him yesterday, he's to have a heart valve replaced tomorrow, in Morgantown, WV. He'll be in good hands.

I'll tell you this too. It's only been 6 or 8 weeks ago, a man was killed cutting timber in a right-of-way, for a power line or gas line? That happened just across the state line in VA.

You can't be too careful!

I didn't mean to hijack the thread, talking about Wardney. But since I told you about his arm, figured I'd tell you the rest of it.

Wardney's son in law, Danny called me from the hospital Wednesday morning, about 9:30 and said everything went according to plan. I got word yesterday, he's back home now.

Cut and split firewood is expensive around here now. It happens every winter, people think: Well, that should last the rest of the winter. It's not even March, and I know of 3 different folks that are looking for wood.

It can be cut and split, but is it dry? Wood that "boils" ,instead of burning, can be frustrating.

I'm sure. I've seen green firewood drip from the bottom and then steam and boil the sap out.

My opinion, every stove has it's own little combination. A special little knack. About anyone can go build a fire, and get the camp warm. But there is a kind of skill, instinct as to how to keep it warm. And have the stove hold fire till morning.

We don't want the camp up to 90* at night and then down in the 40's at daylight. There's a difference between making heat, and making ashes.

I really think, even for an skilled wood burner, it's going to take a while till you have it down pat. I mean going to a new stove, new camp or house, and spending a few nights.

Thinking about it now, I was fortunate to have spent a good bit of time with my Granddad and watching. I was just a wide-eyed kid, taking it all in.

Put the green wood on top, it'll burn tonight or tomorrow. If the fireplace gets out of hand, kill the flame with a couple scoops of ashes.

Thinking about Poppie's fireplace, 50 years ago I'd go to the tater bin and get 3 or 4 nice potatoes, wrap them in foil and cover them with red hot coals. At supper time they were ready, the best spuds ever!

My wife does that to potatoes a few times a year!

Well, at the end of the day, that's one less pot, skillet or dish that needs to be cleaned.

I'll mention this real fast. It's been a while since I've packed in and camped, hunting and all. But I've done this a couple times, you can microwave your taters, cook them done and then wrap in foil.

About all of the times I've hunted like that, we'd have a campfire. The potato is already cooked, just drop them in the fire or coals, and didn't take long to warm up.

I don't eat out very often, but you know how you'll get those little packs of butter, ketchup and mustard? I save that stuff. You've already paid for it, take it home.

Above I told you about my Granddad's fireplace, I've watched him "temper" ax handles and all. In the fireplace I mean. I forget exactly how that did work.

This was years ago, I made a handle for a little tiny ball & peen hammer. You know how you are when you're young, don't have time to wait. You've gotta get it done now.

I had the handle roughed out, I knew it would shrink a little bit. So, I figured I'd zap it for a little bit in the microwave, and temper the handle. Microwave ovens were pretty much new back at the time. (Mom didn't trust them for years).

Long story short, I put the handle in the microwave oven, gave the knob a spin and cooked it. Not sure how long it was in the stove?, but I remember when I opened the door, a big puff of steam rolled out, and that baby was HOT!

Longer story short, I don't remember how long that little piece of wood set there and steamed? Once it cooled off, I worked it down a little bit more, fitted the hammer head, cut a groove for the wedge, and put it in place.

Mom used that hammer a good bit, hanging pictures and this and that. Last time I picked up the hammer, it's still as solid as the day I put it together. That's been over 40 years ago, so that's pretty good!

Way back when, my brother telephoned me to ask if I would help him hang a picture. I was still a student and living at my parents. Brother had just bought his first house.

Beers opened, he said that it was time to hang the picture but first he had to find the nail. Not THE nails but THE nail. He had ONE nail.

I don't even know how you can get just one nail.

That was good for a long laugh. But the best was yet to come. When he got his hammer it turned out to be one of these kit hammers. The kind that comes in a wallet. You have a wrench, screwdriver with different heads, tiny ruler and pencil. All in a plastic wallet. It's the type of thing you get in your Xmas stocking from someone that won it at bingo.

I remember telling him it was the perfect hammer for a guy with one nail.I still tease him about it.

It was nowhere near as solid as your mothers hammer.

I know what you mean about those little Junior handyman starter kits. Pretty much just a last minute stocking stuffer.

We'll probably never solve the "Mystery of THE Nail". I figure he found the nail in a closet or the gas station parking lot?

I'll bet that was interesting watchimg him drive his nail.

We can still joke about stuff like buying a single nail, but for anyone that's bought hardware recently, the prices are no joke. A while back, I stopped at the lumber yard to get a box of 3.5 inch deck screws. I got the smallest box they had, and on the shelf they were priced at $17 or $18. I mean you can hold the whole box of screws in one hand. I thought the price was crazy.

But, I needed the screws, and I'm not going to drive all over town and waste an hour's time to try to save a Dollar.

Guys I was out the other morning, turned off on an old mountain road, and found fresh buggy tracks. It'd had rained the night before, and they were new. No big deal, we were on a dead end road, unless you have a key-ring full of keys and a couple combinations, you're stuck.

A little bit later I found the buggy parked in the road, with a tree across the road. I didn't know the man, but he looked familiar. I pulled off to the side and behind his buggy. I could see that he had a chainsaw, he didn't see me for a little bit.

Anyway, I walked up and introduced myself, he is an older man. We talked for a little bit, just talking to him I could tell he was winded. (Like I mentioned above about Wardney). Kenny said he was 76 years old. I told him that I had my saw in the truck, but since his was already warmed up, to let me take a turn. He didn't hesitate.

When the tree fell, it took down a smaller tree, and you could tell it was spring loaded. Cutting stuff like that is dangerous. I motioned for him to back up and stay in the clear. Anyway, we cut the tree out of the road, no harm done.

Kenny had a small Stihl saw, I just glanced at it, but I think it was a Stihl 019. It was sharp, cutting good, but you couldn't horse it. For a buggy saw, it did the job.

I have a Stihl 026 Pro that I haul around in the truck. It's a good little saw.

Kenny and I were doing the same thing, pulling traps. They were calling for bad weather the next day, and wind gusts up to 50 MPH.

Just happened to bump into each other later, he showed me a set of shed deer antlers, big horns! Kenny grows whitetail deer, on his farm. High fence area.

Long story short, I'm invited to his farm to talk trapping and inspect the herd. I'm looking forward to that, and looking at his handmade cage traps.

It's nice when random events turn into good times.

Tell us about these "high fence" areas. What is that? He farms wild deer?

I'm not sure how that works? I'll bet there is a pile of red tape and paperwork involved. Probably enough tape to stretch from here to your house!

The way I understand Kenny's operation, he farms deer. Don't think you can hunt on his property, then he'll sell them to other "high fence" operations where you can hunt. For big money.

A few years ago, Wardney and I went to a taxidermist's shop to drop of a bear hide, I think. The taxidermist is a good friend, about the same age as me, and he's good.

We were just snooping around, looking at the antlers and bear skulls he had laying around, I asked if he'd taken in any really nice bucks. He took us across his driveway to his other shed, where he keeps his freezers and does most of his work.

As well as I remember, there were 12 or 15 sets of antlers, still on the skull plate. He said they all came from the High Fence area. Some of them were up 24, 26 inches wide or better. Bucks bigger than you'll ever see around here.

Tommy told us that when they first built their "high fence" area, the DNR made sure that there were no, local wild deer on the property. Checked the fence and the property when snow was on the ground.

I think back at the time, the folks that own the place would charge 8 or $10,000 to hunt. Fancy lodge and food and all.

I'll never be inside the fence.

Above I told you about the tree that Kenny and I cut out of the road and all. The landowner where the tree fell is a good friend and he burns wood. So, I left him a message. It was a good healthy tree, just the wind took it down.

I talked to the landowner the other day, he said he got all of it except for the bottom 2 or 3 blocks. That tree would have made 3 nice saw logs. He said it was solid to the stump.

But with it laying flat on the ground, it doesn't take long before it'll start to get "punky". Talking about how soft our ground is now, the mailman keeps record of our precipitation. I talked to him yesterday, since the first of 2024, we've had 5.55 inches. And that's only been 10 weeks. We've been wet.

We've been having some really strong winds, that has helped dry up the mud. I think it started last Saturday, but we had snow flurries for a day and a half. It didn't amount to much here in town, but the mountains got 3 or 4 inches. With the freeze/thaw conditions, the ground is soft.

Just got back from camp. Was in the low 30s but the swamp was froze solid. Was able to work my way to one last dead top black ash for felling. Tree grew to a split about 3ft from the ground, with two pines growing next to and tangle up top. I cut the pines from their roots, then fell the ash. All came crashing down at the same time. I cut the two main trunks from the butt. (see pic) With 180ft of chains and cable and that magnificent skidding cone I was able to bring them into camp. Took the better part of the day. That night the temp dropped to below zero so did not buck the trees. Will wait till warmer weather. It's currently 17*F below. (22*C below) I sure love making wood!

Black ash splits so easily. When it is cold, you can sometimes split 4 foot lengths. It also has this "cigary" smell when it burns.

I have a wack of fire wood cut but not hauled out. My son wants me to wait for him and the grandson to help. We might be doing that Sunday.

Well, I was able to get up to camp to buck those two trees. Used a new/used timber jack I bought from a flea market. Worked great, and made bucking much easier. I'm figuring I've got perhaps a face cord of wood to split and stack in the wood shed. My camp just endured blizzard conditions with 6" snow. Glad I was home. Working on getting a new RV trailer to haul to camp. That will be my next visit to do some splitting.

Splitting a face cord of black ash will be satisfying work.

I dented my wood pile this week. Maybe 38 cords left!

38 cords left!! Wowzers, I'd be long gone before I'd burn all of that. I think I've got about a cord and a third in the wood shed. How much do you go through in a typical winter? And what species of wood do you burn? Looks like my camp is under another winter storm warning, with 6"s expected. Might not get into camp till summer!!?

I bought a van of wood - because it was a good deal. It is all maple. I did have one black ash. You can see the load on Musher's Tails. The past few years We have been burning yellow birch.

We burn a ten cords or so.

We're not supposed to have hurricanes in Ohio, but Hurricane Helene knocked down a pile of trees in my old pasture. I've cut about six cords, mostly beech. There will be a lot go to waste.

They're calling for a chance of snow in the higher mountains tonight, otherwise looks like above freezing temps till April 7th.

I've watched the video on Musher's tails, that is a nice load of wood. I think Brian said it was $1,600. Here local, a "tri-axel" load of mostly oak, is going for $700. So, about the same price.

I agree, that's a fair price. A pickup load of seasoned, cut and split firewood is going from $75 to $100 per load. Coal is going for $130/ton, but that's an hour drive from here.

Here at work people ask me about every day, who or where they can buy this and that or who I'd recommend to do their project. So I try to keep up on things. I know people that have dump trucks and dump wagons and all of that stuff. These people are my friends and I try to do the best I can for them.

I skimmed down through the thread, Frank has a wood splitter, I've used a couple different ones. My brother has one, I've played with it a couple times. A few years ago, we topped a silver maple in my back yard. I cut those blocks of wood down to 12 or 14 inches, and that was still a load for 1 man to pick up. It was green and heavy. It would have been a real chore to split with a maul and wedges.

There were 2 of us there, fired up the splitter, just slide them off the truck and plop them on the splitter and then you could handle them. My brother has and outdoor furnace, hot water, it does a good job for him. It's plumbed up to his hot water heater and all. So, that would save on his electric bill, I guess most days the heater doesn't even come on?

Timber is big business in this area. I see log trucks on the road every day, headed in all directions. I know the local timber guys, talk to them now and then, once a week or so? But a couple of them have a new, new to me type of contraption.

It's an articulating machine on tracks, that uses a circular saw on a boom. I saw one go past today. That is a big and heavy machine. I was talking to one of the local guys, he said he could take down a 30 inch tree in a second. And lay it down where he wanted it.

I know where he's timbering, as soon as I get a chance I'd like to see that thing in action.

I've been seeing some pretty logs on the road. One load that stands out, was a load of white pine. Our white pines mostly grow straight as an arrow. Brent went past the other day with his boom truck, not sure?, the logs were 24 feet long or so? Deed honest all of those logs were 15 or 16 inches at the small end. Beautiful load of timber!

Here is a link to a big timber machine, similar to the ones that are being used in this area.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/vi...mp;action=click

The machine that Junior and Randy have is bigger than the machine in the video. Junior said the saw's teeth are 2 inches wide.

I'll admit my aged frailty. I would not have cut that beech if I didn't have a log splitter. At one time I could bust it with a maul -- not no more. Tim talked about lifting those heavy rounds of wood. I don't. I turn the splitter up vertical and just slide the round on the foot of the splitter. The wedge doesn't have to be very far into the round to split it in two.

I know what you mean about using the splitter vertical, biggest problem was loading the blocks on the truck, and the splitter was 3 miles away. No need to run out to get the splitter for a few blocks of wood. On an S-10, they were a pretty good load.

Tell you what the deal was, I'd topped that maple, 10 or 15 years before, and you can imagine how they sprouted out. I did give the rest of the firewood away, nobody would take those chunks, all twisted up, knotty and all. And too much to handle. If my brother didn't have a hydraulic splitter, I'd have taken them on up and dumped them in the woods to rot.

The tree is still alive and needs topped again, it is a good shade tree. I just looked at it, (squirrel sitting my porch rail, it's running short on time) the tree was cut down to about 20 feet at the last topping. I didn't count, but there about 50 branches/limbs on it now.

Looking at the biggest branch of the tree, I'd say a man with a maul, 2 or 3 splitting wedges, you'd be doing good to bust it into firewood sized pieces in an hour. More trouble than it's worth, and not going to burn out a tank of saw gas, on just a little stack of wood. Blocks of wood like that are best left in the woods.

I'm sure Musher will find a few such blocks in his stack of logs.

I use a Fiskers X-27 to split. There isn't much it won't do.

There is a method to splitting wood. On the big pieces, you cut the edges off. You circle around until just the center is left. I can get 7-10 pieces of fire wood off of one big block. I also split when it is cold; The colder, the better.

If the wood is too dry or it is hot out, splitting becomes work!

The blocks that are curly are the toughest. So far, this load is going quite well. I must have a dozen cords split and it is much easier going than when I bought "butts" of yellow birch.

I'm pretty sure you did a video about splitting wood before using your Fisker's maul. They do make nice tools, expensive but they should last for years. I forget the title of that video.

Reading between the lines, if you've split 10 cords or better, your saw is sharp and cutting good. And you've swung that maul a bunch of times.

The couple logs that you showed in the video, with your hand for comparison, they do look to be easy splitting. Good grain and all.

The maple blocks that I mentioned above were the type where you can swing a maul over your head, and come down hard, and it'll bounce off. You can look at the grain in some blocks of wood, and just know for sure, it's going to be hateful.

Well I got'r done. Should be good for a couple of years. Hardest part was picking up all the split pieces to stack them. I grabbed two pieces at a time, went into the shed to stack them, and when I came back out, the pile grew by two pieces. That pile never went down, at least for a while. Geez, the 'magic pile'!! (or do you think I was running out of steam?) Anyway that 30 ton ramrod sure did the trick. And I had fun for an hour and a half!

Looks really good. Stacking is a lot of bending but it is also satisfying to see the stack pile grow.

Bet those last twp pieces were nice!

Yea, was only about half done when I snapped that pic. Here's what the final pile looked. Doesn't look like much from this angle, but took many 'bend-overs' to get that pile stacked straight up.

It looks very nice. The pile in the last picture I'd guess to be a week or 10 days supply for the camp? Figure 2 arm-loads per day. At 2 blocks per trip, that was a lot of bending.

The other morning we had a good frost, ice in the dog's water bucket and all. Our spring weather is about like this every year. You never know how to dress.

The other day I saw a pickup truck pulling a trailer. He had his riding lawn mower up in the front of the trailer, and a stack of firewood strapped down on the back. Ready for all seasons.

Moe and I went shopping the other morning, the place we went to is like an indoor flea market, most of it is indoor. I told a couple friends where we were going and asked them if they needed anything. My buddy Steve asked me to get him an ax. Sometimes they sell handmade handles, but they didn't have any this trip.

I found him an ax, made in China for $17. It has some kind of plastic type handle. I'll tell you, it had a sorry excuse for an "edge". I wasn't going to give it to Steve like that, so I spent 15 or 20 minutes on the grindstone. I've got it pretty well roughed out now, but still needs another turn on the grindstone.

I figured while I had the grinder going, I'd touch up my Craftsman single bit. I've had that thing for right at 40 years, it's a handy tool. There is night and day difference between my Craftsman and the new one from China. But I'll spend another 20 minutes on the thing and then give it to Steve.

If you look at the second last pic, the one peeking into the wood shed, the stack on the right came from the pile in the last pic. The stack is three feet high and twelve feet long. Yea, that was a lot of bending. I slept real good that night!

I have mine all split now. Stacking is next but we still have snow and ice where I want to stack.

On my channel I just posted a video showing how to stack wood in a bee hive form. It looks good and works well.

I've watched the video, that is a nice looking stack of wood. Each stick of wood has been handled, a lot of times!

Talking about that ugly tarp, you could tuck the corners under, and make it somewhat round. Make it look more like an acorn cap. I'll tell you these thin plastic tarps, I don't think they will turn water for a year. Out in the sun, they don't last long.

One thing I was thinking about, if you'd talk to the local carpet store, that sells vinyl flooring. There is a good chance, they might be able to set you up with a piece of used flooring. They'd probably give it to you for hauling it off. Something like that would last for years.

My families never did have a building just for firewood. They always had a pile, once it was taken to the house, then it was stacked.

I'll try to explain how things worked at Mom's homeplace. Mom was the youngest of eleven kids in her family. So, it was a big family to start with and getting in the winter's supply of firewood was a big deal too.

But we'd all gang up and get to work. But the logs were skidded to just above the house. They were blocked up and split. With lots of man power on hand, and a bunch of kid power too. The house has a screened in porch that goes across one end and wraps around the corner. It's in an L shape.

So, while the uncles and bigger boys were sawing and splitting, us younger boys would carry it to the porch and stack. You figure, 3 or 4 or maybe 5 young boys, we could move a lot of wood per hour. I'd never really thought about this before, my sister confirmed that I am the youngest Grandkid. There are Great-Grandkids older than me.

While we were working on the wood, Mom and the rest of the girls would be cooking. You know, the more that I think about this, that is probably the same day that we'd butcher 4 or 5 big chickens.

Figure, there were a lot of folks there to feed. Chicken dumplings? Back at the time, nobody ever took pictures.

Figured this would be the right thread to post this on. Wow, we're getting a good dose of wildfire smoke from all them Canada fires. Geez, it looks like the whole city is out grilling! Air quality warnings are out so don't see much in the way of grass cutting today.

Frank.