Now that I have a working saw, my excuses for not cutting up the hickory that fell a week ago were lacking. So I decided to cut up the logs that I had left on the ground when I cleared the driveway last week.
I had used the tractor to push the logs off the driveway into the woods to get them out of the way. Today, I needed to move the logs out of the woods beside the driveway in order to cut them up. The first log was about 12 feet long. I couldn't budge it. I tried to roll it up onto the shoulder of the driveway by prying the log with my digging bar but was unsuccessful. Based on the weight of each firewood length piece I cut, I'm going to estimate that log weighed about 700 or 800 lbs. So I used the backhoe to roll the log out of the woods.
When I made my first cut on the log, I noticed my chain was very dull. At the rate I was cutting, it was going to take forever to cut the logs. So I went to the nearby True Value Hardware store and had them sharpen the blade for $5. It was well worth the time and money. The chain cut MUCH better. I finished all the cuts from the top side, then rolled the log over and finished the cuts. I'm starting to get a little better making the topside and bottomside cuts meet.
My length of my bar is only 14". It was a little shorter than some of the log pieces I was cutting. I would have liked to have a bigger chainsaw to speed up the cutting but my chainsaw was adequate.
I wanted to get a feel for how hard it would be to split these logs. When I tried my maul on the pieces, the maul just bounced off the log barely even making a dent. I then used my axe as a wedge and pounded the axe into the log using the back side of the maul as a sledge hammer. Using the axe as a wedge worked fairly well. I only split one log. Splitting this wood will have to wait for another time. Hickory apparently splits well because the grain doesn't twist badly. I wonder how much easier these logs will split when they are less green?
I definitely want a log splitter. Since we plan to heat the house primarilly using wood in the winter, I don't think I'll have the time to split all the wood by hand. I've never used a wood splitter so I've got some research to do. I'm pretty clueless regarding what to look for in a splitter.
'm not sure what to do with the forked log pieces. They look like a real pain to split. I might just push them back in the woods and let them rot for the next 20 years.
I used the FEL to carry the first 4 pieces to the house. I saw quickly that it would take forever to carry all the wood to the house using the tractor. Therefore I brought the truck back and fully loaded it with the remaining wood. One hesitation I had about using the truck was that it meant having to pick up each of the heavy logs and lift it into the truck. The bigger pieces were at the upper end if the max weight I'm willing to lift. I'm not exactly sure how much they weighed but I know they were much heavier than an 80 lb sack of concrete. I'm going to guess the biggest pieces weight between 100 and 120 lbs each. I'm amazed at how heavy hickory wood is. I guess the fact the tree is green doesn't help.
I was very careful to use good lifting techniques. I had to squat completely to the ground in order to lift these beasts without injuring my back. My wife is a physical therapist who has seen too many back injuries. My back is not perfect. I stupidly injured it while awkwardly lifting a heavy freezer a few years back. My back problem is not real bad but I have to be careful. Fortunately it is not a lower back injury; those seem to be the worst.
I stacked the wood at the garage end of the house. We have some existing wood under the tarp. We definitely need to figure out how to store our firewood. I anticipate we will need a place to store quite a bit. Cyril, I'd love to have a woodshed. I'm not sure what I'd want to build. Level spots near the house are very limited. We have a relatively level spot where the camper was parked. We are eying that spot as a potential location for a woodshed.
I'm very tired but feel satisfied at what I accomplished today. The majority of the remaining hickory tree is mostly lying up off the ground so I don't feel like I have to rush to cut the rest of it immediately.
