Anyone cut firewood for health/exercise?

[MossRoad]

As long as you keep at it to a point where it's difficult to hold a verbal conversation, just like walking fast, it's a pretty good workout.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I'm 86 and still cutting, hauling, splitting, butning and selling. Been at it since 1977...well, really since I was a pup as I was spliting and piling wood back when I was a kid. 20 years out due to AF service. I do it to keep in shape as well as enjoying the work. Used to do aroun 14-16 cord a year burning 6 cord, seeling the overs. I've slowed down a bunch over the past several years.

I always did enjoy manual splitting but the amount going through the wood yard got to big and I had to go to hydraulic splitters.

Someone back early in this thread mention aerobics. "wooding" really isnot all that good for that, mostly it invovles working in a small area. Does great for muscle tone though.

For my own personal use, I have never seen the need for a mechanical splitter. I can cut a log, split the rounds, and go take a nap. Repeat the next day, as necessary. I split a couple big oak logs this summer, and it only took me two days to cut and haul them. I'm only 74, and hope I'll still be doing it when I'm 86.

 

[Hay Dude]

I kind of enjoy the challenge of some gnarly cherry
Still have dads Chopper-1 splitter!

 

[s219]

Where are you in Virginia?

About 20 miles northwest of Williamsburg.

 

[Oaktree]

Most of my firewood comes from timber harvest jobs, after the wood has been trucked. There's generally someplace every year where we cut a lot of hardwood logs so there are plenty of ends lying around.

I used to do that...at least here in N.H. the USFS gives permits to take wood from national forest land. Only catch is it has to be dead and on the ground, no cutting of standing trees. Permit was cheap...something like $10/cord, and I was told that they didn't really care if you went over.
I would go to places that had been logged recently (logging operation was finished), cut it into manageable lengths and huff it out. Unfortunately now, they chip all that stuff so I have to buy log length loads and cut & split myself.

For my own personal use, I have never seen the need for a mechanical splitter. I can cut a log, split the rounds, and go take a nap. Repeat the next day, as necessary. I split a couple big oak logs this summer, and it only took me two days to cut and haul them. I'm only 74, and hope I'll still be doing it when I'm 86.

I used to do that, wasn't bad with the stuff I got from the national forest...rarely was it more than 6-8" diameter but once I started buying logs that got to be a bit much with the larger logs I'd get. I picked up a used splitter on CL and never looked back. It'll easily split stuff I'd never be able to do with wedges and a sledge (never was able to split with a maul worth beans), and I can get more done in an hour than I could manually in a full day.
It's still a good workout, getting the logs off the pile and cut. Lifting onto the splitter and stacking. I'm only a couple years younger than you, and likewise hope to be doing this into my 80s.

 

[Fuddy1952]

About 20 miles northwest of Williamsburg.

About 180m away.

 

[marhar]

Not 100% for that reason, but partly?
I have an ideal firewood spot, a 16’x24’ concrete pad I poured years ago. I could split wood on it. Have a friend that will sell me as many rounds as I want.
Quick backround: I grew up in a house heated primarily with firewood wood and backed up with oil furnace. My dad and I would split 15 cords a year or more. Between firewood and hay bales, I developed a really strong shoulders and arms.
Well, now the bales are handled by tractor. I have lifted weights to supplement, but I’m bored with that. Rather be outside. My wife says jokingly “you live outside” (probably helps our marriage lol). Cant stand being cooped up inside.
Anyway, I was curious if anyone else chopped wood not just for firewood or profit, but for healthy exercise?

Not chopping but cutting firewood (or running a bandsaw) is relaxing. The noise while wearing hearing protection drowns out other noises, one is usually in the woods or in a wood shop alone and one must stay focused on what they are doing or they will get hurt. It is my way to get away from it all.

 

[RalphVa]

Not 100% for that reason, but partly?
I have an ideal firewood spot, a 16’x24’ concrete pad I poured years ago. I could split wood on it. Have a friend that will sell me as many rounds as I want.
Quick backround: I grew up in a house heated primarily with firewood wood and backed up with oil furnace. My dad and I would split 15 cords a year or more. Between firewood and hay bales, I developed a really strong shoulders and arms.
Well, now the bales are handled by tractor. I have lifted weights to supplement, but I’m bored with that. Rather be outside. My wife says jokingly “you live outside” (probably helps our marriage lol). Cant stand being cooped up inside.
Anyway, I was curious if anyone else chopped wood not just for firewood or profit, but for healthy exercise?

Did it in New Jersey and Vermont where we had houses with wood burning stoves. Have since found out the wife is allergic to back smoke from wood. So, have 3 fireplaces here and cannot use them. Checked into a pellet stove insert. Visited a friend who had one. Wife was going allergic in the room with it.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Too dark to take pictures now but I just finished with the bulk of it, cutting branches off close to trunk then rolling it downhill to a depression in the land. I piled big (20+") limbs around it. Tomorrow I'll cover it all with dirt. That 50" or so X 20ft had to weigh a few tons.

 

[Realtornz]

Not 100% for that reason, but partly?
I have an ideal firewood spot, a 16’x24’ concrete pad I poured years ago. I could split wood on it. Have a friend that will sell me as many rounds as I want.
Quick backround: I grew up in a house heated primarily with firewood wood and backed up with oil furnace. My dad and I would split 15 cords a year or more. Between firewood and hay bales, I developed a really strong shoulders and arms.
Well, now the bales are handled by tractor. I have lifted weights to supplement, but I’m bored with that. Rather be outside. My wife says jokingly “you live outside” (probably helps our marriage lol). Cant stand being cooped up inside.
Anyway, I was curious if anyone else chopped wood not just for firewood or profit, but for healthy exercise?

Yes I totally agree re chopping wood as recreational activity as opposed for profit. Personally I find it very rewarding just to see the stacks of chopped wood that I can either use or give away to others in need. I was thinking I was a little strange, I just tell my wife I'm going to my gym for a work out. I just do a couple of hours at any one time, so never tire of this, I now take an old Bengarzie burner, light it when I start so 1/2 an hour in I stop for a cup of tea. A very productive and rewarding pass time.