Today I was up in the orchard with the kids. They were following chickens around and I was getting a jump on my wood splitting. The UPS driver showed up and we spoke briefly about this and that, and I mentioned something about “in a perfect world…” to which he responded, “well cutting wood at home with your kids, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
It was one of those moments when someone else shares a vision of your life, giving you access to an outsider’s perspective. Whereas before I had been focussing on the task, sweating and unable to contemplate the big picture, his words struck a chord, and I had to stand back for a moment and appreciate his insight.
Cutting firewood is a spring through fall activity. I should just do it all in the fall, as the weather’s best for it then. This spring I went down into the lower woods and started picking off the 10-15 year old poplars that cover the hill. These are good logs and make easy cutting without the need to split them. But it was early March and the snow was too deep still to make much headway. I dragged what I could out and left the rest for summer collection.
When it comes to cutting firewood, bigger is usually better, in terms of saws. My debate was not over the capacity of the engine, although I went with the Stihl MS 460, a big professional grade saw, but the size of the bar. I ended up with a 30″ bar which is mammoth.
I had five cords of tree length wood delivered, and stacked it in a large pile in the orchard. Cutting a big pile poses several logistical questions. Should you just dive in and cut it all as it sits? The problem with this is that your saw tip will be hitting the log behind the one being cut, and saftey rules argue against that (kickback, etc.)
But then you are left with manoevering individual logs into position from which you can cut them cleanly without hitting anything else.
I tried this approach first, and found that I spent way too much time with a crow bar prying logs free from the pile and laying them out separately for cutting. Not only that but there was the distinct danger of being trapped or crushed under a log that slips and rolls onto of your leg.
Driving around town I noticed other log piles. I would take note of these piles, and watch to see how long it took people to cut them up. Most remained intact for months. But occassionally I would notice a pile that had been ripped through, seemingly in one go, and I marvelled at the speed of this. I noticed that in these cases the pile seemed to have been attacked in situ–meaning that the owner had just gone at the logs where they lay piled up.
This is where my 30″ bar comes in. I figured I would just go for it and cut two logs in one swoop. When I got cutting, however, I found that the length of the bar was a problem, because you want your logs to be the same length, otherwise they don’t stack neatly or efficiently. And log piles are never very symmetrical, so when cutting one log, the others are positioned differently, making it unusual to cut two logs to the same length.
I got myself a new bar (16″) and this made life much easier. I was more or less able to leave the pile in place and with the much smaller bar, pick away at logs where they lay, until I had the pile reduced to a winter or two’s worth of firewood.
As for the monster bar, I still use that, when I come across a really big log, and then, theres nothing sweeter.
As for the UPS driver and his Zen words, well, I’m just glad I’m not doing what he’s doing. And I hope he has a pile of logs and some kids to go home to.
