Tested my wood chopping skills

[THEFAN]

This is the first winter I am using nothing but wood. LOVE IT!! I digress. So this past late fall I tested my wood chopping skills to see how fast and how long it would take to cut a cord. I can cut a cord a day. Yes I took breaks. I'm not stupid. I figure I use 5 cords a yr. So in a week I can cut my five cords. Yes hardwood is easier to cut than soft but I cut both to understand the difference. I use to buy my wood all split. Not no more WOOHOO!!

I have a ton of soft wood on my proprty. So , I will fight my way through that and save all the hardwood trees. I plan on buying 3 cords of tree lenght a yr and cut 2 soft off the property. Since oil here is 3.90 a gal I will win no matter how I get my 5 cords.

By doing nothing but wood this yr I have already saved 800.00. Usually in Jan and Feb stretching into Mar I use a whole tank of oil for each month. That is about 1600.00 total.

My wife has asked now what are we going to do with all the savings. I told here we will throw atleast 2000.00 a yr extra onto the mortagage. We would have spent it on oil anyway so I figure we will budget the money to that.

Our mortgage is all we have left and I want it gone. ASAP

 

[Denim Deb]

That's great! Want to come here and chop some wood for me?

 

[Marianne]

We figured that we'd come out way ahead even if we had to buy all our firewood. We do the same, buy some and cut some. We saved enough the first year we had our wood burning furnace, that it paid for itself in a little over two months.

 

[hqueen13]

Are you using a wood burning furnace?

I wish we had an alternative other than the propane... Until we move we're stuck with it.

 

[THEFAN]

That's great! Want to come here and chop some wood for me?

I'm on my way!! Me want to look like he-man by summer.




We are just using a Encore Vermont woodstove and a small jotul on the north side of the house.

 

[Jeremy_31]

In addition to saving money chopping your own wood is good excerise and a great stress reliever! Take out your frustrations on the blocks of wood. That's really awesome you were able to save so much money! My parents still burn wood and I love going to their house when the wood fire is on. It's very comfortable enjoying the wood heat on a cold winter's day. It also is a great for having a wonderful afternoon nap.

 

[Icu4dzs]

"My Grandpa said that heatin' with wood warms ya three times. First while you are cuting it. Second while you are splittin' and stackin it, and third when you burn it."

Makes good sense to me. Now that I have the "Kitchen Queen" in my shed, I need to set it up and get it working so I can do other things in that shed.

People out here still don't burn much wood so they give it away. I have enough wood in my shelter belt that I could heat my home for the rest of my life without much notice to the good trees on my farm. So when someone tells me they got firewood I can have, I jump in the tractor and haul it all right away so they don't change their minds.

I say, "Go for it Sven"
Trim sends

//BT//

 

[THEFAN]

"My Grandpa said that heatin' with wood warms ya three times. First while you are cuting it. Second while you are splittin' and stackin it, and third when you burn it."

Makes good sense to me. Now that I have the "Kitchen Queen" in my shed, I need to set it up and get it working so I can do other things in that shed.

People out here still don't burn much wood so they give it away. I have enough wood in my shelter belt that I could heat my home for the rest of my life without much notice to the good trees on my farm. So when someone tells me they got firewood I can have, I jump in the tractor and haul it all right away so they don't change their minds.

I say, "Go for it Sven"
Trim sends
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//BT//

Very nice. Funny now that we have the heat situation taken care of at our homestead now the gas is going to become a big factor if it climbs above 4.25. Money from one will go to the other. ARGHH!!! The bottom line is I have to go up on my mowing prices tihs summer. The out of Staters will be getting the increase. I try and take care of my locals the best I can. I just can't suck up an additional 60.00 a week in gas. I mow 30 yards a week in the summer and handyman all yr. I also work at a marina now. Gotta learn a few new boat skins and work on the water more. So I travel a lot.

 

[odd_duck99]

I tested my wood chopping skills once. LOL! We had some downed branches, so I figured I would shop them up and stack them for our summer fire pit habit. Well, I had never seriously used an axe before, and wasn't sure how to go about it. At some point one of the small logs (2-3 in across) crossed the one I was chopping, and I foolishly kept going. Sure enough it popped up and whacked me in the forehead! I was lucky and it didn't knock me out or hit my eye, etc. Had a nice goose egg to explain when my significant other came home from work though...

 

[Trucker Bob]

You can always grab yourself a log splitter with the savings!!! I'm sure you could find yourself one on sale or for sale for less than a thousand... the trees in our area are prairie trees, aka twisted, knotted and generally hard to split without 3 extra days and a sledge/wedge set.