The secret to success with all woodworking tools is a very sharp edge. So it is with the chain saw. A good grinding machine is essential to maintain the proper angles and efficiency of the chains. Logging chains, skidding tongs, and pry bars are also necessary for dragging out the logs. Sometimes the process of harvesting firewood makes me feel like an early pioneer. Thereafter, I sober up and realize how I accomplish the task: a 45 horsepower, four wheel drive tractor, a hydraulic splitter, an ATV (four wheeler), two powerful chainsaws, and occasionally a four wheel drive pickup truck. Little wonder that I can engage in the nostalgic romanticism of nineteenth century Missouri. Technology is not all bad.
Nothing in life is free: for every advantage there is a price to be paid. The combustion of firewood is not 100% efficient. Deposits of creosote are soon encrusted on the inner walls of the chimneys and pose a serious threat of a flue fire. Therefore, once or twice each year I must haul my flue brushes up the 45 degree roof, stage a six foot ladder behind the chimney and brush out those deposits. I am now 67 years old and wonder each year, “can I still do this job?”
All of this material and much of the ash I shovel out of the stove(s) each morning are re-cycled into our leaf compost area, which is used each spring as amendments to our hosta gardens. The old adage of heating with wood strikes a familiar chord. The burning of firewood heats twice: first from the monumental labor required to get that wood into the stove and again from the radiating heat of the embers.
Within our 150 acres of timber we have a network of trails that provide access to the majority of the property. Each year a variety of trees will die and may fall across or near the trails. Maintaining the trails and selecting candidates for firewood go hand in hand. 1) If the tree is not conveniently located, step one is to fell and drag the complete log (with the tractor) parallel to the trail. 2) Using a chain saw the log is cut into approximately 2 foot lengths.
3) After several logs have been cut to length, the hydraulic log splitter is towed to the site. The splitter can operate vertically to avoid lifting the heavier “rounds” off the ground or positioned in a horizontal position for use while standing. 4) A wagon is then towed along the trails to be loaded with the split wood. The full wagon is then hauled to the barn for stacking. The firewood compartment in the barn provides access from two ends. Wood is stacked on one end while wood is removed for burning from the other end. The following year the process is reversed, which means that the wood being consumed has had a chance to dry for over a year. The wood compartment of the barn holds approximately 12 full cords of stacked firewood. A cord of split wood is a volume 4’ x 4’ x 8’ or 128 cubic feet, weighing approximately 3500 pounds. 5) The “seasoned/dried” wood is at some point reloaded into the wagon and towed to our garage where about one cord of wood is stacked for convenient access. 6) As needed, sticks of split wood are moved from the garage to our free-standing “Country Flame” stove in the hearth room, or to our built-in “Cozy Heat” stove in the great room. For especially cold periods the wood can be dropped down our wood chute directly from the garage into the basement. There, we have a “Fire Chief” furnace married with our basic propane furnace. The wood furnace also heats a supplemental water tank and a dual thermostat station is located upstairs and down for convenient temperature control.
As I author this project selection, the outside temperature is 5 degrees, while I am enjoying a toasty 72. My imagination conjures an old tree on the place that may have stood proud perhaps 80 years unmolested. For each of those years during the growing season the sun radiates down enormous energy which is then absorbed by the tree. Ultimately, as with all life, the time on earth for that tree expired and it was harvested as firewood. Now, that load of wood within our stove is returning to us those 80 years of energy in a few glorious hours. How I appreciate the blessings of this natural resource.
While Gayle and I do have a gas furnace, our goal is to minimize or prohibit its use. Old timers who experienced the drudgery of using cross cut saws and axes might wonder with puzzlement why anyone would not utilize modern heating. This year marks my 30th winter burning my own wood. Despite the labor involved, I never grow weary of the process of harvesting firewood to heat the home. My early years here (when I was young and single) involved much labor using splitting mauls and steel wedges. The little one room shack where I lived was poorly insulated and my little wood stove could barely keep up.