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Buckshot's Article
Put It Off To Tomorrow
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Buckshot's Article
Put It Off To Tomorrow
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So, the first week of March found us in a Granddaddy blizzard. Winds howling, pounding the house. No mercy in the wind. Looking for the tiniest cracks to invaded the house to help cool it down. Already lived through the frozen pipes, the spilt pipes the large holes in the foundation, no insulation on the foundation and a floor joist. After curing all those problems and 8 tubes of caulk I was finally able to keep the house warm.
Anybody who heats with wood will tell you about the junk wood you save for March. You know the punky wood, the too large to spilt, the too knotty to spilt, etc... So, it was warming up good and I wasn't worried about it. Then a 3 day winter storm hit. Each day wind pounding the house. A friend had plenty of wood waiting to be cut up. I'll just jumped in the truck and drive over and grab a load. I warmed the truck up and thinking thank God for 4 wheel drive. Put it in gear and backed into the 2 foot tall snow drift behind. It stopped me dead in my tracks. Ahh no biggy, a couple more hits and I will be brake through and make it to the road. Tried going forward, the rear wheels just spun. That is funny, I get out of the truck checked to make sure the 4 wheel drive is locked in. Yep it was. Jumped in the truck and shifted it to 4 wheel drive low. Nothing. Back to high. Nothing.
Ahh great, the worst storm of the year and the 4 wheel drive is out. Unfortunately the wood stove needs wood so out to the junk wood I go. I fired the chain saw up and cut some in half. You know the great big 16 inch diameter logs. Cutting them down to 8 inches they will spilt pretty good. But what happens when you run into that knotty, snarled, twisted piece that doesn't want to spilt. Well, a normal thinking person would have bought a gas or electric splitting maul. Or heck, maybe even a standard splitting maul you can swing by hand. Well ,that is normal people not me. So here I am looking at 5 pieces of wood to heat the house for 3 days. Ok, so in other words I have to figure out how to get this junk wood spilt. The first two days it wasn't too bad. Dressed up for the blizzard. Dig out the wood. Cut it and spilt it. Friday the storm turned into a full blown blizzard.
Now, Friday the wind is howling at 45 mpg. A blinding whiteout and for some reason the last of the wood didn't magically keep burning all day. :-) Out in the blizzard I go. As I'm digging out wood I mutter something about, next year my garage will be full of split wood stacked to the ceiling. I cut 6 pieces in half. Traded the chain saw for the axe. Whack. The axe is stuck in the still very solid piece of wood. Just a great way to start the morning. I lifted the axe up and pounded on the ground with the log attached. No luck. This Axe is stuck as bad as my truck. Oh great, now what? Well, I made a poor man's splitting maul. I grabbed another axe turned it around and used the hammer end. I beat that first axe through until the wood spilt. I must warn you if you ever do it be very careful. You can you send chips of metal flying off that could knock your eye out. After a few hours of splitting I have enough wood done for a few days.
Maybe I should stop putting stuff off until tomorrow. Ahh, maybe tomorrow I will start that. :-)
Bruce "Buckshot"
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