Out cutting

David Martin

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We were out cutting a load of oak today. It was such a nice day but a cold snap is coming in about 4 days. So, I thought it wouldn't hurt to pack all I could in my wood barn. This is 82.5 cu.ft. of oak, about .64 cord(corr). A mix of Emory and Live oak. The brown to red being Emory. I carried my Hults
Bruks 4.5 lb. along for the limb work. I've not done any splitting in this, just cut and load.
We are ready to throw everything in and head home. My dog had a great time too. DM
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That looks like maybe 2 wheelbarrow loads after split. I'll be swinging the Council 6 lb. and the Hults 4.5 lb. axes and tracking the number of chops these logs require. Both are sharpened to the same grit, on the X fine India. Maybe to 5-600 grit. All of this is going into the wood box on the back porch. It should hold 2 heaping loads. More later, DM
 
We were out cutting a load of oak today. It was such a nice day but a cold snap is coming in about 4 days. So, I thought it wouldn't hurt to pack all I could in my wood barn. This is 82.5 cu.ft. of oak, about .64 cord(corr). A mix of Emory and Live oak. The brown to red being Emory. I carried my Hults
Bruks 4.5 lb. along for the limb work. I've not done any splitting in this, just cut and load.
We are ready to throw everything in and head home. My dog had a great time too. DM
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I enjoy your posts. What kind of dog you got there. Is that a Rottie or Rott mix?

I'll be swinging the Council 6 lb. and the Hults 4.5 lb. axes and tracking the number of chops these logs require.

I was swinging my 6lb. Council today and thinking about you and yours. It's a helluva fine splitter! Classic geometry and a big ol' swell on the haft. I still like my 5 lb. Plumb rafter better but with a little handle work I think I'd like this just as well for splitting. It's that good! I can't picture ever using an 8 lb. maul when I have this axe. I was splitting black locust and black cottonwood today. Both tough splitters but the locust is worse. The pickaroon doesn't even want to set in the locust.
 
S Square_peg , that dog was a rescue dog my youngest got as she went off to college. On a visit back home the dog went with me
while hunting Gambel quail a few years back one Nov.. To my surprise she pointed and I flushed out a quail. I knocked it down and the dog went straight to it and brought it back. I was shocked! After my daughter return to college I dashed to the shelter and found that a lady with a papered Portuguese Pointer had an accidental breeding by a Rottweiler. So, she brought all the puppies in.
They were all gone at my visit.
Thus, ensued all manner of enticement from me for my daughter to come home often. Well, I had a good quail season that year.
Then when she returned home for the summer, I worked more with the dog and she became good at retrieving doves. The hitch was she always took the dog back to college with her, being 300 miles away. So, I knew our local college President and began taking him out to lunch. Then suggested he write her a letter to state she could get all her biology classes here at our local college.
He did and She liked the idea and returned home for a year or so. I was in heaven, until advanced classes were needed. But I got to really work with the dog and found her to be quite smart. When she transferred to another college I struck a deal for her and my daughter agreed the dog would be happier living on our farm rather than in an apartment. I've had her since 2014 and really like
the way she works. Not a wide ranging dog. But put her with my German Shorthair and they make a good team. One close the other more wide ranging.
You should see the looks I get when one of my hunting buddies sees that dog point. Then retrieve the bird... DM:)
 
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S Square_peg , as for your comments toward the Council 6 lb. ax, you are on solid ground. It is a good splitter! And I don't often need to swing the heavier maul. A real workhorse ax. I don't swing it for limb work unless the limbs are large. But for felling and splitting, it's a joy to use. I understand black locust is a tough wood to split. Thank you for your support among us axe men. DM
 
Ok, got it all split and carrying it to the porch now. The white oak I can split with my Hults 4.5 lb. with not much trouble but on the Emory oak, the 6 lb. Council does in one chop what takes 2 with the Hults. This is the same pattern it showed last Spring. Emory oak just takes more weight in the ax to get the same results. Just my results. You gents have more experience with different wood
than I do. So, you'll have to determine your needs.
This pile turned out to be 3 heaping wheelbarrow loads. Hence, 2 went to the porch and the rest got stacked into the barn. A chilly 30-40 mph wind came in this morning and my wind-breaker felt good. DM
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As winter progresses, how do many of you ax men tally your usage? Do you do it by looking at your wood pile & noting the shrink? Or by how many times you fill your wood box. Or by wheelbarrow loads brought to the porch?
I'm just curious. The manner I do mine is: I have measured the amount I stored in my wood barn (ha, usually several times). Then I track our
usage thru the winter by wheelbarrow loads brought to the porch, then into the wood box. We are now at 50 cu. ft. used and some of that figure is on the porch ready for use. We have a cold front moving in and I loaded the box.
On Thanksgiving it's forecast to rain & snow. We'll have guest and folks going in and out. So, likely we'll use more wood.
Now, when I have noted our usage is at 250 cu. ft. we better be in mid-March or I'm looking of a day to go cut some more. Just the way I track our usage and plan so we have plenty on hand. DM
 
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