"Wood warms twice: Once when chopped, again when burned."
boy, we used to carry this one out to a multiple of like, 7 or 8.
we'd say that first there was falling the tree, then bucking it up, then hauling it, splitting, stacking, carrying it into the house, then finally burning it.
i think that's 7. we'd contend that wood heat was 7 times as good as any other heat.
i used to cut an awful lot of alder. the local timber companies considered alder to be a weed tree. wow, what a concept. they'd give me a pass to go into there land and i'd cut wood the whole weekend long. (one time while i was way out there in the woods, the pull cord broke when i started the saw, but the saw was running. i knew i wouldn't be able to start it again, so i couldn't let it stall or run out of gas. i just kept it going for hours, pouring gas in it while it was idling. as i recall, it got a little dull without being able to sharpen the chain, but i wasn't about to attempt that while the saw was running!)
alder is a soft wood, and doesn't burn a really long time. and i had to cure it for about 12-18 months because of the high moisture content. it was so full of water that when i'd raise the maul up over my head to split a chunk, the alder would see the maul coming and just fall right in half by itself. <g3> of course now that i think back, we used to have a whole lot more wet winters, and that would put the water in the wood.
i probably had 8 cords of alder put up at any given time of the year. it sure was nice looking at all of that beautiful wood stacked up. fresh sawn, the ends were orange, but then they'd dry out and turn to a normal wood color.
now i bring my wood (pellets) home in 40lb plastic bags. the chain saw sits in the garage and just stares at me when i walk by.
:)
mark |
