I'm not quite sure why, but this winter I've been sawing all my logs BY HAND.
The noisy Husqvarna has remained unused under a bench in the studio, and I've bought a new blade for my bow saw.
We don't use a huge amount of wood; I usually light the stove mid-afternoon, and, until we retire, we probably burn about 8-10 50cm logs.
I also like to saw the wood each day, rather than build up a stock. This means that my daily exercise (as if I needed any more) is assured. Maybe when, or if, it gets colder, the Husqvarna will once again see the light of day, but for the moment I'm quite happy with my noiseless simple saw.
Maybe we're ALL too ready to grasp for some petrol driven machine, rather than do things by hand.
I think it depends upon your supply and how much you use.
ReplyDeleteFriends in Pembrokeshire buy in a few tons at a time and get it cut and stacked as soon as they can, storing it for at least a year to dry.
They are running one room heating stove and another for cooking, hot water and radiators in a house with eight people.
The chainsaw and felling axe for log splitting are the tools there. You don't need to get caught by the weather turning when you live on the shoulder of a mountain!
gz. We buy ours by the cubic metre, and have about 20 cu M's in stock; half Oak, half Chestnut. It goes in a wood burning stove in the sitting room, and (occasionally) a wood fired cooker in the kitchen. We do, of course, have alternatives.
ReplyDeletegz. If you type 'The Wood-Pile' into the small white search thingy, top left corner, you'll see what I mean.
ReplyDeleteThanks, looks like you have a similar anount to them!
DeleteI always wondered what that white bax was for!
You need to man-up, Sir - logs of that width should be snapped over the knee or broken by hand in the hearth.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I have to agree. For such a busy little termite mound of a species we are peculiarly eager to avoid physical work, myself included.
Keeps you fit and healthy too Cro, so can't be bad.
ReplyDeleteI may ditch the rotorvator this year and just dig. Hmmm...
I've already done that too!! Not that my rotorvator is much good.
ReplyDeleteAs a wood-burner friend of mine is always saying, 'if you saw the wood by hand, you get warm twice'.
ReplyDeleteBravo Cro...noisy machinery is one of my pet peeves. The big spoiler in Autumn is when the manic leaf-blowing-crew arrive in town daily to clean up the fallen leaves. What the heck is wrong with a broom? A little more sweat and elbow grease and a little less racket...I'm all for it.
ReplyDeleteI agree - another source of noise-pollution we could do without. I used to cut my lawn with a sickle. It took all day, but it seemed to be worth it at the time.
DeleteI've never really understood 'leaf blowers'. A curse of the devil!
ReplyDeleteagreed
DeleteOkay, so I think we know where your hand injury came from, and why you dislike winter so much.
ReplyDeleteOh, the woodpile...My father used to pull trees out of the bush, cut them up with a chainsaw, then split the logs with an axe. My job was stacking the wood. I got many a blood blister and splinter from that job! At least it was only once a year.
ReplyDeleteSawing by hand is great exercise in a lot of ways. Our Poulan saw is very temper mental. I wish I was strong enough to use it though, as there are lots of trees here that need to come down. Maybe I should invest in the hand saw.
ReplyDelete'temper mental' I like.
DeleteHey! all Chromed up and ready to go! xx
ReplyDeleteHusband has a "log grenade" (for splitting) it makes a good door stop LOL
Your wood burner is very effective. Our fire eats logs like they're going out of fashion.
ReplyDeletein defense of power driven devices -- I have carpal tunnel and tendonitis and couldn't possibly do all yardwork by hand anymore. Leaf blower saved my wrists and arms, and I get my wood delivered all nicely cut.
ReplyDeleteAll toiling by hand is a great thing,there is the soft gently sound of sawing that makes you feel worthy somehow,it is like beating eggs and sugar together for making cakes,you can either have the drone of the mix master going or enjoy watching the process slowly take place..ah the life of the past is still lingering in many of us.
ReplyDelete