Our friends Myles and Cheryl have been here, at the farm, helping with everything we have done. You will see them in most of the media on this site. So... When I heard Myles was collecting winter firewood I couldn't wait to repay him for all he has done for us. I was curious also as to whether I could handle the task and how well. I have never chopped firewood. The only fireplaces I ever had were gas and you bought these logs (paper-wrapped pressed-wood simulated logs) which you would light with the gas and then let smolder. They even had simulated embers carefully engineered into them. Canadians; Stop laughing now!!! Therefore it was important for me to help my friend and prove my worth as a neighbor. To them but mostly to me.
The first time I went to help we were skidding large Grand Fir logs with a tractor. These were dead trees harvested for firewood. One stood over 100 ft. Well... It was perpendicular to the trail and Myles tractor was having a lot of trouble. As he was yanking on the log with the choker it broke. The choker that is. Right at the hoop. If you remember I was skidding logs a few weeks ago and after borrowing Myles cabling I realized that this was something I was going to do regularly so I purchased a 5/8-in 20-ft. choker (good for 20+ tons pull) and some 50 ft. cables. Of course... Since I was going logging I brought them with me. Farmer Mikey saves the day. Since Myles didn't already have the skidding truck there I went back down the trail and retrieved the tippy-tonka and the cables. Now; I'm not the best at backing up a vehicle and tippy is a bit large and there is no rear view mirror (duh, the dump box covers the rear window) so I'm in for a challenge. Well, with a little help, we managed to get the truck backed up on the trail and recovered a full load of split firewood ready for the furnace.
The second time I helped cut firewood the farm truck was already there and the logs were already skidded. It was just a matter of bucking them to length, splitting them and loading them into the truck.
Check me out chopping and loading firewood. I seem to have the power in the swing but my accuracy is poor. Poor accuracy means more work (and it's enough work as it is). After watching Myles for a bit (a real pro) I realized that I put to much energy into the swing which is compromising my placement. The axe is heavy and should do most of the work. I'm trying to add energy to the fall instead of guiding the axe to my position. I'll get the hang of it though.
This was a lot of work but after participating a couple of times I know that I can do this. The work is hard but only in short bursts which makes it completely tolerable.
