Got it done just before the first day of summer. Tamarack split and stacked in the shed plus a little extra off to the right. Five 15 inch layers in the shed and we typically use about 3 and 1/2 of those. Chopping blocks should be good for about a month if we run short. Had a pack rat invade the shed last winter, so there's a Victor snap trap hanging there on the left shed post just above the roll of wire. If he/she shows up again, I'll be on it like stick on a skunk

That is just sage brush and western juniper in the background. Have to go about 40 miles for tamarack, but it's worth it due to its cutting a splitting ease.


There's just a little more extra stacked beside the shed. Going to quit measuring in cords and switch to acres. I think I have about 5 seasons worth in that pile. If the back goes out, I'll have a few seasons before I have to vacate the premises. The two right most layers are ponderosa pine and reserved as Cookie's campfire wood. Tamarack is great stove wood, but unsuitable for fire places and campfires due to its popping and cracking that launches firebrands for several feet.

We can cut standing dead (ponderosa and lodge pole pine, grand fir, Doug fir, or tamarack in the forest) or western juniper on the more arid BLM (that's Bureau of Land Management) lands. One spends about 30 minutes limbing a juniper though and then gets about 5 rounds out of the remaining trunk. A fee of $5.00 per cord with I think a family limit of 12 per year. Commercial permits cost about the same but with unlimited opportunity. Overheard our largest commercial guy a few months ago as he was taking a phone order. His assurance to the guy making the order was that he does about $500,000 in business a year.


After I clean out the Blaze King, it'll be time to exercise the fly rods.

Have a good one,

You’re set !!

love tamarack for wood stove. Yep the ponderosa works good for cooking

I remember visiting my great uncle/aunt in the summers when very young. We'd see him for about 5 minutes and he spent the rest of the time cutting wood.

They used wood for everything, cooking and heating.


I hate summer.

My back hurts looking at that.

That’s a lot of wood!

I'm not quite there yet....LOL

Wood you like to see my splinter group? How do they stack up? Log in and post cutting remarks that don’t go against the grain. Please buck me up. Don't pile on and bark at me, or I will get a splitting headache.

Wildhobbybobby:

Lots of stuff there that I'd leave in the woods. Any odd shapes or sizes that screw up the stack get left. Neighbor's wife, however, brings everything in including the face cut wedges and any large knots we knock off. For Christmas last year I got her a nice foxtail brush and dust pan so she could sweep the sawdust from the forest floor. Looks good there. We're a bit short on hardwoods in this area.

I'm stumped on what to say. Log jam.

That takes me back a bit.

Used to do roughly 10 cords of birch per year, one year in advance.

I miss it, but not the aches !

Went to propane 9 years ago, when we bought our own business.

In fact, when we moved in January, I left behind 2-3 very well seasoned cords of mixed campfire wood - birch, tamarack & a little black ash, as I could not get it out of storage, due to the sugar snow in the yard.

Hard, but rewarding & "essential" work for the old school, rural crowd.

Beautiful wood.

Been helping a buddy split a bunch of maple every Saturday for the last few weeks. We've done about 4 full cords so far and have enough wood for 20 more.

The smallest pieces we're handling are the size of the biggest ones in your first pic. Damn, it's heavy.

Good looking wood piles of tamarack 1minute; dad always referred to them as western larch while growing up just north of you. Definitely the choice burn for wood stoves (and stays for range fencing).

Nice to see some good sized rounds as well. It seems like finding big standing dead tamarack on the Mal-whore NF has become a challenge between commercial cutters and restricted cutting areas on the NF. Always enjoyed September wood cutting....usually good for a few grouse on the side in the Blue Mtns.

If one is going larger than the chopping blocks he's getting into serious wood. At 73 yrs, rounds like that are getting a bit difficult to throw around.

Stay cool,

I've got mine in @ 4 cord of aspen, spruce & ponderosa. I'm going to get 1 more load for insurance. Feels good to have it done before the 4th of July.

I have all wood piles stacked up. I am in the NC mountains and I have white oak, locust, and ash with a little black walnut.
I love to cut and stack firewood, it just makes me feel good.



This is my backup wood pile in the carport. Sixteen feet long and four feet high, two stacks side by side. My wood shed holds twice this much.

I'm so glad I don't burn wood anymore!

I have a lot more time to do other stuff but I do miss the wood heat.

Yep, I'm with you on both counts Paul !

We love to burn our Norwegian wood stove. It really gets a workout.

I burn my wood in a Lopi fireplace insert, and short cuts work best in it. I cleaned up the remnants of a timber cut. The older wood, ends and oddball pieces are stacked around the perimeter of the pile to make them easy to use first. The main stack consists of the nice looking stuff.

We have a pretty good choice of wood around here. Oak, maple, ash, white and yellow birch are the main species I use, with an odd bit of ironwood, basswood and cherry here and there.

Somehow I think you probably work harder for your firewood where you are than I do here. Nice looking pile!

Yes, those guys out west don't get to burn oak.
I lived in Washington State for a year, right near the Idaho line. Everybody had a wood stove. I told the guys about burning oak back in Georgia, they thought I was kidding.

Nice work guys.

I have a cord or so left from last winter, I'll get to cutting and splitting soon.

This is how I git-r-done.

MontanaMarine: I suspect your pictured gear is used for just a bit more than fueling the home fires. A loader would make things a slight bit quicker as we buck stuff up before loading in the woods.

Wish we had some Osage in this country, but I don't recall ever seeing any really towering specimens when I lived back east.

On stoves- there was a Lopi in this house when we moved in. Worked fairly well, but had a shallow fire box that spilled a lot of ash out the front. Went to a catalytic Blaze King with a lot more depth and can go the entire winter without spilling or shoveling out ash. The catalytic converter cut my wood consumption by about 20% too. It's a pain in the butt though, as one has to light his fire and wait abut 20 minutes until the box is up to temp before diverting chimney flow through the converter. With our older straight stoves one could just toss in a match and leave for the day.

At purchase I thought the converter might have a limited lifespan. It's ceramic, was purchased in 2008, and is still performing well.

Simon,

it depends on where in the west one happens to be if there's oak available.

We had some in AZ, SoCal, and over the hill from us here in NorCal oak is the preferred stuff. Over on the coast there is tree called "tanoak" as the bark was used like oak bark for tanning. Very similar firewood qualities. Goodly amount of oak in central OR and WA too.

1 minute and the rest of you guys are way ahead of me.

I've still got one layer of 14-16" splits in the shed, I used only 2 or so this year. My firewood guy dropped off a bunch of juniper logs last winter, he's coming over soon to cut the smaller ends off for fence posts and cut the but ends into rounds for me to split later.

Not sure what this coming winter will look like, but 3-4 cords will likely do it. There's a 1/2 cord of ponderosa rounds out there to split, but I mostly save that for campfires.

I'm in no hurry, we have decent fall weather when I can split it and warm myself twice.

Montana guy, bending over like that with the saw doesn't hurt your back....................yet???