Archive through November 24, 2011

[mpatterson]

Kent,
Now that is my kinda shop to work in!! How about some more pictures of your "work place"? Not much in that picture that isn't worth looking at!! Dog on it!

 

[jchamberlin]

All: Getting this thread back on track, the topic is firewood, not Den Decoration (no disrespect, awesome digs, Kent).

Anyway, this body has been busy since Hurricane Irene clearing up wood that has fallen around here, particularly a neighbor who is an elder in the church my wife attends. I volunteered to harvest the wood from the White Oak that fell during the storm. (Even though the winds weren't particularly strong, the fact that they blew for almost 24 hours really took its toll on some fairly sturdy trees.)

Anyway, here are some shots of the tree, or at least its trunk and stump, that my son and I took down. The son who did most of the work didn't get his picture taken, because I didn't have my camera out, but I'll get a picture of him later to post that will complete the tale.

After portions of 12 week ends, the task remaining:

The real booger-bear (that is a 32" bar, and the trunk took all of it):

Tools for the job:

The critical 1/4" only ten more blows should split it (after the 10 blows it took to get it this far in --this white oak is brutal to split):

The stump was full of dirt, sand, clay, and gravel from septic tank back-fills (the owner said, "I don't know where that came from . . ." Well, I know where it went --into the chain on my saw --several times):

After about 1-1/2 hours of fun with wedge and maul:

Got some valuable work out of this crew one day (three of my four sons):

The work took its toll, this is what my family saw most of the time, I fell asleep admiring one of my grand-daughter's dolls --kind of liked the big blue eyes . . .

 

[fcurrier]

Jeremiah: That's a serious way to get back on topic!! Great pics! That 32" bar says a lot, all by itself! Husky looking crew, too. Do they each have their own squirrel gun?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeremiah, WOW!

That's one big tree stump! Great photo of the 3 of your sons by the stump. If you send me the full resolution version of it I'll post it without the erased portions. No photo posting size limit for me, being a mod has it's benefits.

Hmmm, how long did you rest up in the chair?

 

[jchamberlin]

Kraig, The chair has literally saved my back. The best money I've ever spent on furniture!

By-the-way, I sent the picture you requested to the e-mail listed in your profile.

Frank: The gun-toting son is not depicted in the photo, but I assure you he has a full arsenal, except I don't think he currently has a squirrel gun; M14, AR15, assorted revolvers and automatic pistols --yes.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeremiah, got it. Here it is:

That must have left quite a hole in the ground.

 

[kshultz]

Aaron / Mike
Thanks.

It's not really that nice. Someday I'll build a nice one.
As you requested. Post your garage pics as well (maybe we should start a new thread)

 

[kmcconaughey]

Kent, there's already a Sheds and Shops thread.

 

[jchamberlin]

Kraig: My boys are standing in the hole. It left a pretty big patch in the lawn; we cleaned as much dirt as we could from the stump, so the only thing missing from the yard was the wood from the stump.

I think one more cut and I could get the stump into two pieces where it could be handled by a pickup truck.

In the meantime, I'll post a teaser about the "things that take up my Cub time" -- the trunk you saw in the first picture as it wound up in my yard (at least most of it):

Awesome shop, Kent, wish I had one like that!

 

[jchamberlin]

All: Well, I finally had my camera ready when my "Son with the Guns" arrived to finish off the wood pile. It seems my whole crew has deserted me, and I was tired myself of cutting and splitting wood. Even the "Son with Guns" who had been responsible for splitting most of the wood we had been able to put up so far had tired of the task.

I decided it was time to sink some money into a decent log splitter. The man you see at the controls is my son (the one with a collection of guns) who performed the lion's share of the work, both with and without the use of the log splitter.

Technology is a good thing!