Okay, no more fooling around…
After walkie and laundry I dragged the generator and Sawzall out of the powershed and proceeded to have at that stack of ten pallets leaning against the corner of the Lair.
More or less as expected I didn’t make it very far before I was gasping and whining. This is all I got done in an hour of steady work…
Color Tobie unimpressed but I think I want my shoulder brace back now.
Cutting the pallets apart is always the hard part; they’re really not made to come apart easily. And looking through my notes I see that I always get off to an unimpressive start on the first day. I might knock the rest out this afternoon and tomorrow or it might take all weekend but once I’m through with this phase the woodshed project becomes much less strenuous.
Why do you go thru all the trouble of knocking them apart when you could saw the nailed parts off still together as “chunks”, and just separate the nails out of the ashes (if needed).
I don’t knock them apart: That’s almost futile most of the time. I try to get between the planks with the blade and cut the nails in half. That’s by far the easiest way I’ve found. I tried cutting the planks off flush with the (risers? I don’t really know what the 2X4 parts are called) and that’s much slower and also leaves you with chunks that are damned hard to stack neatly.
I like getting free pallets. When I get them, I just use a cheap metal detector to find the nails. Then I mark the locations and grind the nail heads off. Then, I pry the pieces apart, use vice grips to pull the nails and cut the wood up on my table saw. The reason I do it this way is that I like using the wood for projects like tables, boxes and such. 🪚🪵👍
Fire wooding really isn’t that much fun, but if you went to the gym to do the same or similar exercises, you would have to travel and pay for the experience. Since I’m not getting paid for it, I call it recreational therapy. Do some stretches, do some recreational therapy. I know I need therapy, don’t you? At 72 AND A HALF, I also, sometimes, need Excedrin or Vicodin. I go through 2 to 3 cords per winter.
Tree Mike
I’ve gone through half my “reserve” stack of firewood with this early blizzard and low temps. My firewood guy is probably still out hunting with his Dad and brothers. We’ve been down in the single digits at night for a couple of days. I enjoy the rhythm of stacking my firewood, and sawing some little trimmed branches I have from summer clearing I did. But when the 3 cords arrive, it is my daily exercise for a couple of hours to get it all stacked under cover while the sun warms me on the south side of the house. Yes, I consider it recreational therapy, more fun than winter treadmill or pedaling. And some nice free weights work, too! And I just discovered CBD gummies, which work great for me. Stay cozy everyone.
Hey, I like this new WordPress upgrade. Easier to write, edit and log in. Good job.