Like peas and carrots

Chilly nights and Kyle sitting in front of the fireplace goes together like peas and carrots.  Man, I tell you, I could sit in front of the fireplace and shell pecans or watch college football for hours on end.  There is a lot of work beforehand in order to get you to that point of relaxation (or laziness).

Last Fall a large water oak died in our front yard and we had a gentleman with a bucket truck and some serious chain saws come and lay it on the ground.  I rented a chainsaw and cut it up one Saturday.  A neighbor let me borrow his log splitter.  This is a handy device that uses hydraulic power to split logs.  The machine pretty much does all the work for you.  We split over 3 cords of firewood that I'll use and give a bunch to my dad.  At our house, we like to use the heater as little as possible and have a fire in the fireplace burning most nights.  I love the smell of a fire burning in the fireplace.  I'm crazy like that.

Here is a shot of all the oak we have stockpiled for the winter:


A nice inventory of firewood

As a boy, I used to split firewood for the fireplace at Mom & Dad's house.  I didn't have the benefit of a hydraulic log splitter.  I'm not going to give you the old "I walked to school uphill in the snow" bit, but I wasn't dependent upon hydraulic power, I used an axe, one just like this bad boy right here:


Tool of the trade

I began to wonder what my boys would do if they didn't have access to a log-splitter and figured it was time for a little lumberjack training so that they would know how to get the job done.  A friend had come by and cut up the large pecan branch that fell out of our tree and also gave us some pecan wood.  This was exactly what we needed for our first class in Wood Splitting 101.  The picture below shows the task that lay before us (not Daisy or the chickens - the pecan logs).  Daisy is there because she's curious and the hay ring is just to the right.  I'll show you why the chickens are around in just a minute.



Some nice pecan logs ready for splitting

In addition to an axe, there are some tools to the trade that you'll need: eye protection and gloves for safety and comfort.  The real work is done by the following: a sledge hammer (on the right), a wedge (in the middle on the log), and a axe/wedge combination (on the left).  This nifty tool was lent to us by a friend.  It has a pipe handle so you don't ever have to worry about breaking the handle.  You'll want to have a wedge in the event that you get your axe stuck in the wood.  The wedge will enable you to get it un-stuck.


Tools of a wood-splitter

So let's begin.  Paul Bunyan takes the log and stands it up on one end.  He swings the axe into the center of the log where it will stick with a thud.  Now you take the sledge hammer and begin to bang the axe/wedge into the log.  You will begin to hear creaks and cracks, letting you know that you are making progress as the axe wedges itself further into the log, opening it up.  This is a good stress reliever!  Good exercise, too.


Bang, bang, bang

I can't tell you how long it will take as there are lots of variables.  I think that this task is measured in blisters rather than in minutes.  If you come across a log with a lot of knots, it takes longer and some are just impossible to split.  We throw those in a pile to try again later when we are stronger or better rested!  Some are so difficult, we end up just burning them whole.  But you'll know when you are done as the log yields a final sound letting you know it is split in two.  Simply do the same thing on each side in the thickness you desire.  Sometimes you can do it with an axe instead of the wedge.  Repeat again and again until done.


The sound of success!

 We then throw the split wood in a pile.  We like to see the split pile grow in size and the log pile shrink.  Progress!


Split Pecan wood begging for the fireplace

Here's where the chickens come into the equation.  In most every log we split, there is a large white grub-like worm that is in the middle of the wood or is between the bark and the wood.  It seems to be eating the wood.  I did some searching on the Internet and found that it is the larvae of the white oak borer beetle.  Regardless what they're called, they're called "lunch" to my chickens.  The chickens went crazy over them.  Russ and I had to shoo them away because in their zeal to get at the worms, flying wood would hit them.


Succulent, tempting, tasty morsels of goodness (from the hens' perspective)

"I'll have mine to go, please." 

Here is some immediate gratification we talked about earlier, where you can measure success.
A growing split pile:

And a shrinking un-split pile:

But the best measure of success is this:


A nice, roaring fire - the second one of the season.

Like I said earlier, Kyle and a fire go together like peas and carrots.  Also, the boys were able to get a good lesson on hard work paying off.  Kind of a real life re-enactment of Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper.  If you fiddle all summer - you're going to freeze in the winter, literally.