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Roosty6 @B110

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Firewood Cutting 2018

We got together for a short spell of firewood cutting on the weekend. Only had about an hour to spare but we got through a fair bit of poplar firewood with our 4 man, 2 women (and one dog) crew. The old Wisconsin V4 was a bit reluctant start after a night of sub zero temps but eventually it came to life and ran just fine. Unfortunately the saw blade got dulled shortly after starting when it hit a bullet lodged in one of the logs. Theres a rare and random occurrence.
Temp was up around the +8 F degree mark which is great for the job as the snow on the logs is not wet enough to soak  your clothes as you handle the logs.
Its been a yearly event for as long as I can remember. We used to help my uncles cut a veritable mountain of poplar logs as they burned wood in the cook stove year round. And it was more than a one day job.
We helped dad as soon as we were old enough to hold up the end of a log. Learned to stand and hold the log straight so it did not pinch the blade and throw the belt off. I eventually learned to wear ear plugs,  hopefully before I lost too much of my hearing.
Sometime in the early 1940s. My dad at far left and Uncle Sandy at far right. 
Firewood sawing at Hobetzeders in the early 1950s. John Hepting far left. 

Dad at the saw in 1987. This photo was published in the Western Producer magazine.
So here we were.......

7 comments:

  1. well done, lots of hard work!

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    1. Bev, this was just a warm up compared to the all day sessions they used to have in the old days when a big crew got together to cut a veritable mountain of logs into firewood blocks. They would make us look like slackers. :-)

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  2. Normally, lead shouldn't dull a saw, unless it was temperature related or it was a steel jacketed bullet.

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  3. Our belt drive had a table that rocked into the blade. Never cut much wood with it though.

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  4. That was great. On the souther MN prairie the guideline was to have a pile of wood at least as big as your house. Of course in the late 1800s there just were not many trees given the fires. I enjoyed the saw operation...obviously no OSHA inspectors. The bullet was good, too. I usually hit barbed wire.

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  5. It's always a good feeling to have a lot of wood put up. Our stash is getting pretty low, it's been a cold winter.

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