Reader Favorites Bucking your Own Wood
Harvesting your own firewood is one of the most satisfying and self-sufficient skills you can develop.
October/November 2004
By Heidi Hunt and Mother's Readers
Harvesting renewable wood to heat your home is one of the most satisfying, self-reliant things you can do. Modern Environmental Protection Agency-certified stoves burn much cleaner than older models and are often twice as efficient, which means a home that required four cords with an old stove would only need two cords with many newer models.
RELATED CONTENT
Give your log (or any other) Home a House Log! July/August 1981 You house-log cover that's both att...
After 1,500 miles of alternative fuels vehicle driving, we found that you can run a truck with a wo...
Perhaps all the firewood you'll need for this winter is split and neatly stacked. But you may need ...
Almost half the world’s original forests have disappeared, one-fifth since the late 1950s....
This sturdy, folding sawbuck will help to make cutting firewood an easier chore....
We invited Mother Earth News readers to share their advice on the best ways to split and handle firewood, and to tell us about their favorite firewood-handling tools. Thanks to all who replied! Here’s a roundup of advice and wisdom gleaned from your letters. — Mother
WHY HEAT WITH WOOD?
Last year a friend was anxious to get rid of a 10-year-old pile of firewood. I agreed to take it off her hands. As I loaded my truck, she asked if it really cuts down on my heating bill. I grinned and answered, ‘I don’t have a heating bill!’
Karen Secor
Ogden, Utah
As with bread making, splitting wood must be done by hand to get the most out of it. Your spirit and your body are warmed by the handling of each piece of wood.
Robert Smith
Greenville, Maine
Working out WITH WOOD
The wood I cut warms my home throughout the winter months, and I even sell some to my neighbors. The extra cash helps pay for my membership to the YMCA. I’m the only guy there who hurries through a workout so I can rush home to split some more firewood.
Fred Stauffer
Chester County, Pennsylvania
I view log splitting as my workout. It sure beats the gym workouts of my previous lifestyle.
Barbara Heyl
Afton, Virginia
FINDING FREE WOOD
A source of almost-free firewood is a wood-cutting permit in a state forest. You are only allowed to take dead or “down” wood, and there may be a restriction on how much you take.
Construction sites are full of 10- to 20-inch-long pieces of 2-by-4s and 2-by-6s. They burn beautifully and would just go into a landfill otherwise!
After a big ice storm or windstorm, you might be able to get paid for taking firewood by offering yard cleanup.
Katrina Kandoll
Vancouver, Washington
In the West, we have thousands of square miles of forest devastated by insects and forest fires where pro-environmently inclined judges do not allow timber sales. Local U. S. Forest Service (USFS) ranger stations can direct people to accessible areas. We try to cut trees above a road and roll the sawn blocks down to the roadway.
Page: 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Next >>
