From the Woodshed: German Loggers

This winter has been cold and dry so far. During the middle of December we got down to -30 degrees F at one point, and it was below freezing for most of the last several weeks. I got behind on my woodcutting chores this summer, and have been struggling to catch up. Kim wanted to buy some wood already cut and split and have it delivered. I decided that instead of buying wood, I would buy a new chain saw, betting on the fact that there would be plenty of dry days to fill the shed. Kim and I did manage to cut, split and stack about 3 and 1/2 cords before Christmas so we were in pretty good shape. However, yesterday was an opportunity too good to let pass by.

Leander displayed great form as he swung away with my old
ten pounder!

Temperatures have risen into the low forties, with lots of sun, and not a breath of wind: perfect weather to get some outside work done. But what made the opportunity to pad my wood supply even better was the presence of two of our German sons! Valentin and Leander Rethwilm showed up on New Year's Eve to visit for a few days. Leander is learning to fly helicopters in Portland OR, and his brother (a paramedic on an ambulance crew in Germany) had come to visit for a short vacation. Two strapping young men, a good log supply, a new chain saw and two splitting mauls...that's what I call opportunity!

Valentin gets a "three-fer" with my new Fiskars splitting axe.

I scrounged up a couple of pairs of gloves, and extra ear plugs, and then had a short training session. I have swung a splitting maul for 40 years, but it was new to Valentin and Leander. Both caught on very quickly. Leander selected the 10 pound maul, and got the hang of it, while Valentin swung my new Fiskars splitting axe. It is a light and wonderful marvel of modern technology. Wish I would have had something like it 40 years ago. I was the head sawyer for the day, although I did let each boy take a stab at running it.

This new saw is awesome! I feel more like a surgeon than a
woodcutter when I use it!

The saw is a Husquavarna, made in Finland. It is very light, plenty powerful, and virtually vibration free. (Starts easy, too!). I do not miss my old Homelite 925 which had lots of power, but was heavy as heck, and shook you to death. After the Germans got their rhythm, it was all I could do to cut fast enough to keep them supplied with rounds to split. We blew through two 60 foot logs in no time.

"German Loggers" with their German Lager!

Kim made us all sandwiches and chips, so we took a break for lunch. We set up a rustic dining area using some unsplit rounds and dug in. The sandwiches were great, and we washed them down with some Kirkland "German Lager" beer. A fitting pun for the day, German Lager, for our "German Loggers"!

We enjoyed lunch in our formal dining room!

Here we get ready to finish the job after lunch.

After lunch we made short work of the rest of the wood, and decided to use our old flatbed to move our pile to the woodshed. Kim shoveled the snow off the bed (it has been there since December 7th, that's how cold its been) and "Ol Rusty" cranked over on the first try. With three of us loading the old truck (and Kim salvaging slivers and chips) we were done in no time. Unloading and stacking was even quicker as we used the "daisy chain" method. Leander climbed up on the truck and tossed wood to Kim, who tossed it to Valentin who tossed it on to me to stack. When we were done it just didn't seem right. Somehow it had just been too easy. But I am NOT complaining! We ended up cutting splitting, loading, and stacking about a half cord (about 64 cubic feet) enough to last almost a month!