Fire fuel for heating - what do you use?

[Beekissed]

We need a heavy duty one - the kind that hooks up to the tractor. So it ends up being worth it if we just rent once or twice a year. We borrowed an electric last year and had a lot of wood that couldn't be split. Elm is just too hard.​

If you don't mind me asking, how much does a wood splitter cost to rent in your area?

 

[treerooted]

If you don't mind me asking, how much does a wood splitter cost to rent in your area?

I think it was about $100 for the weekend (though we got it on a long weekend and got an extra half-day). But I don't entirely remember because we had bought a couple other things on that bill.

 

[treerooted]

Oh, and correction, it wasn't hydraulic, it was gas. But either way, several thousand to buy new

 

[Beekissed]

That's not too bad considering the current cost of a new one. Not having to maintain it, store it, etc. would make renting worth it from where I'm sitting. Ours is older and paid for long ago, so it's nice to have around any time we want it, but if we had to buy one nowadays we wouldn't do it. We only use that equipment a handful of times per year, so if we could get our act together to use it for an entire weekend, $100 isn't too bad a price at all.

 

[treerooted]

That's not too bad considering the current cost of a new one. Not having to maintain it, store it, etc. would make renting worth it from where I'm sitting. Ours is older and paid for long ago, so it's nice to have around any time we want it, but if we had to buy one nowadays we wouldn't do it. We only use that equipment a handful of times per year, so if we could get our act together to use it for an entire weekend, $100 isn't too bad a price at all.

That's what figured. As long as we're well organized and only need to rent it once or possibly twice a year. At that rate it could take us 20+ years to pay off new...and then like you mentioned you may have repairs by that point anyway. So from where we're sitting right now, it seems the right choice. But if the situation changes we'll explore other options!
(Also the rented one is great - two sided. With two of us working it we were just flying. So nice to use, and so much wood got split!)

 

[Beekissed]

That's what figured. As long as we're well organized and only need to rent it once or possibly twice a year. At that rate it could take us 20+ years to pay off new...and then like you mentioned you may have repairs by that point anyway. So from where we're sitting right now, it seems the right choice. But if the situation changes we'll explore other options!
(Also the rented one is great - two sided. With two of us working it we were just flying. So nice to use, and so much wood got split!)

Never saw a two sided one but that would be a wonderful thing to have! Sometimes I wish we had two going at the same time, as sometimes there will be people waiting for every single stick of wood that comes out of that splitter...like a watched pot never boiling.

We use ours vertically due to the HUGE logs we are most often splitting, many of them 3 ft across, 2 ft deep.

 

[treerooted]

Mom and I are always droolin' someone's wood pile as we drive across the state.

Yes!!!

 

[NH Homesteader]

X2- glad you're starting to heal! Get rid of that cold soon too!

 

[sumi]

Glad you've got some improvement! Hoping you heal fully and quickly.

X2- glad you're starting to heal! Get rid of that cold soon too!

Thanks! I'm anxious to get this arm back fully. Talking about wood for fire, I have a pile in the back waiting to be sawn into logs and that is actually a chore I enjoy doing, but can't at the moment. And the cement slab in the back needs a good, wet sweep too, to clean it. So many things slipped the last 3 weeks with me being physically challenged. And the garden! I wanted to grow something, but it's probably way too late now. We had heavy frost last week and a spot of snow two counties north of us.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It's such a pain in the rear to want to do something and not be able to because of an injury. Grrrrrrrrr! Maybe you can plant a seed in a pot and hope for the best?!