Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

[McCulloch610]

@McCullock610m, your furnace looks about like what my parents have for heating their house. And, their house is always warm and comfortable. My dad, at 86, finally decided he was tired of splitting wood by hand, so he bought a splitter this year.

He's a better man than me! I'm 34 and have had a splitter since the beginning. I do enjoy splitting by hand for exercise though.

 

[Beekissed]

Our neighbor borrowed our Sotz monster maul this year~without asking, I might add~and broke the head of it off. Can no longer buy a Sotz, as that company went out of business, and you can't find its equal out there....we've had that one since the early 80s.

But...lovely thing! My son found one at a flea market for $15 the other day! A monster maul is a handy thing to have and it's what my Dad used until he got a splitter in the late 90s. We've been using it ever since and it's a dream...very peaceful to use the gas splitter. We used to split every stick that went in the house with that maul, and I remember sitting at the wood pile for hours, splitting up stove wood with the axe for the wood cook stove. If we still had that cook stove, I'd still split that kind of wood by hand...it would take so very long if done with a splitter.

 

[McCulloch610]

I hand split with a Fiskers splitting ax-its light weight allows for an extremely fast swing and it doesn't tire you out the way hoisting a traditional maul does. Once you get your form down it's amazing how well it splits. Most of the time I opt for my 20 ton MTD clone though...

 

[Beekissed]

I hand split with a Fiskers splitting ax-its light weight allows for an extremely fast swing and it doesn't tire you out the way hoisting a traditional maul does. Once you get your form down it's amazing how well it splits. Most of the time I opt for my 20 ton MTD clone though...

I've seen those Fiskars axes!!! I must admit that I really, really wanted to buy one....very sharp and wedged out just enough to get a good split started. It's a good brand. I was attracted to it for the same reasons you mentioned...my shoulders are shot, so lifting that monster maul is harder for me than ever but I hefted that Fiskars and it seemed right at home in my hands. Definitely was coveting that tool.

 

[baymule]

sub-zero?? Where do you live? I am in northeast Texas, where temps in the 20's are cold and we don't see very much of that.

 

[Beekissed]

Who are you askin', Baymule? If me, WV and we are regularly getting into the teens below zero in Jan/Feb now, what with global warming and all.

 

[baymule]

Bee, I was asking @McCulloch610 I already know what patch of God's Country you live in. But I didn't realize that you get below zero too! I'll just keep my happy self down here where 20's is really, really cold and teens is an event for the weather history!

 

[Beekissed]

Sounds good...until summer time. I like living in the middle...not too hot for very long, not too cold for very long, four seasons, not too rainy, not too much snow, not too much drought. It's juuuuuuuuuuust right, as Goldilocks would say.

 

[McCulloch610]

Bee, I was asking @McCulloch610 I already know what patch of God's Country you live in. But I didn't realize that you get below zero too!

I am in Northwest NJ, about 60 miles from the nearest coastline and about 450' above sea level. We tend to see slightly colder temperatures than the rest of the state. Sub-zero is not the norm, but it's not uncommon either. We usually get about a two week stretch where I see the minus sign on my outdoor thermometer. The norm for nighttime lows in January and February is high teens to low 20s.

 

[Denim Deb]

I hand split with a Fiskers splitting ax-its light weight allows for an extremely fast swing and it doesn't tire you out the way hoisting a traditional maul does. Once you get your form down it's amazing how well it splits. Most of the time I opt for my 20 ton MTD clone though...

I have a Fiskers as well and I love it!