After a few hours of working, I realized that blisters were starting to form on my hands. This was still the case even though I chose to wear gloves in order to avoid this very situation, so I took the gloves off.
I also noticed a hole in one of the gloves and knew that I had to search for a thicker, more suitable pair of gloves. While taking a break, I found a good replacement pair and then continued chopping.
Making the pieces smaller
The brunt of the task took around three days (on and off) to complete. However, I found that there was still a little bit more to do.
I felt the need to sort through the pile one more time as I found that some of the logs weren’t cut up small enough for my needs. Unfortunately, it had rained over the week and the wood had gotten damp. This made the logs a bit trickier to cut up.
Fresh air & fitness
Interestingly, I found that chopping up wood was beneficial to me in a few different ways. I had fuel for my wood burner as initially intended but I was also getting some exercise. I was essentially killing two birds with one stone.
Furthermore, I typically go out jogging several times a week but I couldn’t find the time as I was occupied with this. I nevertheless found that I didn’t need to go running this week as the physicality of chopping up all this wood had compensated for missing this.
Sheltered storage solutions
The next challenge was finding a place where the logs could dry off and remain protected from the elements for the foreseeable future. As things stood, they were exposed to any potential rainfall out in the open in wet weather.
I considered throwing a tarp over the pile, held down with some bricks but I didn’t have the required materials to do so. In all honesty, I don’t have much in the way of storage space at my residence.
Conversely, I opted to instead move the timber to a relatively sheltered area next to my house where the roof hanged over a little.
There wasn’t quite enough room here for all of the wood. For this reason, I decided to clear out some space in my shed and keep the remainder of the logs in there.
After this, the mission was pretty much accomplished. I can now help myself to logs at leisure from my stockpile whenever I need to heat my home.
I will also give a few logs to my brother in exchange for lending me his axe. Have you ever injured yourself doing something like this? What do you think is the best way to store timber?
Related Posts:
Chopping Wood Part 1 – Gathering The Necessary Materials
Chopping Wood Part 2 – Tooling Up & Good Technique
Using Butane Gas Canisters To Save Money On Energy Bills
