Yesterday was log-splitting day.  Joe has a side gig selling firewood, so he occasionally buys a log truck.  He has the equipment to handle logs, but occasionally recruits some helpers.

I work for wood.  Joe knows I was never a fireball, so doesn’t work me to exhaustion.  It was a nice, comfortable pace of chainsawing and splitting. 

My payment was in poplar rounds. 

By taking big rounds, I can leave the wood on the trailer, and split at my leasure.  Joe’s time isn’t wasted splitting my wood.

Some of these rounds are 300 lbs.  My technique is to position the log splitter behind the trailer and brace the trailer ramp up to the height of the log splitter rails.  Roll the round up the ramp to the splitter.  A big round may take a couple of dozen splits to get to firewood size.

That is probably two-thirds of a cord.  Poplar isn’t great firewood, but that will heat my house for a month or so. 

Some people get the wrong idea.  I do have a furnace, and the means to pay my gas bill.  I like to work, as long as it’s a reasonable pace.