Wish I had more to report today other than wood splitting updates, but here we are, and here I am. So let’s crack on shall we? Right, so my neatly stacked rows are just about done, I have two (2) lonely rounds left to split. These have gotten significantly larger, heavier, denser and more difficult to split. Not a major problem, just means I’m a little slower moving and not rushing through. Takes a more surgical strike to pull the bits apart and discard that which won’t rend itself to bits under my axe. I’m cool with that. I’m not wasting an hour to split a knot in two anymore. My ego suffered those battles last year and I’m more resigned to accepting defeat at the hands of a too tough tree crotch, not, or limb joint. I’ll live to fight another day. I’m up to 2.5 hours of splitting for this week, and six in total so far now that school is back in session.
I had planned on testing out some bits from other mounds in Wood Pile one, but the humidity and general toughness of these last thick boys was too much for me today to really care. My enthusiasm and curiosity took a back seat to all the sweating, fatigue and discomfort. My right elbow has announced its presence so that will now be a limiting factor as well. I’ll have to keep an eye on how it feels before I try to get all lumber jack crazed at the farm.
The humidity was real nasty this morning. I knew it would get ugly when it was 19°C at 7:00 am, when it’s been only 8-9°C more recently. Last night’s rain and all the morning dew only added to the moisture content of the air. I sweat through my shirt, socks and pants after just one hour of axe swinging today.
Was happy to see that my plan worked yesterday, and those damn red ants high tailed it out of the log I set up for chopping this morning. Though with the sunshine and humidity came a glut of mosquitoes buzzing around and feasting upon my exposed arms and neck, cheeks, forehead etc… not my favourite by any stretch of the imagination. Need to keep my concentration on the path of the downward swinging axe, not blowing on buzzing insects mere moments before impact, or near miss if I flinch. That could lead to catastrophe. Don’t need that. No thank you.
The closer we get to autumn the more vigilant I’ll need to be about ticks and spiders hanging out in amongst the scattered rounds. Ugh. Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.
Oh, I have all my Cherry wood boards glued up. I need to trim them down to their final width of 11.5 inches. Then I can scrape off the glue and begin planing them all down. That will take me a few days at least. I’ve gotten tired from the axe slinging, so I’ll alternate days between wood shop and the farm splitting exercises. Last thing I want to do is be tired around my table saw or power tools. Work smart not hard!
Happy Wednesday!
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