NGaMountains
ArboristSite Operative
Hello, everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself, give a quick bit of background and ask a few questions for anyone who might have some thoughts.
I moved to a new home in the north Georgia mountains last December, and proceeded to spend almost $400 on propane in my worst month last winter. This year I've had my two chimney flues relined, am having a wood stove installed in the downstairs firebox next week, and have started working craigslist hard for free wood and processing it myself. I rented a hydraulic splitter for a week in late September (TSC Huskee/Countyline 22 Ton) and split about 3 cords, and had no problem with anything I put in front of it.
Since then I've come across several more truckloads of free wood, including Bradford Pear (2) and Hickory (3). With having all that sitting around, I built some 16' wood racks with the cinder block/landscape timber/2x4 design, to get it off the ground, but also have about 15 or so hickory rounds that are all 20" plus in diameter and too heavy to lift, so I've had those standing up drying in the sun/wind, and itching for another splitter to get all the hickory and pear split.
I scratched that itch tonight, deciding to buy the DHT 22-ton that was on sale at Lowe's for $899 ending today, and with a 10% coupon got it for $810, which I felt was too darn good to turn down and will probably be all I'll ever need.
So, here are a couple questions if anyone's up for them:
1) When my DHT is delivered to Lowe's in the next couple days and I have them put the crate in the bed of my truck with their Hi/Lo, will I be in deep you know what trying to get the parts out of my truck, even taking the crate apart in the bed and taking things out a piece at a time? The biggest concern is the beam/cylinder assembly, which I can't find a spec on what it weights, but with the whole unit weighing 600+ pounds I'm thinking this may be quite the challenge. Once everything is down and in front of me I'm not too worried about getting it put together.
2) Concerning the hickory I got, I have it all save the 20"+ rounds stacked as rounds, with great exposure to sun and wind, so I think it's drying pretty well as rounds, with considerable cracking starting to show on the ends. Would I be better off splitting the smaller hickory rounds in a week or so once I get the DHT put together and split the very large rounds, or given they're already stacked and off the ground, should I leave them as rounds through the winter and split them next spring? I'm not sure which way will make for easier splitting.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and all the great advice I've read so far in doing what I've done. This is all brand new to me this year.
I moved to a new home in the north Georgia mountains last December, and proceeded to spend almost $400 on propane in my worst month last winter. This year I've had my two chimney flues relined, am having a wood stove installed in the downstairs firebox next week, and have started working craigslist hard for free wood and processing it myself. I rented a hydraulic splitter for a week in late September (TSC Huskee/Countyline 22 Ton) and split about 3 cords, and had no problem with anything I put in front of it.
Since then I've come across several more truckloads of free wood, including Bradford Pear (2) and Hickory (3). With having all that sitting around, I built some 16' wood racks with the cinder block/landscape timber/2x4 design, to get it off the ground, but also have about 15 or so hickory rounds that are all 20" plus in diameter and too heavy to lift, so I've had those standing up drying in the sun/wind, and itching for another splitter to get all the hickory and pear split.
I scratched that itch tonight, deciding to buy the DHT 22-ton that was on sale at Lowe's for $899 ending today, and with a 10% coupon got it for $810, which I felt was too darn good to turn down and will probably be all I'll ever need.
So, here are a couple questions if anyone's up for them:
1) When my DHT is delivered to Lowe's in the next couple days and I have them put the crate in the bed of my truck with their Hi/Lo, will I be in deep you know what trying to get the parts out of my truck, even taking the crate apart in the bed and taking things out a piece at a time? The biggest concern is the beam/cylinder assembly, which I can't find a spec on what it weights, but with the whole unit weighing 600+ pounds I'm thinking this may be quite the challenge. Once everything is down and in front of me I'm not too worried about getting it put together.
2) Concerning the hickory I got, I have it all save the 20"+ rounds stacked as rounds, with great exposure to sun and wind, so I think it's drying pretty well as rounds, with considerable cracking starting to show on the ends. Would I be better off splitting the smaller hickory rounds in a week or so once I get the DHT put together and split the very large rounds, or given they're already stacked and off the ground, should I leave them as rounds through the winter and split them next spring? I'm not sure which way will make for easier splitting.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and all the great advice I've read so far in doing what I've done. This is all brand new to me this year.
