So I was thinking today...

[dave_dj1]

With all this technology and equipment we have at out disposal today to work on making firewood it's still a lot of hard work!
I have a tractor with forks and bucket, a logging winch, a chainsaw, a log splitter with a 4 way wedge and log lift, a stand to set my half pallets on at the end of the outfeed table, pallets to move and store the wood and it's still a lot of work. I couldn't even imagine using a cross cut saw, an axe, a horse and whatever other primitive tools were at out forefathers disposal. I like to think I'm in decent shape at 60 years old, I do enjoy it though. There is something about looking out my back window and seeing three freshly split pallets of nice firewood
Stay warm my friends

 

[Deleted member 117362]

They lived in 300 square foot homes, used outhouses, worked hard, froze and died young. I will be 66 and wonder that myself.

 

[chucker]

DITTO, to all the above! besides its what maintains our sanity to a point ?? lol

 

[Marley5]

58 and still enjoy cutting and burning wood......maybe the satisfaction of being self sufficient.
I hear ya' on the " still a lot of work " , I just use lighter saws and limit how much I cut per day.

My brother is a logger and gladly takes stuff on the property I can't put on a splitter.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

Hard work, absolutely. But consider this.... in the time you are speaking of, at 60, you were alread an eldery man and your children were wondering why you are not dead yet. Go back farther, and I at 44, would be the village elder.

Life was hard and people checked out way sooner than we do now. BUT, they were also accustomed to the hard work because that was the only way the work got done. Thank God for steel and the industrial revolution.

 

[sb47]

Hard work, absolutely. But consider this.... in the time you are speaking of, at 60, you were alread an eldery man and your children were wondering why you are not dead yet. Go back farther, and I at 44, would be the village elder.

Life was hard and people checked out way sooner than we do now. BUT, they were also accustomed to the hard work because that was the only way the work got done. Thank God for steel and the industrial revolution.

It wasn't just the hard work, lack of food at times, hard living conditions. It was the lack of modern health care and the availability of it. It's without question not perfect by a long way, but people live longer because of better health, and better working conditions. One of the biggest things about modern medicine is the invention of antibiotics. That gave us the power to fight off infections that use to kill.

 

[turnkey4099]

With all this technology and equipment we have at out disposal today to work on making firewood it's still a lot of hard work!
I have a tractor with forks and bucket, a logging winch, a chainsaw, a log splitter with a 4 way wedge and log lift, a stand to set my half pallets on at the end of the outfeed table, pallets to move and store the wood and it's still a lot of work. I couldn't even imagine using a cross cut saw, an axe, a horse and whatever other primitive tools were at out forefathers disposal. I like to think I'm in decent shape at 60 years old, I do enjoy it though. There is something about looking out my back window and seeing three freshly split pallets of nice firewood
Stay warm my friends

Been there and done that back in the 40s but did have one piece of power equipment - one man dragsaw. Modernized somewhat in the early 60s with an ex-logger's Mac. Working on the wood pile as soon as I was big enough to carry a couple sticks into the woodbox in the kitchen. Wasn't trousted to fall a tree until I was 16. but before that I did have to pull one end of the 2-man crosscut helping Dad whose favorite saying was "QUITE RIDING THE DAMN SAW!!"

 

[KiwiBro]

So, where is the firewood routine going to be at in future generations? Is it a back to the future type of thing or will it have moved on to easier and more productive ways to generate firewood the next generation super efficient wood burners can burn?

Perhaps someone is going to develop a 20' shipping container that takes whole trees in one end, chips, dries and presses out pellets and briquettes at the other end, neatly stacked on pallets for easy transport/shipping. No bucking and splitting needed. Just park the shipping container close to a landing and harvest whole tree, or on a vacant lot in suburbia and take tree service waste all day long.

Or will the green movement have shut down every possible wood burning device by then?

Or maybe we'll have anaerobic digesters rather than firewood burners. We feed wood chips and any organic waste into a bin full of microbes that digest the matter, creating heat and methane, pumping both into our houses.

 

[sb47]

So, where is the firewood routine going to be at in future generations? Is it a back to the future type of thing or will it have moved on to easier and more productive ways to generate firewood the next generation super efficient wood burners can burn?

Perhaps someone is going to develop a 20' shipping container that takes whole trees in one end, chips, dries and presses out pellets and briquettes at the other end, neatly stacked on pallets for easy transport/shipping. No bucking and splitting needed. Just park the shipping container close to a landing and harvest whole tree, or on a vacant lot in suburbia and take tree service waste all day long.

Or will the green movement have shut down every possible wood burning device by then?

I think the pellet wood will be big in the future because pulp wood can be ground up and pelleted and make use of a recourse that is being wasted. Many company's are switching to pulp and wood chips for heat tp produce power.
But that takes fossil fuels to produce so who knows. I think wood heat will be around for ever. It's the original heat fuel since the cave man.

 

[rarefish383]

58 and still enjoy cutting and burning wood......maybe the satisfaction of being self sufficient.
I hear ya' on the " still a lot of work " , I just use lighter saws and limit how much I cut per day.

My brother is a logger and gladly takes stuff on the property I can't put on a splitter.

Crimey, I knew I was doing something wrong, 63 and I keep buying older and bigger saws. I think the loop of half inch chain on my Super 68 weighs as much as my whole MS170!

 

[jrider]

I often think about the same thing. Imagine going back to the 1800's with modern equipment and seeing the looks on their faces! AND imagine how much money you could make.

As others have also mentioned, life expectancy was low back then. Here in the US in 1850, the life expectancy of a man was late 30's. Being 43 years old now, I would be a great grandpa and probably have no teeth left.

 

[rarefish383]

I often think about the same thing. Imagine going back to the 1800's with modern equipment and seeing the looks on their faces! AND imagine how much money you could make.

As others have also mentioned, life expectancy was low back then. Here in the US in 1850, the life expectancy of a man was late 30's. Being 43 years old now, I would be a great grandpa and probably have no teeth left.

That's pretty true. But, if you look at the affluent, back to the Romans, they lived long lives. Many of our wealthy forefathers live to ripe old ages, still with their faculties. It's the poor working stiffs that got stiffed.

 

[alleyyooper]

Go back to the 1800's with our saws and stuff today we really wouldn't get rich. Money was hard to come by even then for common folks so they would have still cut their own wood the hard way.
Maybe even burn you at the stake as a alien?

At 72 grew up on a northern Michigan farm. spent many a hour on the end of a cross cut saw felling trees cutting to handling size for two men or a man and a boy. Also spent a pile of time on the handle end of a Plumb double bit axe felling stuff small enough no need for the cross cut. My dad would keep yelling keep the stumps low boy.

Can't even begin to guess the hours spent as the throw away kid on the buzz saw, Normally we would go to a near by uncles farm and spend a day or two buzzing his wood, the following week end mid November our farm.
Dads woods was down the road a bit from the main farm so we would fill out the 1 ton 56 ford flat bed with sides then two big farm wagons with sides freashly used to pick corn, and Uncles 55 dodge pick up.

Back at the house the wood shed was a part of the house out side the kitchen with a dirt floor and to window size door to throw wood in from the pick ups and wagons.

No one owned a chain saw till the very early 1970's when my brother got a Allis branded Polan 25 to take to Canada on or fishing trips to cut blow downs from the trails we use to get back to a lake on a old logging road.

My mom cooked on a wood range till about 1966 also stopped heating the house about then with fire wood also till fuel prices went nuts about 1974.

Al

 

[rarefish383]

We started using Poulan 25's later in their production for our primary climbing saws. Out of nostalgia, I'd been looking for one for several years.people either thought they were made of gold, or complete basket cases. Finally found one badged as a Sears. I'd say they will run with anything in their class made today.

 

[svk]

Firewooding IS a lot of hard work!

To me it saves a lot of money on the heat bill but also helps keep my woods clean of deadfalls and provides me with much needed exercise both during gathering and burning cycles.

Boiler wood is almost like cheating though as anything smaller than 12" for me does not even need to be split.

 

[rancher2]

The short 35 years I have been burning wood it gotten easier for me as I have gotten way more equipment. Helpers are getting hard to find. But when you burn 15-20 cord a year its still a fair amount of work.

 

[alleyyooper]

I would also like to have a Polan 25 badges as a Allis sears or other. Fellow at work sent his sears branded home with me to sharpen the chain. I had to take it to my woods and see how it ran. Sweet every bit as nice as My Echo CS400 my favorite saw.

Saw on two years a go but didn't have any money then.

All I heat the house with is fire wood. Back when the Electric furnace was hooked up I ran it two months straight. electric bill for it was 450.00 a month every month.
Since I didn't have the time to cut fire wood I bought a 10 face cord load for 300.00 which finished the winter heating about 3 months.

If it will fit thru this door I don't split either.

Al

 

[grizz55chev]

How it was done, and he’s only 25!

 

[svk]

View attachment 763245 How it was done, and he’s only 25!

Logging in the old days turned a boy into a man quickly....and turned a man into an old man equally fast.

I have seen a lot of the old logging pics from around here. The guys at the front of the mess hall table looked OLD and in reality they were probably in their 40's.

 

[svk]

I often think about the same thing. Imagine going back to the 1800's with modern equipment and seeing the looks on their faces! AND imagine how much money you could make.

As others have also mentioned, life expectancy was low back then. Here in the US in 1850, the life expectancy of a man was late 30's. Being 43 years old now, I would be a great grandpa and probably have no teeth left.

That's pretty true. But, if you look at the affluent, back to the Romans, they lived long lives. Many of our wealthy forefathers live to ripe old ages, still with their faculties. It's the poor working stiffs that got stiffed.

The people that made it into their 80's back then had both excellent genetics and great luck to not die from some sort of bacterial infection that was not curable with antibiotics at the time!!!

I am lucky in that I have male longevity through three sets of my grandparents. Now I just need to take care of myself! My paternal grandfather was completely grey by 60 but at 87 he really doesn't look any different. His uncle made it over 100. My great great grandfather (civil war veteran) through my father's mother's side made it to 97.

At 40 I would be dead soon (if Lyme disease was around back then) as with no way to treat it would take you down over a few years.