Wood Cutting and Splitting

Several days ago, I wrote about having trouble with the motor on my log splitter. Stacey went with me and I took the splitter in to the ATV shop. They looked at it and told me the motor needed work on it. I opted for a new Briggs and Stratton motor from Northern Tool. It was delivered and they installed the new engine. I went and picked it up and paid, then brought it home and unloaded the splitter. After splitting several pieces I decided it worked great and I was ready to split wood again. Steve Riddle and I had been talking about cutting some oak up on his place on Jone's Ridge, so we made plans for this morning. It was misting rain, but we decided to go ahead and meet at his farm at 10 AM. I loaded in my chainsaws and equipment to keep them running and headed up there in the pickup truck. Steve unlocked the gate and I followed him to the spot where he wanted to cut the trees. He pointed out the tree for me to cut and I started my saw and down it came, almost. Of course, the tree fell against another tree and didn't completely fall to the ground. We used a chain and my 4-wheel drive pickup to pull the tree the rest of the way to the ground. It took about 20 minutes to do that. Steve used his saw to trim the smaller limbs off the trunk and branches while I cut the larger part of the trunk. We worked, took a break, worked, tightened our chains, worked, sharpened my chain, and worked some more. We picked up the pieces and threw them in our truck beds. We divided the wood evenly without worrying about being exact. We took a break and drank a coke, then pulled over to another tree trunk Steve had already cut down. The pieces had been too big for him to use without splitting, so we cut those up and loaded them in our trucks. I headed to the hay shed while Steve fed his cattle and closed up the gates. I pulled the log splitter to the inside of the hay shed and had it ready to go when Steve pulled inside the sliding door. Nancy had finished working at the bank and came along to help. I started the splitter and showed Steve how to run it, then I rolled the bigger pieces off his truck and over to the splitter. Steve set in a chair and ran the splitter while Nancy picked up the split pieces and put them back in the truck. We finished the pieces Steve thought needed splitting and Nancy went on back home. Steve stayed a few minutes and helped me put the splitter back in the wood shed. It was 3 PM when we finished and I went inside.