Earlier in the summer we took down and HAD experts take down trees that were suffering from dry rot or were putting our roof and our neighbor's roof in jeopardy. We cut this wood into large pieces, sections of the trunk and piled it up on the side of the house. The wall of wood was 10 feet long and ranged between 6 and 4 feet high. Not only was it an eyesore, it had attracted an army of carpenter ants. (Just the fear of carpenter ants cause the neighbor to call and demand we move the wood. He hadn't actually seen any but we had, oh yes, they were there munching away on the dry rot!)
The plan all along had been to rent a wood splitter and split and stack the wood someplace else in the yard. The site of the woodpile was hotly debated in our household hence the delay in the splitting. We finally agreed on a place that seemed as though it was not visible from the house of the patio in the backyard and borrowed Devin's truck and hauled in the splitter.
Have you seen a log splitter? It's big, powerful and loud; a guillotine for logs. One positions the log beneath the blade, pulls the lever to power it down, and with even force, it plows through the log. The stumps with dry rot surrendered immediately to the force of the splitter, their centers spongey from the fungus that decayed it from within. For the record, the birch and a three-trunked silver maple were affected by dry rot. There was another maple, a spruce (which you can't use for firewood) and a hackberry that were fine. Hackberry is grainy like a tough chicken breast and doesn't split well at all.
We spent 6 hours splitting wood in the pouring rain. I deserve a medal.
The plan all along had been to rent a wood splitter and split and stack the wood someplace else in the yard. The site of the woodpile was hotly debated in our household hence the delay in the splitting. We finally agreed on a place that seemed as though it was not visible from the house of the patio in the backyard and borrowed Devin's truck and hauled in the splitter.
Have you seen a log splitter? It's big, powerful and loud; a guillotine for logs. One positions the log beneath the blade, pulls the lever to power it down, and with even force, it plows through the log. The stumps with dry rot surrendered immediately to the force of the splitter, their centers spongey from the fungus that decayed it from within. For the record, the birch and a three-trunked silver maple were affected by dry rot. There was another maple, a spruce (which you can't use for firewood) and a hackberry that were fine. Hackberry is grainy like a tough chicken breast and doesn't split well at all.
We spent 6 hours splitting wood in the pouring rain. I deserve a medal.
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