Cutting your own smoke wood

[wbf610]

Cutting wood for 5 minutes is not free. It's labor intensive and I would rather watch cars go by on my porch than gather or chop wood. Worth $6 to not bother thinking about wood chopping.. lol

I’ll have maybe $10 in gas for the truck, another $5 for the saw. It is work, but I won’t put a cost on my time since he needs help doing it, and the exercise isn’t going to hurt, I need it. I like cutting wood. In the end, I’ll get a few hundred $ worth of chunks, or more. I have plenty of dry storage as well.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Lol.. I don't know.. I use 30 lbs a year maybe. It's all good. Just not my idea of fun. I have no place to store it either.. no saw.. no hatchet. No chainsaw.. no lust for free wood.

 

[wbf610]

Lol.. I don't know.. I use 30 lbs a year maybe. It's all good. Just not my idea of fun. I have no place to store it either.. no saw.. no hatchet. No chainsaw.. no lust for free wood.

No saw, that’s goes against some man law I think. Lol. No lust for free wood, just taking some since it’s available, and helping a friend out.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Good deal.. I'm just being a dillweed. Lol

Have fun.. enjoy.

 

[wbf610]

Good deal.. I'm just being a dillweed. Lol

Have fun.. enjoy.

Cheers!

 

[Rings Я Us]

;)

 

[mcokevin]

Of all the questions that could start a debate, I did not think this would be one of them!

 

[motocrash]

Of all the questions that could start a debate, I did not think this would be one of them!

This one always "opens a can"
The main thing is work smarter,not harder in processing.That's why I cut to length and split to size initially so it will season/dry faster and also use natural bar oil since I save the dust.

 

[Rings Я Us]

I say my time is worth $20 an hour. If I used 10 hours finding, transporting , cutting and putting away piles of wood chunks to fit in my $29.00 smoker, that's $200 to me doing some work. After I worked 45 hrs.
I can buy 30 bags of any type wood chunks for that $200 time investment. That's like 5 years worth of chunks to use up.
It's not going to break the bank for me to use $6 or $7 six times a year.
I think that if people enjoy cutting wood and they have the tools and spare time to do it, that's great.. I can just think of 500 other things that are much easier or fun to me than chopping up wood for wood chunks.
It's to easy for me to reach out and grab a bag or 5 and toss it in the cart like if it were a can of beans. Lol
If I used 500 lbs of wood a year for my smoker I would try and find it free and cut it.

 

[gmc2003]

I don't know, being outside with the smoker or kettle going listening to a ballgame on the radio with the pooch at my side trimming up a few tree limbs I find very relaxing. In my case no traveling is required as my neighbors have apple trees and I have maples on my property. Bonus, I can take a dip in the pool afterwards.

Chris

 

[mcokevin]

I'm certainly not going to go out and cut my own smoke wood all the time. This was a case where two trees were available and being cut down anyway, so I asked for some pieces to be saved.

I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I don't mind the manual labor now and then. I have a job that is either in the office or sitting on airplanes traveling from place to place, so it's nice to use my hands for stuff around the house.

 

[johnh12]

Cutting wood for 5 minutes is not free. It's labor intensive and I would rather watch cars go by on my porch than gather or chop wood. Worth $6 to not bother thinking about wood chopping.. lol

Yes but the wife can't talk to you when you're wearing ear protection and running the chainsaw! ;)

 

[SonnyE]

I spent more than 20 years heating with wood.
The saying, "Cut your own wood and it warms you twice." That is BS!
It warms you 6 TIMES, or more.
1. You cut it.
2. You load it.
3. You unload it.
4. You split it, work it down.
5. Stack it, store it.
6. Bring it in, and eventually it warms your butt.

I'm glad to use Pellets or Pucks now. Oh, and Natural gas.
Shoot, I can warm our bottoms from my danged phone.

I should probably sell my chainsaw and Power pruner now that we are tree less....

Hey Johnny, I got a 20 pound bag of Hickory Pellets at Walmart for $10.95 last September. Golll-y. :rolleyes:

 

[SonnyE]

Yes but the wife can't talk to you when you're wearing ear protection and running the chainsaw! ;)

My wife got an abstract lesson. She came out chatting about something when I was doing some test cuts on my table saw.
I shut it off, but as it was spinning down, a small piece was dancing slowly toward the slowing blade. I reached down and flicked it away....
But my pinky extended and the blade was almost at a standstill. Cha-ching! Got a little nibble on the side.
All she saw was something fly away that looked whiteish, me yank my hand back, and blood.
She bout fainted, she thought the little piece of wood was my finger. :eek:

She use to come home from work and check the bathroom trash. If there was bloody tissues in it she'd come right out and ask what I cut this time.
When anybody came over, if I was in my shop, she made them wait while she stood at the door until I stopped, and any machine was stopped, before she'd tell me somebody was there. She wouldn't let anybody distract me.

Until she learns, don't get distracted. ;)
Work Safe! Oh, and still got all ten. :D

 

[Bearcarver]

My wife got an abstract lesson. She came out chatting about something when I was doing some test cuts on my table saw.
I shut it off, but as it was spinning down, a small piece was dancing slowly toward the slowing blade. I reached down and flicked it away....
But my pinky extended and the blade was almost at a standstill. Cha-ching! Got a little nibble on the side.
All she saw was something fly away that looked whiteish, me yank my hand back, and blood.
She bout fainted, she thought the little piece of wood was my finger. :eek:

She use to come home from work and check the bathroom trash. If there was bloody tissues in it she'd come right out and ask what I cut this time.
When anybody came over, if I was in my shop, she made them wait while she stood at the door until I stopped, and any machine was stopped, before she'd tell me somebody was there. She wouldn't let anybody distract me.

Until she learns, don't get distracted. ;)
Work Safe! Oh, and still got all ten. :D

Sonny,
Your Wife plays it smart. I worked with wood all my life & 20+ years in a Cabinet shop, and years of Chainsaw carving.
It's not a good idea to startle someone running a Table Saw or Shaper, Etc.
I've felt the wind from the saw blade, on the hair on the back of my fingers a few times, but I still have all 10 fingers too.


And to those cutting Smoking Wood:
If you use a chainsaw, and I've used a few for long times, I think the best thing to do is to drain your Bar & Chain oil reservoir, and fill it with "Cooking Oil".
It won't hurt your saw, and it won't hurt your Smoked Meat.

Bear

 

[SonnyE]

Sonny,
Your Wife plays it smart. I worked with wood all my life & 20+ years in a Cabinet shop, and years of Chainsaw carving.
It's not a good idea to startle someone running a Table Saw or Shaper, Etc.
I've felt the wind from the saw blade, on the hair on the back of my fingers a few times, but I still have all 10 fingers too.

Bear

Glad to hear you worked safe all those years, Bear, and have all 10 still.
But don't stop being careful. ;)
I think a successful life is getting all of yourself in the exit box.

I'd be more likely to use my 18" (Oil-less) Jet band-saw, than Mama's salad oil in my chainsaw. But that's just me.

 

[Bearcarver]

Glad to hear you worked safe all those years, Bear, and have all 10 still.
But don't stop being careful. ;)
I think a successful life is getting all of yourself in the exit box.

I'd be more likely to use my 18" (Oil-less) Jet band-saw, than Mama's salad oil in my chainsaw. But that's just me.

LOL---Yup, That'll work too, if you have one!!
I got some Chainsaw carving Buddies who do more of it than I did, and they sometimes cut in certain areas on State Parks.
They are told to do the Cooking Oil routine on those lands.

Bear

 

[SonnyE]

I do. The whole shop is out there. But the back can't do the work any longer.

Very interesting about the State Parks.
Say, when the chain heats up, does the woods smell like French Fries?
Inquiring minds want to know. LOL!

 

[Bearcarver]

I do. The whole shop is out there. But the back can't do the work any longer.

Very interesting about the State Parks.
Say, when the chain heats up, does the woods smell like French Fries?
Inquiring minds want to know. LOL!

I don't know---I never went to the Parks with them.:D
I sold all my Big stuff when I closed my Cabinet shop, except I gave my Son the Table Saw & Beisemeyer, Band Saw, Dust collector, Binks Spray System, and many power & Air Tools. He has the Chainsaws too, as I had to quit everything.
Don't know if you saw this:
A Bear from Log to Finish


Bear

 

[SonnyE]

Yes Sir I did, and I enjoyed it immensely. You uncovered a true vain of creativity in yourself.
Pretty wonderful.

I'm just a very advanced DIY'er. Made my own custom moldings as well. It was fun.
Mostly made what I needed for remodeling. I had as much fun figuring things out as I did with the finished project.

But livin on the outskirts of city, it's just too easy to buy Plastic Wrapped wood to smoke my Plastic Wrapped fish. :D
If I lived with the Daughter and SIL on their wooded 5 acres in Washington State, shucks, I'd stumble around and collect wind fall branches, like they do for smoker fuel.