Central Plateau, North Island

Central Plateau, North Island
View from a friend's farm

Thursday 28 August 2014

We’re Still Working with the Firewood.

 

Wednesday dawned with a frost, a fine day, and off we  trudged, oops ,I meant walked briskly to the trees and logs. Ann arrived on her bike and soon the splitter was in action. It is a “ Yard Machine” 20 ton splitter, with the wedge driven by a hydraulic ram, petrol driven, pull cord start. It can handle rounds in the vertical position easily, when they are too heavy to lift up. There is a horseshoe shaped mould on the bottom plate and this holds the rounds as the wedge cuts into them. Safety  always comes  first, so muffs, gloves, and no fingers anywhere near the wedge or behind the rounds!!!

Hugh is putting the wedge to a vertical position.

Setting the wedge to vertical #1

Locking it into place.

setting the wedge to vertical #2

One round on its way to becoming firewood.

Vertical splitting #1

A smaller round, easily lifted to the horizontal plate.

horizontal splitting

I loaded the video to Vimeo,  but needed to change the format so after another try, here it is. No voice commentary, the machine was  too loud!!! I had to double click to start the video.Somehow on  this my name is  Anna, which is my first christian name, Anna, after my Dad’s mum and Jean, after my Mum’s mum, but as a child  was always called Nan or Nancy, hence my blog name of Nancy J.

Actors and actresses have given permission for their screen debut to be published, and I’m sure an Oscar, an Emmy, or maybe an new NZ only award, “AOWS” .. Art of Wood Splitting, they deserve it so much!!!

Another frost this morning, a  fine day will follow.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

The mighty trees give shelter and shade on a hot day, and warmth in  winter

Greetings from Jean

22 comments:

Razzle Dazzle Quilter said...

......and you do that all day?

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

WHAT A FANTASTIC TOOL!!!!

Have a lovely weekend ~ FlowerLady

TexWisGirl said...

wow! what an awesome machine! renders those huge logs into such neat and manageable pieces! yes, i'd nominate you both for an academy award. made of wood, of course... :)

Carol Mattingly said...

Wow, what a big job and undertaking. You guys are fantastic. Loved the video. Hang in there Jean/Anna. Carol

Lindsjö taxar said...

Great post! Love the video of your work.
We had a machine like that too while we did firewood. But now we have heating from the rock below our house 115 meters ...dont know whats it called in English.

KB said...

Firewood!!!! You two have been so hard at work, "walking briskly" to the firewood for quite a while! We use a machine like that some years, and we need one this year. Today is the first day that I'd enjoy a fire, but alas, we need to make firewood. We don't stay on top of that job like you and Hugh do!

Susan Heather said...

That is a great log splitter. Mine is electric and splits on the horizontal but nothing as big as those logs.

You obviously have loads of stamina.

eileeninmd said...

You have been working at hard on the wood cutting.. The machine is neat..and handy! Have a happy weekend!

Jim said...

That has got to be the coolest machine around, Jean! So easy and does a great job too!
Your directorial premier was excellent by the way.....well done.
It is difficult for me to see 'tropical' trees in the background and also seeing ear-muffs at the same time!

Julie Fukuda said...

Wow, that sure beats the way I have done it all these years. Cool machine.

Jenn Jilks said...

Wow. I have one of these, but since most of our dead trees are hard elm, it doesn't work on them. I should sell it, shouldn't I?!
Good work. I love the video!

Brit said...

So nice to see that you work together ! We do this also in may/june and after drying out all summer we now have to but it inside the barn before the snow comes.

Michaele said...

Nice job on the video! I used to have one of these when I live in Wyoming. More trees there : ) Working with wood this way really is very satisfying.

Our photos said...

Goodness, what a lot of work (respect)

Here I Am Carrie said...

Boy those log splitters sure make easy work of splitting wood. We got one about 4 years ago. Can't believe we went all those years before hand splitting the wood. Also the pieces are now smaller and easier for me to get in the stove. Well your wood should be all dry and ready for next winter. Hope things warm up for you soon to help take all the aches and pains away. You too really need a break now.

Karen said...

I love your morning glory header!
My brother cuts firewood to make a living, so I am familiar with this machine.

Hannah said...

What an awesome machine! It looks like it is just cutting cheese. So much nice firewood! You are fortunate to be headed so soon for spring. I'm tired of the heat and drought of summer, but it will be hard to say goodbye to the flowers and fruit.

Inger said...

That's one great machine! And thank you so much for your thoughtful comment, it really lifted my spirits.

fromsophiesview said...

You have such beautiful trees on your property, but to manage the wood splitter would be a daunting task. I can feel the brisk weather you are having as we sit in humidity the 1st day of Sept. Alas, it won't last much longer because the nights are cool, thankfully!

Cheers!
Ron

Jenn Jilks said...

My firewood is done!!!!

Eggs In My Pocket said...

Even with a splitter this makes a a hard day of work! When we first moved out here to our country home, the central heating unit was not working and all we had was a fire place and small heaters to keep us warm until we could collect the funds to get the system fixed. My husband and I would spend weekends gathering wood and getting it ready for use. I love our fireplace still, but am so thankful to also have central heating!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Awesome and what a beautiful place- I heard the birds before the machine started up! Sure makes short work of a hard job.