Town Diary - April 2003
Firewood for next winter.
During the cold months of the year many Barkhamsted residents
burn firewood as either a primary source of heat or to augment more conventional
heat sources such as fuel oil or electricity. Putting in a large supply of
firewood can be a lot of work, and the process sometimes starts in the winter even
before the wood for the current heating season is used up. Bill Adams on Center
Hill Road (Route 181) in Barkhamsted burns a lot of firewood each year and he likes
to get an early jump on preparing next years supply. It is only April and
already Bill has put up a very impressive woodpile in his back yard.
Photo above- Bill Adams splitting firewood-- the pile grows longer!
Photo above- Bill Adams and the long wood pile he works up every year.
With the long
southern exposure and in a single pile, the wood seasons fairly
quickly.
The pile stretches over 100 feet and faces south
to take maximum advantage of the drying power of the sun. Bill normally
buys about six cords of tree length wood in the late fall and, with help from two
sons, cuts it up into pieces about 18 inches long. Most of these cut pieces
are still large in diameter so they are run through a hydraulic wood splitter.
The split pieces are now small enough for the wood stove and also will dry more
quickly. The cut and split wood has more than eight months to season before
next winter. The wood is piled up to further encourage drying. Later
Bill will move much of the wood inside. This past winter was colder than normal
and Bill actually burned all his seasoned wood and even started burning some of
next years supply. To make up for this he got another six cord load to cut
and split. He appreciates the ability to heat the house during extended power
outages in the winter. He does not mind the hard work involved with laying
in a large supply of firewood. As the old saying goes, "you get warm twice
from burning wood".
Photo above- splitting next year's wood with a hydraulic splitter.
Photo above- The wood pile (to the right of the house) is still growing.
Altogether, Bill will
cut and split about 13 cords.
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