In an attempt to convert myself from a 'Cityboy' to a full-fledged Country boy, I not only bought a skookum 4.5 HP chainsaw with a 20" bar but I purchased a 'spiral' steel wedge and a 5 lb. maul/axe. The wedge is a brilliant device, with a spiral twist that forces the wood apart as the wedge is pounded deeper into the wood block. It makes me feel rather competent of splitting large wood rounds. My maul is a monster of an axe, and is designed for splitting wood. Until I moved here, I did not know the difference between a chopping axe and a splitting axe.
In the summer time, I began to cut up and collect wood for our fireplace: our main source of heat. In all the previous years, we had run out of wood around January so I was determined to be fully stocked with wood this year. I cut up about 4 or 5 trees; split them and dried them.
To hold 6 months of wood, I converted the previous owner's jungle gym into a storage unit. Slowly, I filled up rows of beautifully dried maple, fir, and alder wood. In November, when the first real rain came, I found that my converted jungle gym leaked, soaking all my wood. So, I moved half of the wood under the open shed. The wind dried the wood, until it snowed and all the wood is now soaked again with the snowdrifts that covered my wood. I guess the good news is that we probably will not run out of wood this year, as the wood does not burn very fast when it is wet.
