Site Discussions

I’m 27 and have been helping dad split wood for quite some time and he has always used a maul. Back in high school my friend would chop wood for his dad and he used an axe, which was quite difficult and always got stuck in the piece he was trying to split. In my opinion the maul is where it is at. I’ve never seen a massive knot-ridden piece of wood explode like it does when dad hits it with a maul.

The maul is heavier and although it may seem counter intuitive, is easier to use. Just put it up there and basically guide it down as it drops. It will destroy what your splitting. If it’s a bigger or knotty piece a little more effort need be applied. We have a maul and an ax and if I’m doing any splitting at all, I pick up the maul every time.

“Excess doves”? What about excess humans? Should we shoot them? The reasons these hunters invent to justify their infantile urge to shoot something never ceases to depress me.

I could never have enough doves, or any other bird—they’re all becoming too scarce. I have never seen a bobcat, either, and yet hunters are out there trapping and killing them for “sport.” Absolutely disgusting.

Thank you for an interesting article.

As ever, when publicizing the joys of wild foods, please educate us readers as to the relative abundance of this species, risks and effects of over-harvesting, and so forth.

That’s not always the case, Richard. Some foresters work on a percentage basis, but others charge a per-hour rate. Some mix and match depending on the type of work they’re doing.

I have used a Wood Doctor Brand Outdoor furnace for 7 heating seasons. We are beginning our 8th with this unit. I live in a remote location at about 1600 feet in elevation. I am in the mountains so the wind is pretty much constant. I have seen many smoking units but mine is not one of them. My unit will puff when the fan turns on for a few minutes and then it has clear exhaust and no smoke. This is only after a fuel load. once the fuel load has been fired subsequent firings are cleaner quicker. After the fan shuts down the only thing you see is a little steam that doesn’t get more then 10 feet from the chimney top. This also reduces as the fuel load is consumed. Late in the fuel load consumption there is almost no visible exhaust.  I burn a mixture of seasoned wood and some green. My greenest wood has been cut and split for at least 6 months. Its stacked covered.  This unit has more then paid for its self in fuel savings over propane or Fuel oil. My neighbors dont even know I have one. I would urge caution in outlawing this economical way of heating. Not every unit/operator is the same. I would hate to be barred from saving money and doing no harm just because a few people are irresponsible. We dont outlaw cars because some segment of the population drives drunk.

Consulting forester gets 15% or more of total value of timber harvested. Keep that in mind if your thinking of going that route.

A lot of timber buyers have different markets. In some cases a lot of different markets for logs - whether selling by the cord for pulp, or veneer, grade logs, ties,pallet, Grade/Yield, or by the board foot.

Thanks for writing this article.  It is very interesting and the photos are great. Do you happen to know where the tanneries procured the large amounts of animal hides needed for the larger operations in the early 19th century?  Were they contracting with large scale cattle operations or could they have been contacting large numbers of small farmers to fill the demand? 

Thanks!

Should not have read this while eating lunch.

At the end you refer to the creator as her and the glory his.  Was wondering what you meant.

Great article!

Andrew

Aaron, they may move out soon on their own as they prepare for winter and move to hibernacula. However, some species will spend the winter in attics. These tend not to be the same species that are highly afflicted by white-nose syndrome. So if you ethical dilemma is a result of not wanting to harm a population that is already decimated by WNS, then you probably do not have to worry, as the bats in your neighbors attic are probably a species that is largely unaffected by WNS. Do you have reason to believe that your neighbor’s daughter would come in contact with the bats in the attic? Bats certainly can pose risks of disease (rabies, histoplasmosis), but they serve such huge ecosystem services at the same time (reduce populations of insects that spread other diseases). My opinion would be to leave them be unless you have reason to believe that someone will actually come in close contact with the bats.

Ethanol is certainly a boondoggle and an expensive one at that. Topping the lists of costs is the effect all of that increased corn production is having on scarce water resources in the West. At at time when drought is ravaging that part of the country, its a national tragedy that we are emptying reserves of water that have taken 1000 years or more to fill up, to create a fuel with lower efficiency than traditional gasoline. This is done so a few handful of politically connected interests can make tons of money. And to add insult to injury, its portrayed as being great for the environment. What a Greenwash!

I am glad that the gas we use from our bulk tank comes from Canada and is not watered down.

Has anyone heard of “bee glasses” to locate.  Mine are very old.  Amber lenses with a small lighter amber circle in the center of the lens.  I have been told by the old-timers that you spot the nectar source, watch the bee til she turns and go to that location and watch for the next bee, until you locate the bee tree.  Anyone know if this is true?

Thanks for this which creates a great balance between being understandably awed by old trees while still recognizing the immense value of shorter-lived trees.

On a recent trip to Botswana I visited a magnificent grove of trees called Baines Baobabs that are estimated by some who use archeological data from nearby camps to be 10,000+ years old.

None of this is new. The politicians who pocket money to continue this scam will probably be re-elected on November 4th.
I will not vote for any Senator or Representative who has voted to continue this practice. You shouldn’t either.

What about the fuel stabilizers? I now use a marine version that seems to keep stored gas usable from storage in late fall till spring.

Has anyone tried baking with whole Autumn Olives in places of cranberries or currants? Was just wondering what the results were.

Hear, hear. I suggest that a prerequisite for running for any federal elective office should be at least one passing grade in a college level science course.

Thanks.

If you’re buying ethanol free gasoline it can be a good idea to check that what the station selling you as ‘ethanol free’ is in fact ethanol free.  Truck loads of gasoline can come from different distribution terminals. 

A quick test is to fill a mason jar with gas you want to test. Add a drop of food coloring. If there is ethanol it will disperse the water based food coloring and turn the entire jar color. If there is no ethanol, the food color droplet will sink to the bottom of the jar.

Of course dispose of the test appropriately. Ethanol gas should be poured into your car. Non-ethanol into your gas can for the chainsaw.

Just a few comments: Who thinks that feeding bears will decrease their population? Who thinks that feeding them jelly donuts doesn’t habituate them to human food? Who thinks that it is not out of state money that is coming in to shoot the Maine bears? How does Vt control its bear population?