Posted on 06/03/2013 5:52:40 PM PDT by virgil283
"The Eagle Scout and Dirty Jobs star on learning to fell trees and prepare firewood. ......When I was 14, I woke up one Saturday morning to see my father standing at the foot of my bed, sharpening a double-sided ax. "It's time," he said. "Let's go." My father has a tendency to start conversations in the middle. He's also suspicious of anything too modern. Like nouns.
"Time for what?" I said. Knowing the futility of the question before I even asked, I rolled out of bed, pulled on my jeans and work boots, and tried again. "Is it cold out?"
"Invigorating," he replied. "Your mother made oatmeal. Eat it fast."
Outside, the Massey Ferguson tractor idled impatiently as we loaded up the wood cart.......I can't even remember how many times my dad and I drove the old tractor down the stone road, through the lower pasture, and deep into the woods to do battle with the Pine, the Maple, the Oak, and the mighty Locust—his personal favorite. ("The hard wood puts up a tough fight, but it burns the best!") The fact that we heated most of the old farmhouse with nothing but a wood stove was a source of great pride for my father, and the inspiration for endless witticisms. ("Chop your own wood—it'll warm you twice!")"....more ....
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Yes, but will he run for President as a democrat?
if he grew up in Baltimore, I wonder where all this happened?
That was his problem right there.
You don't split wood with an ax. You split it with a splitting maul.
I ought to know. I heated with wood I cut, hauled and split myself for 11 years.
You don’t split wood with an ax. You split it with a splitting maul.
I ought to know. I heated with wood I cut, hauled and split myself for 11 years.
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I dont know what a splitting maul is but maybe you should have been around wood a few years longer...
we used an ax like everyone else did...
It was my brothers chore but sometimes I did it too...
We heated the house, heated our water, and cooked with wood and coal...
Splitting wood with a wedge is an extra special treat.
Chain saw isn’t that bad.
Oh a wedge
Yes my Dad had one of those
bttt
Coal works great.
I remember fondly, making grill cheese and ‘mater soup on the old pot belly coal fired stove in the old work shack where Pop worked.
I think that was all he knew how to make LOL
And Fried baloney sangwichs..
We started splitting wood with an axe, then with wedges and a sledgehammer, then splitting mauls and finally a hydraulic wood slitter. I can’t recall exactly the years of transition from each, but rest assured the last one was the best.
I used to have to get up half an hour BEFORE I went to bed and go out and lick the road clean with my tongue! LOL
Still one of my favorites.
I remember old Mr Conway wanted me to make a wood splitter out of an air powered train brake.
I was like ... umm air compresses.
AT any rate I had to make the thing, but I hid behind a wall when they let it loose on the maiden flight.
Hoo boy! did it launch that wood LOL
Luckily no one sustained shrapnel injuries.
Mine too ;)
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