I'm getting too old for this.........

[Cosmiccrofter]

OK, the big 6 oh comes around in January, and the bones are beginning to creak a bit. I have been cutting firewood for, I suppose, 45 years, starting with cutting old fence posts with the Fergie saw behind the 35, graduating to backs and cutting softwood with the old McCulloch at the sawmills (yes they did allow you to do that back in the day).

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the whole firewood process, from scavenging (well you used to) or buying from FC, splitting and stacking. BUT, I have to admit I am not as fit as I used to be.

 

I have a collection of old tractors, so a power source is not a problem. I have thought about getting a processor, and maybe trying to offset the cost by processing for friends, but that's a lot of moolah.

 

At present I have a 455 rancher, a 288xp, a Hycrack and one of the tractors has a loader..

 

I don't mind spending a few quid (say £5,000/6000), so, if you were my age, what would you do? I need to keep bending and lifting to an absolute bloody minimum. How would you try to keep the firewood process going? Or should I just accept that tempus fugits and buy firewood? When would you guys give up?

 

No, not an option.!!! I need to keep active.

[Stubby]

When you find the answer let me know ......61 in January ....

[Marc Lewis]

If you have the log sales then I think getting a processor is a good idea and possibly a lad (for work I mean!!) part time or full.

[Howard R]

Don't give up!

 

All the activity is what helps keep you fit and healthy (hopefully!)

 

For £5k you should be able to get a good 2nd hand processor.

Have a look http://www.fuelwood.co.uk/Special-Offers

 

Another options is to buy some logs in and stack and season yourself - which can save you alot of time and not be overly costly. Plus it would give you a stock to remove any pressure from having to process yourself.

[Sussex Groundie]

Will be watching this with interest 61 and 6 months! Thought about selling firewood or subbing myself out with truck n chipper.

[gensetsteve]

The only way you are going to save your back is processor, log deck and use your loader which is a lot of money if you are doing less than 500 tonnes a year. The only other option is concentrate on arb waste which is normally cut to small lengths. you could get a vertical splitter and use it without a stool use hookeroons to pull it on the foot of the splitter.

[ash_smith123]

60! Im 24 and thinking im to old for this...

[kentjames]

An interesting post.

 

My girlfriends landladies husband is a little older, pushing the big 70, most of his adult life in kent he ran a small holding and cottage garden business growing produce for a farmshop which he grew from a shack. These days he has reduced most of the land to grass and had for the last 10 to 15 years been doing fire wood. He has a processor which I have borrowed in the past and certainly makes life easier.

 

Now for the thought provoking bit. Last year he was diagnosed with the big C for cancer, the family were devastated and he thought his time was up, he even passed some of his gardening jobs and tree work to me and I was the only one outside of the family with the knowledge. He went onto an experimental drug and thank god it worked and he was cured.

 

Throughout all this, despite his wife saying not to, he carried on getting the wood in from the pile and processing it. He had a family member deliver the wood and carried on fore-filling orders. This year he has a massive stack of preped timber already processed indoors and ready to go. I find this man one of the most inspiring blokes on this planet and he lives by the moto ''Well you just can't sit around doing nothing can you!''. Which is also shared by my father who despite having a broken foot for 10 weeks did as much around the house as he would do at work, and drove my mother mad, but he carried on too.

 

As long as you feel fit and healthy sir, I say continue, I hope you find your processor and carry on doing your logs for years to come.

 

James

[rowan lee]

If I was you, I would buy in loads of small diameter first thinning's. That way your starting fresh with all the material in one designated place and no energy spent scavenging/collecting. Cross cut 1 meters lengths in the stack, split billets, cross cut on a saw bench, and collect in a front end loader bucket for heaping. 1m lengths of first thinnings should be a nice light and regular size to deal with and should only require a single split. A log pick or sappie should eliminate bending, billets should be very light to handle, bench saw is operated at waist height. Unlike the processor this system should keep you in contact with the timber at least, which is what it is all about when your doing firewood for yourself and enjoying it. Unless I was doing it commercially, a processor for me would totally limit my exposure and connection to the timber, and take the fun out of it, it would essentially just mean tinkering with levers all day and get quite boring I would imagine.

[woody woodpecker]

Hi Cosmiccrofter

Dont stop you are never to old. you NEED A processor,log table and timber grab these three bits of equipment will totally reduce the amount of handling that you will have to do .I work full time {not timber related} and also produce around 200 cubic metres: a year with the help of my dad he was 75 last august.best wishes chris