Firewood:
An Expert Introduction to Equipment, Trees, Harvesting and Understanding This Valuable Resource
by
Troy McClain
Copyright 2012 Troy McClain,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-1229-0
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Preface
This book is very in depth and contains more information concerning trees and chain saws then I intended for it to have when I first began writing it. When the endeavor launched it was supposed to be a “general orientation” resource for the uninitiated saw operator. Because the “general orientation” resources are a dime a dozen it quickly evolved into what it is today, as close as I can get to a complete introductory course into the world of trees and chainsaws that I live in daily. This is not an all inclusive mastery guide and is in no way a reasonable replacement for learning hands on from a seasoned pro. The purpose of this writing is to associate you, the novice, with some of the more advanced basics of the art and science behind producing your own firewood. I am sure that there are a myriad of items I have missed, topics I have not addressed that you are looking to have addressed, if that is the case then I apologize, if I have omitted anything it has been left out because at this stage in the game it is too advanced for the typical operator. Included in this work you will find all of the tools that you will require as a firewood processor, even if you have been doing it for years you may very well learn something new.
Throughout this book you will encounter words that you may or may not be familiar with, in preparation of this I have included the glossary at the beginning of the book so you can acquaint yourself with these terms prior to moving into the meat and potatoes of the material and it will be in a convenient place for you to return to as a reference. Like the rest of the book the glossary is far from all inclusive, as a matter of fact, there are a very large number of terms that I have omitted in order to keep from overwhelming you further.
Introduction
During my years in the military it was expressed to us at every training that all military training manuals were written on a sixth grade reading and comprehension level in order to ensure that every member of our ranks could understand and use the manuals. Whether or not this is now or was ever true, I have not taken the time to determine, but the theory is sound. So I am writing today with a similar concept in mind. I am writing this book for all interested parties, the language used is not the same language as you would find in a sixth grade text or an Army training manual, but the content is structured so that all readers can take something away with them. Whether you are a “green” novice or a seasoned pro, there is information in here that will be useful to you at any level, and to start it is important to understand the why before the how.
The purpose of having a little knowledge about trees and chainsaws and how to process your own firewood is simply to save money. In the end the old adage “a penny saved is a penny earned”, is as true now as ever. All of the consumers in our world see it everyday, insurance companies fight for our patronage with every commercial, spouting off to the viewers that they can each save you, the driver or homeowner, over x-number of dollars per year by switching your coverage. Dentist, vehicle windshield replacement companies, bathroom renovators, and so many others advertise that they can do their jobs with just one appointment in order to cut the number of visits and your total costs as a consumer. But the savings don't start there. In today's turbulent economic climate an unprecedented number of people are looking to become self sufficient. Throughout society you can find folks who make money saving products for their own consumption like laundry detergent and fabric softener and home canned foods from their gardens or a local farmers market. Men and women alike will often make clothes and blankets instead of buying expensive imports. In Any Town USA you can find homes with smoke houses for smoking meats and cheeses, many of whom are hunters or raise their own animals for slaughter. The examples can go on forever. Folks are continually finding methods of providing for themselves in order to get away from contributing their hard earned dollars to the corporate fat cats and their Asian production lines. The ingenuity of the penny pincher is more remarkable now than it has ever been. Everywhere you look you can find resources on anything from how to make diesel fuel from used cooking oil to how to build a more efficient home out of straw bales and harness wind and solar energy to power and heat it. People in the North America, and all over the globe, are progressively moving forward in a steady march toward independence from mega corporations around the world. Collectively we are beginning to take notice of the large sums of money our dependence on the products and services of others cost us individually every year. There is an impressive, ever growing amount of attention given to the science of alternative fuels from corn, soy, sugar, and other crops. So it did not surprise me when I was approached about writing a book that would assist the average Jane and Joe with harvesting their own firewood.
Becoming self sufficient (or, more aptly, self reliant) has to include, if not begin with, being able to provide not only the peripheral luxuries but also some of the bare necessities for your home and children. Whether or not you have a milk cow in the barn and laying hens in the coop, a home brewery in the basement and a food dehydrator in the kitchen, providing your family with a source of heat is not only extremely cost efficient but quite honestly, with a little education a strong understanding of safety and a willingness to perform some manual labor, is fairly easy to do.
To break down the labor exchange and dismiss the concept that cutting and splitting wood is an Olympic feat, lets perform a breakdown of costs. Depending on the size and construction of your home, the efficiency of your furnace and the type of fuel used, and how much you heat your house out of necessity or to maintain your individual comfort level, the cost for heating your home versus that of your neighbors will vary greatly. Sure there are analysis sent to you by the energy companies supplying your home with electricity and fuels that will compare your consumption with those around you, however, with the factors listed above it is very difficult to truly compare the requirements of one home with those of another. And, depending on where in the world your home is located your heating needs will also be greatly affected. However, for the sake of argument, lets say that on average you pay $150 each calendar month to heat your home during the fall and winter. That equates to $1800 per year to run the furnace for roughly five months. At $360 per cold month that is a lot of cash going out to keep the heat coming in. According to Ycharts.com, an unbiased research and stock charting website, the average hourly wage in America in 2012 is just over $23.50. Therefore, roughly 6.4 hours of your income every month of the year goes to heating your home from October to March. That is nearly 77 hours a year, or, for the typical 40 hour work week, just three hours short of two full weeks of work which for most is one entire paycheck! Of course after you are taxed on your hourly income more of your working hours go towards your gas bill, but, again, for the sake of argument, we will use the 77 hour estimate, which equals roughly $1800 at the end of the year, $18,000 over the course of ten years and $54,000 during the life of a typical 30 year mortgage at today's prices. According to the US Census Bureau (www.census.gov) the median new home value for 2012 in America was $256,000. To calculate the total cost of that mortgage over the course of 30 years
