It's an ill wind.....

[grenfell]

I suppose cutting it into blanks does take a little more time to cut it to keep it a uniform size and square where one can be a tad more less critical with firewood then there's waxing or painting , seasoning and ultimately the rigmarole of selling the stuff. Could be a nice little earner but as you say only if you have the time.

[British Red]

Truthfully I'd rather give it away in hope of future "favours". It costs me nothing & I like to help small local firms like the ones that are so kind do me

[grenfell]

That's fine and to be fair I've given plenty away in the past and have received other stuff in return , favours as you say.
In case anybody is wondering just how much that log they've just chucked on the fire is worth have a browse here at least at the indigenous hardwoods like oak , beech , chestnut , cherry and so on
https://www.turners-retreat.co.uk
I spent 30 odd years in restoration and we used an awful lot of hardwoods and of course there were offcuts aplenty. If I'd sold them all I'd be or potentially could have been quite rich as there's probably hundreds of thousands of pounds worth gone up the chimney. Not beating myself up or losing sleep over it , I couldn't be bothered to do it so can't moan about it.

[Rusty74]

I have a big pile of lovely wood I set aside for a woodturner who has never bothered to collect Yew, cherry, cedar, Holly, bay and many more. I ought to quarter saw it really for turning blanks to stop it checking as it dries but who has the time?

yew is one wood i will never burn,there is an old saying/superstition around here if you burn yew there will be a death in the family(odd i know)..

[British Red]

Not that odd. Where I grew up you don't fell a hawthorn.

[ForgeCorvus]

I have a big pile of lovely wood I set aside for a woodturner who has never bothered to collect Yew, cherry, cedar, Holly, bay and many more. I ought to quarter saw it really for turning blanks to stop it checking as it dries but who has the time?

yew is one wood i will never burn,there is an old saying/superstition around here if you burn yew there will be a death in the family(odd i know)..

I was always told Yew is the Killer's tree, its poisonous, seen often in graveyards and makes the best heavy draw Longbows.

[Rusty74]

I have a big pile of lovely wood I set aside for a woodturner who has never bothered to collect Yew, cherry, cedar, Holly, bay and many more. I ought to quarter saw it really for turning blanks to stop it checking as it dries but who has the time?

yew is one wood i will never burn,there is an old saying/superstition around here if you burn yew there will be a death in the family(odd i know)..

I was always told Yew is the Killer's tree, its poisonous, seen often in graveyards and makes the best heavy draw Longbows.

yep it was used to make the long bow,which was a welsh invention,if i remember right it is part of the outer bark and the inner wood(if that makes sense)and is where the 2 finger salute came from,if you follow my drift,as the french would cut the enemy archers draw fingers off,so after a battle the welsh bow men would show them there two fingers

[British Red]

Got bored with my tasks this afternoon and decided to render some of the big blue cedar (partly because there's some more stuff coming shortly so I need the space).

This stuff is big and really heavy. Far too heavy to lift and balance on the splitter

So there's a 7 step process to breaking it into manageable, liftable chunks and then turning those pieces into grate sized logs

Step 1 a good central strike with a heavy maul

1. Maul strike by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Step 2, push down on the maul handle, remove the maul leaving a deep puncture ( the wood is far too big to split with a maul strike)

2. Indentation by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Step 3 set a hardened steel wedge in the hole left by the maul ( with properly matched tools it should fit exactly)

3. Single wedge by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Step 4 Drive the wedge in all the way with a sledgehammer

4. 1 wedge driven in by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Step 5 Add more wedges along the crack to extend and deepen the crack. I've never needed more than 5 wedges - that was for a lock over 40" in diameter

5 Additional wedges by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Step 6 drive additional wedges home until the log splits in half. I sometimes use a pry bar to separate the halves

6. Round split by English Countrylife, on Flickr

Step 7 When the pieces are manageable I either split them with the maul or the splitter

7 Hydraulic splitter by English Countrylife, on Flickr