As I mentioned in; Why firewood? I have this nifty little heater… , using your off grid power system to heat your home with electric heat is impractical and inefficient. Wood heat is the most practical and reliable heating source for your off grid home. Getting enough wood in under cover for each winter season does consume a good deal of effort, but is rewarding. There’s nothing like a cold snowy night, with and extra log on the fire for “comfort” heat and a good book, knowing there’s plenty of dry wood tucked away outside.
Kindling
Depending on your type and size of firewood, starting a fire in the fireplace or wood stove can be a challenge. After all these years I take it for granted, but it really is an art. Too many times I arrive home to find the house smokey, and Jackie asking me to start a fire. Not that she can’t, but it takes the right tools, that is kindling or split wood in small sizes. Our mix of firewood contains some fir, and quite a bit of hard woods too. When there’s only hardwood and large sizes, that’s when the fire starting challenges occur.
So its important along with the larger wood pieces to store in an easy to access way, split kindling. These can range anywhere from 1 to 4 inches and are a pain to split. In fact, splitting the logs is hard but rewarding work. Unfortunately, I’m the only one that can really do that because Jackie has an old back problem that prevents her from helping in this.
Log Splitting
A couple years ago, I decided to look at log splitters. I even rented a gas powered unit for a few days. The gas powered units can run anywhere from $800 used when you can find them to $1,500 and up. My rental unit was very helpful in splitting large and small logs, fir and hardwood. However, it sat low on the ground and gave me a backache from bending over, and sore knees from kneeling next to it.
I found a nice middle ground for the log splitters, that was and electric splitter for medium and smaller tasks. After some research we came up with the RYOBI 4 ton electric wood splitter. This turns out to really help in the annual wood splitting chores. Unlike the picture below, we put the unit on a table outside, plug in the extension cord, and get to work!
Now the whole family can safely use this splitter to help prepare for those cozy warm winter fires. I picked up the unit for less than $200 at a Home Depot store. Two features make this unit safe and reliable.
- Safety two switch design: It takes two hands, one on a lever and the other on a button, to move the splitting wedge. This makes it nearly impossible to start it and squish something you don’t want to, like a hand!
- The overload feature: When splitting wood that is too large, or too hard, the wedge will move, then stop and automatically back up all the way. This indicates the load was too high. It protects itself for reliable operation. Often we find that you can rotate the log to a different crack to get it started.
Do you split your firewood by hand? Have you used a log splitter that worked well? Have any fire wood tips? Tell us in the comment section below!
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