Used to Cut Wood

This old photo from about 2000 reminds me of what was a yearly ritual at my uncle's place. We would get together to cut up his yearly supply of firewood using his AR tractor on the saw. Usually took several days but of course days were short in the late fall time. Sometimes it was in the snow. The uncles are gone and I don't burn wood anymore. But I still have the AR .

I remember those days on the farm years ago. Ron Mn

yes, that zing of the saw was a unique sound that traveled. just like the 2 cyl. deere's. i have the same AR tractor.

Wood burning makes the news

"Renewable energy pollutes London but what?s a bit of smog if you?re saving the world?"

http://joannenova.com.au/2017/10/renewable-energy-pollutes-london-but-whats-a-bit-of-smog-if-youre-saving-the-world/

Yep, used to cut Grandma's cook stove wood with a buzz saw mounted on the front of the 49 JD A.
I still have the saw.
Richard in NW SC

There are a heck of lot worse things I can think of doing besides getting the family together to cut wood.

really nice picture,,,thanks!!

When I was growing up we cut our wood with a crosscut saw, axe and sledge. Never used a tractor or any mechanical help. In fact, didn't
have a tractor till I was in high school. Wish I could go back and cut wood with dad one more day.

I can remember back when we had a buzz saw mounted on the front of a Case SC. We always cut the limbs off the felled trees and loaded them onto a bob sleigh and hauled them out to the sugarhouse and stacked them on end around a tree out front. That Tee Pee pile would get to be 50' across. The SC would set between the pile and the woodshed, and about 6 people would go at it, My dad usually ran the saw, uncles and us kids would bring limbs to the saw or stack the 3' lengths into the shed. The logs were skidded out originally by horses, but by the time I was big enough to help, tractors replaced them, and later a 1957 Case 310 crawler became the workhorse in the woods.
We split all the logs with axes, mauls, and wedges.
When I was in high school, I built the first hydraulic wood splitter used in the sugarbush. My dad gave me holy he!! for ordering the 4x36" cylinder and single spool valve, but it didn't take him long to put down the ax when I got the splitter working. I had built it with a couple of old rear wheels of a rake to transport it, but he came up with the idea to mount it vertically on the 3pt of a tractor. He wore the rails rite off the old used I beam that I made the splitter from, and bent the cylinder. He was in his mid 80s when he could no longer cut firewood. I doubt I will make it that long.
Loren
BTW When I built my new wood hauler, I brought home the old bent cylinder and straightened the rod and used it for the tilt cylinder. I guess I have to put new packings into it though, for some reason. We still have the old buzz saw and I have a SC that I am redoing. I hope to mate them together.
The buzz saw also had a guide which was used every spring to sharpen fence posts.

(quoted from post at 05:45:42 10/01/17)

There are a heck of lot worse things I can think of doing besides getting the family together to cut wood.

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They were good times. Although the uncles are gone and the house sits empty now, I still help out my brother's family most years when they saw their firewood. That wood stove sure feels good once the weather turns cold.
I should do a follow up photo showing my uncle Don by the finished wood pile. I think this was one of the last times.

This all reminds me of a story from when I was a kid and cutting firewood for everyone was a neighborhood project in which all of the neighbors participated.

One neighbor was heading home from one session, putting down the road on a B John Deere. He had to pee, and bundled up in winter clothes like he was he just stood up and peed in front of a back wheel of the tractor. When he sat back down he happened to glance behind, and there was a lady in a car following right behind him waiting for a chance to pass.

If this is poofed, I hope it's just this one response and not the whole thread.

I can attest to the fact that with pole wood, a buzz saw is about 10X faster than a chainsaw. Lots easier on the back too. I've always wanted to get a small solid bottom elevator and have the wood drop right into the elevator and run up to the pile. As it is, a piece of steel roofing that slides the cut wood away from the buzz saw keeps people away from the blade and lets the sawyer concentrate on his job. I have a lot of small diameter pole wood that would be a real chore to cut up even using a saw buck. I like my buzzsaw!

(quoted from post at 04:51:57 10/02/17)
I can attest to the fact that with pole wood, a buzz saw is about 10X faster than a chainsaw. Lots easier on the back too.!

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You are right on that. A chain saw is fine for small jobs or somebody that is only an occasional wood burner. For serious wood cutting of big (or small) logs you can't beat the buzz saw. Just watch how fast that blade powers through even a big poplar log in this video from a few years back. I've got several different videos of wood cutting on youtube. Unfortunately none of my uncles with the AR. I even make an appearance in this one. The guy in blue coveralls throwing away the blocks as they are cut. Ear plugs are a necessity. https://youtu.be/TM2ilg_0hO0