Northern weather

[Rufus T. Firefly]

At my place in PA, it's black locust,

Locust must be hell. I've had fence posts I couldn't even drive a nail into.

Drill and lag bolt, or stove bolts

It is tough wood, but splits fairly easy. One of my favorites for throwing heat

Indeed it is! Hard on grates though,

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I have a common ol' ax which seems to work fine, although it could stand a sharpening. Also, I sometimes wish it had a bit more weight.

Speed and accuracy in striking beats bludgeoning with weight,

I hope somebody is wearing some sort of eye protection when all that splitting of logs is occurring, no matter the method. Right? I would imagine there must be a veritable potential shower upwards and outwards of splinters from the wacked-at logs, eh?

Prior to my eye surgeries last year, my regular glasses were more than adequate; afterward, I took to wearing a pair of safety goggles. Not that much of a problem when splitting as you might think, but I wear them regularly anyway.

[NJPiney]

I can't say splinters flying have ever been a problem for me either. A blade slicing down the grain doesn't really cause that kinds thing. I have jokingly considered hockey goalie pads however. At least once a session a split piece goes flying into another log and bounces back towards my shin. I can't jump like I used to!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...
Prior to my eye surgeries last year, my regular glasses were more than adequate; afterward, I took to wearing a pair of safety goggles. Not that much of a problem when splitting as you might think, but I wear them regularly anyway.

I'm really very glad to hear that, Rufus.
daMurph

[Mitch]

Ya gotta love black locust for firewood. Burns so clean you're only left with white dust for ashes; no clinkers. And it is my opinion that it burns not too many degrees below coal! I especially like the trunks of locust, as after it dries out, the bark peels off readily, and the bark can be up to 1" in thickness, and it makes a great kindling wood. It turns the bricks in the back of our fireplace bright white, and in zero weather, I've gone out an put my hand on the chimney bricks outside and the bricks were hot. That, friends, is heat. You could do no better for a pot belly or Warm Morning stove lined with firebrick, other than to use coal. Another discovery was that it's better to leave the glass doors open on the fireplace. With locust, you don't get any snap, crackle, or pop, and more heat actually blasts out of the fireplace than with having the doors closed and using the blower on the tubed grating. Did burn out the tubes, though. That caused a little smoke in the living room.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

~3" of snow now turning to sleet......supposed to turn to 100% rain later......

[robert.]

Maybe 3 here. We have a sleet now. With an inch of rain headed towards us. Somehow they forgot to name this storm.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Maybe 3 here. We have a sleet now. With an inch of rain headed towards us. Somehow they forgot to name this storm.

Storm was named "Confusio"

[robert.]

Ah a multi colored bilateral storm.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Ah a multi colored bilateral storm.

...that takes a mixed dump on you and then leaves you to clean up the mess.

[robert.]

I'll let the sun clean it tomorrow.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'll let the sun clean it tomorrow.

Next storm is already in route to wash this one away.....

[healey36]

Five-and-a-half-inches...even the dog wasn't impressed:



Waiting on the Nor'easter double-header now.

Healey

[robert.]

Already some flowers blooming. Aconites popped up.

[Roy]

Had some snow in So. California lately. I've seen photos of the last time that happened, in the 1940's. Weird.