04 July 2022

Even more firewood

Most things having to do with the renovation of Neuadd Ogwen, the venue next door, don't go very fast. It was going to be renovated had been announced along time ago, and it took forever for work to actually start. And then there was quite a lot of it. A bit more than anticipated! They had concerts scheduled for spring. So when spring came in the renovation wasn't ready, they had to quickly improvise some loading bays on "my" side of the building. A crowd of joiners descended and made some beautiful wooden stairs.

This was less than two months ago. And now, the stairs already have to go! I was in my office when I saw the workmen taking an electric screwdriver to the closest set. They were only mildly successful. Then they just took the digger to the poor stairs. That worked! It was demolished in seconds. And I saw an opportunity. I stepped outside and asked what they were going to do with the wood. They said they had just ruined it, so they were just going to chuck it. I said I was happy to adopt it as firewood, and they thought it was an excellent solution. So they took them apart and handed me the planks and poles. I already had quite a lot of firewood in the garage, but I managed to stack this up out of the way as well. I had some sawing to do! But I did scratch my head; some of that wood was really thick. I didn't think I would be able to split with my modest axe. But lengthwise sawing is a pain in the bum.

There go the stairs


That very evening I ordered myself a log splitter. I hoped it would work well! It should be able to cope with whatever the workmen have just thrown at me. 

I did try my axe on the shorter planks. It actually did an excellent job! I could just split them. So I rolled up my sleeves and the end of the day, I had made a lot of space again, and my firewood stack was again taller than I was. It was very satisfying! And there is still more wood to saw. And there is still the second set of stairs that I hope I will get the deal with… 

Log splitter

And I should have enough firewood to last me through an entire winter with minimal use of gas!

Modest axe doing a great job

Its bigger brother: a log splitter


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