From bowsawed to big stack

A dying paper birch was dropped with the bow saw last week.  Yesterday, the big tree was cut to the 22 inch line, then split, then moved up, then transferred from wheelbarrow to tractor bucket to a big stack. 

The wood was split into two big piles, pictured below.

On a property that makes great use of tools, the wheelbarrow may be the unsung hero of them all.  Sporting a new bright red paint job, 13 loads of paper birch were moved from the wheelbarrow to tractor this a.m.

Splitting remains the favorite activity on Hardwood Hermitage.  Paper birch is relatively easy to split.  The tree dealt with yesterday had many pieces without any knots at all.  Pictured below is a big exception to that rule, though.  The knot sticking out of that piece made for especially difficult work to whack the bigger piece down to size.  Like the rest of the pieces brought up today, this one will get cut in half, then stacked -- for burning two years from now.