In the 1950s, the new Lickity 8-horsepower log splitter became a popular gas-powered machine that professional tree experts often used to recycle into firewood the wood from trees they had cut down on recent jobs. Some of those machines are still in operation today.
Using the Lickity log splitter requires a lot of manual intervention. Each log must first be cut into wood rounds. Then each wood round must be loaded by hand onto the splitting machine, which uses a motorized arm to push the wood into a wedge cutter, thus splitting the wood. This process is repeated again and again until you have a pile of wedges that are the desired size (18–22 inches is standard fireplace length). Splitting a cord of wood (4x4x8 or 128 cubic feet) can take several hours depending on how many people are doing the splitting.
Over the years, upgrades in equipment have made firewood processing much more efficient. The cord of wood that used to take hours to split can now be done in a matter of minutes. Nowadays, Timberwolf splitters, skid steers, grapple trucks, conveyors, tumblers and the Cord King processor are all things that make a wood splitting operation run smoothly.
Seasoned firewood is split one year ahead, to allow for a low moisture content. Under 20% moisture is ideal. Ash, oak, maple, cherry and beech are the most common hardwoods split for firewood, with oak being the premium cut because it burns hotter and longer than the others. Never use pine for indoor burning because it’s the wood that produces the most unhealthy creosote due to its high sap content, which makes it very smokey.
Ordering firewood early in the season (late summer to early fall) is a smart thing to do because you’ll get you the driest, most aesthetically attractive wood because it has been on the top of the wood pile bathing in the summer sun.
Burning firewood to heat your home is much more cost effective, especially in our present economy. Depending on how many gallons your oil tank holds, you could be spending over $2500 to fill your tank for the winter months. Heating with wood is probably around 1/4 of that cost. A local tree expert can help you accurately calculate potential savings based on the square footage in your home that you may be considering heating with wood.
