There’s nothing like a crackling fire to warm your home. If you own a wood furnace or stove, you have probably experienced the coziness of long-lasting wood heat. Before you can start enjoying that warmth, however, you need to have split firewood.

The Firewood Splitting Process

Firewood splitting is important since large logs will smother your fire. In addition, wood left whole and not split may eventually start to rot.

You can use different firewood splitting methods, including:

  • Simple splitting axes: This technique requires bringing down the ax on the narrow end of a log to split it in two. You can then cut those pieces until you have the desired size of wood. This option requires some physical ability and can take a long time, especially if you have a cord or more of wood to cut.
  • Wood processor tools: An inertia splitter lets you feed logs into the machine, which does the splitting work for you with a flywheel, belt system and steel wedge. You simply have to move the lever to split the wood. There are also hydraulic splitters, which use a similar operation and can handle larger logs.
  • Wood-splitting services: With this option, experts will use their professional-grade firewood splitting tools to cut as many cords of wood as you need.

The Benefits of Hiring Someone to Do Your Firewood Processing

While you can split your own firewood, it makes sense to hire someone else to do your firewood processing. There are many benefits to hiring a firewood processing service:

  • Ease of use: Hickory, oak, elm and maple can be hard to split yourself. However, these hardwoods can also burn the most cleanly and the longest when compared to softer woods. Splitting services like Colonial Excavating use professional-grade tools to quickly split all your firewood, so knots and hardwood are not an issue.
  • Safety: Leaving it to someone else eliminates the risk of injury to yourself.
  • Time savings: A professional with the right machinery can split a cord of wood in just an hour, saving you time.
  • Proper technique: Professionals at Colonial Excavating can deliver split firewood which has been properly dried, so you don’t have to worry about splitting at all.

Choose Colonial Excavating for Firewood Services

If you’re interested in ordering split firewood or would like assistance with wood processing, our team can help. We’re a local business serving the entire Capital Region, NY, area, and we offer firewood delivery, splitting, wood processing, landscaping and excavating. Contact Colonial Excavating, your premier excavating and landscaping company, today for more information.

 

Firewood FAQ

Category: Firewood FAQ

There are a few ways to try and identify already split firewood. To start, the most common types of firewood in North America are pine, oak, sycamore, elm, cherry, maple, hickory and ash. With these in mind, when you check the firewood you should look for leftover bark, leaves, color and end grain. Wood types like oaks and maple wood have unique bark making them easier to identify. For the leaves, wood types like pine will have telltale needles vs actual leaves making identification easier as well. If you can’t use either of these methods, you will always be able to check the color and the grain of the wood. End grain is usually the most reliable, and you can research the visuals of popular grains of the wood types mentioned above to start.

Category: Firewood FAQ

Here at Colonial Excavating, we dry our seasoned firewood for at least six months. Depending on how green the firewood is, it may take a few months longer but signs to look out for that your wood is properly seasoned is when you notice the firewood looks grayer, shows cracking and is lighter.

Category: Firewood FAQ

There is a lot you should keep in mind when figuring out how long a cord of firewood will last you. A cord of wood should have dimensions four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long, with a volume of 128 cubic feet. Considering this measurement, if you only plan on using the firewood for a fire pit on weekends, a cord should last you a season. If you plan on heating your home with firewood, you should look more at getting 5 or more cords of firewood for the winter season.

Category: Firewood FAQ

It is true that different types of wood will burn hotter and longer than others and hardwood trees will generally produce the highest quality firewood. The most popular hardwood firewood options are oak, hickory, maple, ash, cherry, and walnut. If you can get your hands on a cord of any of these options, you will be set for a long-lasting fire.

Category: Firewood FAQ

Colonial Excavating provides firewood processing, splitting and delivery services throughout the Capital District all year long, including Clifton Park, Albany, Ballston, Saratoga Springs, Colonie, Corinth, Glens Falls and Greenfield, NY. You can contact us today for more information on our services!