Wood Cutting With The AR

[rusty6]

I like to look back on these pictures from over 20 years ago when we used to help my uncle saw firewood. The little AR John Deere ran the saw as we pushed poplar logs through the saw creating a big pile of sawdust and even bigger pile of firewood. They used wood heat their entire lives on the farm. The wood stove went out for the last time in July of 2002 when my last surviving uncle had a major heart attack and died a few days later.
Made a jigsaw from one of the pictures.

Firewood cutting

 

[BillinCentralMO]

What a neat picture. When was the AR acquired ? What else did they use it for ? Always read your posts.

 

[rustred]

nice original AR. i have its twin here in the same shape. they are a nice little tractor.

 

[rusty6]

(quoted from post at 19:43:59 03/29/23) What a neat picture. When was the AR acquired ? What else did they use it for ? Always read your posts.

The uncles traded a Farmall M for tht AR about 1964. It was the main chore tractor on the farm from then on. Hauling water, wood, rocks. Pulling harrows, haying. And you might notice that Leon dozer frame on the jigsaw version. That was how they kept the trail to the highway open all winter. It was a real workout for man and machine with that little 7 foot blade.

 

[Richard G.]

Done lots of that with an JD A and JD H.

 

[ADB-Ia]

I think I see your old Mercury pickup in the background of the puzzle photo???

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Nice to have pictures to look back on. Much of the family time for myself with my brothers and dad was helping dad cut firewood. Funny how our work was our hobby/leisure time, helping dad. Heating with Popular wood must have been a full time job in itself.

 

[peteL]

My grandparents started dairy farming during the depression. They also cut wood to heat the house. Their biggest joy when the farm produced some extra cash was buying coal for heating versus cutting wood.

 

[rusty6]

(quoted from post at 06:00:55 03/30/23) I think I see your old Mercury pickup in the background of the puzzle photo???

Yes, very observant of you to spot the 49 Merc truck in the background. My uncles bought that back about 1969 but it had already been retired by 2000.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

That's exactly the way we did it in Wisconsin for many years until, one year, my Dad bought a new chainsaw that was powerful, lightweight, and very easy to handle. It was then that we started cutting stove-length wood with the chainsaw and never did go back to the bucksaw.

 

[rusty6]

(quoted from post at 07:46:20 03/30/23) That's exactly the way we did it in Wisconsin for many years until, one year, my Dad bought a new chainsaw that was powerful, lightweight, and very easy to handle. It was then that we started cutting stove-length wood with the chainsaw and never did go back to the bucksaw.

That might be true for a one man operation but if you can get any help at all to handle the logs and throw away the blocks, the tractor powered saw is way faster than a chain saw. Although in rare cases where get a log that is too heavy to lift up onto the saw frame it made sense to cut it into manageable blocks with the chain saw first.

 

[GreenEnvy]

Nice. We have no trees on the plains of Montana. Fortunately there was a nearby coal mine that we and everybody used from the homestead era to WW II.

 

[rusty6]

(quoted from post at 11:07:22 03/30/23) Nice. We have no trees on the plains of Montana. Fortunately there was a nearby coal mine that we and everybody used from the homestead era to WW II.

My dad would get some coal hauled in the fall to use in the big basement furnace so it would burn slowly through the night and keep the house from freezing up. Plenty of poplar bush here. No way one home could use up all the logs that were here originally. A lot of that land has been cleared wide open now but I like to keep a few acres of trees on all the fields I farm.
A pic of my dad cutting firewood back about 1984.

 

[Buckhammer]

I just spent the day cutting firewood. Fresh air and physical labor are good for the mind, body and soul. When it comes to heat for your home there is wood heat and then there is the rest.