For the last 40 years, our main heating in winter has been firewood, burnt in a slow combustion heater. We would usually burn around one and a half tons of wood per year, and have only needed to buy firewood a couple of times. We gather wood when we can, have access to a couple rural properties and have cut up fallen trees for friends. For the last 40 years we have swung axes to cut up the gathered wood and there comes a time in life when that gets a bit more difficult. For me that was about five years ago. I tried buying Chris a nice new axe, and she was happy with that for a while, but she was still a bit slow and struggled to find the time to clean the gutters and mow the lawns.
We've recently invested in an electric/hydraulic log splitter with a 12 tonne ram, and what a wonderful piece of kit it is. We should have bought one years ago. The wheeled stand that it's sitting on is my own work, as the original machine was far too close to the ground to use without straining backs. The big castor wheels at the back enable it to be easily moved around for use or storage.
