From The Register of Rural Affairs, 1860
In piling cord wood place the bark side upward, as it will then
turn off the water, keeping the wood dryer, and preventing the
bark from dropping off and being lost when it is moved.

How to
Have a Sawing Partner
From The Rural New Yorker, 1894
Three stakes, two nine and the other 10 feet longs are nailed
together as shown in the picture, making a three-cornered frame on
which swings a wooden pendulum eight feet long. There are holes in
it so that it can swing at different lengths, on a bolt at the
upper part of the frame, Two boards on the frame guide the rod,
With the end of the saw fastened to the lower end of the swing
rod, you have about the motion given by another man, We believe
that we could do better work with this than with a partner who
persisted in "riding the saw." Some of our readers who have tried
this plan, speak highly of it,

How to
Split Firewood
From The
Register of Rural Affairs, 1873
In large portions of the country, farmers still burn wood as a
fuel, and some of them consume much time needlessly in splitting
it for the stove, being compelled to stoop at every blow of the
axe and pick up sticks by hand. The accompanying figure (fig. 1)
represents a very simple contrivance for holding each block after
it has been sawed, until by successive blows of the axe the whole
is reduced to small pieces, without the necessity of stooping over
to pick up each stick separately. In the absence of a hollow log,
from which it is made, the jack or wood-holder may be constructed
in other ways, one of which is to select a forked log, and set in
a thick piece across, as shown in fig. 2. The space in the fork
may be cut out larger, so as to give the opening a rounder form.
Fig. B shows one made of thick plank or flat timber, in a more
compact shape, the two side-pieces being secured together at the
top and bottom by short pieces of stout scantling halved or
dovetailed into them, and spiked in their places. A simple jack of
this kind may last several years, and save many days' work every
winter to the farmer who saws and splits short wood, and who, in
addition to keeping the cooking stove in operation the year round,
has one or two other fires for heating rooms during winter. It
will be observed, in constructing these contrivances, that they
must be heavy and solid, so as to keep their places, and not to be
thrown about while in use, and to be firm enough to withstand the
heavy blows to which they will be occasionally subjected.
The
Time to Cut Firewood
From Practical
Housekeeping, 1883
Hard wood for
timber or fire-wood should be cut in August, September or October.
Hoop-poles should be cut before frost comes; cut at other times,
there is danger of worms.
From The Register
of Rural Affairs, 1866
Most kinds of wood cut in winter, and left in large logs in the
woods, becomes more or less soured and injured. If wood could be
cut and split in summer, when the weather would dry it rapidly,
the wood would be greatly increased in value; but as this is
usually impracticable, the next best is to cut and split it in
winter as fine as will be required, and then cord it up in a
wood-house, well sheltered from rains, but admitting the free
circulation of the air.
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