Cordwood

As I think I mentioned in an earlier post my father owned a one-hundred acre parcel next to my Uncle Bob’s place in Oregon. The property was mostly covered with second growth Douglas fir. A very large pile of sawdust was the only reminder of a long-gone sawmill. There was a small spring that fed an elongated marshy area. Along this marshy area grew a stand of live oaks. Because this stand was surrounded by tall Douglas fir trees, the oak trees tended to grow very tall and slender, reaching for the sunlight. It was from this stand of oak trees that the family gathered firewood for their fireplaces and kitchen stoves.

(I pause in this narrative to explain the concept of cordwood. A cord is a stack of firewood four feet wide by four feet high by eight feet long. Cordwood is pieces of firewood four feet long. Cordwood was typically delivered to a wood shed or a basement where it was bucked into fireplace or stove lengths. It was then split and allowed to dry before burning. A rick is half a cord.)

Using two-man crosscut saws and axes the trees were felled and trimmed. (Remember this was before chainsaws.) To cut the oak logs into four foot lengths Uncle Bob had a buzz-saw with a blade about two feet in diameter. This saw was powered by Uncle Bob’s one-lung diesel tractor using a wide belt drive.

In addition to providing cordwood to family members, some of the wood was sold to folks in Oregon City. Aware as I am of the current price of firewood it is difficult for me to believe my memory, but I recall that cordwood was delivered to town for four dollars a cord.