Hang in there Mike is gets better. I built mine 30 years ago and I'm still fine tuning. Quite a few mistakes, nothing that hurt the structural integrity. There is no feeling to compare with sitting warm and toasty while it howls outside, knowing you built it. Putting you hand on the brick chimney you built and feeling the stored BTUs. I'm at about 7 degrees, and it's close to 75 inside. Snow again later tonite.
The wood thing does cease being work and becomes more like meditation. I actually prefer to split when it's very cold, when the wood is frozen it just explodes apart. Chop wood, carry water.
I've been hand-splitting some ~30" dia. cottonwood logs (cut just a month or two ago) lately. The maul bounces off them until they finally crack. The same wood unfrozen will require the maul to be wrenched free fairly often.
Hang in there Mike is gets better. I built mine 30 years ago and I'm still fine tuning. Quite a few mistakes, nothing that hurt the structural integrity. There is no feeling to compare with sitting warm and toasty while it howls outside, knowing you built it. Putting you hand on the brick chimney you built and feeling the stored BTUs. I'm at about 7 degrees, and it's close to 75 inside. Snow again later tonite.
The wood thing does cease being work and becomes more like meditation. I actually prefer to split when it's very cold, when the wood is frozen it just explodes apart. Chop wood, carry water.
Don in Maine
I've been hand-splitting some ~30" dia. cottonwood logs (cut just a month or two ago) lately. The maul bounces off them until they finally crack. The same wood unfrozen will require the maul to be wrenched free fairly often.