Northern Redneck Fun

So yesterday a couple of the neighborhood guys came over to test out their wood splitting machines in a sort of contest to see who had the 'best' wood splitter.  They wanted "unbiased" wood - that is, wood that neither of them had originally cut.  They decided that Harold's un-split wood would be unbiased enough! Here were the contestants:

Neighbor Frank brought his Black Diamond wood splitter and demonstrates with a huge log piece.

Neighbor Don brought his homemade splitter he bought at an auction .

This view shows the relative sizes of both of them.

Don's splitter did a pretty good job at most everything.

Harold and Don watched the performance of Frank's splitter.

Basically both machines did about the same job at pretty much the same speed.  The only deciding factor was when Harold tested each one with a small log to cross split, instead of splitting with the grain.

Harold tested each machine with a small log to cross cut.  Don's splitter did the job in one try, whereas Frank's took 3 tries to get the job done.

 So Don's machine was declared the winner, although all the guys admitted that both splitters were pretty much the same.   The best part of all this?  Harold got his wood split for free!  As we say here in the north country:  "That's a heckuva deal, ey?" (We're close enough to Canada to add the ey after a sentence, although the Canadians spell it eh).  Harold has a wood splitter, too, but his needs a new pump and valves.  He uses the hydraulics on his tractor/loader to power his in the woods.   All the "old man" neighbor guys, including Harold, need a wood splitter!  Splitting wood with an ax by hand is for young men with young muscles!  Old guys have to split wood the smart way! 

Speaking of up north fun, Harold and I started shelling out the popcorn we harvested a while back.   We borrowed Frank's antique corn sheller.  

Getting a start on shelling out popcorn ears. 

A close up of the sheller. 

 

A side view of the sheller.

We decided most of the corn needed a little more drying before it would go through the sheller without tearing up the ear, so we will continue in a few days.  We anticipate another 100 lbs or more of popcorn this year.