Here's a practical guide to mankind's first and most reliable energy source -- good,old-fashioned firewood. The basics of felling, bucking, splitting and stacking wood are detailed along with guidelines for chainsaw operations, repair, and maintenance.
The authors, Frank and Stephen Philbrick, are a son-and-father team of lumberjacks who manage their own woodlot in Massachusetts and compete in competitive timber sports around the country. "Although I wasn't born into it -- splitting wood, that is -- the first time I tried it I knew I was born for it," writes the father. "The constructive destruction involved in felling, bucking, and splitting was a deep thrill, a coming-home feeling that hasn't changed over the past 33 years."
The Philbricks own and manage a 120-acre woodlot in the Hilltowns of Massachusetts. Most of their experience, and the advice they share, deals with managing your own woods: culling damaged trees, conserving wildlife habitat, harvesting for firewood. In separate chapters they explain how to choose the most appropriate chainsaw and safety equipment, how to fell a tree, how to split and stack firewood, and how to get the most out of a woodstove, fireplace or fire pit.
