There is a soulfully satisfying experience that comes from completing simple tasks. It could be washing the dishes, cleaning the house, shoveling snow, or chopping wood.
Outside chores are even better as one embraces nature. If they include some exercise, all the better. Uncomplicated tasks with a clear start and finish. Analog experiences with real physics, quiet and human muscle powered.
Take snow removal for instance. Yes, a brutal gas-powered snowblower will get the job done by clearing the driveway so you can start your commute to work but there is something zen about using a broom to sweep snow off steps or a hand shovel to take snow off a deck.
I find removing snow off my metal roof and solar panels particularly satisfying. There is the idea that I’m saving the roof from collapsing under the weight of heavy snow or creating a direct benefit of producing electricity as I remove snow from the solar panels. The activity works with one of nature’s greatest forces, gravity as the snow rack pulls or cuts off chunks of snow that falls to the ground.
This brings us to the art of cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood
The Art of Chopping Wood
I was waiting for my wife at the Kittery Trading Post when I spied this book that would appeal to my wife. She’s a hardworking, stressed-out executive for a major hospital and longs to be away from Zoom meetings and out chopping up firewood into “billets’ as she calls them – small chunks of wood – for our Solo Stove firepit stainless steel smokeless campfire.
Do you find splitting wood to be oddly relaxing and comforting? Many people do.
The book was called Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way by Lars Mytting and is full of tips on not only creating and storing nice dry firewood but displaying it creatively.
It turns out that this book was an International sensation. It seems that all over the world people enjoy working with logs and cutting them down, splitting and drying them into great firewood for warmth. After all, firewood warms you twice, once in the preparation and then in the fireplace or wood stove.
It’s a full-color practical book about the art and craft of handling wood for heating that has become an international bestseller, selling over 200,000 copies in Norway and Sweden.
Norwegian Wood provides useful advice on the rustic hows and whys of taking care of your heating needs, but it’s also a thoughtful attempt to understand man’s age-old predilection for stacking wood and passion for open fires. Chapters include:
- The Cold
- The Forest
- The Tools
- The Chopping Block
- The Woodpile
- The Seasoning
- The Stove
- The Fire
The author, Lars Mytting, writes, “The factual material in this book represents the distilled wisdom of encounters with people who are passionate about wood, enthusiasts as well as professional researchers. I have benefitted greatly from my conversations with experts in the fields of combustion and silviculture. . . . Along the way I’ve tried out most of the techniques I’ve been introduced to. I’ve dried finely chopped oak in our kitchen oven, struggled to build a beehive woodpile, and miscalculated the trajectory of a felled pine. And I’ve been on a quest to discover the soul of the wood fire.” With his help, you’ll begin your quest to discover the joys of wood and wood fire.
Tools for Chopping Wood
Amazing Wood Stacks
