Reading a book about firewood whilst sitting by a wood stove is a pleasant way to spend an hour or two. Especially when you are feeling sorry for yourself (I was) because some lovely student was overly generous with their germs. Fortunately for Mrs PlaidCamper, I suffered in stoic silence. Not true, I was simply engaged in the book she gave me, and it has certainly confirmed my almost outdoorsman status. Still so much to learn!
A good readIf you can get hold of a copy, you might like to read “Norwegian Wood – chopping, stacking, and drying wood the Scandinavian way” by Lars Mytting. I know, sounds a bit nerdy, yet this slim volume is quite wonderful, and strangely heartfelt, given the title. The approach is sometimes scientific, sometimes mathematical, but the overall effect is lyrical and philosophical. Apparently, the book has been a bit of a hit, striking a chord – a cord? – with a wide audience. Could it be that some are crying out for a simpler life? Maybe. It kept me quiet for a while.
Keeping warmTo the book. Until relatively recently, almost all humans have warmed themselves with fire, and the primary fuel was wood. This necessitated a set of skills and knowledge fundamentally attached to being outdoors. In many places, the need for these skills has diminished in the last 60 years, with the development of other heating and energy sources. Perhaps more of us need to rediscover the skills and possibilities of wood for a fuel. Mytting’s book explores our changing relationship with firewood through pictures, poetry, history, and anecdotes that delight and engage. (If you don’t have a tear in your eye after finishing old Ottar’s story – his woodpile tale bookends it all – I’d be amazed, and you’d be cold…)
Woodpile talesMytting details how wood grown for heating can be one part of a national energy plan. It isn’t a magic bullet, but he is persuasive on how burning wood is comparatively environmentally friendly. Modern stoves are very efficient, and there are regions where wood growth supply can outstrip demand. It can’t work everywhere, but the ideas are intriguing. Large (or small) scale tree farms seem preferable to large scale power stations, nuclear plants, hydroelectric projects, and all the associated infrastructure required to deliver the energy. It’s not romantic or beautiful like an old growth forest, but it is clean. And no, I’m not advocating mass logging/deforestation to heat our homes.
Wood stove detailThe book isn’t all about national energy policy and planning, although the ideas presented are thought-provoking. Much of the book is more personal in nature. There’s an amusing foreword detailing the various types of wood chopper. Are you the stoic type? The neurotic hoarder? The poet? The standard bungler? How about desperado, melancholic or psychopath? If you’ve ever had to chop wood then you know there’s a little of each in all of us. Or if you’re me, quite a bit of the bungler.
DryWhen we lived in the western Perigord, the downstairs of our house was heated by two wood burning stoves, one in the kitchen, and one in the living room. In winter, we’d live in the kitchen most of the day, let the stove burn low, and then dash to the front room for the evening. Those stoves were efficient! If only I’d been as efficient.
The first autumn/winter, I enjoyed stacking the delivered firewood and chain sawing and chopping through the colder months. Manly work! Wielding dangerous equipment with purpose, skill, and aplomb. Or so I thought in my happier moments. The truth was, the novelty wore off by the end of each winter, and the enthusiasm didn’t really return with the next wood delivery the following September. I quite enjoyed the sense of purpose and productivity, but sometimes it seemed endless.
To be wielded with purpose (and care)Having a ton of logs dropped onto your front yard on a sweltering September day isn’t too bad. Not when your Dad and brother are visiting, and likely to help shift and stack it. Except they suddenly developed all manner of ailments and a pressing need to prop up the local bar…hmm. I know, firewood is great. It warms you three times – chopping, stacking and burning. My planning (and help) was all wrong!
Where did the helpers go?Having read Mytting, I know now that I should have received the delivery in spring, and then split and stacked the wood to get it dry over the summer – in artfully and scientifically arranged woodpiles (you’ll admire the many photographs of woodpiles Mytting has included. No, really, you will!) I honestly hadn’t given much thought to storing the wood. I was pleased enough to have arranged to get any at all given my terrible schoolboy French. Still, once you have it, all firewood burns the same, doesn’t it? Wrong again, PlaidCamper. See Mytting. I was the bungler, making mistakes that would get a seasoned Scandinavian feller hot under the collar. Although I have to say my homemade sawhorse was a thing of beauty – or perhaps splendid utility over beauty, but I promise you, it worked. Mind you, I never took a photograph (or patented the “design”…)
On to the hardware. If you read it, and you don’t already have them, you’ll be off looking at chain saws and axes (even if you don’t need one, or is that just me?) Axes! The names in the book are poetry: Oyo, Hultafors, Gransfors, Wetterlings, Fiskars and Vipukirves.
A little cabin…“Norwegian Wood” made me miss my wood chopping days. It would have been wonderful to have had some of the knowledge and skills back then. Still, as an almost outdoorsman who generally prefers to look forward, I now feel better prepared than ever, and maybe one day in the future I’ll be back in regular wood chopping action, heating a little cabin and getting it all done the Scandinavian way!
I’ll finish with a quote about the smell of a woodpile Mytting recites from Hans Borli’s “With Axe and Lyre”:
“It is as though life itself passes by, barefoot, with dew in its hair…When the veil finally starts to fall, the scent of fresh wood is among the things that will linger longest…”
Thanks for reading! Are you a chopper of wood? If so, what type are you? Please feel free to share a story or leave a comment, and keep your guy ropes secure.
I am a would be outdoorsman - that is if I had more time, skills and knowledge. When I can, I love being outdoors, just camping, hiking, snowboarding, xc skiing, snowshoeing, paddling a canoe or trying something new. What I lack in ability, I make up for in enthusiasm and having a go. I'd never really survive for long out there in the wild, but I enjoy pretending I could if I had to...
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27 thoughts on “Chopping, stacking, and drying”
My husband has been a wood chopper for years. I was his assistant and I cannot tell you the wood I have stacked. We have always had a wood stove and there is no heat that feels as good as the heat from a wood stove. Everyone use to call my husband, “David Daniel Boone. I think he would have been a good mountain man if he had been born a 100 years earlier. If I was stranded on a desert island or lost in the woods I would chose my husband to be straded with, because his skills in the outdoors are extraordinary. Your book sounded great. I sat and read an old book of my husband’s the other day about identifying animal tracks. I thought it was great.
What a wonderful description of your husband, and a practical partnership! I quite agree, the heat from a wood stove is unique.
I hope you have a great weekend!
Great post! The process of ordering, or bringing home your own wood, processing etc, is almost an religion in the part of Northern Sweden that I called my home for 30 years. The whole family is usually involved in one way or another. Even the toddlers. By making everyone a part of a strenuous task (doesn’t have to be boring,) instilled a desire in our young minds to not waste energy. Always close the doors etc. The adults made sure we understood the connection of the amount of wood we worked, and when we didn’t close the doors properly. lol. I haven’t read the book, but it sounds like a good read.
I thought this might appeal to you and your experiences in Sweden. What a way to appreciate the value of wood, learn respect and share in a communal task! Thanks for your story, and have a great weekend!
I do always enjoy your post. I cannot say that I am a wood chopper. I’ve never had the opportunity, but I think I could pick it up. 🙂 Hope those glorious germs you caught have moved on. Have a beautiful weekend.
I think you’d enjoy having the chance to chop some wood! Great workout, and when you’re in the zone, pretty enjoyable. But when you’re not, you look at the calendar and think, how many more weeks?!
Feeling a lot less germ ridden, thank you – enjoy your weekend!
Can’t wait to read it. We burn wood and I get it from neighbors with downed trees. It’s a great resource and a great thing to teach my kids. My eldest boy (8), is already swinging an axe and splitting aspen and pine.
I’m an old mutt of a woodchopper, myself, containing a little of all the author’s categories, especially poet & bungler. Heating with wood is a wonderful way to go. It’s productive, purposeful, poetic, healthy, wonderful, dirty, exhausting and, at times, absolutely endless. I would recommend it to anyone living in the country who is fit and sane and wants to stay that way for as long as possible.
This is a great review! I’d split a cord of wood to get my hands on a copy of this book.
Yeah, those categories caused a wry smile of recognition here! The author didn’t mention old mutt specifically, but why not add that?!
I like the idea of wood chopping an as aid to sanity in the country – a firm grounding, and mental and physical workout.
Thanks for your comments, Walt, always enjoy them. Have a great weekend!
Ahhh, excellent post, my friend! If I ever find time, I will definitely check out the book.
I agree that the novelty tends to wear off by the end of the cold season, however, spending a day chopping or stacking wood sure beats a day sitting at a desk!
As the saying goes: Before enlightenment – chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment – chop wood, carry water.
Thanks for the saying, Duncan – can only agree! And as for desk time or chopping wood, that’s not even close…
Yeah, the novelty wears off, but isn’t it interesting how real and productive physical tasks can reveal something of our character? Even if it isn’t what we’d like to be…!
Thanks again, and have a great weekend!
I don’t think I should admit that I’m staying warm by the pellet stove that is stocked with 40 lb. bags of wood pellets that all I have to do is scoop into the box. 🙂
Nice read Adam! I just got back from a three day camp out myself. Trying to find dry wood in a wet forest is hard! I built a strong shelf in behind my wood stove.After splitting the wood,I cribbed it on the shelf. It’ll help dry it out.
btw,I believe a piece of wood heats you 5 times,not three……..cutting the tree down (limbing etc),bucking it into rounds,transporting those rounds back to camp,splitting the rounds & finally burning it.
Good to hear from you, Wayne! Cabin time – wonderful. Five time wood warming, how right you are (never felled and limbed a tree, but these steps are warmers alright!)
There is a real art to wood and wood chopping. Living in a rural setting, it is quite entertaining to talk to wood choppers about trees, the density of the wood, how it burns, etc. I wrote down Lars Mytting’s book and hope to find it. Great post, pc — and as always, you made me smile.
The whole world of wood chopping is fascinating – I wish I’d known more when I was stumbling through it all those years ago.
If you track down a copy of “Norwegian Wood” I hope you find it an enjoyable read. Beware though, you’ll be installing a wood stove and purchasing axes…
I enjoyed your post. It made me think of the Beatles – the band not the insects. Didn’t they have a song called ‘Norwegian Wood’? Maybe one of them read the same book. 😉
Happy to read that you enjoyed this one! Yup, The Beatles recorded Norwegian Wood – but if your firewood has beetles, it’ll be poor wood, and not fab for burning. Oh dear…
OldPlaidCamper 
My husband has been a wood chopper for years. I was his assistant and I cannot tell you the wood I have stacked. We have always had a wood stove and there is no heat that feels as good as the heat from a wood stove. Everyone use to call my husband, “David Daniel Boone. I think he would have been a good mountain man if he had been born a 100 years earlier. If I was stranded on a desert island or lost in the woods I would chose my husband to be straded with, because his skills in the outdoors are extraordinary. Your book sounded great. I sat and read an old book of my husband’s the other day about identifying animal tracks. I thought it was great.
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What a wonderful description of your husband, and a practical partnership! I quite agree, the heat from a wood stove is unique.
I hope you have a great weekend!
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you can’t believe but I felt the smell of burning woods… Beautiful post. Thank you, love, nia
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I’m very happy you enjoyed this one, Nia. Have a wonderful weekend!
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by the way in mind Norwegian Wood song too 🙂
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Ha ha, of course!
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Great post! The process of ordering, or bringing home your own wood, processing etc, is almost an religion in the part of Northern Sweden that I called my home for 30 years. The whole family is usually involved in one way or another. Even the toddlers. By making everyone a part of a strenuous task (doesn’t have to be boring,) instilled a desire in our young minds to not waste energy. Always close the doors etc. The adults made sure we understood the connection of the amount of wood we worked, and when we didn’t close the doors properly. lol. I haven’t read the book, but it sounds like a good read.
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I thought this might appeal to you and your experiences in Sweden. What a way to appreciate the value of wood, learn respect and share in a communal task! Thanks for your story, and have a great weekend!
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I did. Thank you. Enjoy your weekend!
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I do always enjoy your post. I cannot say that I am a wood chopper. I’ve never had the opportunity, but I think I could pick it up. 🙂 Hope those glorious germs you caught have moved on. Have a beautiful weekend.
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I think you’d enjoy having the chance to chop some wood! Great workout, and when you’re in the zone, pretty enjoyable. But when you’re not, you look at the calendar and think, how many more weeks?!
Feeling a lot less germ ridden, thank you – enjoy your weekend!
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Can’t wait to read it. We burn wood and I get it from neighbors with downed trees. It’s a great resource and a great thing to teach my kids. My eldest boy (8), is already swinging an axe and splitting aspen and pine.
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Isn’t that great for your children! Learning an important skill, helping out, and being responsible!
Thanks for your comment, and enjoy your weekend!
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I’m an old mutt of a woodchopper, myself, containing a little of all the author’s categories, especially poet & bungler. Heating with wood is a wonderful way to go. It’s productive, purposeful, poetic, healthy, wonderful, dirty, exhausting and, at times, absolutely endless. I would recommend it to anyone living in the country who is fit and sane and wants to stay that way for as long as possible.
This is a great review! I’d split a cord of wood to get my hands on a copy of this book.
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Yeah, those categories caused a wry smile of recognition here! The author didn’t mention old mutt specifically, but why not add that?!
I like the idea of wood chopping an as aid to sanity in the country – a firm grounding, and mental and physical workout.
Thanks for your comments, Walt, always enjoy them. Have a great weekend!
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Ahhh, excellent post, my friend! If I ever find time, I will definitely check out the book.
I agree that the novelty tends to wear off by the end of the cold season, however, spending a day chopping or stacking wood sure beats a day sitting at a desk!
As the saying goes: Before enlightenment – chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment – chop wood, carry water.
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Thanks for the saying, Duncan – can only agree! And as for desk time or chopping wood, that’s not even close…
Yeah, the novelty wears off, but isn’t it interesting how real and productive physical tasks can reveal something of our character? Even if it isn’t what we’d like to be…!
Thanks again, and have a great weekend!
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I don’t think I should admit that I’m staying warm by the pellet stove that is stocked with 40 lb. bags of wood pellets that all I have to do is scoop into the box. 🙂
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Keeping warm by a stove is great – and if the method works, it works! Thanks for reading and commenting, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
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Great stuff plaid camper, looks like an awesome place for a fire
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Glad you enjoyed it John, and I hope your weekend is going well!
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Nice read Adam! I just got back from a three day camp out myself. Trying to find dry wood in a wet forest is hard! I built a strong shelf in behind my wood stove.After splitting the wood,I cribbed it on the shelf. It’ll help dry it out.
btw,I believe a piece of wood heats you 5 times,not three……..cutting the tree down (limbing etc),bucking it into rounds,transporting those rounds back to camp,splitting the rounds & finally burning it.
LikeLike
Good to hear from you, Wayne! Cabin time – wonderful. Five time wood warming, how right you are (never felled and limbed a tree, but these steps are warmers alright!)
LikeLike
There is a real art to wood and wood chopping. Living in a rural setting, it is quite entertaining to talk to wood choppers about trees, the density of the wood, how it burns, etc. I wrote down Lars Mytting’s book and hope to find it. Great post, pc — and as always, you made me smile.
LikeLike
The whole world of wood chopping is fascinating – I wish I’d known more when I was stumbling through it all those years ago.
If you track down a copy of “Norwegian Wood” I hope you find it an enjoyable read. Beware though, you’ll be installing a wood stove and purchasing axes…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed your post. It made me think of the Beatles – the band not the insects. Didn’t they have a song called ‘Norwegian Wood’? Maybe one of them read the same book. 😉
LikeLike
Happy to read that you enjoyed this one! Yup, The Beatles recorded Norwegian Wood – but if your firewood has beetles, it’ll be poor wood, and not fab for burning. Oh dear…
LikeLiked by 1 person