(March 2021)
Yay! The weather has warmed and it's starting to feel like spring! And I am itching to get on the roundhouse project. While I wait for the snow to finish melting and the frost to leave the ground I think I'll work on peeling the logs.
Peeling logs helps them to last longer. The bark holds in moisture and attracts bugs in between the bark and wood. Besides, it will decay and flake and be messy. So, off it comes.
As I mention in the video, I have in fact used a draw knife before and peeled logs before. One of my first jobs, while I was still in high school, was in Beacon Rock State Park. One of the projects we were working on happened to be peeling logs. They were much, much larger logs so it was easy to just sit on them to do the work. The bark was also much thicker and easier to get between it and the wood beneath.
Also...that was a really long time ago.
I was just a bit nervous to get started but it wasn't too bad once I got going. I did discover on my second day (that day is not in the video), which was noticeably colder, that there is still enough moisture in these logs that peeling is extremely hard. Because the bark is frozen. I gave up halfway through.
The following weekend was even nicer, with much more snow gone and I was able to make short work of it. Getting three done in one afternoon alone plus other projects.
Eight logs. The biggest I have available (about 5-6 inches across) to me. All peeled and ready for burning. That will have to wait though until we get some rain. It gets dry here in the spring and we don't want to take any risks.
That's okay though, there is plenty of other stuff to work on in the meantime.