Bone Chilling Cold in Upper Midwest

West-coasters who are upset about temperatures in the 50s should visit the upper Midwest this week. Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and parts of Michigan are experiencing temperatures below -10 degrees today with wind chills as low as -65 degrees.

All over, people are throwing hot cups of water in the air to watch in awe as it freezes into snow before hitting the ground. This is cold!

An important thing to keep in mind is what you can do if the power goes out. In this kind of cold, it's important to have a backup plan. Survival in severe subzero cold requires a lot more than just putting on a sweatshirt and mittens. How can you heat your home if you don't have electricity to run your furnace?

Electric Generators

Emergency portable generators are a very effective solution. They must be run outdoors though, at least 10-18 feet from your home because they produce carbon monoxide. Portable generators are great in these situations because they can power your furnace and lights during an outage, and then be stowed away after the power is restored.

Fireplace

You can always go the old school route and burn firewood in a fireplace or a wood burning stove. There are many ways of splitting firewood. You can use a gas log splitter outdoors, an electric log splitter indoors or outdoors, a manual log splitter from the comfort of your living room, or a hatchet on a stump should you need the exercise.

A manual log splitter is much easier than a hatchet, but may not be ideal if you're splitting lots of wood.

An electric log splitter is much easier and more powerful than a manual splitter, and it can be used safely indoors. It's quieter and doesn't give off fumes.

A gas log splitter is the most powerful, but can only be used outdoors. It's usually larger, louder, and or course requires gasoline.

Once you choose the splitter(s) that you want, you can being splitting firewood. It's best to do a large amount in the early fall and stack it up someplace dry. This gives it time to cure and dry out. That way, by the time you need it, it'll be ready to burn.

Whatever you end up choosing, make sure you stay warm enough. This weather is dangerously cold, and you want to be sure you're safe.

Indoor Log Splitting - Done Safe

Nobody likes going outside to split firewood when it's cold enough to freeze your nose hairs, but how else are you going to split more firewood to keep the family warm?

Splitting wood indoors is far too dangerous with a gas-powered log splitter, in fact it's downright deadly because of the poisonous exhaust fumes. Electric log splitters are safe indoors, but they're inconvenient and take up space.

Manually-operated log splitters are by far the most sensible option. The WoodEze manual firewood splitter is incredibly convenient and safe for splitting up firewood. 

1. Find yourself a hardwood stump and drill a 12 cm hole in the top. 

2. Insert the splitter into the hole.

3. Tighten bolt with a wrench to secure the splitting wedge.

4. Lift the handle and place the log to be split under the wedge.

5. Lift the striking weight with both hands and then drop it onto the wedge.

It's safer and easier than an axe, and the guide bar keeps it on target every time. It strikes with up to 14 tons of pressure at the edge of the blade. The size makes it easy to stow away, and the simplicity and sturdiness of the construction means there's no maintenance required.

So as long as you have relatively small logs that are able to be split, you can split firewood into smaller pieces from the warmth and comfort of your living room. And you don't have to be concerned with the dangerous fumes of gas splitters.