Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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? speaking of scrounging, I had to do a little scrounging/looking for a new lawn skidder after the 2000 craftsman 42" 17.5 horse tractor/mower/skidder craped out on me! while out looking for a good deal I came across a blue c5 homelite with a 16' b/c for 5.00 at A SUPER SIZED YARD SALE about 30 pieces of old junk and junk! . so maybe it will cough with a little tlc? new lawn skidder isn't to bad either.IMG_7037.JPG IMG_7038.JPG IMG_7039.JPG IMG_7040.JPG IMG_7042.JPG IMG_7043.JPG IMG_7044.JPG
 
Back on the rails: I was eating dinner on the deck tonight, and looked across the hill to my bucked but not split pile. There was a groundhog on top of the pile. I attempted a couple of shots at about 80 yards, but didn't get him.

Dang woodchuck was trying to chuck my wood!

The kids got a kick, etc. etc.
 
Chucker, im impressed with that Husqvarna mower/skidder! A kawasaki engine! That rite there is a xp mower! Come from lowes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
thank's! nope it come from my local ace hardware, the same place I do all my trading for the husky chainsaws and logging materials that I need. sure does beat the heck out of the old craftsman that I used an abused for 16 years... lol
 
svk:

>to stay on topic you can post rain storms, trips but i cannot comment about other off topic posts as a reply? what does historical boat sites have to do with scrounging wood?

>with things that have to do with scrounging seems to me there is a thread for splitting...

>quality is more important than quantity wood pix ok, but why pix of freeways and rain? quality over quantity, u sed it. what is this tread's theme?

>The thread etiquette in here is a little different is there a stickie on it? seems what is ok for you svk, is not ok for me. I am easy ... but I da*m sure tain't no pushover!
Right on brother I love seeing I10 threw a rainy windshield lol
 
Did some more splitting today for next year's wood, and made 4 more Shag Hickory Boards (2" X 7' about 8" wide).

Took a pic of the Brewster location I'm working from up on the hill, along with the new pool they installed.

Above the right of the pool is a 7' Shag Hickory log that still needs to be milled. Above the pool just left of center are the boards I milled today, then the 12' large diameter Red Oak (over 40" on the big end), then above it, in the woods, another Red Oak log that will become boards or firewood, the firewood pile for this year (five cords have already been removed), above that in the woods is a Pig Nut Hickory log that will be milled or made into fire wood, then a stack of pallets and the split wood for next years fire wood.

With the remaining logs, I plan to mill any straight sections w/o branches that are 6' or more, and make firewood of the rest.

The firewood at the Brewster location is all Oak, Hard Maple, Hickory, Black Birch, sand Beech.

I've only been to the Carmel location once this year to bring some firewood to my daughter, but have Red Oak, White Oak, and Cherry over there. Have to do some cutting there when I have the time.
 

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Cool on helping your daughter Mike, but that stuff can get out of hand..........

My firewood season kind of kicks off tomorrow. Haven't been idle of course and in addition to myself, I've got my brother covered for this year.

Main story to share is that I have one of those "I asked for it" situations happening this year with offering to help others. Have an older buddy, (77) who I help every year. Gets a small 5 cord picker load every year. But there's these 2 gals that I know that I also offered to help. They each put their houses on the market back in April and expected to be out of them by winter. Naturally neither house has sold and neither one of them has a stick of wood. So, I've got plenty of trigger time in the near future. One girl has 40 wooded acres, so that should be easy. The other one, I'll have to be a little more creative. Both know their way around the woods, and both drive pick up trucks, so they can do their share of the work. But i won't be offering to help anyone else this year. :)
 
Finally got down to having to snipe both sides to give me a small enough distance I could cut it with the 36 from both sides. Then, bucked! Last buck was hard, I still suck at lining up my cuts... then had to use my err husky 371 trenching tool to cut out a branch nubbie underneath..not good for chains. Then wedged it until it cracked, took all my wedges and mauls used as wedges combined to finish cracking it, and prybarred it over. Now to finish moving this dismembered monstah and get to more splitting, another full year project I bet. Once it is all moved I'll throw the saws used on the project into a big group pic.

Some thoughts on doing huge ones like this for firewood....you can't have a too big of a saw, the whole time I wish I had a 3120 with a 72 inch bar for a lot of the cuts (and my stunt double).

They need to make BIG wedges. "Stacking" kinda sorta works, but really, regular wedges I now look at like cute little barn decor...

Did I mention a stunt double? Cutting and wedging in 95 degree temps get to be a lot like work..several times I had to retreat to keep from keeling over, for reals. I just wanted to make up for lost time this year, and getting grumblings from the owner about half a tree still sitting in the yard...so I pushed it hard. I would have much rather waited until much cooler weather....

Anyway, big saws, plenty of wedges, prybars, and..I need to learn a better way to line up opposing cuts. seems just a fraction off on one side, poof, they don't line up, they wind up crossing each other, lot of wasted cutting. Still doable, but....don't know. I think next time I will try a big cut on one side, go right over the top and stand up there and walk it down the other side, if that is possible. I admit to be a little chicken to try it though, not having full control of the saw in a normal fashion, trying to hold it sideways while balancing along. Not sure. Bigger saw and much bigger bar would have made the big bucking cuts easier for sure.
 

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Zog, I know what you mean. I purchased the 36" bar just to drop the big Oak in the pic above. Have used it for a few other things since, but that is why I got it. The tree had a slight lean to it, so I had to pull it, and I was not gonna work on the far side of the tree! I find saws work much better when the tip is not buried.
 
Spent a little time this evening looking around the cabin lot for what to cut next.

I have some birch and maple around the yard that are in decline but still are throwing significant shade so I'll leave those until I absolutely have to cut them.

I have two balsam and a spruce in a cluster that I've been eyeing up for a while. Think I'll take the balsam out this winter as they are getting to the size where balsam will often break off halfway up and wreck whatever they fall on. Would rather drop them to my spot of choice rather than any random direction.

Back behind the garage I have some smaller Aspen dying of hypoxylon canker. These are all small enough that no splitting will be needed.

Finally I have a couple of big Aspen on the side of the house that are down a short but steep hill. Not prime for carrying rounds back up the hill but I can use the exercise. Maybe do a winter drop with those as it gets a bit wet. The one has a big rotten chunk out of the base so I'll drop it like turnkey did for that hollowed out willow.

All said that's easily another two cords of low btu wood and about two weekends of hauling brush. Never a dull moment lol.
 
What's up guys.
Looks like you've all been staying busy:rock:.
I haven't done to much cutting in a while except a trailer load or two, and at a GTG.
This may change drastically within the next next week though we'll have to see.
Just got a call on a big ash removal a friend is doing at his job. He said I can have all the wood:).
I may save some of it for milling if it looks good, I'll know more in the morning.
Then the tree guys I get wood from said they will be doing a bunch of lot clearing jobs next week.
The first one is monday and is right around the corner from where I'm helping a buddy build a pole barn.
Here's a couple pictures of the barn. The picture from the peak is looking down the side with a 10' lean to.
If you look at the ground you can see all the brush clearing I did with the kubota. I also had to trim up the trees a bit.
There will be some scrounging going on in the piles for some hot burning box elder to stay on topic ;).
Hope you all have a great weekend.20160826_151847.jpg20160826_142127.jpg
 
Finally got down to having to snipe both sides to give me a small enough distance I could cut it with the 36 from both sides. Then, bucked! Last buck was hard, I still suck at lining up my cuts... then had to use my err husky 371 trenching tool to cut out a branch nubbie underneath..not good for chains. Then wedged it until it cracked, took all my wedges and mauls used as wedges combined to finish cracking it, and prybarred it over. Now to finish moving this dismembered monstah and get to more splitting, another full year project I bet. Once it is all moved I'll throw the saws used on the project into a big group pic.

Some thoughts on doing huge ones like this for firewood....you can't have a too big of a saw, the whole time I wish I had a 3120 with a 72 inch bar for a lot of the cuts (and my stunt double).

They need to make BIG wedges. "Stacking" kinda sorta works, but really, regular wedges I now look at like cute little barn decor...

Did I mention a stunt double? Cutting and wedging in 95 degree temps get to be a lot like work..several times I had to retreat to keep from keeling over, for reals. I just wanted to make up for lost time this year, and getting grumblings from the owner about half a tree still sitting in the yard...so I pushed it hard. I would have much rather waited until much cooler weather....

Anyway, big saws, plenty of wedges, prybars, and..I need to learn a better way to line up opposing cuts. seems just a fraction off on one side, poof, they don't line up, they wind up crossing each other, lot of wasted cutting. Still doable, but....don't know. I think next time I will try a big cut on one side, go right over the top and stand up there and walk it down the other side, if that is possible. I admit to be a little chicken to try it though, not having full control of the saw in a normal fashion, trying to hold it sideways while balancing along. Not sure. Bigger saw and much bigger bar would have made the big bucking cuts easier for sure.

I feel for ya. I really do. It is kind of like dismantling a pyramid. If we buy all the equipment we need then we could have just bought the wood. You are one persistent, hard working son-of-a-gun.
 
Will and determination are a scroungers friend. Lol. I've found a lot of scrounge wood is big wood that less determined people don't want to work for. I regularly cut 30-36" wood with an 18" bar because that's what I have. Then the rounds are so heavy. 2 years ago I would wrestle them into the truck but now I'm a hair smarter and noodle them.
 
Can't you just winch up the logs or pull them with an ATV, etc???
Yes but at the top of the hill the lawn starts so I'd ruin the grass there. I'll probably just carry them. My fat azz could use the excersize anyhow lol.

Not sure if you can see the pitch but it's pretty steep. And the hill is high enough that you can't pitch the bigger rounds up it. The two trees on the bottom of the hill are amongst the ones I'd cut.

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