Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Picaso]

Got in on a 3 acre lot getting cleared. Logs getting taken off to the mill but the lot is full of oak and also some hickory and locust so piles of good stuff on the ground - Now as much as I can grab before they truck it is headed to MY wood stash instead

 

[cantoo]

New stump grapple works good enough. 1st one is 10" poplar and other tree is 14" cedar. Took about 5 minutes for each tree from the time I drove up to it until it was clear of the hole. Took 10 minutes to do a 5" Ironwood, gonna pick my battles next time those things are tuff. I thought I could use it to load logs too but it doesn't work for that. It has teeth cut into the side of the bucket to cut roots, the log gets caught on these and it chews them to crap trying to get them off the bucket. Going to make my logging (4 wheeler) trails a lot smoother for sure.

 

[Philbert]

Might work even better when the ground isn't frozen?

Philbert

 

[Cowboy254]

My scrounging opportunities have been a bit limited in the last little while with cricket finals taking up my weekends. One more weekend of that to go. Today was a gloomy sort of day after the first decent rain we've had in two months yesterday. It was only mid 20s C today but humid and it didn't take long to be soaked with sweat. I have more work to do cleaning up the peppermint from last time and today, the 460 was the weapon of choice. I only had enough fuel for a single full tank each in the 460 and Limby. I like my bar to be well lubricated and as you can see, I'm not stingy with the oil.



Oopsies. Anyway, I had some split wood from last time to load up and then a tankful through the 460 yielded enough for a full trailer load (not all of it is in the picture) with quite a bit left over, plus several more branches ranging from 4-10 inches in diameter which should be another load and a bit.



Loaded up.



Then I drove over to the blue gum I have been working on for the Lady Farmer. With the 460 out of juice, Limby cut up the rest of the trunk, with just enough to finish it. There are a couple of other odds and ends there still to cut.



I split a few rounds but it was heavy going and I was starting to run out of time before getting home to get ready for work. I lugged everything down and then back up the hill because I didn't trust the Subaru to get back up if I drove down there, especially since it was a bit wet today.



This is load number 26 back home since last winter. I'll chuck it onto Mt Cowboy tomorrow.

 

[Cowboy254]

Got in on a 3 acre lot getting cleared. Logs getting taken off to the mill but the lot is full of oak and also some hickory and locust so piles of good stuff on the ground - Now as much as I can grab before they truck it is headed to MY wood stash instead

Make sure you post pics!

 

[Picaso]

I tried posting pics with my first post but it doesn't look like it went through.. even though it looked like it was included. I'll work on it. Big day is Friday, when I got permission from the nearby business to pull my trailer through their property right up to the woods edge on the closest side during business hours. Gotta make hay. I will take and post pics here this weekend.

 

[NormP]

The rental property seems to be the bottomless pit of firewood. Today we worked on a really big cherry tree. My 372xp is acting up. It cuts like a champ for the first 5-7 minutes after it's started, then it starts bogging down, almost like I'm trying to rev it up with the choke on. And it still doesn't want to idle. Dies almost as soon as I let off the throttle.
So I took an old Rancher 55 with a brand new 20" bar and chain as a poor substitute to the big saw. 3-4 pulls and suddenly the cord won't retract. The recoil spring seems messed up.
So that left us with my Jonsered 2152 with an 18" bar and my brother's Husky 435 with a 16 inch bar. Not the best options on a trunk that was probably 26-28 inches; but you go to war with the army you have....

My jonny red on the trunk gives you an idea of what I was facing with a shorter-than-desired bar, especially the piece my brother is walking by:

I had looked at this tree yesterday and knew I was going to need a bigger trailer:

More of the same tree and this is after we had already put some in the trailer:

The two small saws gave 110% and never slowed down, so while it took more cuts than I had initially planned, we got a pretty big haul, including some you can't see in my truck and the bed of my brother's truck:

Still more of this tree left, and a bunch of ash to go. Getting down to crunch time, the new owner closes on the house Friday, but he's told me I can continue to clean up for the next little while.

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[woodchip rookie]

435 FTW!!!!!!

 

[Picaso]

I tried posting pics with my first post but it doesn't look like it went through.. even though it looked like it was included. I'll work on it. Big day is Friday, when I got permission from the nearby business to pull my trailer through their property right up to the woods edge on the closest side during business hours. Gotta make hay. I will take and post pics here this weekend.

Well here you go - the first load Im getting from the lot: . It's not much but it's a start.

 

[Picaso]

The rental property seems to be the bottomless pit of firewood. Today we worked on a really big cherry tree. My 372xp is acting up. It cuts like a champ for the first 5-7 minutes after it's started, then it starts bogging down, almost like I'm trying to rev it up with the choke on. And it still doesn't want to idle. Dies almost as soon as I let off the throttle.
So I took an old Rancher 55 with a brand new 20" bar and chain as a poor substitute to the big saw. 3-4 pulls and suddenly the cord won't retract. The recoil spring seems messed up.
So that left us with my Jonsered 2152 with an 18" bar and my brother's Husky 435 with a 16 inch bar. Not the best options on a trunk that was probably 26-28 inches; but you go to war with the army you have....

My jonny red on the trunk gives you an idea of what I was facing with a shorter-than-desired bar, especially the piece my brother is walking by:

I had looked at this tree yesterday and knew I was going to need a bigger trailer:

More of the same tree and this is after we had already put some in the trailer:

The two small saws gave 110% and never slowed down, so while it took more cuts than I had initially planned, we got a pretty big haul, including some you can't see in my truck and the bed of my brother's truck:

Still more of this tree left, and a bunch of ash to go. Getting down to crunch time, the new owner closes on the house Friday, but he's told me I can continue to clean up for the next little while.

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I really enjoy working with cherry - much more than I do burning it. It's a shame part of that cherry didn't turn into some furniture, but at least it's going to good use. We had a big cherry fall last year but too much rot, so it ended up in the wood pile instead of the wood rack for next year. Free heat is free heat!

 

[NormP]

I don't know much about making good lumber, but I looked at it before we started cutting; the longest piece was probably 5-6 feet at best and all of the bigger pieces were cracked in the middle anyway. The smaller ones weren't very straight. I will probably advertise it on craigslist for barbecue wood though. And if it doesn't sell, it's free heat, like you said.

 

[Cowboy254]

The rental property seems to be the bottomless pit of firewood. Today we worked on a really big cherry tree. My 372xp is acting up. It cuts like a champ for the first 5-7 minutes after it's started, then it starts bogging down, almost like I'm trying to rev it up with the choke on. And it still doesn't want to idle. Dies almost as soon as I let off the throttle.
So I took an old Rancher 55 with a brand new 20" bar and chain as a poor substitute to the big saw. 3-4 pulls and suddenly the cord won't retract. The recoil spring seems messed up.
So that left us with my Jonsered 2152 with an 18" bar and my brother's Husky 435 with a 16 inch bar. Not the best options on a trunk that was probably 26-28 inches; but you go to war with the army you have....

My jonny red on the trunk gives you an idea of what I was facing with a shorter-than-desired bar, especially the piece my brother is walking by:

I had looked at this tree yesterday and knew I was going to need a bigger trailer:

More of the same tree and this is after we had already put some in the trailer:

The two small saws gave 110% and never slowed down, so while it took more cuts than I had initially planned, we got a pretty big haul, including some you can't see in my truck and the bed of my brother's truck:

Still more of this tree left, and a bunch of ash to go. Getting down to crunch time, the new owner closes on the house Friday, but he's told me I can continue to clean up for the next little while.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

There does seem to be a bit of Magic Pudding about that house lot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Pudding). Based on your first drive-by pics, it looked like one of your trailer loads would do it but no matter how much to take out, it seems to grow back. Carry on, scrounger!

 

[farmer steve]

I don't know much about making good lumber, but I looked at it before we started cutting; the longest piece was probably 5-6 feet at best and all of the bigger pieces were cracked in the middle anyway. The smaller ones weren't very straight. I will probably advertise it on craigslist for barbecue wood though. And if it doesn't sell, it's free heat, like you said.

great smelling wood when burnt Norm. i have a few customers that always ask for some cherry. wait till closer to the holidays in the fall and advertise it as "holiday" wood.

 

[woodchip rookie]

There does seem to be a bit of Magic Pudding about that house lot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Pudding). Based on your first drive-by pics, it looked like one of your trailer loads would do it but no matter how much to take out, it seems to grow back. Carry on, scrounger!

I love it when cigarettes multiply in my pocket

 

[tpence2177]

Got to do a little storm clean up today. Had a pine leaning over yesterday that I didn't know was rotten. It was in falling distance from our drive way. Couldn't really get it to go how I wanted it to so I dropped the sweet gum that it was leaning on as well. That's the most I've ran my echo cs-590. Really impressed with it and it's a lot happier now that I pulled the limiters. No big trees but was definitely fun to do some cutting.

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[MustangMike]

Check that 372 for an air leak, and Cherry is a favorite of the guys who make wood fire pizza.

 

[Cowboy254]

G'day scroungers,

Local scrounge today - meaning about 10m from my house. I took down a big dead rogue wattle that had grown in a spot it wasn't meant to and had a big lean on it. Part of it had already fallen over and the rest wasn't looking too good. Wattle usually starts to rot after it dies. I was starting to worry about it falling over unexpectedly and taking me out when mowing or one of the kids when they are tearing around. I took a pic before I dropped it but it came out a bit dark...still you get the idea. I might have a better shot somewhere.



The 460 took it down.



There was a big mess down the other end.



Dry wattle is very brittle so after trimming the small stuff off the branches and stomping around on it for a bit, I was able to rake it into a rough pile.



There's also a small pile of wattle rounds and poles. I'd rather burn the local eucalypts rather than wattle so this stuff can be used for Cowgirl's bonfire in May.



I'll clean up the other part that was trying to grow horizontally and broke a couple of feet up another day.

 

[ghosta]

G'day scroungers,

Local scrounge today - meaning about 10m from my house. I took down a big dead rogue wattle that had grown in a spot it wasn't meant to and had a big lean on it. Part of it had already fallen over and the rest wasn't looking too good. Wattle usually starts to rot after it dies. I was starting to worry about it falling over unexpectedly and taking me out when mowing or one of the kids when they are tearing around. I took a pic before I dropped it but it came out a bit dark...still you get the idea. I might have a better shot somewhere.

View attachment 567375

The 460 took it down.

View attachment 567376

There was a big mess down the other end.

View attachment 567377

Dry wattle is very brittle so after trimming the small stuff off the branches and stomping around on it for a bit, I was able to rake it into a rough pile.

View attachment 567378

There's also a small pile of wattle rounds and poles. I'd rather burn the local eucalypts rather than wattle so this stuff can be used for Cowgirl's bonfire in May.

View attachment 567379

I'll clean up the other part that was trying to grow horizontally and broke a couple of feet up another day.

Dont waste it on a bonfire, save it for occasions you want coals hours after gum wood has burnt away and gone out!

 

[Cowboy254]

Dont waste it on a bonfire, save it for occasions you want coals hours after gum wood has burnt away and gone out!

I was wondering what you'd think when I was typing that. This stuff is not as good (silver wattle). I have burned some of it and carefully compared putting similar sized pieces of wattle vs candlebark, wattle vs peppermint and wattle vs blue gum in the heater at the same time and it has always come off second best, and produces the most ash. It does coal up ok but it's just not as dense as the other species and doesn't last. I haven't tried black wattle and it is reputed to be a little better than silver but we don't have it locally.

Besides, this particular one is a bit soft in the middle in the lower section of the trunk so it's not much good anyway. All the little branch bits are great kindling though and I have a limitless supply.

 

[NormP]

There does seem to be a bit of Magic Pudding about that house lot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Pudding). Based on your first drive-by pics, it looked like one of your trailer loads would do it but no matter how much to take out, it seems to grow back. Carry on, scrounger!

Definitely been a good scrounge for me, my friend from down under. I wrapped it up today. There was still a decent amount of wood left, but I got almost all the good ash, and everything but a few cherry rounds.

These last few pieces were solid, felt like they were filled with lead.

Left hackberry and some cherry on the ground for the new owner to give to someone else, no need for me to be stingy, I've got a line on several other scrounge probabilities. A good load or two here for the next guy:

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