Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Ryan Groat]

Hello all! I've been lurking for awhile and read this entire thread. It's been a great help in making some choices. We just put in a wood stove at the end of winter this year after having huge power bills for an old home. I had a few saws but most were small for general land owner stuff. I had a Husqvarna 445 which I loved and a few years ago added a MS211 which is great for the small stuff. After reading this thread and looking at what kind of wood I was going to be into I bought a new 562xp and was amazed at the difference even after seeing all of you say how different the power was. I can't imagine how the truly large saws run.

Luckily I already had plenty of useful tools like an x27 and a tractor with a FEL

This was an old pine that had died and half fell over. I knocked it all the way down with my tractor last winter. The 562xp went through it like it was nothing.

I plan to store as much as possible on our front porch so it's easy to get to.

Using the FEL to hold a load as close as possible definitely makes my life easier.

These are oak chunks. My parents had a large oak dropped a few years ago unfortunately the rounds were just a bit too large so I cut them down before splitting. I lost alot of wood to moisture as they sat on their ends for way too long. I mainly split out what was still solid.

I got this to make it easier to bring in a load.

Here is the final product keeping me warm this weekend in the evening. I mix the pine in with the oak for now. Unfortunately I have a ton of pine on my property the oak were cleared out before I bought it. I still have enough to help bring in the deer. I don't want to cut any nice tree's just dead stuff. I'm hoping to bring home a bunch of stuff from our hunt club property but at this point I'm not running a saw in the woods until after bow season.

How do you like your land plane? I've been thinking of getting one.

 

[Greenthorn]

@crazywolf, welcome to the scrounge club, 4 years and 2 posts? Now that you're here, we'll get you 3 years ahead on wood and probably gain 3 more chainsaws....

PS nice pics!

 

[dancan]

Reid , if it's got a good bar and chain ...
Not a saw for me , old school but it might be good trading fodder .
I drive minimum 50 miles every day so a truck is an expense , the van got me an honest 22 mpg combined city/highway , I don't think a gas 4x4 in my price range will do it , the ef250 is a 2000 so it's the last of the 73's and I know a few guys that have plenty of spare parts and should be 20ish mpg .
I've not hurt myself loading the van .... yet LOL
Maybe I should put a trailer hitch on the wife's Echo , that thing gets 41mpg

 

[dancan]

Anyone having 'alert' problems?? I sure am. Might be an IOS problem/glitch...no clue. And ain't smart enuff above the average idiot to know what to check or do.

What kind of alert problem ?

 

[zogger]

Question for all the chainsaw fanatics. Do you guys think a Stihl 045 AV Super electronic is worth $50? The guy says it doesn't run and has no idea what's wrong with it. Supposed to have compression. I believe it's a 80+cc saw. I want to tinker with it if there's a chance to fix that beast. My Poulan Pro 360 started my itch.

Don't know a thing about them. I would check if pistons and cylinders are available first though. Projectt saws can wind up being more expensive than a new or newish nice saw, real fast if parts are NLA except used or pricey new old stock etc. Someone on the tradin post has several husky 288s for sale right now, there's a classic strong saw. He's asking fair money, but they are considered absolutely one of the best larger saws ever made by anyone.

 

[USMC615]

What kind of alert problem ?

All my preferences are set right, I did get this alert...I have to backtrack for days just to keep up. Maybe the Gods or mods are against me, lol?? I hardly get anymore alerts...IOS has updated a couple of times in the last two weeks...who knows?

 

[Ambull01]

Don't know a thing about them. I would check if pistons and cylinders are available first though. Projectt saws can wind up being more expensive than a new or newish nice saw, real fast if parts are NLA except used or pricey new old stock etc. Someone on the tradin post has several husky 288s for sale right now, there's a classic strong saw. He's asking fair money, but they are considered absolutely one of the best larger saws ever made by anyone.

Zogger! How you been? I read a thread here about someone building a 045 Super. Said the piston was just about impossible to find.

 

[nomad_archer]

Cleaned the chimney today. I still don't like the ladder but it is getting easier. Started a fire for the test run. Looks like I am good to go. The cold can take its time.

 

[dancan]

USMC615 , it takes a day to get everything back to normal if I do a tapatalk update on my phone , my puter sez this setting but the phone sez that setting .

 

[zogger]

Zogger! How you been? I read a thread here about someone building a 045 Super. Said the piston was just about impossible to find.

I'm fine, just tired a lot, working a bunch and beavering away now and then on the big yard oak. I'm finally in solid 394xp territory now, I can barely get these nubbies off with the three foot bar. I should have put the saw in the pic for scale, that's about six foot across the end of the log with a big nubbie on the left. Got several down today plus one full round, had to cut from both sides then wedge it and crack it off. Mambo rounds ain't the word..bigger than that. That ported 394 can sure suck the mix down! About half a tank a cut, thereabouts. I might be running a scosh rich, not sure, but..that's a big powerful saw. Still running in new rings, too, so a little rich is OK. I have to start it on the ground. I bet it would run a much larger bar, but they are pretty pricey, then you need some loops. Then I would need two stunt doubles to run it..hahahaha!

 

[MustangMike]

So here is what I did this morning, used all my saws, but the 044 #2 with those new 661 R spikes and 28" light bar just seemed to be set up perfect for this tree (again). The only part that bar did not go through was the bottom stump cut (I did 2 stump cuts). Was all done cutting by just after noon, but had to restrict how much I put in the trailer, that darn wet Red Oak overloads it fast! This is next year's wood.

Had to keep the hinge a little thick, and left it a little thicker toward me, and also roped the tree just to make sure, but it went down right on the money. It was leaning a bit to the right of where we wanted it to go, and you know how heavy Red Oak is!

I may have to set up my 460/046 D similarly, that saw is a Beast! But the 044 is also very strong, and nice & light to work with (for a saw that can handle a 28" bar in hardwood).

Enjoy the pics.

 

[svk]

That's a pretty impressive "fleet" picture Mike.

 

[JustJeff]

Hello all! I've been lurking for awhile and read this entire thread. It's been a great help in making some choices. We just put in a wood stove at the end of winter this year after having huge power bills for an old home. I had a few saws but most were small for general land owner stuff. I had a Husqvarna 445 which I loved and a few years ago added a MS211 which is great for the small stuff. After reading this thread and looking at what kind of wood I was going to be into I bought a new 562xp and was amazed at the difference even after seeing all of you say how different the power was. I can't imagine how the truly large saws run.

Luckily I already had plenty of useful tools like an x27 and a tractor with a FEL

This was an old pine that had died and half fell over. I knocked it all the way down with my tractor last winter. The 562xp went through it like it was nothing.

I plan to store as much as possible on our front porch so it's easy to get to.

Using the FEL to hold a load as close as possible definitely makes my life easier.

These are oak chunks. My parents had a large oak dropped a few years ago unfortunately the rounds were just a bit too large so I cut them down before splitting. I lost alot of wood to moisture as they sat on their ends for way too long. I mainly split out what was still solid.

I got this to make it easier to bring in a load.

Here is the final product keeping me warm this weekend in the evening. I mix the pine in with the oak for now. Unfortunately I have a ton of pine on my property the oak were cleared out before I bought it. I still have enough to help bring in the deer. I don't want to cut any nice tree's just dead stuff. I'm hoping to bring home a bunch of stuff from our hunt club property but at this point I'm not running a saw in the woods until after bow season.

Looks like you don't need any advice from us. Nice install on the stove, looks warm and welcoming. Welcome to the group.

 

[JustJeff]

So here is what I did this morning, used all my saws, but the 044 #2 with those new 661 R spikes and 28" light bar just seemed to be set up perfect for this tree (again). The only part that bar did not go through was the bottom stump cut (I did 2 stump cuts). Was all done cutting by just after noon, but had to restrict how much I put in the trailer, that darn wet Red Oak overloads it fast! This is next year's wood.

Had to keep the hinge a little thick, and left it a little thicker toward me, and also roped the tree just to make sure, but it went down right on the money. It was leaning a bit to the right of where we wanted it to go, and you know how heavy Red Oak is!

I may have to set up my 460/046 D similarly, that saw is a Beast! But the 044 is also very strong, and nice & light to work with (for a saw that can handle a 28" bar in hardwood).

Enjoy the pics.

Note to self; never arm wrestle mustangmike!

 

[zogger]

So here is what I did this morning, used all my saws, but the 044 #2 with those new 661 R spikes and 28" light bar just seemed to be set up perfect for this tree (again). The only part that bar did not go through was the bottom stump cut (I did 2 stump cuts). Was all done cutting by just after noon, but had to restrict how much I put in the trailer, that darn wet Red Oak overloads it fast! This is next year's wood.

Had to keep the hinge a little thick, and left it a little thicker toward me, and also roped the tree just to make sure, but it went down right on the money. It was leaning a bit to the right of where we wanted it to go, and you know how heavy Red Oak is!

I may have to set up my 460/046 D similarly, that saw is a Beast! But the 044 is also very strong, and nice & light to work with (for a saw that can handle a 28" bar in hardwood).

Enjoy the pics.

Oh man, those are nice rounds, about as perfect as it gets! I can't wait to get back to more normal trees like that! Cool set of saws, too, man. I'll have to do one like that with all the saws I have used on...never named the tree yet...hmmm...got it...OAKZILLA!

 

[nomad_archer]

Mike you need a trailer just to get your saws to the job.

Zogger -- good gracious that is a lot of serious wood. Has to be scary to work around that much weight.

 

[JustJeff]

Question for all the chainsaw fanatics. Do you guys think a Stihl 045 AV Super electronic is worth $50? The guy says it doesn't run and has no idea what's wrong with it. Supposed to have compression. I believe it's a 80+cc saw. I want to tinker with it if there's a chance to fix that beast. My Poulan Pro 360 started my itch.

Be worth that for parts if its not all beat to death. I paid 50 for an 032av and all it needed was a cleaning and a tune. Ran it enough to know I didn't like the ergos, and sold it for 225. Bought a 3 yr old husky 365 and love it, great anti vibe and lots of parts. The moral of this story is, for fifty bones, you really can't lose.

 

[zogger]

Mike you need a trailer just to get your saws to the job.

Zogger -- good gracious that is a lot of serious wood. Has to be scary to work around that much weight.

I had one close call already, had to jump and a chunk hit my leg a little. Believe me, I am looking at every cut six times from every angle. I already have a ton of wood underneath the main trunk, and gonna add some more. There's a few big branches underneath still holding it up, both ends in the air, so I'm watching for big movement. Just those little stem nubbies must be running five/six hundred lbs or so. The main rounds about 3/4 ton estimated. I had some fantastic pics of the tree when it was still in full limb and alive, but lost in the big hack. It was 110 foot wide and 95 foot high.

 

[nomad_archer]

So since I have been on a tuning kick. Today I took the 365 way rich and got it finally tuned. Then cleaned it up and put it away for winter.

I tuned the leaf blower today. It was a remanufactured unit and I sure hope it wasn't tuned like this from the factory originally. But it needed 1/2 turn richer on the low end and nearly a a full turn until it started 4 stroking on the H. It took a little more 3/4 turn to get the H close but still a little rich. It finally gives even power with good throttle response.

 

[dancan]

Mike , you sure you don't want to trade that oak for some Christmas trees ?
Great score !!!