Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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Don't scrounge too much since I have 11 acres (mostly soft tho) but when hydro came clearing out their lines, well I had to try to liberate some of the logs. Some beech, birch but mainly pine. This small pile (compared to other lucky sods here) was about a quarter of what I got one weekend before I had to head home (stashed some in bush, too tired to move to cabin). Come back two weeks later and they took a huge shredder to the rest of the wood. I almost cried but they did leave behind a small tangled mess of logs I'll try and tackle at some point, but again mostly soft so destined for the pit. So basically an excuse to run the saw and let chips and noodles fly.
Nice looking birch! Running saws and making chips and noodles is what it's all about;). If you bring some wood home well that's even better.
 
One big difference. When I set out to cut wood, I ALWAYS cut wood. When I go hunting, I usually come home empty. Sometimes, the consistency of "getting it done" makes me want to cut some wood, even though I really like to hunt.

Unfortunately, many of my hunting locations have changed. I used to go to some public areas where I would see deer 8 or 9 times out of 10, which made things very interesting. The same place, I'm lucky if I see a deer in one out of 10 trips. More hunting pressure, baiting (illegal in NY), etc have made a lot of places less desireable.
 
It just dawned on me I was not clear here, them darn Beatles did too many songs! She did not forward "You know it's your Birthday", but she forwarded "When I'm 64".
Getting a little foggy in your senior years :laughing: Well happy birthday :cheers:

Bye!


Found me a good scrounge this morning. Decent size oak that fellywo weeks ago.
That brings up a question I have as far as scrounging. Is it legal to pick up wood dropped by the power company without permission? I have been driving by some piles but I can't place who owns the land it's on. In the past I just stopped to ask or left a note. Now if I want to get technical the town owns from the road 5 or 10 feet back but I'm not sure and I don't want trouble in the town I live in.
 
Some of it is solid right thru others are rotten most of the way up. The lots are high and dry stony ground so I think that helps them stay solid. I wish they were all straight though, most are really curved. There are several that are more than 25" across, they split into 2 or 3 stems up about 30'. Tons of small ones too that will make good fence posts. Telling my wife that I'm going to sell the posts to pay for a new saw. Also told her that the only "new" saw I ever bought was the little 170. The other 20 were used ones. She's already forgotten about the money I spent to build the grapple.
And I forgot I did have to use one chain, I broke the quick link on one side of my 3 pth arms. I had to back up to miss a stump and the far end of the log hooked onto another stump, little bit of side pressure and the quick link broke. Just another good reason why I put the lighter quick links on it. And yup that's black tape holding the chain together so I could finish the day out. Git-r-dun.
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Nice build there I could use that for sure. It would beat my skidding tongs and chain hanging off the bucket.. Now I thought the tape job had to be duct tape :laugh:
 
That brings up a question I have as far as scrounging. Is it legal to pick up wood dropped by the power company without permission? I have been driving by some piles but I can't place who owns the land it's on. In the past I just stopped to ask or left a note. Now if I want to get technical the town owns from the road 5 or 10 feet back but I'm not sure and I don't want trouble in the town I live in.
If it's on private land no.

I don't know about government land but the timber co's up here have no problem with you taking downed wood from their land. That's directly from their management office.
 
One big difference. When I set out to cut wood, I ALWAYS cut wood. When I go hunting, I usually come home empty. Sometimes, the consistency of "getting it done" makes me want to cut some wood, even though I really like to hunt.

Unfortunately, many of my hunting locations have changed. I used to go to some public areas where I would see deer 8 or 9 times out of 10, which made things very interesting. The same place, I'm lucky if I see a deer in one out of 10 trips. More hunting pressure, baiting (illegal in NY), etc have made a lot of places less desireable.

You're right about that.

Sometimes it's hard to stay patient when there's so many things you can do and see progress if you work hard enough.

But on the other hand not knowing what's out there and what it's gonna do is most of the excitement.

That's unfortunate. I see deer not every time but definitely more than that. Just seeing them doesn't mean I end up with one. I pass up more deer than the average hunter. I only bow hunt on top of that so I must be a real glutton for punishment.
 
Wow crazy storms, hope everyone is staying safe.
Was able to go back and get some more of the big red fir, 3rd load from one tree. View attachment 517836Sure glad it's down hill to the road.View attachment 517837Sure like the new 440. View attachment 517838Still more for next time, still standing too.View attachment 517839

Getting my mountain fix in RMNP. Not scrounging but would gladly volunteer for a week doing trail cleanup.

Those are some great looking backdrops fellas.
 
The property owner/developer who's lands I cut on asked if Jerry and I could cut an extra backyard patch on an almost completed house for the homeowner , we can have any wood we want , they'll look after the brush , "No problem !" was the answer LOL
We started it tonight :)

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Thick bunch of sticks , mostly fir , a bit of spruce and with maybe 6 hardwood stems .
There was an unexpected bonus in there , I put my saw down to go get my felling lever .

7JAmSS37zo3MfbjEi2Ouac5PT3JOaY52YwYd8EbDF44PErWxrWf2_3EkqDOixMOBXcnLOZ1xKg=w737-h805-no


And found a bunch of angry hornets coming out of holes in the ground on both sides of the rock LOL

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As much as a fella paid attention to them 2 little hole a little more attention was paid to these 2 trees .

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The birch was dead standing with branches in the fir .

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I got the fir down first because we were dropping everything in one direction and then the birch was next .
Lots of attention was paid while dropping the fir , didn't need any new ventilation in my hardhat LOL
We got a fair bit cleared tonight .

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We'll try and finish cutting tomorrow night and then haul out a few days after.
We'll keep the hardwood , I'll give the softwood to the retired fella that I lent my electric Makita so he'll have something to keep him busy for a while , polly be 2 trailer loads for him by the time we're done :)
 
The property owner/developer who's lands I cut on asked if Jerry and I could cut an extra backyard patch on an almost completed house for the homeowner , we can have any wood we want , they'll look after the brush , "No problem !" was the answer LOL
We started it tonight :)

IMG_20160809_172347.jpg


IMG_20160809_172503.jpg


Thick bunch of sticks , mostly fir , a bit of spruce and with maybe 6 hardwood stems .
There was an unexpected bonus in there , I put my saw down to go get my felling lever .

7JAmSS37zo3MfbjEi2Ouac5PT3JOaY52YwYd8EbDF44PErWxrWf2_3EkqDOixMOBXcnLOZ1xKg=w737-h805-no


And found a bunch of angry hornets coming out of holes in the ground on both sides of the rock LOL

IMG_20160809_185505.jpg


As much as a fella paid attention to them 2 little hole a little more attention was paid to these 2 trees .

IMG_20160809_180021.jpg


The birch was dead standing with branches in the fir .

IMG_20160809_180401.jpg


I got the fir down first because we were dropping everything in one direction and then the birch was next .
Lots of attention was paid while dropping the fir , didn't need any new ventilation in my hardhat LOL
We got a fair bit cleared tonight .

IMG_20160809_202118.jpg


IMG_20160809_202242.jpg


We'll try and finish cutting tomorrow night and then haul out a few days after.
We'll keep the hardwood , I'll give the softwood to the retired fella that I lent my electric Makita so he'll have something to keep him busy for a while , polly be 2 trailer loads for him by the time we're done :)
Good work!
 
Regarding hunting vs wood cutting vs other projects:

Deer hunting happens with no excuses short of funerals. I've taken a pass on duck hunting for the past few years as my kids are so busy in soccer and football in the fall I always miss the best weekends to hunt.

If I have a full day open I try and fill it with carpentry projects like working on my cabin (nearing completion after 6 short years of construction) or if I have a couple of hours I will dedicate the time to wood cutting. Provided you don't drop a tree over a road it won't move if you run out of daylight versus carpentry work has a certain amount of set up/break down that better lends itself to a longer dedicated time period.

I have about 4 cords of wood left to split and I can then get into my project royale which is making sense of all of the crap in my pole building.
 
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If it's on private land no.

I don't know about government land but the timber co's up here have no problem with you taking downed wood from their land. That's directly from their management office.


That's what I was thinking, too bad there is no good way to find out who owns the land. But there isn't a lot of wood and some looks like it would be ant city. I ran into them yesterday I had ants coming out in droves when I split some fresh wood. I dropped a maple that had a base nearly taken out by rot and ants and it was near my truck so down it came.
 
View attachment 518803


That's what I was thinking, too bad there is no good way to find out who owns the land. But there isn't a lot of wood and some looks like it would be ant city. I ran into them yesterday I had ants coming out in droves when I split some fresh wood. I dropped a maple that had a base nearly taken out by rot and ants and it was near my truck so down it came.
Our county publishes an annual plat book or you can look up ownership online.
 
Started year two on the oakzilla project. Moved some big rounds to the back splitting and stacking area. This dude has been ornery. I checked out the face of the main trunk right where the big branches started to branch off, eight hearts! Every split just about has been a mutha and a half. Sledge and wedge, or to be fair, sledge and old truper maul for a wedge, to get it started. Ain't much straight grained in this guy. The only good part now is most of the bark and cambium pith slices right off, the interior heartwood is slap fulla BTUs. HAHAHA, the other day I got in a fight with a big gnarly knot, one hour later I had three pieces that would fit in the stove! more HAHAHA, that's my world record " #^^&*&*!~!! you, you $^&**!, one of us is gonna die" moments. Of course, 95 F and 70% humility had something to do with it... Coupla pics of moving a mambo, and my ultra scrawny azz....
 

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Started year two on the oakzilla project. Moved some big rounds to the back splitting and stacking area. This dude has been ornery. I checked out the face of the main trunk right where the big branches started to branch off, eight hearts! Every split just about has been a mutha and a half. Sledge and wedge, or to be fair, sledge and old truper maul for a wedge, to get it started. Ain't much straight grained in this guy. The only good part now is most of the bark and cambium pith slices right off, the interior heartwood is slap fulla BTUs. HAHAHA, the other day I got in a fight with a big gnarly knot, one hour later I had three pieces that would fit in the stove! more HAHAHA, that's my world record " #^^&*&*!~!! you, you $^&**!, one of us is gonna die" moments. Of course, 95 F and 70% humility had something to do with it... Coupla pics of moving a mambo, and my ultra scrawny azz....
Well you have the tractor anyhow!

You didn't shave the beard this spring? Was looking forward to pics of birds scrounging it for nests.
 
Well you have the tractor anyhow!

You didn't shave the beard this spring? Was looking forward to pics of birds scrounging it for nests.

Ya, I cut it and my cranium hair off short this spring, it done growed back...

Ya, thought I would try moving the rounds with those forks on the bucket, worked fine, once I got the hang of the stevie wonder method of getting the forks under them, you can't see nothing. You got to drive over them, lower till you feel them touch, slide back till they fall and jiggle, drop and angle down, then shove it under.

Just want them big rounds out of the front yard and now they are up on RxR ties. Got 4 maybe 5 more to cut off the main trunk. Took me a few days putzing at in the evening to split one up, I'll get a pic once I get a count of the splits. I made them all mostly twice as big as I wanted though, had to....wanted to wait until it got cooler but went whuut the heck, grass ain't growing much, might as well get back to it. Have to take a lot of breaks though.
 
Ya, I cut it and my cranium hair off short this spring, it done growed back...

Ya, thought I would try moving the rounds with those forks on the bucket, worked fine, once I got the hang of the stevie wonder method of getting the forks under them, you can't see nothing. You got to drive over them, lower till you feel them touch, slide back till they fall and jiggle, drop and angle down, then shove it under.

Just want them big rounds out of the front yard and now they are up on RxR ties. Got 4 maybe 5 more to cut off the main trunk. Took me a few days putzing at in the evening to split one up, I'll get a pic once I get a count of the splits. I made them all mostly twice as big as I wanted though, had to....wanted to wait until it got cooler but went whuut the heck, grass ain't growing much, might as well get back to it. Have to take a lot of breaks though.
Man I'd just noodle those things!
 
Man I'd just noodle those things!

I started to, a few of them, just getting branch nubs off mostly.. I'm busting off from the outside what I can get, then restacking what is near impossible. Once that is done, I'll just start on it heavy one morning. The rounds are dirty on the outside, I want to get them to a clean state so I can switch to full chisel for noodling.
 
Big wood there Zog !!!!
We went back out tonight to finish up the cutting project .
2 more piles of stems when we were done .

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No oakzillas for us but we did have another ugly birch to drop .

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It was a good evening and there's a possibility that the homeowner wants a few more cut , we'll know after the weekend .
Scrounge on gentleman !
 
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