Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Sidecarflip]

Keep telling posters on here that I never 'scrounge firewood' and I always have a large pile of mixed hardwood that anyone who lives nearby me can come and get anytime as I don't burn wood and don't have a wood burner to roast it in but I do own acres of woods and regularly remove the dead or downed trees and pile them up at the far end of my farm property. Presently, the pile is about 10 feet high and 30 feet long and all hardwood, including some apple wood. I removed and stump cut 3 apple trees as I don't cotton to trudging around in rotten apples or the yellow jackets that are always present with them.

Most are saw log length (10 feet and under) and most are over 14" in diameter and I can load them in your truck or on a trailer as I have large tractors with grapples and buckets. Got some whoppers too that are in the excess of 25" in diameter. Anything under 4" goes in the burn pile. I'm a closet pyro at heart.

All I ask is advanced notice as I have a good watch dog who has a wicked bark but never bites. Call him a 'barkley'. He actually loves everyone and will jump in your vehicle if you leave the door open as he always wants to go for a ride. Good rider too. he will sit and look out the window and never tries to sit in your lap either.

 

[Sidecarflip]

If I smash another $1800 aluminum tailgate, my wife will kill me!

Put a heavy blanket or canvas tarp over the pull rope or chain close to the pulling vehicle. That mitigates the whip back entirely. Lucky you don't take out the back window or have it come in the cab and sucker punch you in the back of your head...

 

[user 188535]

Put a heavy blanket or canvas tarp over the pull rope or chain close to the pulling vehicle. That mitigates the whip back entirely. Lucky you don't take out the back window or have it come in the cab and sucker punch you in the back of your head...

I get mine from arborists.

 

[sean donato]

I get mine from arborists.

You get what? Canvas tarps to hang over ropes?

 

[MustangMike]

We have discussed ammo shortages and the rising ammo prices before, and everyone knows our law enforcement and military need these items, but under the Biden Administration the EPA and IRS are buying large quantities of arms and ammo, some of it the same black rifles they are trying to prohibit you and I from owning!

Why do IRS and EPA agents need to be widely armed? I find this information to be disturbing.

Large rifle primers continue to be elusive. Can't find any locally or on-line. Best I can find is if I drive 115 miles (each way) to PA I can buy 200 (max), which is just not feasible.

Glad I still have some in stock, but sad that I cannot replace what I use.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I already tried it and it works fine, my water stays in the 40's and it will cool the whole house... BUT, my heat/vac buddy brought over a complete house AC unit for 300 bucks, he then installed it, and it works great.

So, central air won and it's great...

SR

we know that down here! had my a/c guy over other day and we tore mine all apart and cleaned the coils on the condensing unit. made a nice difference! quite noticeable inside home! it was in need of a good cleaning. first time to do all 4 sides.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I use my rotary cutting tractor in some pretty serous brush, and limbs kept hitting the upright muffler until it cracked where it mounts. SO, today I took it off and straightpiped the tractor with a shorter pipe!

It's not much louder, but I don't run ANY equipment without hearing protection, so it really doesn't matter either way to me...

SR

certainly not my saws or tractors... even the mowers, too!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I already tried it and it works fine, my water stays in the 40's and it will cool the whole house... BUT, my heat/vac buddy brought over a complete house AC unit for 300 bucks, he then installed it, and it works great.

So, central air won and it's great...

SR

how many Tons? u got air handler fan, evaporator coils, etc, lines, compressor, duct work, too? $300?

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I have central AC. Something I learned long ago. Kick the furnace fan ON. The circulating air will keep the house comfortable, sometimes for hours, without need for the AC. With fan ON the house is comfortable with teh AC set at 80.

the a/c guy is a new tech for me. been at it for 60 yrs. and he isn't 70 yet! a/c work. started around 9 hauling a/c tools for his dad's a/c business. so we are going with some of his advice. never too old to learn about better ways to be more efficient with a/c. especially down here. now that the unit's efficiency is closer to NIB...once done with the work and restarted, the tech said... 'there you go! good as new again!' air flow out top was an instant improvement! and he said leave the therm set! so, now we will try that. we ran 77 days now 76 with it running better. and 77 eve, just gets too cold for me! lol

says costs more to turn off, then try to lower temps on restart. kept it stable inside....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I was being a little sarcastic .Gas in the oil is never good I didn’t run it long just enough to get it on the trailer . We used to us a quart of kerosene before an oil change on cars that were neglected and had sludge in them . Run it for 10 -20 minutes drop the oil .

sbc? i bet that underside of the intake still has oil grim on it if it has any miles... lol

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

At a Ford dealership we used to use 2 quarts of kerosene to 3 quarts of oil. We run the motor bout the same amount of time. Watching the globs of sludge come out was always a good laugh.

the good ones were always the cars etc whose owners never changed the oil and the head drain back ports crystalized shut! lol... yep, seen a couple of those...one Buick V6 comes to mind!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I have overhead fans that do the same thing, but one thing fans don't do, and that is lower the humidity. That's a BIG part of why AC works so well in the first place. There's no dessert around here, it can get humid at times...

SR

right as always! lol. and the old guy even said it, too. 'air conditioning!' what is it? conditions the air... ie, takes the water out of it!'

we have ceiling fans, but of course the system calls for air ducts to room registers

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Guess I don’t need to take the truck down to my shop for an engine overhaul. Most of the smoking was carb and thin oil but I did find it was sucking trans fluid in from the vacuum modulator. I replaced it and the truck is running well So I’ll be taking it off the trailer and putting it back in the barn View attachment 1100404

i like the r bed sideboards!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Good thing it's only 91% today . Heading over to south of you to do a few more trees at the place in the pics/vid above, hope we don't get rained on, looks like it all went just south of us.

then it goes to 100%!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I was being a little sarcastic .Gas in the oil is never good I didn’t run it long just enough to get it on the trailer . We used to us a quart of kerosene before an oil change on cars that were neglected and had sludge in them . Run it for 10 -20 minutes drop the oil .

but better than water in the oil! lol j/k

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I’ve only put a window unit a handful of times in the last 10 years . It gets hot since the house is in direct sun all day but it cools right off since I’m surrounded by woods . Also the we did the spray foam in the attic that cut the heat gain tremendously and the heat lose in winter also

My rental has central air I put it in when it was my main residence. Cape in direct sun all day in a development it never cooled off at night

today's window units are quite efficient! a 10,000 BTU window unit in a small room or home, 2 rooms... open... will cool nicely! and they are 110-v. splits are nice. full a/c is costly these days. 2T can run bit over $10K

12,000 BTU = 1T a/c....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I'm hiding in the AC. It's super humid out and a tough day for a welder. Going to go outside long enough to grill some pork chops and then I ain't coming back out until it's cooler!

our attitude, too! not too bad even at 98f. that is if one does not eat anything.

one of the g/ks yesterday, they had just moved back to TX from CA... and he said... 'i am acclimated now!' 9 yrs old. lol... and i said, good for you... i have been here for years and i am not acclimated to this kind of heat!

kids!!~

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Never had all 4 trucks running and driving at the same time View attachment 1100623View attachment 1100624View attachment 1100625

the flags seem appropriate!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I'm ready for cooler weather!
I went out there and managed to dice up the tree in the video, then dropped another a bit smaller and two maples and diced them up, that was enough. I may have stuck around a bit longer, but once my tooth/mouth started throbbing/hurting, had to go. Might have had something to do with getting a crater in my tooth filed this morning . Plenty more to do out there yet when I get more time.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Here's a leaf off a capalta sprout from yesterday, some of the beans were well over a ft long.
View attachment 1100760

Got a bench set up in the barn, then attached a vise (bullet, now swivel base unfortunately)) I picked up yrs ago when buying a wood splitter and a couple saws, works great for sharpening.
Not sure I mentioned it here, but I got the concrete in the barn, finally . You can see the concrete in this picture, have other pictures too if anyone would like to see them(that is if I didn't already post them lol). I need to mount the larger one some other time, it's a tilt-able Chinese unit a buddy gave me.

View attachment 1100764

Also made some covers for the jaws, can't be scratching up those pretty bars .

View attachment 1100767

nice vise! if it was mine, i would clean it up!! some handle bumpers would be nice, as well. simple to make. too bad about no swivel. but nbd, i guess u can swivel! lol.... and then paint it gray with some clear. WILTON Machinist vises are nice. i have a 4". maybe it is a 3". cost me S375 back when!! ~ they run 6 700 $ 3/12" these days...


maybe more! HD has a Wilton at $1K or so. easy to go over #2K for some models... but

they are very nice vises!!