If I could only do it over

[turnkey4099]

Around a month ago I got motivated to burn my brush piles and huge pile of bark/chips around the working area. End of two days two big brush piles, one garden from pruning an overgrown Red Maple, One in the pasture from removing an 80' tall spruce were gone as was my pile bark.

Great! So the other day I happened to see that one of my 3 big windbreak cedars by the garage had died. Was out today pruning it up. Big batch of brush building in the pasture again and hardly any stuff to get a good fire started. Wish I had kept about half of that original pile.

Plan now is to get a good fire going with what bark I have, add spruce spits from that tree (only about half cured) and start adding cedar prunings along with some grass green black locust and flowering plum trimmings. At least the spruce splits are no loss - hardly any heat value in them - worse than willow.

Harry K

 

[Whitespider]

An old tire will get 'er goin'.

 

[redheadwoodshed]

Is that red cedar?I use that for starting fires, just cut some 12" or so blocks and split them up small, should have 'er roaring in no time.

 

[stihlrookie]

An old tire will get 'er goin'.

Might as well make it a good one then, get an old 966 tire. Personally I like to use diesel for pile lighting.

 

[russhd1997]

An old tire will get 'er goin'.

We call them Black Oaks around here.

 

[TermiteBuffet]

I used the leaf blower on a green pine brush pile last week , little bit of diesel to get it going then crank up the blower . That will get it hot ,and quick, i believe i could burn a pond with that trick :hmm3grin2orange: I must give Indian Springs the credit for that idea , it worked great

 

[turnkey4099]

As crooked and brushy as this stuff is it must have about 150% air content. Those cedar trimmings for sure will keep it going nicely but I'm gonna be busy with the 210 chopping thre rest of the stuff to get it to lay down on the fire. Figure to be doing it tomorrow if the weather guessers are reight about 'slight breeze'. Gives me something to be doing out there.

I didnt' last long today with up/down ladder chopping branches and hauling them over to the fire pile. Got to get out my longer ladder and take a fe more branches off and then top it. That will keep me busy between feedign the fire.

Still no hope of any snow worth mentioning in the 10 day forecast.

Harry K

 

[Toxic2]

Fire! Diesel and tires work.. I dont think we had any tires in the first one but dang she was hot....There was alot of fresh pine bows in that one.

 

[Misfit138]

I used the leaf blower on a green pine brush pile last week , little bit of diesel to get it going then crank up the blower . That will get it hot ,and quick, i believe i could burn a pond with that trick :hmm3grin2orange: I must give Indian Springs the credit for that idea , it worked great

I posted this very same practice a while back when telling a story about my teenage years with my cousin at my dad's lake house about 25 years ago.
You can get a white hot fire going that will burn your face from 40 feet away.
The backpacks work well, but I'd love to see one of the Little Wonders blowing on a heap!

 

[turnkey4099]

Yep, a leaf blower is an amazing tool for fire starting and tending. Pile burns out in center you can use te blower to steer it around the edges.

Got that tree all brushed out and topped.

The stub to the right of the two cedars is the remains. Didn't like the topping cut standing on that ladder but I figured if today was the day to die I'd at least do it with a chainsaw in my hand . Yes, I know that ladders and chainsaws are an idiots way to operate.

Still have one more tree to do - all brush, all water spouts, all tangled up. It is the one peeking out to the left of the cedars. Another of SWMBO's ideas. I have hated that tree from the day I planted it and been hacking at the wild growth fro the past 25 years. It finally got hight enough that the top is in the electric feed to the house (just barely) which gives me the excuse I needed to execute the POS.

Conditions allow, the burning begins tomorrow. Gotta keep the fire small due to the firewood piles downwind. Chop brush up small, feed fire, whack at that tree, wash, rinse, repeat. Fire spot in in the center of the brush circle with a small pile of bark etc. Sheet of paper, dash of diesel and it's off to the races.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Nice day today. Had planned to hit the mall for some shopping but no wind so turned to on burning the brush:

Had to keep the fire small but even then it kept me busy chopping and stacking. 2 1/2 hours and just a small pile of ash and chunks.

Still have the other tree's brush to drag over. Also the brush around the black walnuts. I forgot to add those to the fire today.

did get to run the MS210 a bunch chopping stuff so it would stack a bit tighter and had to add a few splits of the half cured spruce to keep the fire hot.

I have some huge stacks of brush scattered around the county that I offered to burn but they haven't called me to do it yet.

Harry K

 

[1project2many]

I use acetone. There's something about that huge "Whoomp!" when it ignites that's hard to give up.

 

[greendohn]

I love a nice brush fire. old rag soaked in used oil/kerosene mix and leaf blower to get her goin' and BEER !!

 

[flashy]

Off topic, but around here I gotta keep brush fires small. Now that everyone has a cell phone, the fire department shows up. One night we burned down a small shed and had friends over for a picnic. Next thing we know there are 2 small town FD's in my yard. They were mad, and I don't blame them. I said lighten up, I didn't call. Turns out someone just called it in from 2 miles away from the highway.

 

[Chris-PA]

Off topic, but around here I gotta keep brush fires small. Now that everyone has a cell phone, the fire department shows up. One night we burned down a small shed and had friends over for a picnic. Next thing we know there are 2 small town FD's in my yard. They were mad, and I don't blame them. I said lighten up, I didn't call. Turns out someone just called it in from 2 miles away from the highway.

Oh man, I've done some serious burns where I wondered if someone was going to rat me out. So far it hasn't happened!

Now I've finally found an actual use for a leaf blower!

 

[borat]

Railway fusees (flares) and used engine oil are two of my favourite fire starters. A fusee will burn under water and the heat is very intense. I've also been using a leaf blower for a few years now.

 

[turnkey4099]

Oh man, I've done some serious burns where I wondered if someone was going to rat me out. So far it hasn't happened!

Now I've finally found an actual use for a leaf blower!

When it is _legal_ to burn, I always call the 911 dispatch center to advise them of teh planned fire, save a lot of excitement..

Harry K

 

[TMFARM 2009]

i've always found that a bale of straw spread in the pile and a bale of hay over the pile works good..
you can usually find moldy hay for nothing, farmers dont feed with it.. old straw bales are great..
just a piece of news paper and a match.. burns hot...ever try putting out a hay fire?:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange: