Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[svk]

Let us know how the forester bar goes Steve. They are fairly cheap here. Doubt I will, but if I ever need more than the 20" on the 365 then since it would not get heavy use I'd consider a cheap 24 or 28" bar and probably pair with Oregon chain.

Will do. I have another one in large mount Husky as well that I used when I had my 562 (although I don’t currently own any saws in that pattern). They seem to be pretty high quality for the price.

I bought this bar to fell some large, core rotted trees at my cabin. I didn’t want to have to fart around with cutting from both sides of the tree with a shorter bar.

I picked up an 84 DL loop of Trilink for $18 bucks at L and M. Amazingly the Stihl RS was only $25 there but I figured the cheaper chain was a better choice being this is going to be used for stumping and felling yard trees.

 

[svk]

Bit far for me. And I don't have a truck. And if I did, I'm not sure it could swim far enough to get to Kansas. Then I'd have to swim back and then face up to Customs and Quarantine when I got home. Not sure it'd be worth it, thanks all the same.



Looks like you were so excited about your bar that you forgot to feed the cat. I'd be pi55ed off too.

Lol my son fed her at 7:00 last night.

She’s over 17 and is an ornery old gal.

 

[muddstopper]

Valley Firewood always asked why I cut my stumps so high. I like to make my felling cut at waist height. At that height I can usually get by with the 660 and 25" bar, then go around the job site when finished and flush the stumps with the Super 1050 and 36" bar. Also, with my bad knees, I can turn and walk away from a waist height cut. If I'm on my knees making a low cut, I'm stuck there. The 25" bar on the 660 and 24" on the Homelite, even though rather heavy saws, are well balanced. Going to the 36" on either of them gets a bit cumbersome. Can't wait till I get the 45" bar on a saw. I'll bring that to the GTG next year.

I know how you feel. I used to cut everything flush at the ground. Now with the big stuff, I mark a stick lenght from the ground and start my felling cut there. After the tree is on the ground, I can always cut the stump. I used to hate a long bar, 20in seemed to be just right for most anything I cut. Now I run a 24 on the larger saw so I dont have to bend over all the time. I used to cut flush to the ground because that is the way Dad taught me. We had trucks with cable loaders and you didnt want a high stump hanging up logs when you where winching them thru the woods, or something to get hung up on with the tractor when skidding. Getting up off one knee and running just isnt a option anymore. Its taken me over two years to get back halfway to where I used to be before the surgery. My sister had both knees done at the same time and was chasing grandkids around in 6 months. Different folks are effected differently I guess.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Benefit of a high stump at my age is that if something goes wrong it’s easier to start running if you’re already standing up and not on your knees.

 

[woodchip rookie]

Don't let the raccoon have the fone.

 

[pdqdl]

Bit far for me. And I don't have a truck. And if I did, I'm not sure it could swim far enough to get to Kansas. Then I'd have to swim back and then face up to Customs and Quarantine when I got home. Not sure it'd be worth it, thanks all the same.

Well...if you made it this far, you could just haul 'em to the coast, build a raft, and then sail back down under.

Kon-tiki. Aussie style! Proof that early North American west-coast Indians migrated to Queensland, via Samoa, Fiji, & New Caledonia.

You could be famous.

 

[panolo]

Let us know how the forester bar goes Steve. They are fairly cheap here. Doubt I will, but if I ever need more than the 20" on the 365 then since it would not get heavy use I'd consider a cheap 24 or 28" bar and probably pair with Oregon chain.

I have a 32" forester and it has worked just fine. I opened the oil passages a tich but that's it.

 

[turnkey4099]

Benefit of a high stump at my age is that if something goes wrong it’s easier to start running if you’re already standing up and not on your knees.

I cut most of my firewood from farmer's pastures and field edges. I leave a HIGH stump so they will be visible even in high grass. I don't want them blaming me when they run a .5 million piece of equipment into a stump. I will flush cut on request though

 

[KiwiBro]

I cut most of my firewood from farmer's pastures and field edges. I leave a HIGH stump so they will be visible even in high grass. I don't want them blaming me when they run a .5 million piece of equipment into a stump. I will flush cut on request though

Same here. I go high unless its on ground they'll never be running ground-engaging implements over anyway, in which case I might go very low so they don't even feel a thing when they roll over it. They decide before I cut anything or my default setting is high until told otherwise.

 

[svk]

Just got home. It’s a combination of overcast/misting/drizzling. I suppose I’ll head out to the pile and do a little cutting. Rain is supposed to start back up at 8.

Side question: If you cut down a hollow tree with a squirrel inside, will the squirrel survive the impact with the ground provided the tree doesn’t shatter?

 

[chucker]

Just got home. It’s a combination of overcast/misting/drizzling. I suppose I’ll head out to the pile and do a little cutting. Rain is supposed to start back up at 8.

Side question: If you cut down a hollow tree with a squirrel inside, will the squirrel survive the impact with the ground provided the tree doesn’t shatter?

?? ??….. ?? ?? ! I bet it will be a few grams lighter …… or liter?
lol

 

[KiwiBro]

If you cut down a hollow tree with a squirrel inside, will the squirrel survive the impact with the ground provided the tree doesn’t shatter?

Unfortunately possums here seem to survive such trips. Sis' in Aus has one living in her roof space. I think it might be a whole family of squatters up there. She says they are protected. We laughed. On this side of the ditch we grow up learning to swerve to hit them when we are driving.

 

[svk]

A couple cuts with the 55, a full tank through the 550 and a half tank through the 346 tonight. Hoping that is enough to fill the truck and trailer tomorrow.

 

[KiwiBro]

There's not a huge cc range between those saws. Whilst firstly acknowledging CAD is bigger than any of us, can I ask why so many saws in a similar range please? Back-up for the back-up kinda thing? Just because?

 

[Cody]

Side question: If you cut down a hollow tree with a squirrel inside, will the squirrel survive the impact with the ground provided the tree doesn’t shatter?

In my experience, yes they'll survive. Have even had a few that were 40+ feet up on the outside of the tree not knowing what branch to cling to, they ride it down and hit the ground running usually. This spring I cut down a hollow ash tree along the street in town and there were three or four young ones inside, mom took off running right away and left them. I didn't know until I had cut clean through one, felt bad but it happens.

 

[svk]

There's not a huge cc range between those saws. Whilst firstly acknowledging CAD is bigger than any of us, can I ask why so many saws in a similar range please? Back-up for the back-up kinda thing? Just because?

Long story short: The 55 was built as a gift for my uncle and gets mailed off this week. I wanted a ported 346 OE to complement my ported 550.

I sold my 562 and 2186 this winter. Just didn’t use the big saws much as I’m almost always cutting softwood and mostly of what I cut is less than 16” diameter so the 45-50 cc saws are perfect.

Rounding out my starting lineup is a muffler modded Poulan 5020 and muffler modded Husky 142.

I am building a Homelite 1050 that will be my big saw. Hopefully it will be running before the snow flies.

 

[svk]

In my experience, yes they'll survive. Have even had a few that were 40+ feet up on the outside of the tree not knowing what branch to cling to, they ride it down and hit the ground running usually. This spring I cut down a hollow ash tree along the street in town and there were three or four young ones inside, mom took off running right away and left them. I didn't know until I had cut clean through one, felt bad but it happens.

Thanks.

Reason I asked is because there’s a recently fledged litter of red squirrels in my woods. You know the adolescent squirrels that are literally dumb as hell. Well for the last two evenings I’ve watched one of them hauling stuff up into the tree I’m planning on cutting later this weekend. Don’t want to kill the guy but don’t want to leave this trouble tree standing either.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Thanks.

Reason I asked is because there’s a recently fledged litter of red squirrels in my woods. You know the adolescent squirrels that are literally dumb as hell. Well for the last two evenings I’ve watched one of them hauling stuff up into the tree I’m planning on cutting later this weekend. Don’t want to kill the guy but don’t want to leave this trouble tree standing either.

If we’re talking the same rodent, around here we call them pine squirrels. They are one of the most destructive critters I’ve ever seen. Most people around here try to eradicate any they see.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

I am not sure if my scrounging is going well this year. Last year a guy calls me to see if I can clear about thirty dead Oak trees from a small horse ranch. At first could not figure out to obtain access to the property, but finally got that figured out. Many of the trees have got hung up into other trees so that has been a little extra work. Then there are the forty trees that are quite close to the access road so maybe that makes up for the extra work. A month ago a long time customer calls wanting about thirty cords of nice Pine removed with poor access. So I give that a shot. I go up this steep hillside from a culvert drainage area along side of a public road two hundred feet and yes there is a bunch of trees that were dropped by the power company. After a whole day trying to come up with a plan I drag or manage to roll a 18'' log as a deflecting point on a hillside. Then I sting seventy feet of chain link fence with two half inch cables to help strengthen it to keep any rounds from rolling on to the street. At least letting the rounds banging down the hill side is more fun than moving by hand. At the moment I have thirty cords of dry Oak and thirty cords of dry Pine so what is not to like. It all seems like much work for an old guy. Thanks

 

[turnkey4099]

Just got home. It’s a combination of overcast/misting/drizzling. I suppose I’ll head out to the pile and do a little cutting. Rain is supposed to start back up at 8.

Side question: If you cut down a hollow tree with a squirrel inside, will the squirrel survive the impact with the ground provided the tree doesn’t shatter?

Yes. Seen it happen. The g-forces involved are not that severe.