Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Cowboy254]

G'day fellas, haven't been around much the last week or so. I put in a lazy few hours work yesterday on these peppermints.







I know, it looks like it must have been a fair bit of work but I reckon it's about the easiest scrounge I've had. This is possibly because I was leaning against the fence while my neighbour had them taken down and cut up by a tree crew (I did say they were lazy hours). He said some was going up to my other more elderly neighbour but I could take the rest. I said I'd take the wood up to the other neighbour and split it. Being peppermint, splitting is not difficult. I'm happy to look after the rest.

 

[LondonNeil]

I'm hoping for that sort of easy scrounge today. Just had a text from my wood guy, he may be dropping by with some for me, Oak, yew and lime. Goat willow was also mentioned but I've passed on that. Anybody know what lime is like? I guess I'll find out

 

[nighthunter]

I'm hoping for that sort of easy scrounge today. Just had a text from my wood guy, he may be dropping by with some for me, Oak, yew and lime. Goat willow was also mentioned but I've passed on that. Anybody know what lime is like? I guess I'll find out

wet and heavy, I avoid it like the plague mainly due to it being a pain in the ass to cut

 

[LondonNeil]

Ah well, cut and delivered it's not so bad I guess.... Fingers crossed the load is more Oak and yew then lime.

 

[muddstopper]

Ranch raised?

I am now offically disappointed in my buddy. The deer where killed on a 6000 acre fenced in deer lot. The big deer cost him $8000, the smaller one was $7500 and his son killed a 10pointer with two broke legs for $1500. That is not hunting to me. Raise the deer in a pen and then march them out in front of you to shoot. Most of the time when I go hunting, I dont care if I shoot anything or not. I certainly aint going to pay somone that kind of money to shoot a pen raised deer.

 

[Hinerman]

I am now offically disappointed in my buddy. The deer where killed on a 6000 acre fenced in deer lot. The big deer cost him $8000, the smaller one was $7500 and his son killed a 10pointer with two broke legs for $1500. That is not hunting to me. Raise the deer in a pen and then march them out in front of you to shoot. Most of the time when I go hunting, I dont care if I shoot anything or not. I certainly aint going to pay somone that kind of money to shoot a pen raised deer.

No ****!!! Couldn't agree more.

 

[Multifaceted]

G'day fellas, haven't been around much the last week or so. I put in a lazy few hours work yesterday on these peppermints.

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I know, it looks like it must have been a fair bit of work but I reckon it's about the easiest scrounge I've had. This is possibly because I was leaning against the fence while my neighbour had them taken down and cut up by a tree crew (I did say they were lazy hours). He said some was going up to my other more elderly neighbour but I could take the rest. I said I'd take the wood up to the other neighbour and split it. Being peppermint, splitting is not difficult. I'm happy to look after the rest.

How cold are the winters in your region of Victoria? The huge stacks you have seem sufficient enough for a few years of heating for me, and your Aussie hardwoods throw some serious shade of what's available around my parts. The only hardwoods available to me that even come close are Shagbark Hickory and Black Locust, which give off about ~28 or 27 Million BTU per cord respectively.

If I burned those two constantly I'd be opening windows even in the dead of winter it would get so warm inside. Do you burn selectively from your wood pile, or just mix it all up and burn accordingly?

 

[95custmz]

Hi All, its been awhile since I posted. I started splitting the scrounging I did in April and I'm trying to ID these two logs. The first split really easy and now that it is dry it is very light.
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The second split well and is heavy like I would expect. I think it might be hard maple.
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Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Jeff

The first few pics look like Oak, which was previously mentioned. And the last photo is definitely Maple. Good scrounge! [emoji106]


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[95custmz]

Anybody ever scrounge Bradford Pear? My dad had a wind storm over at his place that split a couple Pear trees right down the middle. The tree was mostly leaves and branches, not a lot of wood. The wood in my truck is from one tree. If it sucks as firewood, I’ll just burn it in my fire pit, out back.

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[farmer steve]

Anybody ever scrounge Bradford Pear? My dad had a wind storm over at his place that split a couple Pear trees right down the middle. The tree was mostly leaves and branches, not a lot of wood. The wood in my truck is from one tree. If it sucks as firewood, I’ll just burn it in my fire pit, out back.

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Good dense wood. Takes a while to dry. SSC.

 

[Multifaceted]

Anybody ever scrounge Bradford Pear? My dad had a wind storm over at his place that split a couple Pear trees right down the middle. The tree was mostly leaves and branches, not a lot of wood. The wood in my truck is from one tree. If it sucks as firewood, I’ll just burn it in my fire pit, out back.

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I had a small 16" or so diameter that was standing dead, or at least that's what I think it was compared to a smaller one that is growing nearby, perhaps a sucker from the same root ball. Also did some research on the bark and growth rings/end grain structure. It dried okay after nearly a year, but a year later in dry storage it burns very well and hot. Even dry it still feels dense and heavy, kind of like oak.

If free I'd definitely take it again.

 

[muddstopper]

I hate bradford pear. All limbs. Drys fast, burns hot and rots in a year if not stacked off the ground.

 

[Deleted member 150358]

I hit 4 cord stacked in the shed yesterday. Would say it's half elm cut last winter and 1/4 oak some red some white and 1/4 cherry. Most need a little more drying.

Will focus on oak tops and piss elm standing dead that are dry enough to put in the stove now. We have a lot but it's in the woods and scattered. Don't like being so far behind but life got in the way. Stuff happens.

Side note propane furnace 6yrs old 3 service calls parts under warranty still over $300 per visit. Uhh Ohh! That's new saw money literally out the window!

 

[Cowboy254]

How cold are the winters in your region of Victoria? The huge stacks you have seem sufficient enough for a few years of heating for me, and your Aussie hardwoods throw some serious shade of what's available around my parts. The only hardwoods available to me that even come close are Shagbark Hickory and Black Locust, which give off about ~28 or 27 Million BTU per cord respectively.

If I burned those two constantly I'd be opening windows even in the dead of winter it would get so warm inside. Do you burn selectively from your wood pile, or just mix it all up and burn accordingly?

Our winters are mild compared to you guys, cold nights would be low 20s and perhaps mid-40s during the day. But houses built 30 years ago like mine were not built with thermal efficiency in mind (new houses are much better, more like the standard they should be). Insulation? Ha! Who needs it? Our place has some gaps in it too, I did some burning off outside two weeks ago and it seemed that there was more smoke inside than out! So we go through a fair bit of wood though I have overscrounged to the extent that people have started looking at me funny. I'm close to 4 years ahead now. I have never sold wood but I do give some away sometimes to people that are down on their luck and desperate (I don't help sooks and whiners and the lazy though), I would have given away 2 cord this winter and taken 1 cord down to my brother .

Peppermint is in the locust ball park for density. Candlebark and manna gum are a little bit less, blue gum is a fair bit more and the box species and ironbark are up to 20% denser again than blue gum. It's amazing how long some of that stuff burns for but it produces heat much more slowly so if you're coming home to a cold house, you'd go for the peppermint/candlebark option to crank the heat faster and they burn for a good amount of time anyway. The wood in my shed is mostly mixed depending on what species I cut at the time but I'll pick out certain species sometimes depending on what I want it to do (I never really have to dig around) and I'll pick out the denser and bigger stuff for the clear nights.

Plans are being finalised to renovate our place and one of the priorities is improving the thermal efficiency of the house so that will make a big difference to how much we burn.

How's the knee? You were having the reco this week, right?

 

[Multifaceted]

Our winters are mild compared to you guys, cold nights would be low 20s and perhaps mid-40s during the day. But houses built 30 years ago like mine were not built with thermal efficiency in mind (new houses are much better, more like the standard they should be). Insulation? Ha! Who needs it? Our place has some gaps in it too, I did some burning off outside two weeks ago and it seemed that there was more smoke inside than out! So we go through a fair bit of wood though I have overscrounged to the extent that people have started looking at me funny. I'm close to 4 years ahead now. I have never sold wood but I do give some away sometimes to people that are down on their luck and desperate (I don't help sooks and whiners and the lazy though), I would have given away 2 cord this winter and taken 1 cord down to my brother .

Peppermint is in the locust ball park for density. Candlebark and manna gum are a little bit less, blue gum is a fair bit more and the box species and ironbark are up to 20% denser again than blue gum. It's amazing how long some of that stuff burns for but it produces heat much more slowly so if you're coming home to a cold house, you'd go for the peppermint/candlebark option to crank the heat faster and they burn for a good amount of time anyway. The wood in my shed is mostly mixed depending on what species I cut at the time but I'll pick out certain species sometimes depending on what I want it to do (I never really have to dig around) and I'll pick out the denser and bigger stuff for the clear nights.

Plans are being finalised to renovate our place and one of the priorities is improving the thermal efficiency of the house so that will make a big difference to how much we burn.

How's the knee? You were having the reco this week, right?

Good morning, mate!

I got you, yeah the houses around here weren't very thermally efficient either up until about 25-30 years ago. Our house is 26 years old and seems relatively well insulated. With our masonry chimney in the center of our home, it makes for very good heat output that radiates throughout the house nicely.

Very cool, I'd like to visit Australia one day, it's like a whole other world over there it seems. The winters in my region vary, sometimes mild, sometimes bitter, and precip is erratic. Last winter was rather cold compared to previous years, especially in Jan-Feb where the daytime temp averaged around -10°C and fell to around -12-13°C at night. Had a fair amount of snow too, even a seemingly more common freak early spring blizzard.

Yes, you remembered! Surgery was yesterday afternoon, was home around 8pm. Nerve block is wearing off and I'm starting to feel the pain, but I'm on a low dose of narcotics for the pain. Doc has me doing exercises at home 4 times a day with intermittent R.I.C.E. - getting about on crutches until the nerve block is metabolized, no weight on the bad leg. After that I'm clear to walk with only the brace, though I'm supposed to keep as much weight off of my bad knee as possible. when I walk my brace will be locked straight, when I sit down I can open it to 90°. I start my first post op PT session on Monday, then twice more that week and three times a week for probably the next four to six weeks, perhaps longer.

I've been mostly resting in bed, but get up to use the bathroom. I will admit that I started a fire in the stove last night, and just started one again a few minutes ago. I have an elaborate set-up of rolling stools to help me get down near the ground while keeping my leg propped up. After a few minutes I go lay down with it, elavate and ice. I have a cryo-cuff, like a smaller cooler and tube that connects to a bladder that wraps around the knee. No melting ice to deal with, I just keep a larger cooler full of I've bedside to refill as needed. My other leg has a battery powered device that inflates and deflates over a compression sock.

First day, but so far so good. It's not easy though, but I'm determined to get back to normal.

 

[rarefish383]

Good morning, mate!

I got you, yeah the houses around here weren't very thermally efficient either up until about 25-30 years ago. Our house is 26 years old and seems relatively well insulated. With our masonry chimney in the center of our home, it makes for very good heat output that radiates throughout the house nicely.

Very cool, I'd like to visit Australia one day, it's like a whole other world over there it seems. The winters in my region vary, sometimes mild, sometimes bitter, and precip is erratic. Last winter was rather cold compared to previous years, especially in Jan-Feb where the daytime temp averaged around -10°C and fell to around -12-13°C at night. Had a fair amount of snow too, even a seemingly more common freak early spring blizzard.

Yes, you remembered! Surgery was yesterday afternoon, was home around 8pm. Nerve block is wearing off and I'm starting to feel the pain, but I'm on a low dose of narcotics for the pain. Doc has me doing exercises at home 4 times a day with intermittent R.I.C.E. - getting about on crutches until the nerve block is metabolized, no weight on the bad leg. After that I'm clear to walk with only the brace, though I'm supposed to keep as much weight off of my bad knee as possible. when I walk my brace will be locked straight, when I sit down I can open it to 90°. I start my first post op PT session on Monday, then twice more that week and three times a week for probably the next four to six weeks, perhaps longer.

I've been mostly resting in bed, but get up to use the bathroom. I will admit that I started a fire in the stove last night, and just started one again a few minutes ago. I have an elaborate set-up of rolling stools to help me get down near the ground while keeping my leg propped up. After a few minutes I go lay down with it, elavate and ice. I have a cryo-cuff, like a smaller cooler and tube that connects to a bladder that wraps around the knee. No melting ice to deal with, I just keep a larger cooler full of I've bedside to refill as needed. My other leg has a battery powered device that inflates and deflates over a compression sock.

First day, but so far so good. It's not easy though, but I'm determined to get back to normal.

Glad to see you made it home. When I had my left knee done the surgeon kept giving me the narcs, I can see how people get hooked. I finally said I was good and didn't need them. I got the impressions that as long as I said keep them coming, she would have kept them coming.

 

[Multifaceted]

Glad to see you made it home. When I had my left knee done the surgeon kept giving me the narcs, I can see how people get hooked. I finally said I was good and didn't need them. I got the impressions that as long as I said keep them coming, she would have kept them coming.

They have me on a pretty low dose (5mg), I don't feel dopey or high at all. If it gets bad, and it's really starting to hurt now, I'll take another. Doc says take 1-2 every 4-6 hours as needed. Got a bottle of 50, no refil as per my request. When are you going in for your right knee?

 

[rarefish383]

Started making some progress getting some of the big blocks split, then went and brought another load of green Oak home.

 

[Multifaceted]

Joe, I see an oddly long split that seems over 18" on the left of your first pic, ha ha...

 

[rarefish383]

They have me on a pretty low dose (5mg), I don't feel dopey or high at all. If it gets bad, and it's really starting to hurt now, I'll take another. Doc says take 1-2 every 4-6 hours as needed. Got a bottle of 50, no refil as per my request. When are you going in for your right knee?

December 4th. They gave me Oxycodone the last time. It might have felt like a 1 beer buzz, then I fell asleep. As far as pain management while working out, I found that with out it the pain started as soon as I started the workout. With it, I would get about 10 minutes into the workout before the pain started, but the level of pain was about the same. I guess I would get more range of motion for the first 10 minutes while using the meds.