Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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But, this is what he did not get, my unported MS440 Noodling Red Oak (it really runs like a larger saw)!



I did a bit of minor mod on my 441CM just for noodling. 20" bar, skip tooth, bar cover off an old saw without a chain guard. That missing chain guard cuts way down on noodle jams.
 
I keep reading of these bug infestations over your way, I'm assuming this is caused by global warming / climate change, allowing the bugs to get out of control?
As mike said they go in multi year cycles.

We used to get army works bad in Minnesota. Then they introduced the "friendly fly" which looked like an overgrown, hairy house fly. They were slow and dumb but wouldn't bite people as they populate by laying their eggs in army work cocoons. Our last major infestation was in 2000 and the flies were amazingly thick in 2001 and 2002. We've should have had two more major bursts since then and I've only seen a couple dozen worms total. Must not have introduced the flies out east I guess.
 
MoooHahahahaa!

MOoooHahahaaAA!!!

MOOOHAHAAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Big saw in the house!
:):D:D

Well, I think I'd be :D:D :happy: but its absolutely falling down here so rain stops play and as yet its untested. If I can get my new phone set up I'll get some pictures but to me it looks good. It sputtered first pull, started then stalled second pull, then started third pull. instant response to throttle, both accel and decel, chain brake works and by this time I was grinning stupidly and forgot to test the chain oiler, hey ho. fitted chain was absurdly tight, I've slackened it but haven't have the clutch cover off yet. Given how tight the chain was I wander if the sprocket will be a bit worn, I'll see. bar looks fine (so I suspect the oiler works). Fitted chain was sharp and is no more than maybe 1/3 worn, spare chain looks brand new. Both seem to me, to my untrained eye, to be full-chisel/square file (these two are the same thing aren't they?) I'll have a closer look in the light tomorrow and compare to my ms180s semi chisel/round file (again those are the same?). Seeing as my brother's FIL kindly resharpens my chains on his grinder, the 038s' chains will be round file in the future, whatever they are now. Chains are stihl branded. plastics and case looks excellent but I might try and tidy it up. the plastics are slightly faded but since they are intact I won't change them. I have a tiny bit of a car detailing hobby so I have a few lotions and potions that are good at reviving faded plastics, they will get some auto finesse dressle or autoglym vinyl and rubber care, with time and repeated application I hope to get that stihl shiny orange back. the metal body actuakly has a lot of paint on it for a an old saw, but i still might show it the love and repaint it. Its Magnesium isn't it? so itl'll need a coat of special metal primer, and i'll have to decide if i hunt out some stihl 'magnolia' or just go with eggsshell or gloss white.

more once I've had a chance to clean and inspect it more, and most importantly a chance to try it! Oh yes, I must remember to dump the fuel out, I'm sure its fine but just in case....I'll dump it ut and shove it in the mower, put fresh 50:1 in the saw.
 
well guys I got a message from a coworker who is a biologist among other things to tell me that his neighbor had an oak tree down and was I interested. I have a hard time passing up oak, especially when it's not far from the house. I said yes.

A frustrating week of trying to get the neighbor's contact info passed. Throughout the week my biologist coworker kept texting me about how big this tree was. "it's huge" "are you sure you can do this?" "it's probably 36"" etc. I explained to him that I run into trees in that range and larger in my chainsaw milling often, so I fairly knew what I was getting into. Those texts somehow never seemed to reach their destination?

So lightening finally struck and the tree owner was home, the coworker was there, and I was returning from a nice meal with my wife and kids. I was driving so they had no choice but to tag along while I checked this tree out. "just a few minutes right?" my wife said. "ooh yeah just a few minutes" hah ..

I show up and a small group of guys are standing around this tree. They had all been cutting and stacking their own piles of oak firewood from this trees limbs. 6'+ high stacks of 16" long limbwood piled around the place. It was a good stick no doubt. Probably 20' long with most being straight and no limbs and maybe 32"-34" in diameter. The homeowner approaches me - he's mannerly and seemed like a good guy. "That's a decent sized maple tree you've got there.. soft maple" I said to him. He takes a step back, like I was speaking a foreign language he'd never heard of. He looks at my coworker, who purchases and uses new hardwood tree plantings in his design work, (and who obviously had told him it was an oak to begin with) and gives him the wtf. Coworker steps in and says "uhhh Im pretty sure that's an oak tree. you can tell by the bark" I stop and move down to the end grain and there is a large split there. "Well, Id bet you ... yeah Id bet you anything you wanted that it wasnt an oak tree" (uh oh crickets crickets...) "take a look at this" "those are medullary rays. In oak they are wide ribbons, which gives quartersawn oak its appearance. These are very small and distinctive in fine grained woods like maple and cherry and also there are no obvious early wood to late wood transitions" "besides that, you can smell it is maple, but without a leaf it isn't easy to say which soft maple it is- likely silver or red" (uh oh .. crickets crickets...)

At the news it wasnt the county's prized oak anymore the group of guys quit and the owner started realizing he wasn't going to be seeing this big stick of wood going anywhere from his yard anytime soon. I told him "part of it is curly, but I don't know how much and I don't know how to determine that in a non-destructive way. " I use no mechanical equipment to move logs I use so I would have to slab it up for him and see what it had inside. Hmm yard tree.... Hmm dog chain hanging out the side.. Hmm some kind of heavy gauge wire peeking out about 4' up the bole.. hmm $100 chain? no thanks. Of course he was not looking to pay anything.. he must've been fed a line about his tree being a highly valuable firewood tree.

Meanwhile it hits me that I have been screwing around with this "oak" tree for much longer than expected and turn to leave and see my wife has gone and driven off and left me. I didn't blame her. I laughed. The things people experience in life while scrounging wood.

While walking away from the yard the owner said it was nice to meet me, and that he'd be gone out of town for a week or two and if I was going to take any wood, if I wouldn't mind cutting the rest of the tree up instead into firewood sized chunks for when he got home.

Yeah, I'll get right on that.

I know this story dragged on awhile, but if anyone out there can feel my pain on that it's you guys.

Thanks to all for your shared knowledge and experiences. Keep 'em comin.
 
We have plenty of those also
We were on a big camp out with the Boy Scouts when one of the big hatches happened. The older scouts were daring each other to eat one. Several did. Then one of the senior scouts was on the verge of trying one. Another scout bet him a dollar. He still kept dancing around, but not eating it. Then a new scout, about 11 years old, looked up from his book and said real calmly, " that ought to be worth $10". So the senior scout popped it in his mouth, chewed it up, looked like he was gonna die, and swallowed. He stuck his hand out and asked for his $10. The young kid looked up real calm again and said "I didn't say I'd give you ten, I just said it should be worth ten." The little kid took off running and the big kid chasing, about 20 other scouts and leaders were laying on the ground laughing. Every one took the side of the little kid, and told the big kid to pay attention to what people say, not what you want to hear, Joe.
 
well guys I got a message from a coworker who is a biologist among other things to tell me that his neighbor had an oak tree down and was I interested. I have a hard time passing up oak, especially when it's not far from the house. I said yes.

A frustrating week of trying to get the neighbor's contact info passed. Throughout the week my biologist coworker kept texting me about how big this tree was. "it's huge" "are you sure you can do this?" "it's probably 36"" etc. I explained to him that I run into trees in that range and larger in my chainsaw milling often, so I fairly knew what I was getting into. Those texts somehow never seemed to reach their destination?

So lightening finally struck and the tree owner was home, the coworker was there, and I was returning from a nice meal with my wife and kids. I was driving so they had no choice but to tag along while I checked this tree out. "just a few minutes right?" my wife said. "ooh yeah just a few minutes" hah ..

I show up and a small group of guys are standing around this tree. They had all been cutting and stacking their own piles of oak firewood from this trees limbs. 6'+ high stacks of 16" long limbwood piled around the place. It was a good stick no doubt. Probably 20' long with most being straight and no limbs and maybe 32"-34" in diameter. The homeowner approaches me - he's mannerly and seemed like a good guy. "That's a decent sized maple tree you've got there.. soft maple" I said to him. He takes a step back, like I was speaking a foreign language he'd never heard of. He looks at my coworker, who purchases and uses new hardwood tree plantings in his design work, (and who obviously had told him it was an oak to begin with) and gives him the wtf. Coworker steps in and says "uhhh Im pretty sure that's an oak tree. you can tell by the bark" I stop and move down to the end grain and there is a large split there. "Well, Id bet you ... yeah Id bet you anything you wanted that it wasnt an oak tree" (uh oh crickets crickets...) "take a look at this" "those are medullary rays. In oak they are wide ribbons, which gives quartersawn oak its appearance. These are very small and distinctive in fine grained woods like maple and cherry and also there are no obvious early wood to late wood transitions" "besides that, you can smell it is maple, but without a leaf it isn't easy to say which soft maple it is- likely silver or red" (uh oh .. crickets crickets...)

At the news it wasnt the county's prized oak anymore the group of guys quit and the owner started realizing he wasn't going to be seeing this big stick of wood going anywhere from his yard anytime soon. I told him "part of it is curly, but I don't know how much and I don't know how to determine that in a non-destructive way. " I use no mechanical equipment to move logs I use so I would have to slab it up for him and see what it had inside. Hmm yard tree.... Hmm dog chain hanging out the side.. Hmm some kind of heavy gauge wire peeking out about 4' up the bole.. hmm $100 chain? no thanks. Of course he was not looking to pay anything.. he must've been fed a line about his tree being a highly valuable firewood tree.

Meanwhile it hits me that I have been screwing around with this "oak" tree for much longer than expected and turn to leave and see my wife has gone and driven off and left me. I didn't blame her. I laughed. The things people experience in life while scrounging wood.

While walking away from the yard the owner said it was nice to meet me, and that he'd be gone out of town for a week or two and if I was going to take any wood, if I wouldn't mind cutting the rest of the tree up instead into firewood sized chunks for when he got home.

Yeah, I'll get right on that.

I know this story dragged on awhile, but if anyone out there can feel my pain on that it's you guys.

Thanks to all for your shared knowledge and experiences. Keep 'em comin.
bummer that it wasn't oak but don't feel to bad. "some" guys here never get OAK. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :buttkick:
 
MoooHahahahaa!

MOoooHahahaaAA!!!

MOOOHAHAAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Big saw in the house!
:):D:D

Well, I think I'd be :D:D :happy: but its absolutely falling down here so rain stops play and as yet its untested. If I can get my new phone set up I'll get some pictures but to me it looks good. It sputtered first pull, started then stalled second pull, then started third pull. instant response to throttle, both accel and decel, chain brake works and by this time I was grinning stupidly and forgot to test the chain oiler, hey ho. fitted chain was absurdly tight, I've slackened it but haven't have the clutch cover off yet. Given how tight the chain was I wander if the sprocket will be a bit worn, I'll see. bar looks fine (so I suspect the oiler works). Fitted chain was sharp and is no more than maybe 1/3 worn, spare chain looks brand new. Both seem to me, to my untrained eye, to be full-chisel/square file (these two are the same thing aren't they?) I'll have a closer look in the light tomorrow and compare to my ms180s semi chisel/round file (again those are the same?). Seeing as my brother's FIL kindly resharpens my chains on his grinder, the 038s' chains will be round file in the future, whatever they are now. Chains are stihl branded. plastics and case looks excellent but I might try and tidy it up. the plastics are slightly faded but since they are intact I won't change them. I have a tiny bit of a car detailing hobby so I have a few lotions and potions that are good at reviving faded plastics, they will get some auto finesse dressle or autoglym vinyl and rubber care, with time and repeated application I hope to get that stihl shiny orange back. the metal body actuakly has a lot of paint on it for a an old saw, but i still might show it the love and repaint it. Its Magnesium isn't it? so itl'll need a coat of special metal primer, and i'll have to decide if i hunt out some stihl 'magnolia' or just go with eggsshell or gloss white.

more once I've had a chance to clean and inspect it more, and most importantly a chance to try it! Oh yes, I must remember to dump the fuel out, I'm sure its fine but just in case....I'll dump it ut and shove it in the mower, put fresh 50:1 in the saw.

This is exciting news. Make sure you give the MS180 a pat now and then so it knows it is still loved, even if you never use it again.
 

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