Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Do you burn Willow?

I burn it mixed in with my good hardwood, Black Locust, Maple and oak this year. Sell around 8 cord/yr $120/cord.
I figure that with the cost of fuel and amortization of equipment I lose money on every cord I sell even figuring my time isn't worth anything. I do it mostly for something to do and I enjoy the work.

I did heat my house with nothing but willow for about 30 years, lowest per btu wood available out here at the time until the locust borer moved in and killed the locust by the acre back in the 90s.
 
I burn it mixed in with my good hardwood, Black Locust, Maple and oak this year. Sell around 8 cord/yr $120/cord.
I figure that with the cost of fuel and amortization of equipment I lose money on every cord I sell even figuring my time isn't worth anything. I do it mostly for something to do and I enjoy the work.

I did heat my house with nothing but willow for about 30 years, lowest per btu wood available out here at the time until the locust borer moved in and killed the locust by the acre back in the 90s.

Good to see you back into it.
 
Does anyone have an email address for him? Or know if he’s on Facebook? I guess the good thing is, there is no way to voluntarily delete your account here. Maybe after a time he’ll reconsider.

At least it wasn't my fault this time :rare2:.

I thought I'd use up the fuel sitting in the 241 this weekend. I had pulled four dead wattles over a few weeks earlier. I use the clouds of small twigs as kindling and box up and give away what is left over to family/friends/people that could use it. It'd be easier to push it into a pile and light 'er up but I don't like to waste it. The stems (5 inches at best) are firepit wood. I've been chipping away at the kindling over the last few weeks.

11th Aug 3.jpg

11th Aug 2.jpg

Stihl some more to go behind the log pile there but I ran out of fuel. Sure, I could have filled up and finished off but I wouldn't want to overdo it :laugh:

World's lamest scrounge contender.
 
I've burned willow. Took some from a guy as a favor, he gives me a lot of good wood too. There's a pile of water in it so it takes forever to dry. I heated last October/November exclusively with willow and it did great. Burns hot but quickly, enough to heat the stove up and doesn't go volcanic all night.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
 
That looks like 'Chicken' mushroom. Two varieties, both edible (don't take my word for it).

No plans on eating them as I have no idea what mushrooms we can eat. Could have learned back when I was younger but never did and the guys with the knowledge are gone on now. I do look around for classes here and there but no luck.
Going out now to cut and split but with the heat it won't be long and I have a 1/2 gallon cooler.
 
Well I didn’t make it out to the woods.

Went to swap rims on the Zogger 346 and a piece of the clutch cracked off. The clutch ended up being a bear to get off but I got it off with a little heat and a bit of lubricant. I’ve got 3 or 4 parts saws so I’ll grab a clutch from the house this evening.
8F537B8B-EF6D-4030-9B34-8BB9C8E7C317.jpeg
 
Good to see you back into it.

Good to be back behind a saw again...but nowhere near what I used to do last year. I can push my endureance out to about 3 hours now but have to tak 'sit downs' often , My legs still feel like limp spaghetti after the first hour.. The big willow I am working at now will take the 441, if I can start it, if not, I'll whittle it down with the 362 and 28" bar.
 
I've burned willow. Took some from a guy as a favor, he gives me a lot of good wood too. There's a pile of water in it so it takes forever to dry. I heated last October/November exclusively with willow and it did great. Burns hot but quickly, enough to heat the stove up and doesn't go volcanic all night.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

The willow here will dry in one season if piled so the air can get to it. Full dry in two seasons. I sold a couple campers a small lot of last years uglies for campfire use. Just saw one of them the other day and he said it was the greatest stuff and best camp fire in the campground.
 
When I had some I found it really hard to split and learnt why cricket bats are made from it. It can be very elastic, it was like hitting a large block of rubber with the maul.

Must be a different kind than here. Here it splits with a fiskar's first shot and it's child's play to halve a 24" round.
 
There are many types, I'm not sure which it was I had but we do seem to have a fair bit of goat willow and m around here. I'm not sure what the bouncy characteristic is called, but it is a measured thing and there very reason for Willow's use in bats.

What are baseball bats made from? Hickory isn't it? Makes me wonder if willow would make a good axe handle, never heard of it being used though.

Anyway, I like to try most woods and learn, but now avoid willow, hard to split and dries to nothing much.
 
Speaking of handles, this is what real wheelbarrow handles should look like! I rescued this wheelbarrow, which had broken handles, etc, and freehanded some new ones from Sugar Maple! Then I was able to leave my existing wheelbarrow up at the cabin (no more transporting back and forth).
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20200806_091920343.jpg
    IMG_20200806_091920343.jpg
    7.1 MB
  • IMG_20200806_091927899.jpg
    IMG_20200806_091927899.jpg
    6.3 MB

Latest posts

Back
Top