Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[mountainguyed67]

That would be skyline yarding

I might have already told this here. last year there was a tree crew working in the previous year’s burn scar, removing dead oak from a small ravine. They had the skyline with logs hanging on it, but two guys were pushing them up to the road by hand while walking up the hill. I don’t know if they didn’t know the rest, or didn’t have a winch, or another cable and snatch block. It was on a backroad, and they had traffic stopped briefly.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Lodgepole is popular here too, except almost everybody calls it Tamarack. Apparently it was misidentified long ago, there’s even a Tamarack Lodge surrounded by lodgepole. That’s near Tamarack Ridge and Tamarack Creek, but no tamarack around whatsoever.

I believe they are actually different trees all together.
id love to find some around here but don’t think it is available.

 

[mountainguyed67]

I believe they are actually different trees all together.

I thought that was apparent in my post you quoted.

I haven’t seen lodgepole below 6,500 feet elevation, and it’s uncommon that low.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Lodgepole.

This is a blaze on a foot trail.
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Here we are building a table, it shows how thin the bark is.
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Is that the D i c k Foster shitter?

 

[mountainguyed67]

Is that the **** Foster shitter?

I didn’t know one was named after him, ha! This is the south toilet at Ershim Lake.

The forum did right blurring out his name like it’s a bad word.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

In Wisconsin chili is ground beef, tomato sauce, chili powder and macaroni noodles served with oyster crackers. Ok but kinda blah.

Now that is the kind of talk I like to hear whilst discussing firewood!

2 am 3 more pages, not sure i am going to make it...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

The biggest reason people here like lodgepole is it hardly leaves any ash. I haven’t heard of anyone burning spruce, so we can’t make that comparison. There’s hardly any spruce here.

well, oak sure does!

 

[mountainguyed67]

well, oak sure does!
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Yes! We also use the same type bucket.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Last couple of days we've been single digits over night and only in the teens during the day. Kind of could for the Midwest. So, I've been mixing in a piece of Hedge in with my Oak. Every now and then, I get a whiff of smoke from down drafts and it smells like BBQ. Anyone ever smoke meat with Hedge. I just ate, but I'm craving BBQ now.

we stopped at our fav bbq joint last Sunday on way home... some of the Best In Texas! made a good sliced beef sam couple days later with what was left...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Yes! We also use the same type bucket.

lol, i posted it on another thread few days back. and someone there said the same thing! maybe a popular pail for ash n cinders...

i have had exp removing ash next day with a plastic bucket... lol ! only once! it's steel for me... even if few days old! cleaned it out tonite b4 firing it up... same bucket

 

[singinwoodwackr]

I didn’t know one was named after him, ha! This is the south toilet at Ershim Lake.

The forum did right blurring out his name like it’s a bad word.

That’s the one. You told me to name it for donating it.

 

[Vtrombly]

Never got above 15F today and is now back in single digits.

Delivered the load of wood to my daughter, and the 15 year old grandson helped unload.

The stuff in the middle is Red Maple that I got from my brother's house, with Ash on both sides. There is more Ash in the front and in the back of the house. I split a little bit of it with the X-27, some got stacked and some went inside.

Love my X27 have no idea why that Wranglerstar or that Buckin Character try and down them. I have plenty of time on a 6 and 8 pound maul and wedges and splitting axes. As a younger than I am man, well a boy really, I split the wood for the house for the winter all by hand. I've learned where to hit it and the method for splitting it effectively. Here when they came out I bought one right away and have used the heck out of it. I can tell you it works better than a maul. I have never broke the handle like these clowns have suggested, and even if you somehow did it has a lifetime warranty.

 

[Vtrombly]

well, oak sure does!
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I'm going to have to get some of that grate material for mine that's a good idea hot coals keep falling through my log stand.

 

[bob kern]

Looks like a medium to me too, but pictures can be, well you know...
Does the baffle get red when it's that high.
Ours doesn't say pipe on it, so I figured it may be illegal to put it on the pipe .
I actually have a security brand double walled pipe that has slits/vents/holes(?) in the top and the bottom of it, I got that to let more of the heat out of the pipe into the house. If you put your hand near the slits on the top of the pipe, you can feel the flow of heat out of there, so I'm guessing it does help. Since our place is a doublewide and code is double walled , I figured this would be the best route to utilize the heat as a single wall would without breaking code and making the pipe safer for kids.

Yep, ours says about 275-575 for the burn zone. When I first installed it I was trying not to go over that, I learned real quick that it would go over it with a good sized load even with the damper shut down. One time I had it loaded up with a bunch of smaller locust branches that were real crispy dry, man did it get going quick, and hot. Most times when it's below 30 if and I have a nice coal bed, then I fill it with a nice load of locust, let it rip for 12-14min, the stove will be up to 500, then I shut the damper and it will go up to 600, higher if it's colder outside like now.

Word to the wise from a seasoned class 1a firefighter..... if your stove gets away from you, damper down slowly. He saw many times where someone dampered down all at once in a panic and the pipe imploded and split leaving the roaring flue with all the air it needed to burn the house down! I will add that most of us burn properly so there is not much in our flue to burn. I brush mine but never get much more than a coffee cup of stuff that was totally burned already anyway. Some are still learning tho and don’t understand the dangers of constantly running at low temps.

 

[H-Ranch]

Love my X27 have no idea why that Wranglerstar or that Buckin Character try and down them.

My type of splitting is suited to the Fiskars also. A 14 lb monster maul is of no use to me as I don't have the power to swing it. I think the guys that don't like the Fiskars swing them like aunt Esther swinging her purse at Fred!

Plus the guys you listed aren't getting paid to rave about them so they don't. (And you can bet if they got some cash that the Fiskars would suddenly be the best thing ever built. I have very little use for paid advertisers like those guys.)

 

[Vtrombly]

My type of splitting is suited to the Fiskars also. A 14 lb monster maul is of no use to me as I don't have the power to swing it. I think the guys that don't like the Fiskars swing them like aunt Esther swinging her purse at Fred!

Plus the guys you listed aren't getting paid to rave about them so they don't. (And you can bet if they got some cash that the Fiskars would suddenly be the best thing ever built. I have very little use for paid advertisers like those guys.)

Yes I fully agree haven't watched any of them since they went "big time". After these last couple years that old saying Money is the root to all evil I'm going to say it's accurate. I want an honest review of the tool so I can decide whether or not it will help me. I know the X27 works I had a ton of red oak here that I got from my SIL quite a few years ago. I had that in the shed along with the old maul I had as a kid. I hit it one time with the X27 and It was way better than the old maul saved me a ton of time and back problems on that job it definitely earned the money I payed for it.

 

[rarefish383]

My type of splitting is suited to the Fiskars also. A 14 lb monster maul is of no use to me as I don't have the power to swing it. I think the guys that don't like the Fiskars swing them like aunt Esther swinging her purse at Fred!

Plus the guys you listed aren't getting paid to rave about them so they don't. (And you can bet if they got some cash that the Fiskars would suddenly be the best thing ever built. I have very little use for paid advertisers like those guys.)

The only use I found for a monster mall is to cut the handle off and use it for a cheater stick on a big ratchet, and throw the head in the ballest box on the tractor.

 

[Vtrombly]

The only use I found for a monster mall is to cut the handle off and use it for a cheater stick on a big ratchet, and throw the head in the ballest box on the tractor.

Maybe the handle for a high lift jack too

 

[dancan]

Oh ok, I wasn’t sure, looked like a nice set up. My buddy is always trying to get the biggest loads and biggest trees, I told him I was thinking about getting a smaller pickup, less work and can go more often that way, lol.

You need a nice minivan

 

[MustangMike]

I agree totally with the comments on the X-27, but speed and accuracy are important to getting the most out of it.

I used to split all the wood to heat my house by hand (did not get a hydro splitter till 6 years ago).

When I started, I used a traditional 8 lb wood handle maul, till one day the handle broke and the maul head bounced back at me head. Luckily, I used to box, and I slipped it, but it brushed my cheek going by. That was the last time I used one.

For years after that, I used a metal handle monster maul. Worked well, but I was young and strong.

I used someone else's X-27 once, and I went out and got one and have been using them ever since. In fact, I have 3 of them (got the last one for only $20 from someone who did not like it). I keep one up at the cabin, one at my house, and one in my truck.

I will split anything I used to split with a maul with the X-27, and it is so much lighter that I can go much longer even as I get older. I have also never broken one of their handles, so they are very tough. I never bring the hydro splitter up to the cabin, all the wood up there get split with the X-27. The Ash and Black Cherry are usually no problem, but the Sugar Maple and Black Birch can be tough if you don't wait till it dries out some and gets cold. Bad knots sometimes get noodled.