weekend in the woods

[mtngun]

After being kicked out of my old milling spot, I found a new spot. It's not as easy to get to, the trees are not as easy to get to, and the trees are not as big. But, it'll have to do.

Most of the dead trees were on a 45 degree slope, downhill from the skid trail. I felled them to fall toward the road, then used my GMC "skidder" to drag them up to the skid trail and then to a landing.

A collection of logs. The larger logs were milled into 1" slabs that will be used for trim. The medium size logs were milled into 8" x 8" posts that will be used to build a woodshed -- or so I keep saying. The straight, skinny logs go to my neighbor who is building a pole barn.

It was 90 degrees and not much shade. The full wrap chaps and viking chainsaw boots were uncomfortable in the heat, but I wore them anyway.

Some of the results.

Various thoughts from this trip:

-- ground Bailey's ripping chain to 15 degrees instead of 10 degrees. It does seem to cut a tiny bit faster. The finish has a bit more ripple, but it's OK for my purposes.

-- because all of my saws have experienced balky hot starting recently in hot weather, I tried richening the idle mixture, and that does seem to help (the saws seem starved for gas when you restart them hot). Also, they seem to like some throttle when starting hot, and that technique worked every time on the 066 milling saw. However, it's not feasible to give the felling and bucking saws throttle while you are yanking on the starter.

-- mixed fuel 40:1 instead of 50:1. I haven't had any problems with 50:1, I just thought the extra lube might help compensate for the 90 degree temperatures. Looks good so far. Fuel was boiling in the tanks, and foaming in the gas jug (when you uncork the jug, foam spews out, because of the heat and because ethanol fuel is very volatile), yet all saws kept running in the heat.

-- I'm becoming quite attached to the 60" Logrite peavy. When I first received it, I thought "Oh, no ! ! ! This thing is too big and heavy. I don't think I will use it often because it is just too big and awkward ?" Well, it is big, but that extra leverage is appreciated when you are wrestling with even small logs on rough ground. The Logrite is definitely a keeper.

 

[deeker]

Great pics and post!!!

Enough of the peavey lovefest......

My cant hook is sexier....and at times it is a Godsend!!!

Keep posting!!!!

I hope to get some logging done during the week. It is in the mid 90's here.
Even at 8500'. That I can do without.

Kevin

 

[Brmorgan]

Nice stuff. I like the wide open space there, the bigger trees around here all grow in much thicker forest than that. Do you prefer a peavey over a cant hook? I have to say personally that I don't with bigger logs, but that's just me.

I just found a good source of some nice Hemlock today, too bad it's almost a two hour drive out into the mountains. But it would be worth it for a day or two. We bucked one 20" dbh tree that was across the road into three 10-footers and one 8' all over 12" diameter, and there was still at least 30' left on the stump. There's lots of Birch and Cedar there too, and it's a good graded road in, I just need a trailer like yours to make it worth the drive out. I can't take much in a truck after the gear's all in.

 

[Ted J]

......

It was 90 degrees and not much shade. The full wrap chaps and viking chainsaw boots were uncomfortable in the heat, but I wore them anyway.

..............................

Good for you! I'de rather sweat than bleed though. Nice straight logs too.

 

[BobL]

Nice pics - thanks for posting!

Fuel was boiling in the tanks, and foaming in the gas jug (when you uncork the jug, foam spews out, because of the heat and because ethanol fuel is very volatile), yet all saws kept running in the heat.

What altitude were you milling at? - that also affects the boiling point.

Either way - good idea to richen the saw up

 

[HPLP]

Just out of interest, how do you get your logs onto your trailer? Is it just using the peavey and bringing them onto the side of the trailer?

Thanks,
H

 

[mtngun]

Brmorgan, due to intense logging (plus disease), our doug fir rarely get bigger than 24", and it takes them 100 years to get that big. I located one fir that must be 36"+, probably 200 years old, but it had survived only because it was part of a boundary fence. Otherwise, there is no old growth left in my area, only in designated wilderness areas.

I'm kinda liking the peavy better, and especially the Logrite peavy. The Logrite is sturdy enough that it can be used as a prybar, which is handy when you are wrestling logs into a trailer. In fact, my old fashioned wood handled cant hook has been gatherering dust because the Logrite is all I use these days.

BobL, the altitude is somewhere between 4000 and 4500 feet. Maybe it's just my imagination, but ethanol seems prone to boiling and foaming in hot weather. I don't recall seeing this problem with real gasoline (which is no longer readily available in the US). Assuming the boiling action is going on inside the carb, too, that could explain the balky hot starts.

Are you forced to use E10 in Australia, or is real gas still easy to come by ?

Loading the trailer -- this trailer was not designed for logging. When time allows, I plan to modify it into a proper logging/firewood trailer, with removable side rails so that logs can be rolled up a ramp over the sides, with the help of a boat trailer winch. In the meantime, I had to drag the logs into the trailer with a come-a-long. Not my idea of fun in hot weather.

To unload the trailer, my neighbor used the winch on his ATV to drag the logs out. That worked pretty slick.

 

[billstuewe]

A a a h h h h---The joys of makin' sawdust!

Has anyone milled paulonia? What did you do with it?

 

[deeker]

One of several ways we use to load and off load logs: a logrite ATV arch, pull it up to the trailer ramps with the 4wheeler, unhitch it and block the rear of the trailer (so the tail does not drop and the front does not go in the air).
Then we use a chain to the arch...through the front of the trailer to the 4 wheeler and pull it up onto the deck, when it gets to a no go with the bigger logs we put 4" steel pipe under the log to roll it on.

To unload we roll the log onto two or three of the pipe, and push it off with the cant hook or pull it with the arch.

I will have to take pics.

How long is that longest log???

Kevin

The Arch....

Some of the logs.

These were 16.5' doug fir with 16" tops.

 

[mtngun]

How long is that longest log???

26 feet long.

An ATV and arch would be great providing the terrain is not too steep or brushy. That pretty much rules out my neighborhood.

Next time I'll try to take some pictures of the slope where I was getting the logs. I left a beautiful 24" doug blow-down on the slope, because I had no way to get it up. The 4wd could drag up the smaller logs, but not the big 'uns.

One of our members posted pictures of a small trailer that loaded logs from the side. He laid ramps on the side and used a boat trailer winch to roll the logs up the ramps onto the trailer, similar to the loading system sometimes used on bandmills. It looked like it worked well.

Mostly I leave the trailer at home because it is a pain on skid trails, with very few places to turn a trailer around. I used the trailer this time because a neighbor wanted some long poles for a pole barn.

 

[BobL]

BobL, the altitude is somewhere between 4000 and 4500 feet. Maybe it's just my imagination, but ethanol seems prone to boiling and foaming in hot weather. I don't recall seeing this problem with real gasoline (which is no longer readily available in the US). Assuming the boiling action is going on inside the carb, too, that could explain the balky hot starts.

Are you forced to use E10 in Australia, or is real gas still easy to come by ?

Our gas made in Oz can have up to 10% ethanol in it without anyone having to say so. I buy premium gas from an independent retailer and this comes from the Singapore spot market. It's said not to have ethanol but who can say. I know one year it had a heap of toluene in in and that caused problems with some engines.

Cheers
Bob

 

[Brmorgan]

Our gas made in Oz can have up to 10% ethanol in it without anyone having to say so. I buy premium gas from an independent retailer and this comes from the Singapore spot market. It's said not to have ethanol but who can say. I know one year it had a heap of toluene in in and that caused problems with some engines.

Cheers
Bob

No problems, just refine that stuff down & find some nitric acid to make some TNT, then you'll really be able to split logs! I've never heard of that being a significant ingredient in gasoline before though.

 

[mtngun]

One of my fuel jugs. No it, wasn't stomped by an elephant, it merely imploded as the ethanol vapor cools and condenses. It happens nearly every day. Crazy, eh ?

Likewise, if you leave the jug sitting in the sun, in builds up pressure and bulges the jug like a balloon. Then when you uncap the jug, the fuel boils and foams and squirts out uncontrollably.

I'm tempted to drill a pinhole in the top of the tank to allow it to breathe. However, that would allow the ethanol to soak up moisture from the air, which is bad news for 2-stroke mix.

 

[LAndrews]

About 10% toluene can result in >100 octane, but it sometimes goes after some kinds of seal rubber. Pure toluene is effectively about 125 octane. Good stuff, but heat of vaporization is sorta low so it doesn't cool the motor very well.

Fuel that 'boils' <100F most likely has something besides ethanol in it. Ethanol boils at ~170F so it's more likely that the effect you're seeing is due to something else. When there's no other market for it, refineries will leave small molecule stuff like pentane and hexane in the gas to 'plump it up' and that's far more likely to be what you're seeing.

Racers will sometimes use propylene oxide as a power enhancer, but its carcinogenicity is pretty strong so it's often avoided. It's always easy to tell when someone dopes their fuel because the gas boils even when it's cold out. Once the jetting is figured out, it's an easy way to get >10% more power.

More oil is always a good idea, but it's important to recognize that oil doesn't contribute to 'fuel' and so raises the air-fuel ratio and leans the motor.

Heat lowers the air-fuel ratio by making the air less dense, richening the mixture. Sounds like you're finding a good balance.

hth, la