Motivation and staying motivated

[babybart]

Things change overtime. I used to work a out of town job and only home one weekends. that meant I had two days to catch up all the work around the house. I treid to prioritize what had to be done from what I wanted done. Not easy when you have small boys that wanted to go fishing. I woud pick one weekend and try to get out all the wood i could. I hualed the wood home in log lenghts. I can cut and hual a lot of logs in a day, not so much if I cut and split before hualing. With the logs at home, I could take the saw and buck for 30min here and there and have everything ready to split in just a few days. Splitting I took the same approach, pick a day and try to get it all split or split a little when ever I had the time. If I wanted to work after dinner, just fire up the saw or splitter.

Now I am retired, got all the time in the world to cut wood, but also lack the motivation to go out and cut everyday. I pick up log lenghts from around new house sites and haul them home in my dump trailer. Usually get the wood loaded for me to boot. I dump in a pile and buck it up near my wood shed. Drag out the splitter and split when I feel like it. It doesnt seem to me that I spend a lot of time trying to scrounge wood. In the right situation, I can harvest all my wood in a single day. I can buck it all up in another day and if I work at it can have it all split in another day, or I can just peck at it until I get it done. Of course, I dont see -zero temps and snowfall measured in yards and only burn about 4 cords a year.

I will suggest some sort of trailer, preferrably a dump hooked behind a pickup truck. I would mount a small crane with a winch on the crane to drag logs to the trailer. cut the logs into lenghts to fit the trailer and load logs on the trailer and not firewood lenghts. This will allow you to hual more wood faster to your homestead. With the logs next to you house, you can pcik and choose when you want to buck and split and how long you want to work at each session. You can get a lot done just bucking for 30min if you dont have to load all your equipment in your truck and drive to the woods to work. You could probably have 30min worth of sawing done by the time you could even get to where you need to harvest the wood.

You have any pics of the crane on your dump? I have been toying with the idea, just not sure of the how and keep the trailer for hauling dirt, stone ect.

 

[muddstopper]

Actually, my dump crane is in the floor of my shop and I havent installed it yet. I do have a small mechanics crane mounted on my splitter. I will try to explain how I plan to mount the crane. I originally had the crane mounted on my wood splitter. I would use it to drag logs up to the splitter and then lift the log for bucking. That way all the rounds would be laying right at the splitter. I got overly ambitious and tried dragging a 14ft long 16in dia oak log and broke the crane at its base. I had used a front hub off a 4wd jeep for the base so the crane would pivot. The bearing pulled out of the hub. Thats when I mounted the mechanics crane. The reason I havent mounted the crane on the dump is because I hadnt found a suitable swivel mount. I finally found a axle off a dualwheel equipment trailer. The hub is the floating type with bigger bearings and spaced further apart than the jeep hub. I plan on welding the crane to the axle hub, at the top of the post instead of the bottom the way the jeep hub was mounted. This should also eliminate a lot of stress on the bearing. I can then brace the post for upright support. I will mount the crane on the tongue of the trailer so i can swing it out of the way of the dump bed for unloading the trailer. My trailer is 10ft long so I plan on cutting the crane down to where it will only reach to the middle of the trailer bed. That way I can pick up a 10ft log and just swing it onto the trailer bed. With the crane mounted on the trailer frame, I can also swing it to the truck bed to load heavy rounds I cant just throw into the truck. I also have a short hyd cyl I am thinking about using to raise or lower the crane boom.. I would have to purchase a double ported d3 subplate and solenoid to replace the current subplate on my dump trailer, but it would allow me to use the hd of the dump to control the boom lift. I will mount a atv winch on top of the boom to winch logs up to and onto the trailer. While my trailer has its own heavy duty marine battery for powering the dump, I also have it wired to plug into anderson connectors to the truck battery. As long as the truck is running, there shouldnt be any problems running out of power while using the winch. If I find I am killing the batteries, I'll just mount another battery on the trailer. Using Anderson Connectors for power also keeps folks from wanting to borrow the trailer because their truck cant provide power to the trailer.

 

[Camper]

Everyone has opinions about everything I think you’ve got some good advice from some people on this thread. Most people have to work for everything they get and it’s not usually easy. I’ve worked as many hours a week as most people I’ve worked out of town for a week at a time for years and my wife had to take care of the kids and the farm. Most of my married life I’ve heated with electric because I worked so many hours and out of town I didn’t have time to do it all. The last ten years or so we’ve heated with wood because I want to. That’s not easy either because I have a bad back and neck from all the long hours and hard work. When I was young I never thought about not being able to do something now I know I should have worked smarter. People tell you equipment is for lazy people don’t listen to them when you can afford it and you will you get a little at a time and use it to save your body. Spend time with your wife and kids when you can time slips away from you faster than you think. Don’t worry about doing everything some things aren’t as important as your family. If your a good employee you’ll get noticed and your job might not get easier but you’ll be rewarded for it. I’m almost 62 years old I still work 42 hours a week but the pay and benefits are much better than they were when I was in my 20’s and 30’s good luck to you and your family.

 

[Saiso]

Everyone has opinions about everything I think you’ve got some good advice from some people on this thread. Most people have to work for everything they get and it’s not usually easy. I’ve worked as many hours a week as most people I’ve worked out of town for a week at a time for years and my wife had to take care of the kids and the farm. Most of my married life I’ve heated with electric because I worked so many hours and out of town I didn’t have time to do it all. The last ten years or so we’ve heated with wood because I want to. That’s not easy either because I have a bad back and neck from all the long hours and hard work. When I was young I never thought about not being able to do something now I know I should have worked smarter. People tell you equipment is for lazy people don’t listen to them when you can afford it and you will you get a little at a time and use it to save your body. Spend time with your wife and kids when you can time slips away from you faster than you think. Don’t worry about doing everything some things aren’t as important as your family. If your a good employee you’ll get noticed and your job might not get easier but you’ll be rewarded for it. I’m almost 62 years old I still work 42 hours a week but the pay and benefits are much better than they were when I was in my 20’s and 30’s good luck to you and your family.

Thank you my friend!