Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[morewood]

I love it when OTHER people screw up. Earlier in the week I got to talk to the local landowner that owns the mountain above me where I cut. Some bear hunters had run amok with the permission he had given them. They were only allowed to put a bait barrel at the top and check it on occasion. Ran their sxs and four wheelers all over the place, set various traps out(not even bear traps), and generally abused their opportunity. He is removing their access and limiting those who can access the property. I'm still in. He had asked if the road where we stopped cutting in the fall was accessible for his son and grandkids to ride on. I told him we hoped to get back out there soon, but less than 400 yards out we had stopped. My son and I walked out the road again yesterday and marked the trees we would initially drop. Probably walked out another 600-800 yds and only marked trees on the downhill side of the road. Ended up marking approximately 50 trees, most of which were locust. Some were break offs, others so-so. There may be a decent amount on the high side we haven't seen. Either way, this will end up being a much larger pile of sticks than I was expecting. Hopefully cleaning off the road won't take more than an hour or two, win-win for me and the landowner. I'll add a pic or two in a few.

Shea

 

[morewood]

The first is a twisted locust in the 24"-28" range. Four more locusts below that. That is also our end point at the moment. The second shows the road bed and sapling coverage which we hope to clear. It also shows our almost camouflaged watch dog walking it out with us. She is old, but will find a good spot to lay there and watch us, just wants to be outside with us.

Shea

 

[olyman]

View attachment 885528View attachment 885529

The first is a twisted locust in the 24"-28" range. Four more locusts below that. That is also our end point at the moment. The second shows the road bed and sapling coverage which we hope to clear. It also shows our almost camouflaged watch dog walking it out with us. She is old, but will find a good spot to lay there and watch us, just wants to be outside with us.

Shea

is that some multiflower rose growing by that locust???

 

[mountainguyed67]

What species of wood did you get? Construction or furniture grade?

That’s actually my own black oak log from my place in the mountains. I plan on using it for loft flooring and a table, there’s a 2” by about 2’ in there towards the bottom. It’s mostly clean, one piece had wood borer holes in it. I left it there. Very potent smelling stuff when it was being sawed.

 

[mountainguyed67]

That is a nice operation.

This is the saw they used on mine. I checked the price, $56,250. That’s with an electric motor, this one is diesel. The website didn’t show the Diesel option.





This is an old dairy.


You can see an Allis Chalmers loader sticking up back there.

 

[morewood]

is that some multiflower rose growing by that locust???

Don't think so, it simply grows in front of decent trees and tries to tear your clothes off. Doesn't flower, nothing. Hopefully a bushhog can solve the riddle.

Shea

 

[olyman]

Don't think so, it simply grows in front of decent trees and tries to tear your clothes off. Doesn't flower, nothing. Hopefully a bushhog can solve the riddle.

Shea

its just called multiflora,, no flowers,,just damn sharp and tough thorns.. a bastard to kill off...…….

 

[panolo]

It's crazy that there is such a line between us right now. Initially they said -7 here but it never got below 4. It's already 19 as well.

 

[farmer steve]

its just called multiflora,, no flowers,,just damn sharp and tough thorns.. a bastard to kill off...…….

Looks like greenbriar. In the summer it will have real shiny green heart shaped leaves.

 

[farmer steve]

A little saw playtime with the saws this morning. Now the work begins.

 

[morewood]

Looks like greenbriar. In the summer it will have real shiny green heart shaped leaves.

Ding ding, that's exactly what it looks like in it's summer clothing of pain. Once again, Bushhog as much of it as I can.

 

[chipper1]

This is the saw they used on mine. I checked the price, $56,250. That’s with an electric motor, this one is diesel. The website didn’t show the Diesel option.

View attachment 885539
View attachment 885542
View attachment 885543

This is an old dairy.
View attachment 885540

You can see an Allis Chalmers loader sticking up back there.
View attachment 885541

You gonna get one lol.
With regard to securing that log the other day, do you know how to tighten the chain a half link.
You got some nice boards.

 

[farmer steve]

Ding ding, that's exactly what it looks like in it's summer clothing of pain. Once again, Bushhog as much of it as I can.

Roundup or 24,D or dig it out. Sh!t's tough.

 

[mountainguyed67]

You gonna get one lol.
With regard to securing that log the other day, do you know how to tighten the chain a half link.
You got some nice boards.

I probably wouldn’t put more than $7,000 into a sawmill. I don’t know if one that cheap is worth getting. I’d be milling a lot of big stuff like this. The one they used seems to be the biggest model offered, and it had some shaking, and broke the blade about 3/4 way through milling everything. I wouldn't mill much hard woods though, so it would be easier on the saw. I think it’ll get tiresome hauling timber back and forth too.

I didn’t know it was possible to tighten the chain a half link, now that you mention it I’m thinking twist the chain.

Yes, that wood is very impressive. Good stuff. I was worried the wood borer holes would ruin a lot of it, but I only tossed one 1” board because of them. This is my first time getting anything milled. I need to stack it with skinny sticks in between, right? And paint the ends? With what?

I have one more almost identical log up there still, at 5,300 feet elevation. About 3’ of snow has dumped up there in the last two days. I could probably get it out, but it wouldn’t be easy. This is the town about six miles away, and 300’ elevation higher.

 

[djg james]

....... This is my first time getting anything milled. I need to stack it with skinny sticks in between, right? And paint the ends? With what? ......

Start with a level spot to stack it up off the ground. With that little amount of wood, I probably only go 3 or 4 foot wide stack. Higher stack is better than wider. Put your best boards down first so they'll have more weight on them. 1" space between the boards and then dry 1" x 1" stickers every 18" starting at the ends of the boards. keep the stickers in line with the one below. Cut (square up) the ends of each board and seal with Anchorseal. Rockler's sealer is cheaper and can be bought by the gallon only. One will do you. Cover the stack and then put more weight on it.

Maybe you knew how already.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Maybe you knew how already.

No, I only knew bits and pieces. Thank you.

 

[MFV]

A little saw playtime with the saws this morning. Now the work begins.
View attachment 885570Me too started early on the scrounge this weekend more loads to come

 

[chipper1]

I probably wouldn’t put more than $7,000 into a sawmill. I don’t know if one that cheap is worth getting. I’d be milling a lot of big stuff like this. The one they used seems to be the biggest model offered, and it had some shaking, and broke the blade about 3/4 way through milling everything. I wouldn't mill much hard woods though, so it would be easier on the saw. I think it’ll get tiresome hauling timber back and forth too.

I didn’t know it was possible to tighten the chain a half link, now that you mention it I’m thinking twist the chain.

Yes, that wood is very impressive. Good stuff. I was worried the wood borer holes would ruin a lot of it, but I only tossed one 1” board because of them. This is my first time getting anything milled. I need to stack it with skinny sticks in between, right? And paint the ends? With what?

I have one more almost identical log up there still, at 5,300 feet elevation. About 3’ of snow has dumped up there in the last two days. I could probably get it out, but it wouldn’t be easy. This is the town about six miles away, and 300’ elevation higher.

If it's not something you plan on doing more than 2-3 times a yr, I'd make the trip, it takes a while to learn how to be productive milling from what I can tell. But if you're looking for a new hobby then...

Yep you get a half link tighter by tightening the chain one link on the portion that's wrapped around and back onto itself.
Just one link tighter here is half a link at the snap binder.
If you twist the chain it will tighten it at the bider, but you run the risk of creating a kink that could come loose down the rd, ask me how I know lol.

Personally a couple standard 2" ratchet straps would hold a log that size no problem. I would use them on the boards too. I would go over the top as you would the log, then under the boards(I'd have them on top of a couple pieces of dunnage), then back over the top, this will squeeze the boards together and hold down pressure on them. You don't need to wrap around them is they are banded. Another thing I'll do is to just put the 2" straps over the top and use two other smaller ratchet straps to hold the bundle of boards together like banding. If you are hauling tall enough bundles that they could/will shift as the load is going down the road, you have to use edge protectors under the straps, not to protect the wood, but rather the straps. I used to haul semi loads(picture a 48' trailer loaded front to back and the back 2/3 of the trailer double stacked) of rough cut boards out of a mill a couple hrs north of here to the amish in Indiana. The first time I was running down the highway at 60 and looked in my mirror and I had three straps hanging, one was wanting to go under my tire. The rough cut wood cut thru those 4" straps at about the 40 mile mark, all popped at about the same time(I watch my mirror closely), I was a bit more careful with those loads after that.

Look forward to seeing what you do with the wood.
Cool picture, looks like something off a card.

 

[MFV]

If it's not something you plan on doing more than 2-3 times a yr, I'd make the trip, it takes a while to learn how to be productive milling from what I can tell. But if you're looking for a new hobby then...

Yep you get a half link tighter by tightening the chain one link on the portion that's wrapped around and back onto itself.
Just one link tighter here is half a link at the snap binder.
If you twist the chain it will tighten it at the bider, but you run the risk of creating a kink that could come loose down the rd, ask me how I know lol.
View attachment 885580
Personally a couple standard 2" ratchet straps would hold a log that size no problem. I would use them on the boards too. I would go over the top as you would the log, then under the boards(I'd have them on top of a couple pieces of dunnage), then back over the top, this will squeeze the boards together and hold down pressure on them. You don't need to wrap around them is they are banded. Another thing I'll do is to just put the 2" straps over the top and use two other smaller ratchet straps to hold the bundle of boards together like banding. If you are hauling tall enough bundles that they could/will shift as the load is going down the road, you have to use edge protectors under the straps, not to protect the wood, but rather the straps. I used to haul semi loads(picture a 48' trailer loaded front to back and the back 2/3 of the trailer double stacked) of rough cut boards out of a mill a couple hrs north of here to the amish in Indiana. The first time I was running down the highway at 60 and looked in my mirror and I had three straps hanging, one was wanting to go under my tire. The rough cut wood cut thru those 4" straps at about the 40 mile mark, all popped at about the same time(I watch my mirror closely), I was a bit more careful with those loads after that.

Look forward to seeing what you do with the wood.
Cool picture, looks like something off a card.

Good chain and load binders are a must and I stick to American made no skimping on that

 

[chipper1]

Good chain and load binders are a must and I stick to American made no skimping on that

Do you mean you shouldn't use straps.
Or that you shouldn't buy your binders and chain at the discount tool store.