Very particular about my firewood

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Don't forget the liberal media driven trash that they call the Boston Globe. I collect that at work to start my fires with!!

Lol don't get that round hear if I did it would be reserved for toilet paper in deer season<a href="http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&lpver=3&ref=11" target="_blank"><img src="http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/000203F2.gif" border="0" title="Click to get more." ></a>
 
Not a legal measurement of wood volume. Generally around here a face cord or rick are the same amount. 1/3 of a cord. 4' X 8' X 16" stacked.:) A C
you can measure and convert from inches to fractions of a cord by deviding by 221,000.
This is handy when delivering or buying when cord prices are listed.
Thanks for the rep a/c I have you on my must spread list.
 
A Question About The Infamous "Mingo"...



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I'm not sure this is the best place for me to put this post, but it is, non-the-less a place. I used to be a Mod. at an international Web Design Help Forum, now I'm reduced to wondering where to put my post / question :computer 2:! At any rate, I have a question regarding the Mingo’s “running measurement” and, at least to me, it doesn't’t warrant a new thread, so I did the next logical thing and dug up a discussion that involved The Mingo™. I must say, I’m surprised at the positive feedback I’ve read about the tool here in quite a few threads / posts. I suppose that answers my question before the drawn-out asking of it to follow :smoking:, but I wanted to address it specifically before purchasing one.

The one Q. about the Mingo, I’ve never used one btw, but am planning on having one before spring (Spring in Maine anyway). There has just been one factor that has me wondering, but only a little, because if what I’m wondering is and/or has been an issue, there would have been someone complaining about it already…lol! - :stupid:

Okay, my only Q. is; does the Mingo™ account for the kerf? Of course I don’t want to tred over the “Guidelines” here so, if it does compensate for the kerf (the ¼” or so the chainsaw turns into sawdust with each cut), please refrain from listing the copyright(s) / secrets of The Mingo, if one is used. The secret, to myself anyway, would be its compensation for the natural tendency of a “running measurement” coming out short at the end of the log being bucked!

I have a retractable log measure, as I'm sure many ppl here do. However, I have gone up a log marking 16”, 32”, 48” 64”, etc. As I bucked the marks I noticed that the parts of the log turned into sawdust made a difference as I moved sequentially through the cuts, causing the pieces to become subsequently shorter the more cuts I made.

Of course a new chain leaves a “slightly” wider kerf than an old chain, but that factor is minimal,well, for the sake of this post, let's say it's irrelevant. I measured the width of some of my cuts before finishing them and they tended to be about ¼” wide with the chain I was using and btw-the saw was the 576 w / AutoTune® (All broke-in w / excellent power, 7 mos. old. w / new plug gaped to .020” + High-end fuel, as well as "High-end" weight, when talking about limbing balsm fir). Well, that last bit in parentheses is irrelevant, just felt the need to get that out there…though I realize it is nothing to "jump up & down" about<-- That phrase bothers me because it is innaccurate...lol. (well, actually you need only jump “up” as gravity will eliminate the need for jumping down…LOL :ices_rofl:)

Of course, this “little bit”, approximately1/4" (+/- 1/32"[kinda not too serious here...lol]) adds-up and equates to a loss of about 1” every 4 cuts. Before I go further, make a mistake, and someone jumps on it like a piece of Bird's-Eye-Maple. *kidding* I do not have any sort of degree in math (a faint memory of 42 yrs. ago at best ;)! So errors are not only possible, but likely probable.

Let’s say you have a log that measures 30’3/4” in length (369 inches). With “straight / simple math” (not figuring kerf / waste per cut) you would figure to get 23 - 16” pieces out of it with a 1/16” left over. That’s 21 cuts you will make to yield the 23 pieces. That equates to 5 ¼” that will not be firewood, but rather, will be sawdust. ‘IF’ one measured this with a retractable tape (or any running measure for that matter) and didn’t mark it out right (bolded as "right" is the key word there), the 23rd piece would measure approximately 10 ¾” (plus the 1/16th if it was not lost to the saw along the line).

I know, I know,…I'm not cutting out parts for the space shuttle here, just firewood. However, considering the side note that I have OCD, if it’s not within a ½ inch to 1” I’m not satisfied…hehe. But seriously, especially in a competetive market, there is no such thing as too much quality for the consumer, exponentially so, if the consumer is not famiar with firewood processing at all. It seems like the more work they can "see" you have put into your product, the more they feel they might have gotten their money's worth out of the transaction :rant:!

Well, I have again made a short story long (short question long in this case) and I apologize to all who have endured this long-winded / worded post! In summary, (which I suppose I could have confined my post to this next, direct, to the point phrasing at the begginning?!?!?) Has anyone out there had the Mingo™ come out short at the end of a log? Is the theory, guessing by what I’ve seen, that the round paint dot(s), when cut in the center, split the waste between the 2 pieces being separated by a given cut?

I have a feeling that when I return (if there is a response or more) that I will then see that I’ve been missing something obvious about the Mingo™ and will feel like I’m on par with a 1st grader once someone posts an answer…LOL. Thanks for enduring my post and, to all if any who replied, thanks for setting my mind at ease about the issue so I can go buy one (or not) and cut happily ever after.!

On a serious note, I, personally am not that fussy about my firewood lengths, when it's for myself especially! However, as I elluded to earlier, the "attention to detail" (which is not necessarily "quality" as it would be defined by those who do this for a living) noticed by the customer can make or break a sale or future sale. In my area anyway, there are a lot of newbies to The use of wood for heating! Of course not all of the reasons are the same, but a big one is that they lived where it was warm enough not to have to resort to cutting wood which, in many cases, wasn't even available to cut! This leaves them looking for a "quality" of sorts that isn't really quality at all.

To sum this "firewood length" issue-up (in one of several ways) take the following example: John bought firewood accross town last fall and he was bewildered and impressed by how uniform the lengths were and how nicely it stacked in his cellar! He didn't even notice that much of it (20%) was merely softwood pawned off on him because it was too short for pulpwood. However, during the next summer a back injury put his (now trusted) supplier on the bench, unable to produce firewood for sale the next fall. This forces John to look for a new supplier and, low and behold, he comes to me! [For the sake of this example] he immediately notices that the wood I told him was 16" varies by an inch or two (14" - 18"); he notices it when he stacks it even more! Now, my wood may be drier, it may produce more heat per unit, be of various species actually considered to be "good to excellent", etc.

However, John doesn't notice this because it is subtle to him. All that sticks in his mind is the varying lengths and, what he percieves as, the nightmare of stacking it! You can bet that his hopes are now high that his previous supplier's back injury subsides, which it does. He buys his firewood for the coming winter from the previous supplier, (though shady in this example). I still lose the sale of 8 Cord of firewood

Now, even though the "quality" of my firewood was higher as would be judged by someone who'd dealt with firewood as a heating source most of their lives (less moisture + more heat as a result of better species). Only the obvious, in this case being the length / ease of stacking sticks in Johns mind...sticking his money toward the other dealer. For that matter, the nightmare stacking experience (leading to less volume in John's wood storage space) sticks in his mind to the point he will never buy from me again, not as long as there is another supplier within 50 miles!

The above example is not fair, not right, but too often it is reality, which is often 80%+ wrong, but 100% merciless:jawdrop:

I hope my post clarifies that I want uniform wood length, but not for myself, rather to secure enough sales to make any / all of it worth the effort. Whether that effort is intense or relaxed, it's the "focus" of the effort in the areas that matter to the customers that will help feed my family and me through the winter! I cannot operate in the winter because the equipment to do so went bye, bye about 16 yrs. ago. Now I operate with a 650 V-Twin 4-wheeler with a tow behind trailer sporting a nice winch and, of course, my trusty 576XP strapped to the front rack.

However, when the snow stops the 4-wheeler, it stops the trailer with the winch, which stops me from operating 'till after mud season :dizzy: !
:rant:
 
somebody have cabin fever?

havin never used a mingo marker and possablely not grasping the concept,I'm gonna venture the guess all cuts would be short by1/8" or so and not just show up on the last block.
O kay i'm gonna take my meds now...
 
The free wood we get from tree trimmers also blind in one eye as they cut at anywhere from 20-30 inches leaving us a very small piece to cut off for the 16 inches we need. Worse yet they cut the log at a 45 degree angle so we end up with a parallelogram!

LOL, tree service wood is the worst! Every piece is 10 inches long or 28 inches long, 45 deg cut on at least 1 end and often both. Wassup wit' dat? I guess I shouldn't biotch when it's free. AEP made a major assault on trees in this area last year. They pretty much had the big orange trucks brutalize any tree within 20 feet of a power line. A lot of "L" and "Y" shaped trees around here now. A friend gave me a bunch of wood from his MIL's house that AEP had cut, what a PITA recutting most of it. Silver maple at that :) I take it all, he gets me a lot of good wood as well.
 
Guess I Should Have Opted Out of That Post...

Hey sorry all if my post made me come across as a full blown idiot to a few of you. Like I said I used to be a Moderator at CodingForums.com- Web coding and development forums. Get help on JavaScript, PHP, CSS, XML, mySQL, ASP, and more! (search " boxer_1 " to see the serious nature of nearly every post I dealt with there. That was my first post here and, I admit, it did run waay too long as well as waay to deep. I knew that much immediately after submitting the post. I assure you that anyone offended was not intentional, and no I'm not really a "Nut Job!" I haven't posted in a forum for years so I guess I felt the urge to write on. I guess the only semi-good part is that it may have struck some of you as humorous.

If / when I post in the future I will keep it short, on topic and to the point as I have seen in many of the threads I've seen while searching / reading the posts I turned up to see if that question had already been asked and answered. In hind sight I will also admit it was a pretty dumb question and definitely TMI for the first post I've made here. Take care and work smarter than you do hard...lol (Works for me anyway. Kinda like the difference between how a 20 year old can exhaust himself at noon while 55 yr. old man can work all day) <-- Sorry if that analogy wasn't the greatest, but I don't have any pre-fabed ones to choose from (just feels like someone will point out it being strange or out of place so I figured I'd just save 'em the bother of typing out a duplicate opinion...lol.

~*~ boxer_1 ~*~
 
some of you guys have serious O.C.W.D... i can only imagine what some of your wood piles look like

and to the guys whining about the free tree service wood having angled cuts , and random lengths...i doubt the climbers or groundmen are concerned about anything other than getting the trees down in a timely manner while doing it as safe as possible, the last thing on their mind is if the placement of their cut is going to mess up the division of the log into equal length firewood rounds
 
boxer_1, sounds like a valid question. Yes you will end up short on pieces and a pile of sawdust cutting up a 34' tree.
PS, could you send us pics of your wife, I would like to see the most understanding woman in the world. And a bit off topic but could you give me a hint as to how long foreplay normally takes at your house? :hmm3grin2orange::bowdown:
 
I want the wood you deliver me to look like this guys. Don't even think of bringin me 1/4" off either way! I'll run yer ass off dammit!

 
and to the guys whining about the free tree service wood having angled cuts , and random lengths...i doubt the climbers or groundmen are concerned about anything other than getting the trees down in a timely manner while doing it as safe as possible, the last thing on their mind is if the placement of their cut is going to mess up the division of the log into equal length firewood rounds

Wasn't really whining, in fact I was LOLing. Or is that LingOL? :hmm3grin2orange:Anyhow, I easily understand why tree service wood is of varying lengths, but why are most of them cut at 45 deg? They are cutting twice the wood they need to.
 
A few Pretty Funny Replies?!?!

boxer_1, sounds like a valid question. Yes you will end up short on pieces and a pile of sawdust cutting up a 34' tree.
PS, could you send us pics of your wife, I would like to see the most understanding woman in the world. And a bit off topic but could you give me a hint as to how long foreplay normally takes at your house? :hmm3grin2orange::bowdown:

First, let me thank you for addressing my question. Second, I did and do realise that the loss of length to kerf would be ongoing, I used the "end" of the log being bucked because that's where it would be and was most obvious. It was not because I pfigured that there was no loss to kerf until I cut the final piece and, almost magically, all of the loss to width of cut just seemed to blow off the final piece in a whirlwind of sawdust (as a member suggested in an astonishingly creative post).

I was patient with the "w.t.f" remark, funny and definitely was not a waste of time to type out at all. Tried to explain myself, and apologized about the post. Now to continue seems like a few here are using this as a tryout for a comedy show. C'mon now, asking me how long foreplay takes in my house? I believe it was only in good fun for you, but c'mon, leave me with a little dignity intact if you can resist making it burn :laugh:.

Besides, I thought I made it clear that I'm not the way that post read, practically at any other time besides when I was typing the post that came across to a few as so funny ya just had to comment, who cares if it comes at an expense to someone other than the guy lucky enough to have posted the most recent humorous remarks.

Joking aside, I believe we are all adults here (or at least show some maturity) and we are posting on "Welcome to...The Largest Tree Care Forum on the Web!"

So please, if anyone has yet to do so, laugh, roll around, and let it all out ("The welcoming me" part I guess). Now that I feel surrounded by many who's lives are the woods, can we please talk shop with posts actually containing, legitimate tree care, timber harvesting, chainsaw pros vs cons, etc. (a.k.a. anything more on topic than some and something posted after the belly laugh was all out of the systems of some?)

I posted the question about the mingo firewood measure because the member who started the thread named it, "Very particular about my firewood." I hope the few still stuck on my original post AND unable to refrain from typing "....Seriously... W.T.F?!?!?! (btw-to answer your question, whatever you like! To each their own I guess). I thought my question would be relevant to the topic. It's simple really, is it accurate [the mingo measure] or not? And maybe someone who actually uses one could give me a "ballpark" figure of how much it is or is not off??? At about $30.00 a piece the Mingo has raked in some $$$ since it hit the market. From what I had read in other posts, it was not wasted money. Just wanted to confirm that before my money went into it...no sense for more people to get screwed than need be, or, by the same token, no sense to pass up a useful product if it does the job as advertised! Right / wrong? Peace out to the people with nothing to contribute to the post but hard feelings and to "contributors" to the thread / post, Thank You for not running with the proverbial Kindergarten kickball...LOL.

I realize that a certain % here have very little to do with firewood (especially now). That's fine and your business. For those who do and realize that some customers like uniform lengths, you are the ones I was aiming my questions toward. Heck, for all I know some here could be crossing guards, have next to nothing to do with trees & markets, just here to post, read their post and laugh about it while trying to impress some with their lack of fear to post whatever they like toward someone whom they don't have to deal with face to face. I know some people are like that, kinda play with fire while not being near the heat...hehe!

Now, a little further north I will ask a question that's rather off topic (well, actually not if you re-read the thread topic, will the responses be legit, if at all? Let's see...Who here that actually deals with firewood sales uses a moisture meter? I broke down an picked 1 up a couple months back because there was so much talk (in my area of course) about dealers passing off wood just a month or 2 from green as "seasoned!" Less heat output and more creosote! Creosote build-up (as most of you know) can (unless they have the chimney cleaned VERY often) lead to an increased risk of chimney fire and too often, the loss of a home and more!

I can now prove my moisture level and advertise that fact. Less fear of deception = more business, not to mention a safer wood burning season! Anyone else here see proving your wood's moisture level as important, or maybe overrated? My meter uses the 1/2" pins, so I pick a piece when testing that was not in the best spot in the pile. Cut it in half and test moisture percentages from each end "out" from the middle of course (aka - I try to test where it is more likely to contain over 20% moisture and NOT qualify a seasoned to see if I have a problem meeting 20% so I can attempt to re-stack, relocate, whatever to make it dry enough to be truly seasoned (if I advertised it as such of course).

Yes this post is long too, but this time it was because I felt the need to clarify even the obvious for the few to avoid the last misunderstanding where a member thought I believed only the final piece I cut from a log shows any sign of being short. Umm...I can see the sawdust from every cut as well as use common sense!:chainsawguy: C'ya for now (I've posted here 3 times now and I must say, "The welcome from some makes me feel like hurrying back to see the replies left by a few that makes me wonder how I had insulted them directly by the way it is so worth their time to stop by and write W.T.F!" :poke:...lol. Of course, all in fun / humor ya know! Don't go getting offended like I almost did with some replies! Happy harvesting / typing, well, which ever you do more of...lol!

just fyi - If my post is too long, feel free to not read it! Just letting you know there is an option for the few who seem stressed enough to slip over to the button that makes them express feelings having nothing to do with the topic or, for that matter, the subject matter of the forum seems pertenant to wood cutting discussions before posting a first post that would make me shy away from posting further if I didn't realize that it takes all kinds to make forums go 'round, some of which ignoring would probably be the best bet...ya know, focus on the positives most members bring to this forum and disregard the "true" jesters for which there is a smiley for that should be added to more posts that add up to nothing more than that...Just keeping it real, keeping in step with the few out of line remarks and comments I've seen thus far. Good Day!
 
I'm so anal about wood length I built an attachment for my saw that allows me to cut faster than the guys who eyeball their cuts and still keep every round within 1/4" of each other. And yes, it does account for kerf.

I find that my boiler gives it's best burn with 2 rows of wood separated by an inch air space between them and an inch at the front and back of the firebox. Plus I have the bonus of never finding that a long piece is keeping my door from shutting after I have the boiler fully loaded.

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I'm so anal about wood length I built an attachment for my saw that allows me to cut faster than the guys who eyeball their cuts ### still keep every round within 1/4" of each other## ### yes, it does account for kerf##

I find that my boiler gives it's best burn with 2 rows of wood separated by an inch air space between them ### an inch at the front ### back of the firebox## Plus I have the bonus of never finding that a long piece is keeping my door from shutting after I have the boiler fully loaded##


I've been using a couple different versions of that for over 30 years## Not anal ### not all that carefull about getting the end of the stick perfectly set on the last cut## Variations of an inch or so don't bug me##

Back to the Mingo - can't see any use for it## Mark the whole log, start cutting, come to a knot, crotch, limb, crook have to adjust where the cut falls## All subsequent marks left by the Mingo are out the window## When I first started cutting firewood, I would use a stick ### a hatchet to mark the log end to end## Only took one day to realize how stupid that is##

Harry K
 
my limbing saw is 23" from bar tip too end of gas tank

thats what i usually use for marking my cuts too the trunk.
I also use it for blocking the smaller stuff.
 

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