Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Ambull01]

here's today's scrounge. they are trimming trees across the road from my shop. only had 1 lane open so i took advantage of that and got the tractor and saw and went at it.


View attachment 414169 this bucket is green stuff.maple .walnut and locust. got 3 like this.
View attachment 414188 this bucket was all dead white oak. got 2 full ones like this.
also got 2 buckets of 6 foot stuff that i couldn't get sawed till the opened the lanes. all green oak. about 1 1/2 cords total in 7 buckets full.

So it seems you don't measure your pieces before bucking. I bought a 100 ft tape measure to measure my cuts and used it once. Dog chewed it up. Then I used the chainsaw bar to measure my pieces. It's 18" from middle dog to end of bar. Chainsaws too heavy to use as a tape measure though. Now I'm going to measure 18" from the Fiskars head and mark the location on the handle with some tape. Yep, I'm sweating the small stuff again.

 

[wudpirat]

Nice scrounge farmer Steve
Any wood not under two feet snow whould be welcome here, scraping the bottom of the wood bin.
Reid, I always carry a 12 ft tape and a lumber marker in my pocket. never know when you have to measure.
Freeks people out when I reach into my watch pocket, pull out the tape and start marking.
Cut here and here and here and leave a red stripe on the log.
Messed up once, I marked 18" and he was cutting 16". Now I ask first.
Sameo, sameo on the WX, Ten degF this morning, mid thirty at noon, same for the next couple days, no snow but maybe rain end of the week.
Gotta get more wood, cutting my own stuff. Dead Elm yesterday and a dead Maple and an Apple next.
I have over twenty cord of Pine but it's snow covered and wet. If the snow melts some more and I can get the ATV and trailer next to it, I'll be burning wet Pine. BDDT.
I see where Clint finally showed, I was getting worried.
And DanCan, the first wrecked snow machine that comes you way, I know what you'll be doing. Keep the CG on the drivers. My DR Powerwagon empty has trouble climbing hills but loaded, it goes anywhere, tires (tyres) are chained.
I'm tired of winter, we sure didn't waste any this year.

 

[Marshy]

My vote is for the Jonsered Iron Horse. I've wanted one for a while but they are expensive little things and hard to justify owning. I'd build one if I had the time and tools. The tracked ones are nice because of the snow we get in NY. Although Ive considered a DR brush mower with the wagon attachment also.

Didnt get a picture of the sugar shack because I didnt go to breakfast. Poor communication between the wife and I, I guess... We stoped in at my neighbors shack and did a little tasting and bought some goodies so not all was waisted. The big shack is having another breakfast next weekend so we'll try it one more time. Lots of excitement at my neighbors shack before we arived. NY Senator Patty Richie stopped in and tapped a tree. This was the second year he's had the Senator stop and tap a tree so it kind of neat to know the Senator was right next door...

I cant believe the last few days here in NY, its been down right cold again. Over a week ago I said I was done with firewood and was dipping into next years but when its this cold out I can help keep the fire rolling. I keep moving firewood with my Stratus from my log pile and from a dead maple I took down with my 285 a week ago. I'm glad I cut that maple, it makes nice heat. As is right now, I think Im short on firewood for next season. I need to get a load of logs arrainged or I'll have to do some heavy scrounging this spring/summer. I might have enough if I buy a Blaze King though.

BTW, measuring your cuts is for the birds. Once you get enough saw time you can eye 16, 18, 20" lengths no problem. Waist of time IMO but if you need some reference then figure out from your bar tip towards the saw and mark it. Then before your cut turn the saw and eye your mark on the log. Once you get one or two rounds cut to the length it becomes easy to eye the next cut without your reference mark on the bar. I bet if you cut some rounds without using a tape or reference marker you'd be real suprised how close you come.

 

[zogger]

here's today's scrounge. they are trimming trees across the road from my shop. only had 1 lane open so i took advantage of that and got the tractor and saw and went at it.


View attachment 414169 this bucket is green stuff.maple .walnut and locust. got 3 like this.
View attachment 414188 this bucket was all dead white oak. got 2 full ones like this.
also got 2 buckets of 6 foot stuff that i couldn't get sawed till the opened the lanes. all green oak. about 1 1/2 cords total in 7 buckets full.

Across from the shop?!? tractor?!? That there's cheating!!!

hehehe

I was able to barely yank the cord on the snapper and scrounged up some high weeds and grass today. Cut it, left nice little mud tracks all over the yard...

 

[Philbert]

Measuring firewood makes sense if you are selling it and your customers like nice, even stacks. I do have a 16 inch stick that I sometimes use when cutting up twisted branches, or limbs with lots of crotches, to make sure that pieces will still fit in my wood stove insert.

These were popular for a while: http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/tap-and-cut-firewood-marker.259758/

Philbert

 

[dancan]

Iron horse , love to have one but never seen one in real life , there was a thread on AS about them and a member here had one .
Don't worry , the first dead sled .....
My furnace can take 30" and down so I don't measure , I usually manage to block up the wood in 15" to 18" lengths in case I have to give a bit away .

 

[farmer steve]

Sweet! And they didn't even leave you with any ultra short pieces lol

there were a few from me cutting to length. i cut 16" and a lot of the tree guys were about 40" or so.them shorts burn just fine.

So it seems you don't measure your pieces before bucking. I bought a 100 ft tape measure to measure my cuts and used it once. Dog chewed it up. Then I used the chainsaw bar to measure my pieces. It's 18" from middle dog to end of bar. Chainsaws too heavy to use as a tape measure though. Now I'm going to measure 18" from the Fiskars head and mark the location on the handle with some tape. Yep, I'm sweating the small stuff again.

those in the pics are all 16" +/- an inch. i use a measuring stick made from old arrows . once you get the hang of it you can zip right down a log or limb. it's small enough to hold in my throttle hand and as you move down the log your hand is off the throttle while sidestepping to the next cut. i'll show you how i do it when you come to the GTG.

 

[Ambull01]

Nice scrounge farmer Steve
Any wood not under two feet snow whould be welcome here, scraping the bottom of the wood bin.
Reid, I always carry a 12 ft tape and a lumber marker in my pocket. never know when you have to measure.
Freeks people out when I reach into my watch pocket, pull out the tape and start marking.
Cut here and here and here and leave a red stripe on the log.
Messed up once, I marked 18" and he was cutting 16". Now I ask first.
Sameo, sameo on the WX, Ten degF this morning, mid thirty at noon, same for the next couple days, no snow but maybe rain end of the week.
Gotta get more wood, cutting my own stuff. Dead Elm yesterday and a dead Maple and an Apple next.
I have over twenty cord of Pine but it's snow covered and wet. If the snow melts some more and I can get the ATV and trailer next to it, I'll be burning wet Pine. BDDT.
I see where Clint finally showed, I was getting worried.
And DanCan, the first wrecked snow machine that comes you way, I know what you'll be doing. Keep the CG on the drivers. My DR Powerwagon empty has trouble climbing hills but loaded, it goes anywhere, tires (tyres) are chained.
I'm tired of winter, we sure didn't waste any this year.

That huge tape measure I had was pretty cool. I stuck my knife into the end of the log through the measure eye hole thingy and was able to mark the whole thing. Stupid dog. I use my kids' sidewalk chalk to mark it, those things are all over the house.

My vote is for the Jonsered Iron Horse. I've wanted one for a while but they are expensive little things and hard to justify owning. I'd build one if I had the time and tools. The tracked ones are nice because of the snow we get in NY. Although Ive considered a DR brush mower with the wagon attachment also.

Didnt get a picture of the sugar shack because I didnt go to breakfast. Poor communication between the wife and I, I guess... We stoped in at my neighbors shack and did a little tasting and bought some goodies so not all was waisted. The big shack is having another breakfast next weekend so we'll try it one more time. Lots of excitement at my neighbors shack before we arived. NY Senator Patty Richie stopped in and tapped a tree. This was the second year he's had the Senator stop and tap a tree so it kind of neat to know the Senator was right next door...

I cant believe the last few days here in NY, its been down right cold again. Over a week ago I said I was done with firewood and was dipping into next years but when its this cold out I can help keep the fire rolling. I keep moving firewood with my Stratus from my log pile and from a dead maple I took down with my 285 a week ago. I'm glad I cut that maple, it makes nice heat. As is right now, I think Im short on firewood for next season. I need to get a load of logs arrainged or I'll have to do some heavy scrounging this spring/summer. I might have enough if I buy a Blaze King though.

BTW, measuring your cuts is for the birds. Once you get enough saw time you can eye 16, 18, 20" lengths no problem. Waist of time IMO but if you need some reference then figure out from your bar tip towards the saw and mark it. Then before your cut turn the saw and eye your mark on the log. Once you get one or two rounds cut to the length it becomes easy to eye the next cut without your reference mark on the bar. I bet if you cut some rounds without using a tape or reference marker you'd be real suprised how close you come.

I went to a maple syrup festival this weekend. Drove 2 hours to get there and didn't try the syrup lol. The line to get it was too long so the family and I just did a hike to a waterfall. I have pancakes and syrup anyway.

I can get the lengths close but I want it exact. When I stack the splits I want all the ends to line up as close to perfect as possible. I used the saw bar to measure but the Makita is too heavy to do that for hours upon hours. I get enough exercise lifting weights so I'm trying to scrounge the lazy way.

Measuring firewood makes sense if you are selling it and your customers like nice, even stacks. I do have a 16 inch stick that I sometimes use when cutting up twisted branches, or limbs with lots of crotches, to make sure that pieces will still fit in my wood stove insert.

These were popular for a while: http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/tap-and-cut-firewood-marker.259758/

Philbert

That's pretty cool. The pipe is filled with chalk right? I would make that but I want something that will fit in my cargo pocket.

there were a few from me cutting to length. i cut 16" and a lot of the tree guys were about 40" or so.them shorts burn just fine.


those in the pics are all 16" +/- an inch. i use a measuring stick made from old arrows . once you get the hang of it you can zip right down a log or limb. it's small enough to hold in my throttle hand and as you move down the log your hand is off the throttle while sidestepping to the next cut. i'll show you how i do it when you come to the GTG.

I like the arrow idea. I could just use a little stick or piece of small diameter PVC pipe. Orrrr, I may just break off three pieces from my old school wooden folding measuring stick. It will fold up nice and neat in my pocket. I like to measure and mark the whole log before I start cutting so I can work my way through the whole piece without stopping.

 

[Marshy]

Lol you guys crack me up. I want someone to post a video of your process. Measure and block up one log. I'll see if I can do the same this coming week without measuring so we can compare.

 

[greendohn]

Dropped this 1/2 rotten cherry yesterday, it's been a while since burning some 2 cycle,,it was great getting out of doors.

 

[Ambull01]

Lol you guys crack me up. I want someone to post a video of your process. Measure and block up one log. I'll see if I can do the same this coming week without measuring so we can compare.

Well that's one of the reasons I take so freaking long to scrounge lol. Perfection is not a fast process. I would video my process but I have no idea how to edit and post.

View attachment 414390 View attachment 414391 Dropped this 1/2 rotten cherry yesterday, it's been a while since burning some 2 cycle,,it was great getting out of doors.

Glad to see the GWH got some work in too.

 

[Ambull01]

This will be my scrounge on Thursday. Going to use a sick day on Thursday to pick it up. It's all cut up so should be quick. I'm a little disappointed there will be no need to run the chainsaw though. Hopefully the rot is at a minimum. It's been sitting there uncovered for about 3 years.

On Friday it's back to my scrounge spot in the woods. I may try to tackle the death trap tree and the root ball puzzle.

 

[farmer steve]

here's today's haul. dead standing locust ready to throw right in the stove. only 1 bucket full. had to use the come-a-long just for a piece of mind.


sorry ZOG i had to use the tractor again.

 

[nomad_archer]

Well that's one of the reasons I take so freaking long to scrounge lol. Perfection is not a fast process. I would video my process but I have no idea how to edit and post.

Perfection....pffffft. I keep it under 22" by using the bar and the eyeball tape measure. Whatever size it ends up, it burns just fine. Heck nothing splits nice for me anyways. So as long as it is shorter than the bar it will stack and burn just fine.

 

[farmer steve]

Perfection....pffffft. I keep it under 22" by using the bar and the eyeball tape measure. Whatever size it ends up, it burns just fine. Heck nothing splits nice for me anyways. So as long as it is shorter than the bar it will stack and burn just fine.

so your one of "those" guys huh? just kidding.

 

[nomad_archer]

so your one of "those" guys huh? just kidding.

Yes, yes I am. Its not finish work on a building project it's just firewood. If I am helping someone cut wood and they mark the, log I will cut it however they like.

 

[Ambull01]

Perfection....pffffft. I keep it under 22" by using the bar and the eyeball tape measure. Whatever size it ends up, it burns just fine. Heck nothing splits nice for me anyways. So as long as it is shorter than the bar it will stack and burn just fine.

I'm pretty good at determining if something is level and noticing details. Eye ball measurements I truly suck at though.

I should also add I usually start out measuring, marking, then cutting. After an hour or so I usually say **** it and skip the measuring and marking part lol.

 

[greendohn]

My "calibrated peepers" are so accurate that my firewood always comes to an almost perfect 18 to 26 inches,,or somewhere close to that!

 

[Ambull01]

My "calibrated peepers" are so accurate that my firewood always comes to an almost perfect 18 to 26 inches,,or somewhere close to that!

lol nice!! My firewood stack looks pathetic. Stuff sticking out everywhere. Almost want to cover it to hide that eye sore. Kinda looks like a blind guy cut it.

 

[zogger]

lol nice!! My firewood stack looks pathetic. Stuff sticking out everywhere. Almost want to cover it to hide that eye sore. Kinda looks like a blind guy cut it.

http://www.themingomarker.com/products.asp