Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Philbert]

Scrounged up a test drive with one of the newer updated brushless motors Oregon battery saws. . . . It has *noticeably* more chain speed and torque over my saw, the original model.

Zog, please add your comments to this thread (it needs a 'bump'!):
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/oregon-cs300-40v-cordless-chainsaw.286385/

Thanks!

Philbert

 

[Agent Orange]

went down to where we cut sat to finish up an ash log that was there. this is right along a pretty big creek and i always have to explore a little. i got the ash log bucked and loaded and then scrounged this from the creek. it was laying upside down and i had to get a rope and lasso one of the wheels to get it out of the creek and up the 20 foot bank.

Damn nice scrounge!! Did you happen to find the 4-wheeler attached to it? That'll make a nice little knock around hauler. Is it salvageable?

 

[Agent Orange]

Hi guys [waves] thought it time to say hello and thanks for all the lovely photos! [/waves]
I've been reading through this thread for several months and feel like I've got to know the regulars, svk, farmer Steve, nomad archer, mustang mike and his nephew, dancan, ambull... Lots of lovely stories told that I've enjoyed reading. Especially enjoy the countryside photos! It's a bit different around here..... Suburban London. The original one, in England. I have a typical house (very small by your standards), in densely built up London, I'm 7 miles from..... Errrr where would you guys know?... Oh yes Big Ben. Everyone is on mains gas and uses that for central heating but I enjoy a small wood stove too(5kW... What's that it BTU?). I scrounge where I can and get most of my wood from tree service guys, then CSS myself. Don't laugh now.. stihl ms180 meets my needs, split by hand with a fiskars x27 ( got that after reading about it on here!). Small house, small stove which is just a luxury, so luckily only need a small wood pile. I've about 1.5 cord ready for next winter. I say luckily as it costs a bit more over here. Cut and seasoned hard wood, delivered in London is about £100/m³. That's about £350/cord or about US$500. Hence why I scrounge. Thankfully London is the greenest city in the world, lots of public parks, tree lined roads and once out the very centre every house has a small garden (yard). But I do mean small by your standards! Still lots of trees needing pruning. All these 'yard' trees mean I rarely get straight grain that splits easily and find it hard to believe all your stories of'i split a cord this evening'....I seem to battle almost every piece! I've also hit a few nails and stuff with the saw.... Grrrr! Wood wise although there is plenty of hard wood around here, oak, ash, beech, birch and London plane, maple, cherry, apple, pear, most tree surgeons will sell this on to firewood processing, so it's mainly soft stuff i get for free. Horse chestnut, leylandii, laurel is fairly common.... Plus the odd bit of hard ( I had 2 oaks that had to be felled in my own garden.. 20"+ dbh..I didn't have a stove at the time but my brother did so it wasn't wasted).
Anyway, I doubt you'll be impressed by photos of my car Skoda Octavia, would you call that a sedan?) loaded with a boot, sorry a trunk load of wood, photos of a ms180 and a pile of small diameter soft wood, or photos of a 6'6" x 8'6" garden shed full with my spoils, but please keep posting up your photos and stories, they are fun and I've learnt a lot too.

Oh yes, might ask over in the splitting tool review thread but, opinions on the fiskars isocore 8 lb maul? As I said, I get a lot of awkward wood that defeats the x27. I have a sledge and wedges too but some of this stuff.... Well it gets noodled or thrown to one side! Small stove means small load pieces so splitting can be a big part of the work. I'm considering the 8lb-er for use on the harder pieces where the wedges or saw is the only option. It's not available in the UK yet but today I found a seller on Amazon.com that looks like they will ship, only $59.05 too, although international shipping and import fees push it to almost double - £75 Can't seem to find many 8lb mauls on sale here though, few decent brands, but I did find the stihl pro cleaving hammer, hickory handle with steel overstrike protection plate and 3.8kg (that's 8.3lbs in old money) not sure if that includes the handle though, and at almost £80 is not cheap plus when your aim is as bad as mine can be the isocore fiskars lifetime guarantee is very appealing! I've emailed fiskars to ask if the isocore will be available here, as I'd guess it would be cheaper then and i may wait but....Any comments welcome!

Seems like you got missed in the chaos. Nice to meet you. There's nothing wrong with your saw, sounds like it fits your needs perfectly. We like pictures....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I only use a grinder when bad stuff happens. Like when someone thinks it was a good idea to hide a 1/2 lag bolt in a tree or when rocks attack my chain.

I literally use Krud Kutter to clean the chains. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Krud-Kutter-1-gal-Original-Concentrated-Cleaner-Degreaser-KK012/202525368

thanks N_A... never heard of the stuff, but will look in to it... appreciate the follow up.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Hi guys [waves] thought it time to say hello and thanks for all the lovely photos! [/waves]
I've been reading through this thread for several months and feel like I've got to know the regulars, svk, farmer Steve, nomad archer, mustang mike and his nephew, dancan, ambull... Lots of lovely stories told that I've enjoyed reading. Especially enjoy the countryside photos! It's a bit different around here..... Suburban London. The original one, in England. I have a typical house (very small by your standards), in densely built up London, I'm 7 miles from..... Errrr where would you guys know?... Oh yes Big Ben. Everyone is on mains gas and uses that for central heating but I enjoy a small wood stove too(5kW... What's that it BTU?). I scrounge where I can and get most of my wood from tree service guys, then CSS myself. Don't laugh now.. stihl ms180 meets my needs, split by hand with a fiskars x27 ( got that after reading about it on here!). Small house, small stove which is just a luxury, so luckily only need a small wood pile. I've about 1.5 cord ready for next winter. I say luckily as it costs a bit more over here. Cut and seasoned hard wood, delivered in London is about £100/m³. That's about £350/cord or about US$500. Hence why I scrounge. Thankfully London is the greenest city in the world, lots of public parks, tree lined roads and once out the very centre every house has a small garden (yard). But I do mean small by your standards! Still lots of trees needing pruning. All these 'yard' trees mean I rarely get straight grain that splits easily and find it hard to believe all your stories of'i split a cord this evening'....I seem to battle almost every piece! I've also hit a few nails and stuff with the saw.... Grrrr! Wood wise although there is plenty of hard wood around here, oak, ash, beech, birch and London plane, maple, cherry, apple, pear, most tree surgeons will sell this on to firewood processing, so it's mainly soft stuff i get for free. Horse chestnut, leylandii, laurel is fairly common.... Plus the odd bit of hard ( I had 2 oaks that had to be felled in my own garden.. 20"+ dbh..I didn't have a stove at the time but my brother did so it wasn't wasted).
Anyway, I doubt you'll be impressed by photos of my car Skoda Octavia, would you call that a sedan?) loaded with a boot, sorry a trunk load of wood, photos of a ms180 and a pile of small diameter soft wood, or photos of a 6'6" x 8'6" garden shed full with my spoils, but please keep posting up your photos and stories, they are fun and I've learnt a lot too.

Oh yes, might ask over in the splitting tool review thread but, opinions on the fiskars isocore 8 lb maul? As I said, I get a lot of awkward wood that defeats the x27. I have a sledge and wedges too but some of this stuff.... Well it gets noodled or thrown to one side! Small stove means small load pieces so splitting can be a big part of the work. I'm considering the 8lb-er for use on the harder pieces where the wedges or saw is the only option. It's not available in the UK yet but today I found a seller on Amazon.com that looks like they will ship, only $59.05 too, although international shipping and import fees push it to almost double - £75 Can't seem to find many 8lb mauls on sale here though, few decent brands, but I did find the stihl pro cleaving hammer, hickory handle with steel overstrike protection plate and 3.8kg (that's 8.3lbs in old money) not sure if that includes the handle though, and at almost £80 is not cheap plus when your aim is as bad as mine can be the isocore fiskars lifetime guarantee is very appealing! I've emailed fiskars to ask if the isocore will be available here, as I'd guess it would be cheaper then and i may wait but....Any comments welcome!

LondonNeil ~

'allow mate! and welcome to the AS! enjoyed reading your London based post a lot! glad you took time to say hi and tell us a bit about your urban logging activities over there in downtown London!

> I'm 7 miles from..... Errrr where would you guys know?... Oh yes Big Ben.

not 'all the guys' have no idea of where you are, as I do. you see LondonNeil I lived in England for 4 years as a youth. over in Harrow Weald just above Harrow and Wealdstone... what an adventure those years were. I am still addicted to Fish N Chips... back then they were really good, not saying not good now, but back then they cooked it in rendered beef tallow... cod, halibut etc... fresh daily right out of the North Atlantic... umm, so good. the crusts were as good as the chips, well imo. I have been all over in and around London... Tower of London, Crown Jewels, St Pauls Cathedral, Hyde Park, Hempstead, Watford, even Bovingdon and Denham Studios... Ruislip... etc. enjoyed my summers there... "3 apes" got us a one-way ride on the double decker to the swimming pool, 3d got us a bag of chips to boot, as well... why, my Mom even did some special things for the Royal Family... [Big Deal deal] and it got in all the local papers, front page and Stars N Stripes... heck, I remember seeing Charles on the front page of the D Mirror almost daily... lol, seems I was growing up with him for awhile... played a lot of 'conkers' with local friends, too...

well, don't be bashful... we like all saws, all wood stories... and as Agent Orange commented, we do like pix, too! so show us ur stove, your CSS pile... your saw... if it pertains to wood, saws and the like no doubt it will be welcome here...

ok, then from down here on a dusty trail in Texas, U S A...

"cheeri-O mate!"

 

[LondonNeil]

Awww shucks! Made to feel welcome! Don't fret, you didn't miss me, first ever post and it sat there awaiting moderator approval for over a day I think. Bet it was never like that under svk and Marshy

Ill post a few photos soon as I get a moment. I'll Probably be full of questions as you guys do things a bit differently, and I guess wood heating is much more common so you seem to have more tech and experience, but i'll try to keep to topic and post some photos

 

[abbott295]

I'll add my welcome too, Neil. And don't be afraid to post pictures of your Skoda with a 'boot' full of 'zogger' wood. Especiallly if the tail is dragging.

 

[MustangMike]

Welcome Neal, so busy with Tax Season I almost missed your post. Nice bike, that you in the air?

I know from the Vacations I've been on (Holidays you call them) that biking is a lot more common over there than here. I mostly do road biking on my Trek Madone 7, but I also do some off road on my Trek EX-8 (full suspension). Unfortunately, as my riding group has become older, the riding is less consistent, so now I often just go alone.

You will have to post some nice pics, we love photos from around the world!!! Not as good as being there in person, but better than not seeing them!

Here are some pics from one of the places I ride (Quaker Ridge). It is very "high end" with horse farms, etc, and some historical buildings (one over 250 years old). Enjoy!

Many of the places up there pay more in property taxes than we earn in a year (Sally Jessy Raphael lives there).

 

[LondonNeil]

Hi Mike, yes that's me. That's a spot in south Wales, great for mtb'ing. I used to live in the West of England and close to lots of great riding but now I'm London based it's more road for me too... It's a bit flat around here.

I'll get some photos up over the next few days

 

[chuckwood]

Here is yesterday's scrounge job, a load of maple. I drove over to a friend's house and picked it up. It was on the ground, all I had to do was pull up to the pile, do some noodling and some bucking into smaller pieces, and then load. Been too busy lately to post much in the pol/religion forum, too much gardening and firewood processing going on, maybe a good thing.

 

[Philbert]

Nice haul!

Philbert

 

[Ryan Groat]

I concur... my round fuel can's cork gaskets bit like me... old and withered! so, I leave the fuel cans in clean area of shop and just tighten when using... seems to help their life and don't drip when pouring...

I just bought 15x 1/2" vents for cans without the vents off eBay for 10 bucks.

I concur... my round fuel can's cork gaskets bit like me... old and withered! so, I leave the fuel cans in clean area of shop and just tighten when using... seems to help their life and don't drip when pouring...

I just bought 15x 1/2" vents for cans without the vents off eBay for 10 bucks. Drill 1/2" hole into the can and install. Opens the cans right up.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Ryan Groat]

I had forgot this log was part of a backstop. Lol

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[chuckwood]

I had forgot this log was part of a backstop. Lol

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Rocked my chain yesterday noodling a crotch. For some reason, people insist on throwing or stowing stuff in tree crotches. This one was a nice round river rock, and it blended in so well with the color of the bark that I missed it. I prefer to hit rocks instead of steel, the rocks will spark nicely the second you hit em and you can shut down before chewing up half your chain.

 

[MustangMike]

Ahhh, it all depends, I've cut through nails, but I've had no luck cutting through rocks! I hate when a pebble or two gets stuck in your cut when your are stumping, what a pain in the butt.

 

[dancan]

Welcome aboard Neil !

 

[Agent Orange]

This scrounge was standing. Eastern Redbud, Co-worker asked if I could drop it, had to look at it first. Mostly dead leaning toward the street. Took the 3 trunks in front, left the one all the way in back. Nice and hard from 6' down. The stump was a 3 part affair, covered in dirt and it absolutely ate my chain for lunch. I had to resharpen to finish it.

There's still part of Sundays scrounge under the Redbud.

 

[Agent Orange]

City wide brush cleanup is this week, there's limb wood all over. It's everything I have not to stop and buck it and chuck it. I'm out of space to stack and have to find a place to stash my last 3 scrounges. That and the farmers have been out cutting field edges and there's stacks of wood all over, it drives me nuts to see it just sit and rot.

 

[chuckwood]

Ahhh, it all depends, I've cut through nails, but I've had no luck cutting through rocks! I hate when a pebble or two gets stuck in your cut when your are stumping, what a pain in the butt.

A nail doesn't do that much damage, but what I hate is the big lag screws, t posts, angle iron etc. It sometimes takes a minute to notice that your saw isn't cutting much any longer and is just spinning it's wheels. Then when you stop and look at your chain, it's really trashed. If yer gonna hit metal, bullets are what you want to aim for, they won't do any damage.

 

[farmer steve]

my buddy that gave me some locust a while back called and said the twp. road crew was cleaning up along his property. did i want the wood? he said bring the big saws. it's a pin oak.