Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Marine5068]

On to happier things, my bonfire!

The main woody part of the structure was complete but I stihl had a few cubes (a cord's worth) of logs to take down.

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There were lots of treasures in here.

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Luckily, I was using a Stihl otherwise my saws would have sustained damage.

A bit of gym work.

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It seemed a shame to take such nice looking peppermint down to torch in one go on a bonfire.

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All the poles and tops are down there now.

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Current structure is about 9ft high and all wood. Next comes the light material - leaves/bark/sticks - then the tops and poles, with a bit of noodle action at the end.

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Hopefully, the silly thing burns.

I'm not condoning this, but a topping of used motor oil with get it going nicely without the explosive thump of a gasoline ignition.

 

[sean donato]

I'm not condoning this, but a topping of used motor oil with get it going nicely without the explosive thump of a gasoline ignition.

A little napalm would light it right off too lol

 

[Marine5068]

I found our hydro company cutting right of way trees on side roads and will go by and pick up any useful wood.
Saw some Red Oak, White Birch and what I think is a Locust of some sort.

 

[Marine5068]

My neighbors sold their house and are supposed to close soon. They left for their temporary place yesterday and are all moved out. Earlier this spring I bought several things from them including a bunch of pre-epa gas cans. He found a few more cleaning up and gave them to me plus this wheelbarrow, some shovels, and a couple DBA’s that appear to be quite old.View attachment 906330

Nice score.
Love those old gas cans and who doesn't need a wheelbarrow.

 

[HadleyPA]

Got behind again and had to jump ahead. I've got about 3 minutes to get diner off the grill. I wnated to do some thing different once, so I did a search for grilled meat loaf. Low and behold, Weber, as in the grills, also have restaurants where thyey cook every thing on grills. This is their meat loaf recipe. It is out of this world.

Any chance you can provide the link to where you found the website and recipes. I would really like to checkout some of the recipes. That meatloaf sounds great. We love grilling and have cooked a bunch of stuff on our grill including homemade pizza and even fried fish in a cast iron skillet on the grill. And our grill just happens to be a weber.

 

[HadleyPA]

My neighbors sold their house and are supposed to close soon. They left for their temporary place yesterday and are all moved out. Earlier this spring I bought several things from them including a bunch of pre-epa gas cans. He found a few more cleaning up and gave them to me plus this wheelbarrow, some shovels, and a couple DBA’s that appear to be quite old.View attachment 906330

Maybe I'm just plain dumb today, but what is a DBA?

 

[old CB]

I wondered about the DBA until I realized: double bitted axe.

 

[old CB]

Cowboy, I don't know anything about conditions where you live, and I expect you know what you're up to with the bonfire. BUT, it's real common in our part of the world for a fire that seems safe today--snow on the ground or whatever, to be a real threat five days later when the sun has burnt off the snow and dried the country, and a wind kicks up that sends buried embers from beneath the ashes into country that's tinder dry.

I live just over the hill from such devastation that happened ten yrs ago (the Fourmile Fire, Boulder County, Colorado) after a former firefighter had burned trash in the yard, and an ember escaped several days later. While George was putzing around with a garden hose trying to extinguish his yard fire it got into the woods. When all was said and done six days later, 6,000 acres had burned and 170 structures were lost, lots of people homeless. Your country may be less flammable.

 

[Lee192233]

I'm not condoning this, but a topping of used motor oil with get it going nicely without the explosive thump of a gasoline ignition.

A couple gallons of diesel would help also.

 

[svk]

The DBAs

 

[Cowboy254]

Cowboy, I don't know anything about where you live, and I expect you know what you're up to with the bonfire. BUT, it's real common in our part of the world for a fire that seems safe today--snow on the ground or whatever, to be a real threat five days later when the sun has burnt off the snow and dried the country, and a wind kicks up that sends buried embers from beneath the ashes into country that's tinder dry.

I live just over the hill from such devastation that happened ten yrs ago after a retired firefighter had burned trash in the yard, and an ember escaped several days later. While George was putzing around with a garden hose trying to extinguish his yard fire it got into the woods. When all was said and done six days later, 6,000 acres had burned and 170 structures were lost, lots of people homeless. Your country may be less flammable.

Yep, I'm well aware of what can happen. This is my 5th bonfire. One year, having had the bonfire on Saturday and raking it up every day to help reduce it down, I finally went to do the final clean up, shovelling what was left into my trailer where the freshly exposed coals promptly caught fire again. The ash over everything both keeps oxygen out and the heat in. The bonfire is in the middle of a carpark behind the local bus depot - it does lack a little ambience (but who cares when it is dark and the bonfire is pumping) - but is clear of anything else flammable for 30 metres or more and the surrounding farmland is green. We're heading into winter and at this point it is generally harder to get anything to burn than to stop it. Of course, I have my ways...

 

[svk]

The children’s camp where I volunteered at has a camp truck which had the bed liner lit on fire when someone was cleaning coals out of a burned down fire. I can imagine the excitement lol.

 

[rarefish383]

Any chance you can provide the link to where you found the website and recipes. I would really like to checkout some of the recipes. That meatloaf sounds great. We love grilling and have cooked a bunch of stuff on our grill including homemade pizza and even fried fish in a cast iron skillet on the grill. And our grill just happens to be a weber.

Grilled Meatloaf For Dinner | Grilling Inspiration | Weber Grills​

https://www.weber.com › blog › weber-30545

 

[rarefish383]

Here's my wood duck box:
and a couple of my common bird houses--the first one had bluebirds last year, and the one on my house siding usually hosts tree swallows. I design all my bird boxes so the front panel is hinged by a screw thru either side to swing open for annual cleanout. Usually I extend the rear panel above and below the box to accommodate mounting screws.
There's plentiful sites online that provide dimensions for duck boxes, and I just adapt those to my own design. One thing I do with all bird houses is when I cut the floor piece, I nip off each corner at a 45* angle to provide ventilation. I also like rough surfaced wood to enable birds to cling. On the inside of the duck boxes I even cut a few light horizontal kerfs below the opening to ensure good climbing surface for the little ones.
One main consideration is the opening: for wood ducks it's an oval, 3" high x 4" wide.

This is one of my Blue Bird houses, They are made out of 30-50 year old White Oak Fence boards. This house is going on 4 years old and every year I get 3 clutches per summer. This year you can see the hole has gotten bigger from all of the birds going in and out. For about a month the Blue Birds and Sparrows would fight all day long. The Blue Birds moved to another box about 30 yards away. Then the Sparrows moved in. When we first saw them, it was January and the coldest day of the year, right at zero. There were 8-10 of them lined up on our gutter, all males. I did a search because I thought they were migratory. The article I found said some become resident and to put food out for them, and build boxes. It wasn't more than a few days after I put the box up and they moved in. This winter I watched 8 squeeze in the box every evening, to help stay warm.

This is one of my favorite pics, I just took it a couple days ago. You have to look close, there are 3 birds in the pic, Ruby Breasted Grosbeak, Blue Bird, and a red headed Woodpecker. OOPS, I haven't down loaded that one yet.

 

[rarefish383]

This is one of my Blue Bird houses, They are made out of 30-50 year old White Oak Fence boards. This house is going on 4 years old and every year I get 3 clutches per summer. This year you can see the hole has gotten bigger from all of the birds going in and out. For about a month the Blue Birds and Sparrows would fight all day long. The Blue Birds moved to another box about 30 yards away. Then the Sparrows moved in. When we first saw them, it was January and the coldest day of the year, right at zero. There were 8-10 of them lined up on our gutter, all males. I did a search because I thought they were migratory. The article I found said some become resident and to put food out for them, and build boxes. It wasn't more than a few days after I put the box up and they moved in. This winter I watched 8 squeeze in the box every evening, to help stay warm.

This is one of my favorite pics, I just took it a couple days ago. You have to look close, there are 3 birds in the pic, Ruby Breasted Grosbeak, Blue Bird, and a red headed Woodpecker. OOPS, I haven't down loaded that one yet.

 

[rarefish383]

Nice score.
Love those old gas cans and who doesn't need a wheelbarrow.

I gave all of my wheelbarrows away.

 

[SS396driver]

Off topic but Weber is an awsome company . I purchased a floor model Smokey Mountain 22.5 smoker from a local store 50% off . I emailed Weber to get a side door and a top grate that were missing . Explained the purchase as an as is item and I would pay for the items , they responded that I needed to register the smoker. 20 minutes after I registered it I got an email the the parts were on order and being shipped free of charge. I recieved the parts today .

I have 3 Webers now , the smoker ,Genesis gas and a charcoal work station

 

[SS396driver]

And a big thanks to @svk I got the lid yesterday to the Griswold # 8

 

[Lionsfan]

The children’s camp where I volunteered at has a camp truck which had the bed liner lit on fire when someone was cleaning coals out of a burned down fire. I can imagine the excitement lol.

See,plastic bedliners are good for something afterall.

 

[Ryan A]

The DBAs
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Enlighten this city boy. What’s the advantage? If one side dulls, use the other? Also, handle is straight rather than slightly curved?