Brmorgan
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My brother was at the local dump today dropping off the grass clippings and some tree branches from the day's yard care jobs, and he ran into an arborist that had dropped a few trees for him the year before. So, he asked him about the possibility of getting a few logs in case the customer had no use for them after they were on the ground. His response was that he could probably hook us up with as much wood as we wanted, as long as we had the means to come and remove it.
Normally he bucks it to firewood lengths for the customer and removes the limbs, and many times the customers have no use for the wood so it just sits in stacks. I've already scored almost two cords of firewood this year just by asking lawn care customers we have about the stacks sitting idle in their backyards.
The logs we could get likely wouldn't be very big, probably in the 8" to 24" range, and would be almost all Douglas Fir, with the odd Spruce or Pine, or whatever non-indigenous yard trees there might be such as Box Elder or fruit trees. But, ya can't beat free, and the only piece of equipment I'm missing to get the logs is a suitable trailer. I can use the log arch behind the lawn tractor to remove logs from a yard where the turf's well-being is an issue, or the quad in rougher terrain. But so far I don't have anything to get them home down the highway. I do have the deck from an 11-foot travel trailer out back (it was here when I bought the place and the wood was rotten, so I ripped the top off) that I've been meaning to get road-worthy for the last couple years, so I guess it's time to get down to brass tacks on that project. Just have to get the money together first.
I'm well on my way to having everything I need to start working on the bandmill, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and get a decent stack of logs in the backyard for when that finally comes to fruition. I scored an older 20HP Kohler K532 for $5 that needs a lot of parts and work, and a complete-but-not-running Briggs 7HP I/C for another $10 at the scrap yard on Friday, so I'm pretty excited about that. For another $5 I got what looks like an old, blown Rotax snowmobile engine that had a 0.9 HP Hitachi 12 starter/generator on it. I tested that part and it works great, so it should come in handy for a power lift or power drive unit for the carriage. Only problem is that it draws almost 70A at full load!
Anyway I figure I should be able to get the 7HP running without too much work, and will build the mill around that initially. I know that isn't a whole lot of power and the mill's capabilities will be quite limited by that, but once I get the Kohler going it shouldn't be too much work to make the swap as long as I design the engine mount with that in mind. Apparently the parts are still fairly easy to come by, though it won't be a cheap restore I'm sure. I need a new carb, air intake and filter, starter, some governor assembly parts, and the entire engine shroud. I may also need to replace one of the heads since it is smashed in on one corner, but I haven't yet taken it off so see if it's warped or cracked past the mating surface. I've downloaded the service manual from Kohler's site, so that should be a great help in getting this old horse running again.
Normally he bucks it to firewood lengths for the customer and removes the limbs, and many times the customers have no use for the wood so it just sits in stacks. I've already scored almost two cords of firewood this year just by asking lawn care customers we have about the stacks sitting idle in their backyards.
The logs we could get likely wouldn't be very big, probably in the 8" to 24" range, and would be almost all Douglas Fir, with the odd Spruce or Pine, or whatever non-indigenous yard trees there might be such as Box Elder or fruit trees. But, ya can't beat free, and the only piece of equipment I'm missing to get the logs is a suitable trailer. I can use the log arch behind the lawn tractor to remove logs from a yard where the turf's well-being is an issue, or the quad in rougher terrain. But so far I don't have anything to get them home down the highway. I do have the deck from an 11-foot travel trailer out back (it was here when I bought the place and the wood was rotten, so I ripped the top off) that I've been meaning to get road-worthy for the last couple years, so I guess it's time to get down to brass tacks on that project. Just have to get the money together first.
I'm well on my way to having everything I need to start working on the bandmill, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and get a decent stack of logs in the backyard for when that finally comes to fruition. I scored an older 20HP Kohler K532 for $5 that needs a lot of parts and work, and a complete-but-not-running Briggs 7HP I/C for another $10 at the scrap yard on Friday, so I'm pretty excited about that. For another $5 I got what looks like an old, blown Rotax snowmobile engine that had a 0.9 HP Hitachi 12 starter/generator on it. I tested that part and it works great, so it should come in handy for a power lift or power drive unit for the carriage. Only problem is that it draws almost 70A at full load!
Anyway I figure I should be able to get the 7HP running without too much work, and will build the mill around that initially. I know that isn't a whole lot of power and the mill's capabilities will be quite limited by that, but once I get the Kohler going it shouldn't be too much work to make the swap as long as I design the engine mount with that in mind. Apparently the parts are still fairly easy to come by, though it won't be a cheap restore I'm sure. I need a new carb, air intake and filter, starter, some governor assembly parts, and the entire engine shroud. I may also need to replace one of the heads since it is smashed in on one corner, but I haven't yet taken it off so see if it's warped or cracked past the mating surface. I've downloaded the service manual from Kohler's site, so that should be a great help in getting this old horse running again.
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