Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[panolo]

I looked at a new Central Boiler OWB yesterday. I was on my way to pick up the last load from this 36” silver maple that I cut last week. It was leaning toward the road. I cut off two large limbs that were on the road side, and I still had to pull it over with a rope.

I’m undecided on the OWB. It’s between spending the 12+K to heat the house and machine shed, or 2K for a Drolet furnace just for the shed.

I've went a couple seasons with my 550 edge and I love it. Took me a while to get it dialed and I had help from some good users here. I had to pick up some stuff at my dealer and looked at the new 750 edge. Pretty sure I am going to upgrade to that next year. Going to add a garage and the bigger unit should heat my home and garage with ease. Don't know if you are looking at the edge or classic but if there are any questions I can answer from experiences don't hesitate to ask.

 

[2412]

Thank you Panolo,

I’m thinking Edge 750. The 550 would probably be big enough, but with global warming and all who knows. Is there any down side to going bigger other than the initial cost?

My payback is looking like 10 years, and I may be too old by then to cut wood.

 

[Cody]

I looked at a new Central Boiler OWB yesterday. I was on my way to pick up the last load from this 36” silver maple that I cut last week. It was leaning toward the road. I cut off two large limbs that were on the road side, and I still had to pull it over with a rope.

I’m undecided on the OWB. It’s between spending the 12+K to heat the house and machine shed, or 2K for a Drolet furnace just for the shed.

Have you looked into an airstove? 1/3 the cost of a boiler, but likely around double that of the Drolet. I almost went that route, but found an old Schweiss for the garage that works rather well but it's on borrowed time.

 

[turnkey4099]

That is a sugar maple. When it was cut it gushed sap. I'd never really seen anything like it. Allot of sap came out

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I've had Elms do the same thing, run a regular stream of water.

 

[turnkey4099]

Have you looked into an airstove? 1/3 the cost of a boiler, but likely around double that of the Drolet. I almost went that route, but found an old Schweiss for the garage that works rather well but it's on borrowed time.

Never let age alone rule you. I'm 83 and still out there. Doctor told me to slow down last month. "Never". Got a load on the truck right now backed up to the splitter, I'll be out there as soon as I'm off of here.

 

[chucker]

Never let age alone rule you. I'm 83 and still out there. Doctor told me to slow down last month. "Never". Got a load on the truck right now backed up to the splitter, I'll be out there as soon as I'm off of here.

! you must be a "plain mean and ornery person" to beat up on wood at that young and energetic stage of life ? lol

 

[KiwiBro]

Before Florence-View attachment 677247After Florence View attachment 677248

Sorry for your loss.

 

[KiwiBro]

It'd be nice because there's a crapload of wood in those two branches. But there's no chance in hell of getting that one down without heavy machinery - calling it a limb doesn't do it justice. The picture is deceptive.

Does the suby need new tyres any time soon? The MS880 tread pattern is supposed to be great for when you really need traction. Butif tyres are fine, the suby will pull anything over, with mechanical advantage. A few of the cheap Chinese 6T pullies/snatch blocks (not the crappy 4x4 pullies - they might do if you got enough of them but I wasted too much $ on buying too many of them before I went with bigger blocks) and some good rope/cable will do nicely. Otherwise, can you start nibbling away at the low end of the widow-maker and make it through from one side with the 661? Or is it still too big down there?

Or, perhaps you can practice cutting windows in the trunk with the 661 and eventually drop the bugger over sans 880/395?

 

[KiwiBro]

@KiwiBro recommends dumping your wood in the river to help it dry out faster (I guess you'd need some way of stopping it getting washed away). I can imagine how that might work by leaching out and diluting the woody moisture with more evaporable water perhaps. It might end up being the driest ash you've ever burned.

I hope you can retrieve most of it.

Thank you for even remembering my pearls of wisdom. You know, it's funny sometimes. I'll drop a wee nugget in a post and everyone writes it off as a wisecrack. Then, years later, someone will quote it to endorse the idea and say it worked well for them Then it becomes all the rage as all those who thought I was talking out my backside realises I might have been onto something. In the case of drying wood by getting it sopping wet, I was a sceptic and thought th old-timer was taking the piss but after testing it myself I decided on that occasion at least that he was fair dinkum. He's probably lived long enough to see the old ways that were once considered by his generation as self-evident solutions, become forgotten and then rediscovered and championed as the latest 'new' thing. I guess we can all but hope we reach such milestones ourselves.

 

[Cowboy254]

Does the suby need new tyres any time soon? The MS880 tread pattern is supposed to be great for when you really need traction. Butif tyres are fine, the suby will pull anything over, with mechanical advantage. A few of the cheap Chinese 6T pullies/snatch blocks (not the crappy 4x4 pullies - they might do if you got enough of them but I wasted too much $ on buying too many of them before I went with bigger blocks) and some good rope/cable will do nicely. Otherwise, can you start nibbling away at the low end of the widow-maker and make it through from one side with the 661? Or is it still too big down there?

Or, perhaps you can practice cutting windows in the trunk with the 661 and eventually drop the bugger over sans 880/395?

I'm reconsidering having a go at that tree. I was thinking I have enough grey/red/yellow box and things were getting a bit hard to bother going after it. Then I gave myself an uppercut for thinking such things.



I'm thinking maybe clean up the smaller ends first, everything on the far side of where the trunks reach the ground. As far as I'm concerned, climbing trees is for monkeys and the top limb has a lot of contact with the main trunk, possibly still attached but it's too high to really see. In any case, I'm not going up there.

I mentioned this tree to a bloke yesterday and he wants to come out with me and take it down. He has a 4WD ute and plenty of chain along with a trailer twice the size of mine. Having taken off all the smaller stuff, is there any problem with chaining the low end of the suspended log and pulling that to try to dislodge the top end? I have no experience with pulling stuff like this down, all my wood is either already down or has Limby related accidents.

 

[Cowboy254]

Thank you for even remembering my pearls of wisdom. You know, it's funny sometimes. I'll drop a wee nugget in a post and everyone writes it off as a wisecrack. Then, years later, someone will quote it to endorse the idea and say it worked well for them Then it becomes all the rage as all those who thought I was talking out my backside realises I might have been onto something. In the case of drying wood by getting it sopping wet, I was a sceptic and thought th old-timer was taking the piss but after testing it myself I decided on that occasion at least that he was fair dinkum. He's probably lived long enough to see the old ways that were once considered by his generation as self-evident solutions, become forgotten and then rediscovered and championed as the latest 'new' thing. I guess we can all but hope we reach such milestones ourselves.

I'm also guessing that moving water would work better than stihl water too, river better than a dam.

 

[Philbert]

There. Now I have a STIHL advertising piece hung up in my garage. Not lit, like some, but I have a flashlight.

Philbert

 

[Hinerman]

Helped a friend with some downed limbs. He gifted me with some of the plunder. Plenty of red oak around here; white oak, not so much

 

[woodchip rookie]

Never let age alone rule you. I'm 83 and still out there. Doctor told me to slow down last month. "Never". Got a load on the truck right now backed up to the splitter, I'll be out there as soon as I'm off of here.

I really want to see this. I want to see an 83yr old man scrounge wood, unload onto a splitter and stack that. You should get a camera person and post a short vid on youtube. Title it "83 YEAR OLD MAN PROCESSING FIREWOOD". You would have like a million veiws.

 

[svk]

Did a little tree work for a friend of a friend today. Dropped and bucked 20 birch/maple that were dying or dead. Sorry no pics.

 

[Philbert]

Helped a friend with some downed limbs. He gifted me with some of the plunder.

Sounds like a 'win-win' situation.

Philbert

 

[chipper1]

Did a little tree work for a friend of a friend today. Dropped and bucked 20 birch/maple that were dying or dead. Sorry no pics.

You know the rules, Mods.
I bought a new to me splitter today and got another 365, this one is an XT version, I really needed another 70cc saw .
I pressure washed the splitter and my mower as both were pretty nasty, I think I added a lot of value to both of them, the saw will be sold dirty .

 

[chipper1]

I have no experience with pulling stuff like this down, all my wood is either already down or has Limby related accidents.

Just guessing, as hard as that wood is I would think it isn't very stringy so it should just break right off and be on the ground will little effort.
Did you see the link to the pictures in my post where I got the cherry hung up, few tricks in there that work well even when cutting a log on the ground.

 

[MustangMike]

! you must be a "plain mean and ornery person" to beat up on wood at that young and energetic stage of life ? lol

He provides goals I'm looking forward to attaining! Been working on a construction site a few times over the past few weeks. It is on a steep slope, and the heavy equipment can't get to a lot of it. The athletic 24 year old that is about my height/weight can't get over the endurance I still have at my age. Of course, when I was his age, I was really in good shape.

I used to be able to take a full breadth of air, lay on my back (arms out stretched) and sink to the bottom of the pool. (This was demonstrated after the guy giving the life saving course stated that everybody could float). After that, I became the rescue dummy, and everyone complained! I was only 170 lbs, but the 220 lb football player was far easier to rescue in the water.

 

[KiwiBro]

I'm reconsidering having a go at that tree. I was thinking I have enough grey/red/yellow box and things were getting a bit hard to bother going after it. Then I gave myself an uppercut for thinking such things.

Onya. There's nothing there a bit of musing and 'what if' thinking won't sort out.

I'm thinking maybe clean up the smaller ends first... Having taken off all the smaller stuff, is there any problem with chaining the low end of the suspended log and pulling that to try to dislodge the top end?

Sounds like a good plan, although because there is a lot of weight in that limb close to where it is attached, even if you upper cut to the point the tip no longer falls to the ground but swings right back against the trunk, it might rip itself off without needing any persuasion. That's probably the most dangerous point as it's hard to predict which way it'll go. I've seen them swing back, hit the trunk, break off at the crotch, stab into the ground and fall at weird angles. There are some great videos online of how to safely upper cut a limb like this one, where it has the potential to swing and stab the ground.