Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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well this past year im been using it on my shed to help seal it better when the last person built it they walls of the shed was 2x6 boards going vertical.
i used straight poplar boards across the outside walls horizontally and i didn't leave no gaps, so when im building i prefer soft wood because it beats my brain out trying to hammer nails through hardwood.
 
Almost had a reverse axe scrounge today. Went in to town to go to home despot for some hardware for my little lawnmower shed project. While I was gone, my Gf was walking pygmy swamp wookie and when she got back in the yard she surprised a kid about to run off with my utility axe, which I had left stuck in the oak in the front yard where I was using it this morning. He dropped it and ran and hopped on his bike and took off. Wish I had seen it, I coulda caught him, I may be older but I can still motivate.
 
If you are going to spend the day in a tree I'd much rather sit in one of my custom built stands than a ladder with a little seat on the top.
I've got several 16 ft tripods with full netting, shooting rails, and several metal ladder stands. When it comes to the metal ladder stands, I've always spent a few dollars more and bought the two-man (father/son) ladder stands. Much more room with the 'bench' seat cushion. I'll buy additional ladder sections as well, try to get up around 20'...buy black, foam pipe insulation for the shooting rail, and zip-tie either camo netting or some camo burlap around the front and side, top shooting rail...good to go.
 
As a firewooder I hope your not putting metal fasteners into a the tree to secure your steps and stands. Metal + Tree + Saw = unhappy chain. After hitting a few nails and who knows what else in trees I will never ever put a fastener into a tree.

The bigger stands and even the smaller ones work well. My requirement for a ladder stand is that is has arm rests and a full platform. I archery hunt first and foremost so I need to be able to stand and move around a little. They are pretty comfortable since I have spent all day in them numerous times. But I usually change stands mid day for a different view. My summit climber is like sitting on a lazy boy. Really comfortable but it is a pain to carry in and out everytime. I use the climber around home. Ladder stands at my cabin.
 
If I feel compelled to build a wood stand it's going to be attached to the tree until the tree dies. Our #1 stand has been rebuilt once in 38 years and our #2 stand is now on its third tree with 27 years of service. At the time they were built we didn't have birch mortality like we do now. They are now in a spruce and maple, respectively.
 
As a firewooder I hope your not putting metal fasteners into a the tree to secure your steps and stands. Metal + Tree + Saw = unhappy chain. After hitting a few nails and who knows what else in trees I will never ever put a fastener into a tree.

The bigger stands and even the smaller ones work well. My requirement for a ladder stand is that is has arm rests and a full platform. I archery hunt first and foremost so I need to be able to stand and move around a little. They are pretty comfortable since I have spent all day in them numerous times. But I usually change stands mid day for a different view. My summit climber is like sitting on a lazy boy. Really comfortable but it is a pain to carry in and out everytime. I use the climber around home. Ladder stands at my cabin.
As far as ladder stands go, even homemade...Eye bolts with chain and a turnbuckle installed outside of the rear 'V' notch on both sides, that contacts the tree, then, crank it down. No screws, nails, hardware, nuthin else needed. Rarely see steps nailed to trees, or spikes anymore around here to get into a stand.
 
Just a moisture meter update- checked some interior wood yesterday. Mantel directly above fireplace and stove in my 30 year old house read around 6-8%. Door trim in the same room was 8-10% as was trim elsewhere in the house. So even if the meter is reading slightly off, I think it is reading 1-2% high, which would put my oak well into the safe sub-15% range.

And as stated above- its not like I'm not going to burn wood that's greater than 15%; but it is nice to know that the wood is the reason the fire isn't burning great rather than some other problem with the stove or the chimney/flue.
 
For my hang-on stand I use a "screw step" in the groove where they would normally accept a lag bolt as I dont like carrying tools in the woods. I then strap it with the factory strap and a ratchet strap. Not too keen about falling out of a tree with a gun on my back.

My former coworker would get homemade welded stands from a friend of his similar to the ones you are talking about. They were real nice, 3'x3' platform with a bench and a swivel boat seat. But they would get stolen even from his private property with regularity. One time some guys carried it a quarter mile across private land to steal it (it was hung in the tree line all the way across a logging clearing from the road). I had one of my ladders vandalized once by a neighbor but that was it.
 

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