Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[MustangMike]

My wife wanted me to pre pay the Mtg, I told her NO WAY! I put the money in the Roth IRA every year (grows tax free) and it is now worth more than my Mtg balance!

It is nice to have money that grows tax free!!!

 

[MustangMike]

The 20" Sugi light bars are very light, but the 28" ones really disappointed me (but they are tough). The Stihl light bars in 28" are much lighter.

I also really like my Stihl E bars in 24", too bad they are NLA. They were not expensive, and pretty darn light.

 

[MustangMike]

The new Mustangs are more aerodynamic, ride smoother with IRS, and I don't have built in navigation or tire pressure sensors.

But, my year Mustang looks retro, and runs strong and handles very well with my mods, plus it can get 24 MPG highway and starts easy in the winter. In addition, I have power windows and AC!

So as much as I would love to built one with a 1960s era FE block (and I really know how to build them), when I think it all through it just does not make sense. The SC IS a replacement for displacement (especially with 3 valves per cylinder, VCT and computer control), w/o killing the mileage when you choose not to use it. Plus, the suspension in my Mustang is far better than the old ones.

If I just drove it locally and did not take it on trips for hundreds of miles, I may look at it differently, but one car and one truck is enough for me to keep up with, along with all of my other hobbies.

 

[Lionsfan]

I thought you car guys would appreciate this.
View attachment 929852
View attachment 929853Can anyone guess what the engine is?

No, it's a GM based engine. Looks kinda like a Hemi though.

Just kiddin'. I thought it looked like a DOHC design, but no clue who's engine. Honestly, it reminded me of the 3.4L I had in my old 4-Runner.

 

[LondonNeil]

I thought you car guys would appreciate this.
View attachment 929852
View attachment 929853Can anyone guess what the engine is?

the start of a new splitter build?

 

[old CB]

I am officially retired. Sold my chipper, and it went down the road an hour ago. It was a good one, a Woodchuck WC-12 with 82 hp Deutz diesel, that thing was a beast. I told my helper Lauren that I had a buyer for the chipper, and she said, "The end of an era." Yep, been chewing up slash with that thing for eleven years. Was nice to see someone else take it away. And he's getting a good machine.

I spend the afternoon helping him install freshly sharpened knives, so he'll know how to do it on his own next time. Adjusted the anvil with a fresh sharp edge--he's good to go, ready to make chips.

 

[old CB]

I dropped one tree, professionally, this week. A guy had a dead tree by his drive, right next to electric lines, too close for a homeowner to drop. $80 for 35 minutes work. I dropped it and walked away. Pretty much the only way I'll operate from here on out. He's an elderly friend of mine, so I gave him a break on my rate, usually $100/hr for anything hazardous, with a one-hr minimum.

I do have some people up the road with 40 acres that I do some thinning each year. I may continue with them, but that's about it. Won't do it this year, as I'm still barely getting around after knee surgery.

Got another tree waiting. Same deal, drop it and walk away. Maybe next week.

Man, do I like this new easy pace.

 

[old CB]

Also did some scrounge work last weekend, for which I actually have photos. A rarity, since when I'm working I don't have time or patience for documentation. But I helped my buddy Michael split a huge pile of scrounge that we accumulated from an in-town arborist over the course of the summer. Michael splitting, his stepfather tossing splits, and me cutting stuff to firewood length. Gotta go, wife calling. Going out to dinner. Photos tomorrow.

 

[JustJeff]

https://www.firewoodprosizer.com/
Check out this gizmo, I might have to add it to my Christmas list

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[chipper1]

The best thing my wife and I did was pay our house off in 8 years. I know we could've made more money in investments than we saved by paying it off early. However the peace of mind knowing we only have to cover taxes and normal bills should one of us get sick or hurt is really nice.

Same here .

 

[chipper1]

Totally agree.

Since I’m paid ahead on my mortgage now, my mortgage broker guy told me I could have the mortgage broker “recast” the mortgage meaning the payment will go down but then I’ll still owe for 20 some years. Not sure I’d want to do that, unless absolutely needed.

Yeah, I'm sure they want your place that's nearly paid off and has incre in value in the asset column .
As Mike said if you're fully vesting in Roth's then I would do whatever I could to pay the house off even if it meant pulling the money out of other accounts and taking a hit.
Inflation is the "gift" that keeps on giving so to me assets are as good or better than gold. I've read of a starving man trading off his birthrights for a meal .
Until you know the feeling of being out of that "mortgage", it's hard to understand or explain it. If I had to try I would say its freeing and it brings about possibilities you would not have anticipated. I think we are 5yrs free and clear, zero debt. With the exception of the Costco card, and we have the cash for that before its spent, and pay it in full every month.
To God be the glory.

 

[Philbert]

Check out this gizmo, I might have to add it to my Christmas list

https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/firewood-prosizer-laser-firewood-measuring-tool.353172/
Philbert

 

[Logger nate]

Yeah, I'm sure they want your place that's nearly paid off and has incre in value in the asset column .
As Mike said if you're fully vesting in Roth's then I would do whatever I could to pay the house off even if it meant pulling the money out of other accounts and taking a hit.
Inflation is the "gift" that keeps on giving so to me assets are as good or better than gold. I've read of a starving man trading off his birthrights for a meal .
Until you know the feeling of being out of that "mortgage", it's hard to understand or explain it. If I had to try I would say its freeing and it brings about possibilities you would not have anticipated. I think we are 5yrs free and clear, zero debt. With the exception of the Costco card, and we have the cash for that before its spent, and pay it in full every month.
To God be the glory.

My goal.

 

[MustangMike]

I still have a mortgage because of the divorce I went through decades ago, followed by kids college costs, followed by my Daughter wrecking a car w/o collision insurance. Stuff happens.

I also financed 1/2 of my truck, and 1/2 of my wife's Edge ST because the rates to borrow were 3% or less.

When I started collecting SS it covers the Mtg and both car loans, so it was like a sense of relieve, but that said my Roth balance is larger than my Mtg balance, and non retirement investments exceed the car loans (I could have paid cash for both of them, but the rates were too low not to take advantage of).

I consider myself semi retired, but I still work (self employed), but with the NYS pension, SS and work I have less financial stress than ever before. It does give one piece of mind and relaxes you.

We are back into an inflationary spiral led by increasing energy costs (which increase the cost of everything else), but I feel much more prepared to deal with it this time than in any time in the past.

 

[SS396driver]

If I built a fast car these days, I would probably do it just like you did with a new or late model Mustang and add mods over time.

The Chevelle I had in high school and bought for 6500 is now probably 20K plus and then take another 20 to look nice. No thanks.

Even a nice square body chevy truck is going to be 15K now...jeez.

I have some $$ in investments and even though I know for a fact that letting the $$ work in the market is the best thing to do, I am so tempted to pay off the mortgage (I have 8 years left if I don't pay anything off early) and then start putting my excess earnings back into investments. After surviving a few ups and downs of life, it would be so nice to not have to worry about paying bills if another "down" came through.

I couldn’t afford the Chevelle if I was to buy it now . And the old Chevy trucks are going nuts I can make 5k on the 85 and I’ve only owned it 7 months . All old cars are going crazy my AMX is getting up into the area of Chevelle’s and Camaro’s
I paid my mortgage off 10 years early and invested the what the principle in the monthly payment since tax’s and insurance was rolled in . Worked out
well for me .

 

[JustJeff]

We have 5 years left on our mortgage which will have been paid in 17 years. Looking forward to that day!

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[old CB]

So this is Michael splitting wood last Sunday, and his step-father loading M's van with splits. Didn't think to take pics on Saturday, which could have made better pics of the large pile of wood we started with, and the van stacked full with splits later. At one point last Saturday I had to run back to my house (just up the road), and I checked the thermometer thinking it must be at least 90, and it was 101 degrees. Toasty. But relative humidity of 1%, so we were not dripping sweat too awful bad.

Lots of ash, honey locust, a fair bit of Siberian elm, some silver maple, and two or three chunks of willow managed to find their way into our scrounge.

These pics were early on Sunday. Later we had the van about 3/4 full by noon-thirty when we all said "enough."

 

[sundance]

So this is Michael splitting wood last Sunday, and his step-father loading M's van with splits. Didn't think to take pics on Saturday, which could have made better pics of the large pile of wood we started with, and the van stacked full with splits later. At one point last Saturday I had to run back to my house (just up the road), and I checked the thermometer thinking it must be at least 90, and it was 101 degrees. Toasty. But relative humidity of 1%, so we were not dripping sweat too awful bad.

Lots of ash, honey locust, a fair bit of Siberian elm, some silver maple, and two or three chunks of willow managed to find their way into our scrounge.

These pics were early on Sunday. Later we had the van about 3/4 full by noon-thirty when we all said "enough."
View attachment 930122View attachment 930123View attachment 930124View attachment 930125View attachment 930126View attachment 930127

Never understood (or used) a vertical splitter. Mine's horizontal and makes sense to me.

 

[old CB]

Never understood (or used) a vertical splitter. Mine's horizontal and makes sense to me.

See Michael's position? He's sitting down the entire time, sitting on a block of wood as I do when I split. (That's my splitter in the pic.)

The biggest rounds imaginable can be rolled into place--and never lifted--for splitting. I can't imagine why anyone wants to lift chunks of wood when they can be rolled into place for splitting. The only time I stand during splitting is to get up (when I'm working solo) and roll a few more chunks into position. Splits get tossed toward the stack.

 

[MustangMike]

My splitter works either way, but I much prefer horizontal, gravity seems to help you that way.

Not many rounds I can't lift, and if there are, I find it is just much faster to noodle them with a ported 660. When they get that large, the splitter rarely fully splits them anyway, and you waste time spinning the pieces to split from both sides.