Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[GrizG]

my bike riding is all about perseverance, too! not distance - me! lol.... i ride in lieu of jogging. was a lifer, of sorts. 13 miles is the farthest i ever ran at one time. several times. taking it ez on my bod of late. got into biking as an adult bit by chance. worked for me. i had a 10-speed english racer as a kid over in the UK. i go 5 to simulate a 3 mile run. then i read more so takes 2-3 bike miles to = one foot mile. so i up't it to 6. maybe i should go 9. sometimes i do. but my new normal is 6. despite the heavy winds yesterday it was 6. i have a speedo center on it... works good.

fastest i have gone is 18 i think it was. wind to my back. warm weather. other day i got into it. 15 was my max. no winds. yesterday, even bundled up i thot... wth - and did a bit of a sprint using the winds from one area of my route very windy. hit 13 by first curve and then up to 16..17.. 18... 18 and some change. that was it. but i had not hit the 2nd section (1/4 mile) and it sloped down. mite have hit 20... but i was done. lol......

View attachment 956798

My short rides are about 10 miles... I typically ride a 3-speed for those. My longest one day ride while riding a fully loaded touring bike was about 112 miles as I recall. Fastest speed I had a cyclometer for while touring was about 45 mph in the Rockies. Those longest / fastest cases both were kind of nuts! LOL

I agree that a ratio of 1:3 is probably about right if in fact you are peddling the whole time. If you are coasting and lollygagging up it to 1:5.

 

[GrizG]

how much snow is falling in the East? weather channel just posted up a blip:

the I-95 could become trecherous today!



headline is:

Izzy delivers snow to the I-95 cities n towns... up to a foot new snow in the Apps...

yikes!!

ps: this is not intended to be off-topic! more so a winter advisory for those in the area thinking of cutting/splitting scrounged firewood today...

I have no idea what we are going to get... the well regarded weather service based in my town predicts pure rain but the NWS predicts up to 7" of snow then sleet and rain. All the ready firewood is under the deck with deck gutter panels so it is dry and easy to get to!

 

[GrizG]

Bar oil is still 6.99-7.99 a gallon or so for generic and 13.99 for echo. And you stihl guys know how much your bar oil costs per gallon.

I've been paying about $11-12 with tax for a gallon of Stihl Woodcutter bar oil. I got 6 gallons of Husky oil for free from my brother's estate but that wasn't a good way to get bar oil...

 

[Vtrombly]

OK fellas, pay attention because I'm gonna give you a peek at the magic trick. Make sure you look quick because I might just take it down after you've seen it once. View attachment 956807

regardless of what the backside looks like you still took the time to make the front look good and that says something right there.

 

[LondonNeil]

I wonder how a bigger woodstove would do if you added a row of fire brick during the shoulder seasons. It would effectively have a smaller firebox. Would that upset the combustion in an EPA stove?

I was going to suggest that too, it should work.

caught up with a CBS Sunday Morn show i had recorded last nite. had a bit on today's current inflation. supply and demand. covid related. pandemic. Econ101. so says the bright brains in Economics out of Harvard, etc... Dept Directors, Profs... supply went down due to pandemic... but demand was high. so prices followed suit! add in the issues of distribution. ie, labor shortages. prediction is we will see a return to a more stable economic normalcy around late 2022/early 2023... show showed the %'s of costs increases... housing, food, meats, fish, etc. oil realted (gasoline) was highest at over 50% increase. other stuff single digit, some like 11%...

but me, personally.. i doubt it!!

I've heard car manufacturers think it will be 3rd quarter 2023 before new car supply is back to normal.

 

[rarefish383]

Spent a couple days at the cabin in WV. Got home and we are expecting a couple inches of snow. I have the JD X540 staged at the top of the drive with the 47" snow blower. The family used up almost all of the wood I had on the front porch. my neighbor had what I thought was a dead Chestnut Oak in his back yard. It's been dead 4-5 years, all the limbs have fallen off. I was kind of waiting for it to start shedding the bark. Anyway, I thought the top would be dry as bones and ready to burn, so I cut it down and split it up. Not sure now, what do you think it is?

 

[chipper1]

Spent a couple days at the cabin in WV. Got home and we are expecting a couple inches of snow. I have the JD X540 staged at the top of the drive with the 47" snow blower. The family used up almost all of the wood I had on the front porch. my neighbor had what I thought was a dead Chestnut Oak in his back yard. It's been dead 4-5 years, all the limbs have fallen off. I was kind of waiting for it to start shedding the bark. Anyway, I thought the top would be dry as bones and ready to burn, so I cut it down and split it up. Not sure now, what do you think it is?

Sounds like a nice time.
It's usually easier to burn than gather, throw another on .
Looks like it could be chestnut, also looks like a poplar. We don't have much chestnut here.

 

[farmer steve]

@rarefish383 . Doesn't look like chestnut oak Joe. Almost looks like ash Bark from here. Look at this ash I worked up yesterday.

 

[H-Ranch]

So far today:

Plus 3 loads that the eldest daughter did (OK, probably more like 2 of my loads then.) Will try to do one more push before dark to cut up more rounds to be ready for splitting in the morning.

 

[rarefish383]

Well, here's a couple more pics. I know what it is/was.

 

[Vtrombly]

So far today:
View attachment 956840View attachment 956841View attachment 956842View attachment 956843View attachment 956844View attachment 956845
Plus 3 loads that the eldest daughter did (OK, probably more like 2 of my loads then.) Will try to do one more push before dark to cut up more rounds to be ready for splitting in the morning.

Looks great I have to order a new wheel for the barrow I have here. one that's on it has wheeled it's last load.

 

[Vtrombly]

Well, here's a couple more pics. I know what it is/was.

I see the black and Decker workmate in the last photo love mine use it all the time.

 

[Lionsfan]

For instance, let’s say someone makes $50,000 a year. Perhaps they’ve received a raise over the past two years and now make 55… they may have stockpiled a little bit of savings during the Covid shut down because they weren’t spending money on things like vacations and such but then the increase in consumer staples has gone up so significantly that it would gobble up any extra money that they’ve saved within a matter of a few months. Now let’s say they’ve collected $10-$15,000 in Covid money… If they went out and bought one used vehicle all of that money is gone. So again, where is all this extra money coming from that everyone seems to have!?

I see a different side of the story. The good folks who are working legit, on the books jobs are doubling down on hours and being compensated better for their efforts. A few may be stuffing it in the ol' coffee can but I think most of them are spending it as fast as they can make it.

 

[Huntaholic]

Spent a couple days at the cabin in WV. Got home and we are expecting a couple inches of snow. I have the JD X540 staged at the top of the drive with the 47" snow blower. The family used up almost all of the wood I had on the front porch. my neighbor had what I thought was a dead Chestnut Oak in his back yard. It's been dead 4-5 years, all the limbs have fallen off. I was kind of waiting for it to start shedding the bark. Anyway, I thought the top would be dry as bones and ready to burn, so I cut it down and split it up. Not sure now, what do you think it is?

SHow me an end cut and I will tell you for sure what it is, but I would be willing to bet a substantial sum that it is sassafras. If so, sassafras burns GREAT! Doesn't last as long as oak, but it burns fine. Only downside is Im superstitious and the old timers around here always said it was bad luck to burn it.

 

[MustangMike]

oops, sorry! L-88 Chevy. the Corvette version. '68 version...

mine was not a sleeper!!! lol... with 10.5 M&H's on the rear... 4:88's, too

would set one in the seat hard!

your H-M sounds like a thumper!!

One of my friends put an L88 in a 69 Camaro and ran it on the street with open headers and 11" wrinkle walls and 4:56 gears. Pulled the wheels in first and second, but was not really street legal.

The guy with the Camaro with the 350 and 2 4s and a tunnel ram was turning 10s at the track, but could not drive it with street tires. He was furious that I beat him on the street. I was running about 12 flat with street tires and closed headers., which was tough to beat.

My current Mustang runs pretty similar.

I had a 68 390 Fastback that would outrun either of them. The engine had a big cam and that body style was very light. It did not corner worth a crap, and was not as drivable as the other two, but it was fast.

 

[rarefish383]

SHow me an end cut and I will tell you for sure what it is, but I would be willing to bet a substantial sum that it is sassafras. If so, sassafras burns GREAT! Doesn't last as long as oak, but it burns fine. Only downside is Im superstitious and the old timers around here always said it was bad luck to burn it.

More pics coming up, but I cheated. I know what it is, I was just surprised how it never shed it's bark and dry rotted inside from the stump to the top where it broke out last year. It's been dead standing for several years. Last year the top broke out and I cut it up and burned it. It looked like any other Chestnut Oak on my property, of which I have many. I figured this would be perfect to fill in a cord for a customer/friend. I cut it down and when it hit the ground the log broke in 4 pieces. Absolutely no rot like you get laying on the ground, no spongy wet spots. The end grain and wood are dry as a bone and look like a sponge that's been sitting in an old wash tub for years. I have a few Sassafras on my property and a Dulcimer made out of one. here's some split pics.

 

[chipper1]

Well, here's a couple more pics. I know what it is/was.

That top picture looks just like rotten elm. Which one, couldn't tell you.

 

[rarefish383]

That top picture looks just like rotten elm. Which one, couldn't tell you.

You are close, it's is rotted Oak. When splitting it it just crushed up into chunks. I have as much in a pile the size of a Soft ball. I had to split it in quarters to keep it from falling apart. The pieces that made it into the trailer will just fit in the stove door. I'm waiting for the stove full of White Oak I brought back from WV to burn down, to see how this stuff burns. I'd never sell it to a customer. It is pretty crappy, dry rotted wood.

 

[GrizG]

I have no idea what we are going to get... the well regarded weather service based in my town predicts pure rain but the NWS predicts up to 7" of snow then sleet and rain. All the ready firewood is under the deck with deck gutter panels so it is dry and easy to get to!

Now the local service predicts 2-5"... Guess it depends on which way the wind is blowing when they make their prediction!

 

[chipper1]

You are close, it's is rotted Oak. When splitting it it just crushed up into chunks. I have as much in a pile the size of a Soft ball. I had to split it in quarters to keep it from falling apart. The pieces that made it into the trailer will just fit in the stove door. I'm waiting for the stove full of White Oak I brought back from WV to burn down, to see how this stuff burns. I'd never sell it to a customer. It is pretty crappy, dry rotted wood.

What kind of oak.
I just put a stick of maple on the bonfire pit. I made a couple cuts off each and and knew I wasn't going to be selling it and I have more than enough premium wood for us, so... .