Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[chipper1]

Sold a 72" double powered (72cc stihl) because it only cut 60" or so. Have a 50" cannon,, 60", cannon and 72" forester thar is there if it's needed. I couldn't wait on it til was needed to try finding one. Took long enough digging around on line to find one to fit the ported 661c (<;

Well shucks, I tried to sell it for you. It's hard to keep my equipment straight, let alone everyone else's lol. I was getting a 359 ready to ship the other day and found a 5105 I forgot about .

 

[Lionsfan]

I saw bar oil online at Walmart for $9.95 a gallon. I head to Walmart and the bar oil is $13.96. I grabbed a worker and showed him the online price. He said get what you need and tell the register clerk to price match it. I bought 4 gallons of bar oil and saved $16.00. That was a very good deal.

Check Menards. I didn't buy any, but they had an off-brand (Super-S maybe?) on the shelf for $8.99 a gallon.

Nice haul.
That's a great deal on a 455, they're awesome firewooding saws .
As far as being a Pakers fan, the only thing worse is being a Lions fan .
Have a great thanksgiving.

Takes a strong stomach to be a Lions fan!! Truth is, when they've been healthy they've been fun to watch this year.

 

[Lionsfan]

Hey @Logger nate when i was fueling the truck the other day I saw this and thought of you lol.
Just a little rust
View attachment 1034448
Here what I've been cruising around in.
View attachment 1034447

Seriously, was the tractor they assigned you cleaned out before it was handed to you? Our company has been failing miserably in that department from what I've experienced.

 

[chipper1]

Nice truck! ( the bottom one

) not much room for firewood though

Thanks.
I thought the same thing, gonna need a large 5th-wheel plate trailer for it .

Real nice-looking rig there, that sleeper looks huge (and deluxe)! What make is it?

Back when I did a little driving, they were all stick shift, and you had to know how to double clutch (no syncros). We even had one truck (at the moving company) called "old #3" that did not have power steering! IIRC it was an International, conventional cab, single screw. Driving it gave you a real workout!

I was a driver/helper/warehouseman for Noble Van + Storage (North American Van Lines) in Elmsford NY. Our big warehouse was in the old Anaconda Wire + Cable building in Hastings On Hudson and had a rail spur.

Our loading dock was 90* to the road, and a lot of the over the road drivers from out West could not back into it, so we backed in a lot of the trucks for them. (They were not used to the tight spaces of the NE).

My brother and I both worked there during and after college, and we learned to drive everything from a van with a trailer to tractor trailers and straight trucks, and back up using mirrors. Do the trucks now have BU cameras like the cars?

My brother and I had plans to be over the road drivers for a few years, it paid really well at the time and all of your expenses were covered. The guy that offered us the job had a small fleet of Kenworths, but my brother ruined our plans by getting married! He really wanted up partly because my brother was also the company's truck mechanic.

Thanks Mike.
It is real nice, and honestly, it's way too big for doing the runs we do around here most the time. I really don't need a large wheelbase truck to do a 14 stop load that's only 200 miles out from the house like I did earlier this week. It certainly doesn't save any time or make my life easier, but I'm pretty sure much of that is because they have a better resale value and they always keep the most up to date as far as safety equipment goes. This one has a double bunk(two beds for GTG's), fridge, microwave, inverter, separate bunk heater(it's own engine), xm radio, driver facing camera, road facing camera, heck they even install heated wiper blades for winter(because guys don't know how to chill their windshields).
This one is a Volvo, I may be switching to a Peterbuilt next month, depending on what the guy who was driving this one does.
This one is an automatic, I'm used to driving 9 or 13 speed manuals, I often reach for the clutch coming up to a light when the rpm start to drop, and when I'm climbing a grade I'd like to split the gear lol.
Back in 93 when I went to driving school, we had a truck with manual steering(Armstrong power steering lol), me and the only person who could back better than me( a farm boy), were the only guys who drove it. I actually used it for my backing test, because I knew I wouldn't over steer, you don't want to in one of those! Funny thing is they also had a dump truck chassis there that was an automatic, eaton was the first one to come out with them for semis iirc and the school I went to was call Eaton Roadranger Training Institute. Odd it was nearly 20yrs later until I drove an automatic for a job hauling drywall, none of the other drivers wanted to drive it or run the remote controlled knuckle boom, I like it a lot.
I can totally see you working for a mover, it takes a strong guy with good common sense to do that job right, unfortunately I think most the guys they use these days only have one of those skills or smarts, but not both.
When I first started I ran Long Island quite often with a 53' trailer, I don't thing you're even allowed to bring them in there anymore? Most guys who've never been there have no idea what it's like trying to get a 53' trailer with a large tractor into a dock that was designed for a 40' trailer and a day cab . It's similar in Chicago, then you add all the low bridges they have there, I only knew of one low bridge on Long Island, and every trucking company I knew back then warned the drivers not to go down that road because you had to back quite a ways to get out of there, and that wasn't happening during the day.

My truck doesn't have a backup camera, but many of the straight trucks do. When I hauled drywall all our boom trucks had them and side cameras and front cameras, but the pup trailers we pulled quite frequently didn't either.
Dang brothers always ruining plans, I just had a sister for that lol.

New truck looks pretty clean. How was the interior? Seats clean? Windows clean? Any science projects in the fridge? Dirty gym shorts under the mattress?

They had the interior detailed nicely for me, inside of the windows were pretty good(I'll clean them better next week as I like them really clean!), I haven't looked in the fridge, under the mattress, or in the microwave, but the mattress has a large burn mark on it , looks like someone took something out of the microwave and set it on there hot. Not sure if the mattress up above is the same size, if it is I'll swap them around, if it's in better condition.
I think I said it was a 2018 before, it's a 2019, oldest series in the fleet.

Check Menards. I didn't buy any, but they had an off-brand (Super-S maybe?) on the shelf for $8.99 a gallon.

Takes a strong stomach to be a Lions fan!! Truth is, when they've been healthy they've been fun to watch this year.

I used to drive by their training facility, I always wanted to yell out the window, "can we take the bags off our heads yet". And I'm not even into sports lol.

Seriously, was the tractor they assigned you cleaned out before it was handed to you? Our company has been failing miserably in that department from what I've experienced.

Quite well, I used to do detailing work, so...
They have the trucks detailed a few times a yr, they also was he them at least twice a week when the temps are above freezing. They have a bay we can pull into and detail them ourselves too, with all the supplies right down to vent cleaner spray, microfiber towels, even the squeegees that have the absorbers in them so nothing drips on the dash.
They are all about image, not sure why they hired me .
I saw one of your guys pulling a Cops & Donuts trailer busting it down I-196 yesterday(well sort of, I flew by him), hot boxing it like it was the first cig of the day or after a few bong hits . Maybe he was the guy who previously drove my truck, that would explain the burnt mattress.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Yes! To much pressure against the trunk "before enough" holding wood is relieved can cause a tree to chair. Thats why I stated in my post I'll have the operator use "very little or no pressure at all unless I require it"

Also, the further up the trunk the pressure is applied, the more the leverage compounds vs having the same amount of pressure lower down the trunk, However, if the pushing/pulling point is too low? The tree can possibly chair over backwards as well when "to much" holding wood is relieved. Due to the trees weight causing excessive leverage above the mechanical advantage (pushing/pulling) point.

In short, A person better know what hes doing when pushing with equipment or pulling with a guy line. If he doesn't? He shouldn't be the person cut'n the tree in the first place!

Hope this all makes sense.


Cut safe, stay sharp, and be aware!

Yep, I had to pull a back leaner the other day. The guy that I was cutting those trees for isn't the most experienced with cutting, so I just shot a line into the tree and had him keep tension on it with my 5:1 fiddle block. That 5:1 actually has significant pulling power, but it's way easier than equipment to feel how much tension you have. I basically just had him maintain tension while I chased the back cut with wedges. Once the tree was all cut up, I had him "give it hell," and it went over without too much fanfare.

 

[Lionsfan]

Thanks.
I thought the same thing, gonna need a large 5th-wheel plate trailer for it .

Thanks Mike.
It is real nice, and honestly, it's way too big for doing the runs we do around here most the time. I really don't need a large wheelbase truck to do a 14 stop load that's only 200 miles out from the house like I did earlier this week. It certainly doesn't save any time or make my life easier, but I'm pretty sure much of that is because they have a better resale value and they always keep the most up to date as far as safety equipment goes. This one has a double bunk(two beds for GTG's), fridge, microwave, inverter, separate bunk heater(it's own engine), xm radio, driver facing camera, road facing camera, heck they even install heated wiper blades for winter(because guys don't know how to chill their windshields).
This one is a Volvo, I may be switching to a Peterbuilt next month, depending on what the guy who was driving this one does.
This one is an automatic, I'm used to driving 9 or 13 speed manuals, I often reach for the clutch coming up to a light when the rpm start to drop, and when I'm climbing a grade I'd like to split the gear lol.
Back in 93 when I went to driving school, we had a truck with manual steering(Armstrong power steering lol), me and the only person who could back better than me( a farm boy), were the only guys who drove it. I actually used it for my backing test, because I knew I wouldn't over steer, you don't want to in one of those! Funny thing is they also had a dump truck chassis there that was an automatic, eaton was the first one to come out with them for semis iirc and the school I went to was call Eaton Roadranger Training Institute. Odd it was nearly 20yrs later until I drove an automatic for a job hauling drywall, none of the other drivers wanted to drive it or run the remote controlled knuckle boom, I like it a lot.
I can totally see you working for a mover, it takes a strong guy with good common sense to do that job right, unfortunately I think most the guys they use these days only have one of those skills or smarts, but not both.
When I first started I ran Long Island quite often with a 53' trailer, I don't thing you're even allowed to bring them in there anymore? Most guys who've never been there have no idea what it's like trying to get a 53' trailer with a large tractor into a dock that was designed for a 40' trailer and a day cab . It's similar in Chicago, then you add all the low bridges they have there, I only knew of one low bridge on Long Island, and every trucking company I knew back then warned the drivers not to go down that road because you had to back quite a ways to get out of there, and that wasn't happening during the day.

My truck doesn't have a backup camera, but many of the straight trucks do. When I hauled drywall all our boom trucks had them and side cameras and front cameras, but the pup trailers we pulled quite frequently didn't either.
Dang brothers always ruining plans, I just had a sister for that lol.

They had the interior detailed nicely for me, inside of the windows were pretty good(I'll clean them better next week as I like them really clean!), I haven't looked in the fridge, under the mattress, or in the microwave, but the mattress has a large burn mark on it , looks like someone took something out of the microwave and set it on there hot. Not sure if the mattress up above is the same size, if it is I'll swap them around, if it's in better condition.
I think I said it was a 2018 before, it's a 2019, oldest series in the fleet.

I used to drive by their training facility, I always wanted to yell out the window, "can we take the bags off our heads yet". And I'm not even into sports lol.

Quite well, I used to do detailing work, so...
They have the trucks detailed a few times a yr, they also was he them at least twice a week when the temps are above freezing. They have a bay we can pull into and detail them ourselves too, with all the supplies right down to vent cleaner spray, microfiber towels, even the squeegees that have the absorbers in them so nothing drips on the dash.
They are all about image, not sure why they hired me .
I saw one of your guys pulling a Cops & Donuts trailer busting it down I-196 yesterday(well sort of, I flew by him), hot boxing it like it was the first cig of the day or after a few bong hits . Maybe he was the guy who previously drove my truck, that would explain the burnt mattress.

Last I knew, we had 293 drivers and over 300 trucks. Last I knew we have 0 detailers, no dedicated wash bay, and I haven't even seen a bucket full of dirty washer fluid with a worn out squeegee let alone any micro fiber towels.

 

[JimR]

SR

Yup, that's the picture.

 

[JimR]

Yes! To much pressure against the trunk "before enough" holding wood is relieved can cause a tree to chair. Thats why I stated in my post I'll have the operator use "very little or no pressure at all unless I require it"

Also, the further up the trunk the pressure is applied, the more the leverage compounds vs having the same amount of pressure lower down the trunk, However, if the pushing/pulling point is too low? The tree can possibly chair over backwards as well when "to much" holding wood is relieved. Due to the trees weight causing excessive leverage above the mechanical advantage (pushing/pulling) point.

In short, A person better know what hes doing when pushing with equipment or pulling with a guy line. If he doesn't? He shouldn't be the person cut'n the tree in the first place!

Hope this all makes sense.


Cut safe, stay sharp, and be aware!

Sure does make sense. The back flip will kill you dead.

 

[JimR]

Check Menards. I didn't buy any, but they had an off-brand (Super-S maybe?) on the shelf for $8.99 a gallon.

In Mass we are limited to Tractor Supply stores, Walmarts and a few Kubota, JD and Kioti dealers. I think there are a few local small farm supply places but nothing close by. Walmart is always the cheapest. About 11 years ago I hit the motherboard of about 19 or 20 gallons of Husqvarna bar oil at $5.00 a gallon from a retired tree company.

 

[JimR]

Got any pics of what your talking about? I'll stiff probably buy or make a grapple bucket at some point, but I'm not against adding something to make the forks handy. Which they are not the greatest for moving logs.

I use my forks on my tractor for moving logs all the time without any issues and no grapple on them. Is it your terrain that is causing the problem? I also have a stump grapple bucket for moving large chucks of wood and uprooted stumps. That bucket also works great for moving big rocks.

 

[JimR]

View attachment 1034499View attachment 1034501


Kinda like these Sean, weld some tabs for the top clamp pins onto your headache rack, and one for the generic ram and you can remove it and preserve the forks for pallet moving. The second pic is neat because you can maybe hold the log over a table and make rounds for splitting? My grapple for my skid steer is also quite heavy alone, and my forks would be lighter, and give me an opportunity to cut rounds, I could only cut off the ends of 8 or ten foot logs, no way to run a saw aroudn all the metal my grapple has. Just a thought. Forks alone suck, the round logs slide all over the place, It doesnt have to have crushing clamping power, just a grip on two or four logs would be great.

I find that if you stack your logs up they won't slide around.

 

[bob kern]

Yes! To much pressure against the trunk "before enough" holding wood is relieved can cause a tree to chair. Thats why I stated in my post I'll have the operator use "very little or no pressure at all unless I require it"

Also, the further up the trunk the pressure is applied, the more the leverage compounds vs having the same amount of pressure lower down the trunk, However, if the pushing/pulling point is too low? The tree can possibly chair over backwards as well when "to much" holding wood is relieved. Due to the trees weight causing excessive leverage above the mechanical advantage (pushing/pulling) point.

In short, A person better know what hes doing when pushing with equipment or pulling with a guy line. If he doesn't? He shouldn't be the person cut'n the tree in the first place!

Hope this all makes sense.


Cut safe, stay sharp, and be aware!

I had my bil( almost no experience) helping me on a leaner a while back. I set up my 100' cable and come a long and put the right amount of tension on it. It told him as I cut / wedged, and the tree moved to just keep that same even pressure. He asked why don't I just pull it with the truck that would be faster. I told him when he got home to watch some videos on trees/ barber chair and it would explain why you don't jerk as hard as you can with a truck. He got back with me later and said he'd never seen anything like that!! Wonder how many times he'd got close to having his melon smashed.

 

[bob kern]

I still like two wraps of a 5/16 chain around the trunk about a foot above the cut if I have any doubts. Well worth the couple minutes it takes in my opinion.

 

[Valpen]

I still like two wraps of a 5/16 chain around the trunk about a foot above the cut if I have any doubts. Well worth the couple minutes it takes in my opinion.

And depending on if (and how) you are intending to skid the log, you can already have your skidding chain in place....

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Got any pics of what your talking about? I'll stiff probably buy or make a grapple bucket at some point, but I'm not against adding something to make the forks handy. Which they are not the greatest for moving logs.

The best tool I've found that will do the most is pallet forks with a matching grapple. It will do everything a dedicated grapple will do and many things a dedicated grapple won't.

The forks/single grapple is fantastic at handling logs too,

I can pick a log out of a pile and set it on my BSM

or stack logs on or take them off a trailer or just safely hold the logs for cutting.

SR

 

[farmer steve]

View attachment 1034499View attachment 1034501


Kinda like these Sean, weld some tabs for the top clamp pins onto your headache rack, and one for the generic ram and you can remove it and preserve the forks for pallet moving. The second pic is neat because you can maybe hold the log over a table and make rounds for splitting? My grapple for my skid steer is also quite heavy alone, and my forks would be lighter, and give me an opportunity to cut rounds, I could only cut off the ends of 8 or ten foot logs, no way to run a saw aroudn all the metal my grapple has. Just a thought. Forks alone suck, the round logs slide all over the place, It doesnt have to have crushing clamping power, just a grip on two or four logs would be great.

This is what I have been looking at. Mainly for picking up logs in the wood yard and cutting to size. Not sure I like the $1800 price tag though.

 

[sean donato]

View attachment 1034499View attachment 1034501


Kinda like these Sean, weld some tabs for the top clamp pins onto your headache rack, and one for the generic ram and you can remove it and preserve the forks for pallet moving. The second pic is neat because you can maybe hold the log over a table and make rounds for splitting? My grapple for my skid steer is also quite heavy alone, and my forks would be lighter, and give me an opportunity to cut rounds, I could only cut off the ends of 8 or ten foot logs, no way to run a saw aroudn all the metal my grapple has. Just a thought. Forks alone suck, the round logs slide all over the place, It doesnt have to have crushing clamping power, just a grip on two or four logs would be great.

That looks pretty handy, my forks are pretty short, so it shouldn't be too bad to fab something up like that.

I use my forks on my tractor for moving logs all the time without any issues and no grapple on them. Is it your terrain that is causing the problem? I also have a stump grapple bucket for moving large chucks of wood and uprooted stumps. That bucket also works great for moving big rocks.

Little tractor syndrome. I can pick up quite a big log but the forks are pretty close together, and honestly with as hilly as it is around my place a grapple would actually do much better, for most of the work I do, but money doesn't grow on trees, so I have to deal with what I can scrounge up.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Back leaner w/ a pull line from the other day:

 

[bob kern]

Well I got my morning excercize in. Split and stacked what we cleaned up from the pasture yesterday. Dead trees are their own little exo system. Chased a squirrel out of a hole. Found beetles , roaches and a paper wasp nest along the way. Got right at a rick from the top. Probably get two more from the trunk that's still standing if it's not hollow.

 

[svk]

Happy Thanksgiving!