Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[square1]

@svk Sorry, losing a long time family member is always so hard.

 

[Buckshot00]

Latest haul is this blow down red maple. Pried my work crew off the x-box to help load it up.

 

[svk]

We are doing back to back birthday parties for two of my kids later today. And of course super bowl festivities tomorrow.

Looking on the calendar this is the final weekend "indoors" until next November. The sports schedule from late November through January is a tough one and coupled with a difficult month I'm getting a little stir crazy here.

Next weekend I'm taking a couple of the kids to the cabin and have three saws to fire up that I haven't even run yet. Then a couple of road trips and by then the snow should be residing.

 

[cantoo]

Took my grandson for a ride back to the bush with the tractor just before dark today. Still only a little crust of frozen dirt in the plowed field in the driest area. The wet area where I have 40 logs piled up is out of the question, still open water there. The bush is sheltering it I think. Not sure if I should go back tomorrow or not. I prefer to cut and haul out rather than leave logs piled up in the bush. My wife says I have lots to do at home and there are big piles of logs home already. I need enough logs to keep me busy all summer when the crops are on and I have no access. I have everything ready so maybe I'll just get up early and sneak out? If I don't post tomorrow night then call the police, report me missing and tell the police to question my wife 1st.

 

[Cowboy254]

G'day scroungers! Today was the day to get back into the groove and work off some Christmas flab that has still been hanging around. Overcast and cooler conditions today with rain coming. A look at the radar told me that I could probably get an hour of scrounging at the Lady Farm before I got rained out. Just as well because I only had 1 tank's worth of 2-stroke left.

Off I went and found a likely looking candidate. First rule of scrounging in Australia - assess for drop bears.



Drop bears negative. Second rule - pray that Limby starts. Set to Run. Deep breath. Pull. BANG! Two months off and Limby fires up first pull. Seconds later...



Limby powered through. The operator needed a breather or two. Sure, I could have used a smaller saw, but why use a smaller saw when you have a bigger one?



This peppermint was out on his own a bit with no other trees in the immediate vicinity which gave me hope that he was largely termite-free. And it virtually was, this wood is ready to burn and absolutely prime.



I didn't have the lady farmer's ute today so I just stacked it up for convenient pick up at a later date. There's probably a bit over a cube there, mebbe a third of a cord or so.



There's also some branch material there that I'll use as part of our community bonfire in May that Cowgirl helps organise (and I build, douse in diesel and set fire to).



You can ride up front today, Limby. Just don't leak stuff on the seat.



On the way out, I chucked the last blocks that I cut in late November from the blue gum in the back. The grass has died off a bit now which gave me a better look at and under it. It looks like I'll be able to get another couple of loads out of it which will be good dense stuff for burning in a couple of years time.

 

[svk]

Great photos!

 

[KiwiBro]

I'm confused. A magnum riding shotgun?

Looks like some figure went begging in that bluegum. Time for an alaskan chainsaw mill?

Too hot (34 hahaha) here for cutting. The apprentice and I hit the water before sunrise, caught a few dozen Kahawai, and were back in time to witness the holiday mayhem unfolding at the boat ramp that was so chocka a few city slickers had to turn that switchy box thingy on their control panels and off-road their 4x4 shopping trolleys onto the sand adjacent the boat ramp to launch their floating gin palaces. Been a while since I've seen such a congested, angry mob on the boat ramp and never before at that hour of the morning. A few more days and the bastards and bastardesses will fluck off home and leave the rest of us in peace for a wee while at least.

On the 500-second drive home we hatched a plan to sell these idjits livebait next public holiday. If we can't shoot 'em, might as well take their money.

 

[Cowboy254]

I'm confused. A magnum riding shotgun?

Looks like some figure went begging in that bluegum. Time for an alaskan chainsaw mill?

Too hot (34 hahaha) here for cutting. The apprentice and I hit the water before sunrise, caught a few dozen Kahawai, and were back in time to witness the holiday mayhem unfolding at the boat ramp that was so chocka a few city slickers had to turn that switchy box thingy on their control panels and off-road their 4x4 shopping trolleys onto the sand adjacent the boat ramp to launch their floating gin palaces. Been a while since I've seen such a congested, angry mob on the boat ramp and never before at that hour of the morning. A few more days and the bastards and bastardesses will fluck off home and leave the rest of us in peace for a wee while at least.

On the 500-second drive home we hatched a plan to sell these idjits livebait next public holiday. If we can't shoot 'em, might as well take their money.

Haha, that's gold, you've just thoroughly confused every North American on the thread. Luckily, I can speak two languages including Kiwi.

You're right, there would be some nice patterns in that log. But I'm short on time and equipment. And competence. And the slope that the log is on is a bit steeper than it looks so I'd have to push the mill all the way uphill with my front legs. I'll just turn it into BTUs. However, I have a mate who knows stuff about stuff and milled the cladding on the front of my shop. He also has about 500 acres.

Leave it with me.

 

[dancan]

All made perfect sense to me , I'm an Acadian , mixing and translating to English is second nature lol
All that talk of 35's to 45's and higher is just crazy , makes me glad to be a Northerners even though it was -14 C and a real stiff breeze today .
Keep on putting up pics so we can see how you Southerners get it done !
Kiwi , we get the same action up here at our boat ramps during the summer holidays .
Cowboy , the shotgun seat is on the wrong side lol

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[Cowboy254]

Missed the other bit @KiwiBro about the magnum in the front seat. There was blue gum going in the back and my chainsaw bag with all my other gear etc chucked across the kids seats behind me so I was running out of space. Limby got to ride in the front seat since he did so well, starting up first time and all. You'll note the rope in the last picture. If he failed me again, Limby was getting dragged home behind the car. Tough love in these parts.

 

[woodchip rookie]

Driving stick with the left hand. That's where I got lost....

 

[woodchip rookie]

I almost have all my wood split for next winter though. Hopefully I wont have to pull one single string on a saw this summer.

 

[square1]

...Still only a little crust of frozen dirt in the plowed field in the driest area. The wet area where I have 40 logs piled up is out of the question...

Ended up having to back the tractor & wood(s) trailer the length of a football field (should have made that trail wider!) when the front tires broke through the ice into what I know is immeasurably deep muck. There is something to be said for getting older and knowing your body can no longer pay the tab for indiscretions you without hesitation made in your youth

 

[rarefish383]

"indiscretions you without hesitation made in your youth" [/QUOTE]

Is that anything like, "If you have a question, ask your teenager, while they still know everything"? Joe.

 

[Wrenchbender16]

Cut a nice load of red oak all ready to burn dead standing .

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[Wrenchbender16]

G'day scroungers! Today was the day to get back into the groove and work off some Christmas flab that has still been hanging around. Overcast and cooler conditions today with rain coming. A look at the radar told me that I could probably get an hour of scrounging at the Lady Farm before I got rained out. Just as well because I only had 1 tank's worth of 2-stroke left.

Off I went and found a likely looking candidate. First rule of scrounging in Australia - assess for drop bears.

View attachment 556025

Drop bears negative. Second rule - pray that Limby starts. Set to Run. Deep breath. Pull. BANG! Two months off and Limby fires up first pull. Seconds later...

View attachment 556027

Limby powered through. The operator needed a breather or two. Sure, I could have used a smaller saw, but why use a smaller saw when you have a bigger one?

View attachment 556028

This peppermint was out on his own a bit with no other trees in the immediate vicinity which gave me hope that he was largely termite-free. And it virtually was, this wood is ready to burn and absolutely prime.

View attachment 556032

I didn't have the lady farmer's ute today so I just stacked it up for convenient pick up at a later date. There's probably a bit over a cube there, mebbe a third of a cord or so.

View attachment 556033

There's also some branch material there that I'll use as part of our community bonfire in May that Cowgirl helps organise (and I build, douse in diesel and set fire to).

View attachment 556035

You can ride up front today, Limby. Just don't leak stuff on the seat.

View attachment 556037

On the way out, I chucked the last blocks that I cut in late November from the blue gum in the back. The grass has died off a bit now which gave me a better look at and under it. It looks like I'll be able to get another couple of loads out of it which will be good dense stuff for burning in a couple of years time.

View attachment 556040

What are drop Bears


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[woodchip rookie]

I asked the same question a couple weeks ago. I had to google it.

 

[Shanen Mannies]

The down under snip or haint, I guessing...lol

 

[NormP]

A little bit of a different kind of scrounge:
Here in central Kentucky (the horse capital of the world) a large majority of the horse farms use oak planks for their fencing. Fortunately I have periodic access to one of the larger farms and recently notice they were putting up some new fencing. So I ran by after work one day and was able to load up a couple of pickup loads of the cutoffs, ranging between roughly 8 and 24 inches in length.
Some of it I'll split for kindling and the rest I'll burn as planks. Its very wet so it will need to season till next year. Here's a sample of it as I was unloading my last load:

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[KiwiBro]

I asked the same question a couple weeks ago. I had to google it.

Isolated from the rest of the world for at least 60 million years, NZ doesn't have drop (or any) bears. We didn't have any mammals at all, until man got here less than 800 years ago and ruined everything .