Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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Well I discovered the " JOY " of ash. Got a load of it and I had the splitting wedge come back out at me several times. It wasn't worth going back for the couple pieces that were huge I left behind, dulled my noodling chain by hitting some metal in the middle of a log.
Last night answered an ad for pine. A guy calls me back and it turns out to be my Manager from works neighbor. He tells me My boss is busy so he placed the ad for him. He lives004.JPG about 1.5 miles from me. I go there this morning and he is home, he helps me toss in some wood and tells me I can have all I want. 4 large pine trees 20" at the base on the ground
 
Well I discovered the " JOY " of ash. Got a load of it and I had the splitting wedge come back out at me several times. It wasn't worth going back for the couple pieces that were huge I left behind, dulled my noodling chain by hitting some metal in the middle of a log.
It is always interesting how ash can be the easiest wood or it can be the devil. I don't think any other wood can be more varied.
 
i load the back up fairly well... this is a mix of hawthorn an sycamore from a fortnight ago

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front does get used. and to be fair if i hadn't forgotten my bit of cardboard to protect the seat I'd have had more in here too

34293023650_89bfccaf6e_h.jpg
 
Maybe you should be packing more wood into Cowgirl! Lol.

:laughing: :laughing:

Not sure if you are serious or kidding here.

Nah, it's alright, I made that bit up.

Last weekend was the local bonfire that Cowgirl organises. I accumulated lots of stuff over time and ended up using 10 or 11 trailer loads for it. I had several more loads of poles left over that I didn't take down and might end up buzzing up for firewood.

Putting it together was a fun task that I did over a few days. A couple of loads of miscellaneous mostly dry wattle material and bark bits split off my firewood. Then a load of fully dry wattle sticks from the big rogue wattle I dropped a couple of months ago that was distributed around the edges.

3rd Jun 1.jpg

Then start piling up big fairly green bits of eucalypt on top, mostly swamp gum, some blue gum.

3rd Jun 5.jpg

That ended up in a teepee about 5 feet high that was the long burning core but I forgot to take a photo at that point.

Then 3 trailer loads of dry stuff, mostly bark split off from my firewood, dry grass and ferns packed around the core which got it up close to its final height. I also put about 10L of diesel in cardboard milk and juice cartons scattered in the structure at about head height. Then I had 16 small candlebarks and blue gums that I had planted three years ago but pulled out six months back because Cowgirl wanted her orchard to go there. Some had struggled and others had gone ok so they ranged from 3 feet to several metres high. All the leaves were dry and should give a good flare-up. I leaned these up against the stack - you can see some sticking out the top. Then arranged the poles around it to give a nice neat shape. This year's one was a bit wider but not quite as tall as last years bonfire. You can see one of the white milk cartons centre-right.

3rd Jun 4.jpg

Stack completed on Friday and then on Saturday at 5pm, 5L of diesel around the base and over the hidden gems hidden under the poles. Then light and up she goes. I didn't get the best pics as I was also tending to several Whipps firepits where kids were toasting marshmallows in the area behind where I took this pic. The cartons started to burn then dropped their diesel through the structure. :blob2:

3rd Jun 3.jpg

I took this pic just after midnight.

3rd Jun 2.jpg

I always find it interesting how the big bits in the middle haven't really burned. It had been going for 7 hours but with the hot air rising and air being sucked in from the sides, by the time the air gets to the middle there's not much oxygen left. People came and went a bit through the evening but we probably had 120-150 people all up. :)
 
i load the back up fairly well... this is a mix of hawthorn an sycamore from a fortnight ago

34677866445_121f925e6e_c.jpg


front does get used. and to be fair if i hadn't forgotten my bit of cardboard to protect the seat I'd have had more in here too

34293023650_89bfccaf6e_h.jpg

Great work, Neil! How does hawthorn burn?
 
I'll let you know in 2019 or 20 ;) I read its pretty good firewood so long as someone else has dealt with the thorns, which the tree surgeon had, I just had to sift the pile trying to select the straighter bits and not too much sycamore (that burns ok, but hawthorn supposedly better)

That car load may end up with my brother. its odd, im deep in suburban london, he is deep in the countryside, yet I'm ahead on the scrounging! I blame the heat pump he installed.....still, I've plenty to share
 
Now that's what I'm talkin about , Great scrounge loads and load haulers !!!!

I had a customer ask me if I wanted some spruce , he picked me up yesterday and took me over to his place , it's right on the Atlantic ocean in a sheltered cove , what a nice day it was and to get out of the shop after a week of Monday's with a week of full moons was worth the trip :)
It was a cord or better of nice sized spruce that I could mill .
Normally I'd jump on that but it would be a 3 hour round trip from home not including load time :(
I'm going to set a friend up that lives a lot closer that needs wood for this scrounge .

Mike , in highschool there was this girl that we knew , she was known as the "Pinto Chick" she had a Pinto stationwagon , there was more wood that went in the back of that stationwagon than you guys ever had lol
 
Well the kitty passed away this morning. He had quite a life considering everything and did great up until the last two weeks.

Got some solace in the woods by splitting up a half cord of aspen that I'll be trading to my welder friend for work he's done for me.
Sorry to hear. They really do become part of the family.
 
Well the kitty passed away this morning. He had quite a life considering everything and did great up until the last two weeks.

Got some solace in the woods by splitting up a half cord of aspen that I'll be trading to my welder friend for work he's done for me.

I'm very sorry to hear about Little One. I hope he was comfortable and drifted off peacefully.
 
It's a beautiful day weather wise here but I'm almost afraid to do anything else.

On the way back to the cabin this afternoon I witnessed a car/bicycle accident involving a young man maybe 10-12 years old. He was banged up pretty bad but was conscious and moving when I last saw him before he was put on the stretcher. I can only say a prayer and wish the best to him and his family as well as the driver of the vehicle.
 
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Another load of free btu's. It's, gulp, willow. Long story but my wife's friend from work who's husband died last year had this massive tree taken down and wanted the wood gone. So I got dragged 40 minutes over there so assess if I could drop a few other trees for her. I'll probably wind up doing it more as a favor than for the wood. Either way a free btu is a free btu I guess.
 
I am, however, out of "campfire" wood. Had a bunch of poplar. So the willow will work just fine for that. Seems to split pretty easy too. I split about a cord of ash, maple and a couple pieces of willow by hand tonight just because it was cool out and it felt good to swing the maul.
 

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