Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[woodchip rookie]

Gonna be hard to keep the rink froze with a big ol' stove in there

 

[Philbert]

you got power sockets out in that forest Dancan?

. . . the lectric saw was just along for a photo op lol

How do you like it when you do use it?

I am generally a fan of electric saws; have not had the opportunity to run any of the STIHL models.

Philbert

 

[Cowboy254]

View attachment 583289 My son and I knocked out this pile while having a cup of coffee, taking turns swinging the maul. If willow splits this easy, I won't mind stuffing the stove twice as often. Lol. I might go get another load just for camping wood.

Actually, you raise an interesting point. Willow in our parts ranges from 350kg/cube to 450kg/cube, which is half of the eucalypts around me (and 1/3 of @Jeffkrib 's ironbark). But it is so easy to cut and splitting is a dream.

Pros: Easy to cut and split. No-one else wants it. Dries quickly.
Cons: Takes up twice the space for the BTUs. Won't last all night. If it is not close, the travel time and cost make it not worthwhile if you have to do twice as many trips for the BTUs.

I expect you could probably cut and split more BTU's worth of willow than you could of Grey box in the same time frame (if splitting by hand), simply because the grey box is so heavily interlocked it is serious work to split. If it is very close so that transportation is no big deal - and you have space to stack it - it might be worthwhile. You'd still need some heavy stuff to get through the cold nights though.

 

[dancan]

How do you like it when you do use it?

I am generally a fan of electric saws; have not had the opportunity to run any of the STIHL models.

Philbert

I have that one and a Makita electric , they both work well but I to me the Stihl feels a bit better in the hands .

 

[rarefish383]

DHT has their electric/battery in stock now and give AS members a discount.

 

[JustJeff]

Actually, you raise an interesting point. Willow in our parts ranges from 350kg/cube to 450kg/cube, which is half of the eucalypts around me (and 1/3 of @Jeffkrib 's ironbark). But it is so easy to cut and splitting is a dream.

Pros: Easy to cut and split. No-one else wants it. Dries quickly.
Cons: Takes up twice the space for the BTUs. Won't last all night. If it is not close, the travel time and cost make it not worthwhile if you have to do twice as many trips for the BTUs.

I expect you could probably cut and split more BTU's worth of willow than you could of Grey box in the same time frame (if splitting by hand), simply because the grey box is so heavily interlocked it is serious work to split. If it is very close so that transportation is no big deal - and you have space to stack it - it might be worthwhile. You'd still need some heavy stuff to get through the cold nights though.

I'm mostly doing a favor for a friend of my wife's who's husband passed last year. It's about 40 minutes away which is farther than I ever go for a scrounge. If I can't get to it in 20 minutes max, I usually pass. It splits like a dream though. I have a yard full of ash, elm and maple. The willow and pine will be my camping wood and I sometimes mix lesser woods in with my personal heating wood.

 

[svk]

Does your willow smell bad when burning? The stuff I've burned here smelled like urine when burned.

 

[Jeffkrib]

Yeah mate, that's my view. That's Mt Bogong there, the highest peak in Victoria. When you did the 3Peaks, the street to our place was about 1km before the turnoff to go over the Tawonga Gap.

There's a bit of work to do internally with the shed to get it how I want but I take the view that the quality is remembered after the cost and effort are forgotten. Mind you, I might need another one, this one seems to have been repurposed.

View attachment 583366

.

I thought that may be Bogong. I've actually walked up that hill and did the Bogong to Hotham walk. That was a long time ago when I was in Venturers. Very nice part of the world ......better than this big crappy city with all its traffic lights.

 

[Cowboy254]

Does your willow smell bad when burning? The stuff I've burned here smelled like urine when burned.

Dunno. I don't recall it being overly stinky. If I find any I'll burn it and see if I get any complaints from the neighbours.

 

[JustJeff]

Gee I don't know. I've never burned any I guess. I would imagine if it's dry it should be ok.

 

[Just a Guy that cuts wood]

Only scrounging last week was bugs on the windshields of the motorcycles
that makes 2 weekends without running a saw so I hope for good weather this weekend
I miss the smell of 2 stroke

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Found some six year old photos on a zip drive.
This barber chair was the result of a larger blow down. I cleaned the larger one up completely with a atv arch and trailer, and scattered the brush. Some of my previously posted arch pictures were of the stem of this one. The damaged tree remained in side tension from other live trees containing several dead limbs in their canopy. I walked away from it.
This impressive Oak blew down in the same storm. We had had several dry summers, and the trees that came down were mostly doubles. I had permission to cut deadfall for personal use for many years here, but it changed that summer. No one is allowed to cut anything, and this tree is still there.

 

[MustangMike]

What a shame, a lot of wasted BTU's there! Red Oak is one of the heaviest live trees in the woods, and when they come down, they can do real damage.

Several years ago, one fell on a house about 10 miles from here, and killed a teenage boy that lived there and his visiting friend. Very tragic.

 

[woodchip rookie]

Only scrounging last week was bugs on the windshields of the motorcycles
that makes 2 weekends without running a saw so I hope for good weather this weekend
I miss the smell of 2 stroke

I have ridden more the last month than I did the last 2 years. Was scrounging wood all last summer. Now its time to put some miles down now that the new powder coat is done...

 

[woodchip rookie]

The brush guard on the wood scrounger was pretty sandblasted since it had 120Kmi on it when I got it and it was a Texas truck so I took it over to powder coat.....originally black, now white. They match the truck and everybody has black. Now I dont look like everybody else.

 

[rarefish383]

On the electric/battery saws, my mower shop says he's been selling a lot of them. Forget what brand he has, I'll check. He said a couple pro tree services tried one and came back and bought more, and now word is getting around. He said one horse farm bought one, then came back and bought 3 more. Maybe the technology is finally catching up to gas saws. With all the regs on gas saws trying to kill them, batteries might be getting ready to take over, Joe.

 

[MustangMike]

I doubt the weight of a larger battery powered saw will let them take over from larger saws any time soon, but for small limbing saws, not having to start them should be a big plus.

If I'm limbing on a ladder, I like to use my reciprocating battery powered DeWalt.

 

[rarefish383]

I tried my Dewalt, trimming limbs over my hunting trailer. I was tied in with my climbing gear. I cut the limbs off to fireplace lengths and still had to under cut them to keep from slabbing down a little. With a chain saw I could flush them off and flip them out in the field. Even with the blade for cutting limbs it was too slow. I'm used to cutting stuff off fast enough it doesn't bend and slab down the tree. But for when I don't have a saw with me it worked great. I've also walked around cutting off pine saplings invading my hay fields so I wouldn't nick the ground and ruin a chain. I haven't picked up one of the new battery saws. The dealer said they were using them for limbing saws. Didn't ask if he meant on the ground or up a tree. I expect that one day we will be talking about the good old days of two stroke smoke. Don't miss the old two stroke out on the water, Joe.

 

[Philbert]

I have used my corded reciprocating saws (had a few different brands through the years) for trimming heavy shrubs - easier to reach in than with a hand saw, chain saw, lopper, etc. Prefer to use the pruning specific blades, which are now widely available for a few dollars.

Also like to use a more conventional pattern, coarse tooth, wood blade for cutting roots. Again, it gets to tight places, and is disposable, rather than dulling an axe or chain in the dirt.

A few month back I was responding to a tornado, and was clearing a large tree that had fallen on a large shed, smashing it, and covering up a bunch of lawn furniture, etc. Used a cordless recip saw to clear away a lot of the smaller branches, and the stuff close to the metal (that I could see!!!) before going in with the chainsaws. Then I started on the shed - did a lot of work with a single, carbide-tipped demolition blade ($20) at that location.

Philbert

 

[JustJeff]

Look boys, I got me a load!!