Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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Sounds like I need one of those log jacks, if you can lift enough log to get 10 cuts out of that size wood then has some decent lifting capacity. I has seen them but didn't realise they were so solid. Where did you get yours from Cowboy?

I got mine from arbormaster.com.au . Yeah, it is pretty robust. Its capacity is limited by the user more than anything else.
 
I've got a 4' piece of 2" electrical conduit (real tough stuff) that I slide over the end of the Timber Jack handle (bell side first). When you squat down and get your shoulder under it, you can move a heck of a big piece of wood. It is how I got this thing off the ground (by myself) to make some test cuts.
 

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I've got a 4' piece of 2" electrical conduit (real tough stuff) that I slide over the end of the Timber Jack handle (bell side first). When you squat down and get your shoulder under it, you can move a heck of a big piece of wood. It is how I got this thing off the ground (by myself) to make some test cuts.

Thanks for sharing. I move big logs around by hand often with mine. I wish I wouldve thought about the cheater bar idea a few weeks ago when I met my match though not in a big oak or black locust.. but a poplar that was only 10-12' long and maybe 15" in diameter if that! A big pine tree had been dropped on it months ago on a friends property and it was driven down in the mud of his garden. I cut it shorter and shorter and tried and tried to get that thing out of there (and save my chain). Ended up spraining both shoulders. Eventually I did get it out.. and found out that besides being suctioned to the 8-10" deep mud .. that the sucker had a big limb perfectly hidden that was angled down into the mud several feet and was holding the log from rolling. I was digging deeper around the log with a shovel when i hit the limb. Cut that sucker and out she came!
 
The Lady Farmer came out with me and loaded up and carted back to the house as I cut and split. I surreptitiously took pics here and there so she didn't see me doing it. I doubt that chicks really understand why real men need to post photos of wood they have cut on the interwebs so I didn't get pics of all the wood I cut

I was out there for about two hours all up. The downed trees were more suitable for the workhorse 460 so nearly two tanks through him and half a tank through Limby. Would have cut about 2.5 cubes, I imagine. I'll probably head out tomorrow to cut some more.

Nice haul! Gotta like the car as well. My truck is a turbo diesel so I am always keeping an eye out for any diesel cars made here in the US.

:)

I could not live w/o my Timber Jack, but I also don't have any heavy equipment. I even put a tube on the end of the handle when I need more leverage to move big stuff (like 40"+ diameter Oak logs).

My timber jack has gone missing. I think I left it out and it's over gown in weeds. I can really get annoyed at myself for that. Argh. Tractor works great in my processing area but is no help when I go out to scrounge.
 
If you're on a budget and there's nothing local to be had look at the Huztl kits .
I have an 034 Super, nice saw , plenty of grunt especially since it's been tickled by pioneerguy600.
My only complaint with it is a minor one , the on/off switch is not guarded like the 036 series so when running the saw in thick brush it's easy to shut it off by the brush.
It was cool here yesterday, wind ,rain and 50° so I threw some paper and splitter trash in the furnace [emoji38]
 
TBH I've kind of resisted asking for views/ideas here as I know you'll all encourage me and really I know I don't need a bigger saw, its just this ****** ash which is a bit bigger and problematic!

OK, situation as you know is I get my wood from a nearby tree guy. The ash I've been battling came from another source and I won't use that again. What I get from the usual source is all clean, and if its big diameter rings (I've had upto about 24" oak) he has already ringed it short (shorter than I'd ring it myself) so the saw only comes out to buck smaller diameter stuff. The largest I deal with is normally about 12 to 14" and the ms180 copes fine. Things get more painful when i get a super knotty bit. These get put to one side and then as the pile grows i get the saw out and cut them up, and but the ms180 copes and (Ash aside) its only a few pieces a year so slow cutting isn't so bad...but the Ash has been more work and that makes me think about a bigger saw. Hence the idle browsing of ebay. I did consider a new but cheaper saw and you may have seen me asking questions about the mccolloch version of the poulan pro 5020 over in the 'saw forum. We don't get poulan here but do get muccolloch. however it isn't a strong or supported brand here so I've gone cold on that. Instead I've started to look for a second hand stihl capable of pulling an 18" bar ok. Not knowing the saws well my research is watch ebay, see what the different saws go for and check the specs. I've seen 034 go as low as £85 up to about £250+ with little reasoning regarding condition that i could see. I suspect it was more down to location and the vagaries of ebay auctions. I started looking at , 034s,034AV Supers, ms340s, and moved to browse bigger saws like 036s and 038s just to see if they were cheaper through some weird quirk. Even looked at some 440s. As far as I can tell there is a leap in price for the 440/044 but the 038s aren't much more than the 034s, I'm watching a user refurbished 038AVS with a buy it now of £266 after postage (seller says new seals and gaskets, piston and pot in good condition, excellent compression and photos appear to back that up). My gut says that is a bargain, but my head says i don't need it so I've not hit 'buy it now'. Awkwardly I don't have the time for project saw yet don't want to risk more cash on an ebay purchase where I can't check the saw out myself before bidding.

Dancan do you have a Hutzl/Famertec saw? I came across the kits on ebay and although it seems naughty with 660 kits at about 25% of the real item it looks interesting. I googled and found youtube reviews plus read the various threads in the saw forum on the 440 kits and other kits. Clearly there are both fans and haters. My intuition says the alloys and plastics won't be good quality, the qc won't be there, and unless you're lucky the saw won't last and could be a frustrating experience. However I'm still intrigued.

So currently I idly browse and I've put some pretty low ball bids in on a few 034/034avs saws, if i get lucky in a semi 'you suck!' kind of way then great, but in the meantime I use patience and the ms180 and watch the pile of ash go down...I've done 3/4 of it.
 
I purchased my first 044 almost 24 years ago, new. I remember thinking it was terribly expensive, but now I have no clue how much I paid for it.

I will tell you it was so head & shoulders better than my previous saws, that I never used them again, and that the 044 is still going strong, and still one of my favorite saws. So whatever I paid for it, it was well worth it.

I would not overlook a good running 440 even if the price seems a bit steep. It will likely last you about forever, and some simple "do at home" mods will make it scream. In fact, as I get older, I'm starting to prefer my 440 over my 044 due to the compression relief button.

If you get one let me know, and I'll be happy to provide you with information overload!

I remember going to the store to purchase the 044, and they DID NOT WANT TO SELL IT TO ME!!! (because I was not a tree pro). I asked the guy why he did not want to sell me the saw and he replied "because it cuts too fast". I responded "that is exactly what I need". At the time I had just purchased a truck load of logs that needed to be cut to firewood length (about 6-7 cord). Luckily, they sold me the saw.
 
I purchased my first 044 almost 24 years ago, new. I remember thinking it was terribly expensive, but now I have no clue how much I paid for it.

I will tell you it was so head & shoulders better than my previous saws, that I never used them again, and that the 044 is still going strong, and still one of my favorite saws. So whatever I paid for it, it was well worth it.

I would not overlook a good running 440 even if the price seems a bit steep. It will likely last you about forever, and some simple "do at home" mods will make it scream. In fact, as I get older, I'm starting to prefer my 440 over my 044 due to the compression relief button.

If you get one let me know, and I'll be happy to provide you with information overload!

I remember going to the store to purchase the 044, and they DID NOT WANT TO SELL IT TO ME!!! (because I was not a tree pro). I asked the guy why he did not want to sell me the saw and he replied "because it cuts too fast". I responded "that is exactly what I need". At the time I had just purchased a truck load of logs that needed to be cut to firewood length (about 6-7 cord). Luckily, they sold me the saw.

It cuts too fast? Riiiiiight. "Ok then mate, gimme a weak POS because I have so much time at my disposal that I can waste a full day on one lousy cube" :dumb:.
 
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