Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Cowboy254]

Except that it's Hickory. Mega BTU's

Ah, found it. 800kg/m, same as the peppermint I'm burning now. Nice.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Hinerman: That young man will remember that tree for the rest of his life. And by the time he is forty, the tree he remembered, will double again in size, and forever be up to his chest.
Probably the first time that house saw the summer sun in many, many years...

 

[Cowboy254]

This week I have mostly been cleaning up at the Lady Farm. There were masses of branches from the trees I cut - both for her and for me - that I felt I should clean up. So I've been burning all that stuff progressively and I'm just about done. The best bit though it that it has yielded some wood. I count this as proper scrounge because it is wood and trunks that I had cut previously and then partly forgotten about amongst all the rubbish. Today's trailer load is here but I have brought home somewhere between a few bits and a full trailer load each day. Some of this was blue gum that I cut a year ago along with peppermint from a tree I cut back in summer but never got around to completing. The Lady Farmer has been burning some of that peppermint as we had such a dry summer and autumn it was good to go in 5 months.



Over this week I reckon I have brought home maybe 3 cubes or a bit under a cord all up. Mostly peppermint and candlebark with a little blue gum. Can't complain since I'm only there on clean-up duty.



Tomorrow I'm helping out a mate who is a bit short on scrounge. He has a rubbish saw that has just died. A no name brand, husk-something I think he said. Just kidding, husky fans, it actually was some unknown brand, I don't think he even knows what it is.

 

[LondonNeil]

Ah good someone else you can focus your 'You need a bigger saw' encouragements towards

 

[JustJeff]

Ah good someone else you can focus your 'You need a bigger saw' encouragements towards

Speaking of bigger saws, we've yet to see a 038 video!

 

[MustangMike]

I was going to say the same thing!!!

 

[LondonNeil]

I've not had a chance to run it yet unfortunately , but hope to give it a good session next week sometime. I've been splitting and moving wood about and now have a rather large pile of 'Unsplittables' and a bit of a pile of 10" plus 'needs bucking' stuff so it'll get tested out. To keep the ms180 smiling I also have a growing pile of <9" 'needs bucking'. However since you guys tell me the big saw will RIP!! I want to get another load or 2 in, and give it more than a five minute run. Besides which I'm approaching the magic '3 years ahead point' for the first time and that is making me keen to get that extra couple of loads in. I bought my stove just a week or so less than 2 years ago and started scrounging straight away. got to 2 years CSS and another half a year's worth gathered by September last year, and I'm now back at that point or a little ahead...about 2.2 years CSS and another half a year gathered. Another 4 car loads and I'd have 3 years worth on hand, albeit with a bit of CSS'ing to do. running out of space to stack though!

 

[Cowboy254]

Ah good someone else you can focus your 'You need a bigger saw' encouragements towards

Haha! Luckily I have lots of encouragement to go around.

If you're running out of space to stack wood, just stack it higher.

(ps. you need a bigger saw )

 

[husqvarna257]

Today's scrounge went well. quick trip to get some 8' wood. I wish I had a better idea on how to get 8' logs out of the bed of my truck . Skid tongs on a chain make for a long day unloading loads. Tomorrow I need to get back to splitting it all up

 

[JustJeff]

My daughter kayaking in our backyard. So no scrounging or splitting going on. My wood pile is laying in water. It will eventually dry up but it's hard to wait it out. I splashed back there in my rubber boots today and run a tank through the 460 noodling up some rounds the splitter didn't like. I used the excuse of making chicken bedding, but really I've just been itching to run a saw.

 

[Cowboy254]

View attachment 588369 My daughter kayaking in our backyard. So no scrounging or splitting going on. My wood pile is laying in water. It will eventually dry up but it's hard to wait it out. I splashed back there in my rubber boots today and run a tank through the 460 noodling up some rounds the splitter didn't like. I used the excuse of making chicken bedding, but really I've just been itching to run a saw.

You know it's been wet when Miss Nazi can paddle a kayak in the backyard. Not scrounge conducive.

I have good scrounge pics to come, have to get phone to work to transfer across.

 

[Cowboy254]

Right, Cowboy's been on the job today. And then I went scrounging.

My mate Rossco is short on scrounge and I know a bloke that has a couple of non-puny saws. Today was rather pic heavy so I'm going to break it up into bits. Someone here once said they liked pics.

T'was a chilly one this morning.



While I was waiting for Ross, I took a picture of weeds covered in ice.



Shortly after, Rossco rocked up and we got to work. There were a few big blue gum rounds that I had cut previously and I suggested he get started on splitting those while I got cutting.



I had spied a recently fallen over peppermint that needed cutting.



When this one fell, it also took out another one that took out another one, a threefer! Time to get cracking.

 

[Cowboy254]

So, cracking I got. Here's some timber jack action for @Jeffkrib . The first round was a bit dodgy but after that it was fully solid dry peppermint.



A few seconds of Limby action later...



The 460 workhorse is still sporting the semi-chisel chain so I used it to cut through some of the dodgy bits where ground contact was a possibility.

I checked up on Rossco to see how he was going with the 6 rounds of blue gum splitting down below.



Not much progress. Blue gum is hard going most times. In the end he gave up and we flipped the rounds up into his trailer for him to deal with at a later date.

 

[Cowboy254]

So we loaded up his trailer with as much wood as we thought it could handle with the single axle plus what he could fit in the back of the Nissan and he took that home. Meanwhile, I went over to another part of the farm where there were some good looking fallen trees. There was this three headed peppermint that copped some treatment from the little saw (little wood -> little saw = the 460) then a bit of Limby action later.



After that was taken care of, there was this dead dry fallen blue gum to sort out. Can't use full chisel on this stuff because I have found that it (as well as carbide) gets destroyed, so the 460 with the semi-chisel chain was in action again.



After some small saw action, there was this.



We had to chuck the rounds down the hill to get them to the vehicles but when you have a helper, it's not so bad. Rossco driving off with the next load in the trailer plus the back of the Nissan filled up.



We also filled my trailer with more and there was some left over for the Lady Farmer who by that time had found out there was wood in the offing.

 

[Cowboy254]

So, by the end of the day, we had in blue gum and peppermint form, this...



plus what is still in Rossco's 8x5 foot trailer, plus what he had taken home in the back of the Nissan twice (short version - took two Nissan loads back to his current house and all the rest - below and above - to the house he is moving to in four days' time). Comfortably over four cubes all up.



So, after all that, it was time for some of this.



What a great day!

 

[husqvarna257]

View attachment 588369 My daughter kayaking in our backyard. So no scrounging or splitting going on. My wood pile is laying in water. It will eventually dry up but it's hard to wait it out. I splashed back there in my rubber boots today and run a tank through the 460 noodling up some rounds the splitter didn't like. I used the excuse of making chicken bedding, but really I've just been itching to run a saw.

Wow I thought my processing area was wet. Teach me to ***** about some mud.

 

[JustJeff]

Bit of a cowboy post what with all the pics, lol.Started the day working on the future scrounge wagon. Relocating axles and cleaning a few things up on the under side. Next project is this old stove I inherited from a family member. Sentimental old guy wanted the stove to stay in the family. So I am cleaning it up for a deck ornament. Finally to the scrounge. Father in law called and had a "limb" down, turned out to be half of the tree. Perfect sized job for the little craftsman which ate it up with its muffler mod and Stihl picco chain. Done enough for today so it's time to turn on the BBQ and crack a cold non alcoholic beer for the dry cook!

 

[husqvarna257]

spent 1 1/2 hours today splitting. It was in the 80's so I left it at that. My wife has taken over the stacking end of it, great help for me and speeds it up. She could not stand my tossing wood into a pile method of stacking. So now it's time to get the grill going for a nice T bone. Might have to add one or 2 Moose Heads to that.

 

[JustJeff]

My repurposed stove. Not a firewood scrounge, but this thing has burned many many cord in its lifetime.

 

[Hinerman]

"Here, just toss those rounds in the back for me, will you son"?

Those are a couple of nice loads. It still seems foreign to me to be burning fruit trees (or nut trees) as firewood. Is pecan good?

I sell most of the pecan to people who use it for cooking/smoking. I understand it is good firewood also...as previously stated.