Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[chipper1]

My Monday's going great, it's 1.30pm and I've already knocked off from work .

Yeah, I tap out the filters fairly often (well when I remember). Dry blue gum is the hardest in my immediate area and is hard on chains - it's twice as hard as white oak. I broke a number of carbide chain cutters off and put backward pointing burrs on full chisel chains cutting that stuff and there are a number of species around in other parts that are harder again. Changing to semi-chisel certainly solved the damage problem but is slow going and you're soon producing sawdust as much as chips so it does clog the filter faster, no question. No such trouble when it's green. The other local species also dust up the filters when dry but without the chain damage.

Never had a problem with the oilers. TBH, I rarely actually check, other than noting that it uses 3/4 tank of bar oil for every tank of 2-stroke.

Always nice to get off a little early .
I figured you would have some problems with filters.
Do you have the maxflow on limby.

 

[chipper1]

Haven't done much cutting lately but threw some chips from a standing dead aspen behind my cabin a few days ago.

Cutting on a hill that is mostly sugar sand but I was able to locate a rock after about a tank full of fuel.

View attachment 592599

Howdy Steve.
That chain looks like harvester chain on my computer.
I went to take a stump down flush yesterday and fortunately I saw the small chunk of concrete, got lucky on that one.
I also scrounged a nice load for @dancan , scrounging at it's finest, made a bunch of cash on it.
The "big" rounds are a buried in the brush.

 

[svk]

It was just a little round rock the size of a flattened softball. I figured out it must have been pulled out of the sand by an uprooted tree long ago judging by the hole in the ground and was right underneath the aspen I was cutting. Oh well.

 

[chipper1]

It was just a little round rock the size of a flattened softball. I figured out it must have been pulled out of the sand by an uprooted tree long ago judging by the hole in the ground and was right underneath the aspen I was cutting. Oh well.

That's exactly what happened with this piece of concrete, this was all from 3 trees that were tipped over in a storm we had a couple weeks ago.
As was mentioned before you can just file out a couple teeth and it will not have much effect on the overall performance of the chain for a work chain, just adjust the rakers accordingly. I sharpen the rest on the finder and mark all the ones that need extra taken off, then hit those last rather than taking that much off of all the teeth(as @Philbert was saying). They end up doing a little less work and will end up being the same length by the time I do 3 or 4 more grindings on them.

 

[svk]

That's exactly what happened with this piece of concrete, this was all from 3 trees that were tipped over in a storm we had a couple weeks ago.
As was mentioned before you can just file out a couple teeth and it will not have much effect on the overall performance of the chain for a work chain, just adjust the rakers accordingly. I sharpen the rest on the finder and mark all the ones that need extra taken off, then hit those last rather than taking that much off of all the teeth(as @Philbert was saying). They end up doing a little less work and will end up being the same length by the time I do 3 or 4 more grindings on them.

I hear you. I was going to have this one squared anyhow.

The fellow by my cabin that did my chains for years has retired and his nephew doesn't do a good job. I am planning to pick up a grinder soon enough but need to clean out my shop first. I had the shop cleaned (work bench was still buried with crap but then when we put all the bicycles in there I can barely walk through. Need to clean out the pole barn and park the bikes in there.

 

[MustangMike]

If you are doing round, those little hand held 12V with a diamond stone work great, no room needed!

 

[svk]

I see enough of the regular bench grinders come up for reasonable that I'll probably just grab one of those. Then I have my square chains that I can use the file as long as I don't bung them up like this.

I find I rock chains with the big saws significantly more often than with the smaller and medium sized ones due the the longer bar and less maneuverability.

 

[chipper1]

I would not recommend running a square grind for flush cutting stumps myself. Semi chisel or full is what I use depending on how dirty the job is. Many times I end up sharpening at least once as many folks want them "as low as you can get them for the cheapest cost", and I give them what they want . Good files sure do go a long way on those jobs lol.

 

[dancan]

Hmmm , kinda looks like fir ,,,, Heck , I'd burn it , it's gotta be better than pallets

I like my 14" bar on the 241 , chains are cheap , I'll toss them if rocked too bad and not cry about it .

 

[svk]

I would not recommend running a square grind for flush cutting stumps myself. Semi chisel or full is what I use depending on how dirty the job is. Many times I end up sharpening at least once as many folks want them "as low as you can get them for the cheapest cost", and I give them what they want . Good files sure do go a long way on those jobs lol.

This was just bucking a laid down log. I use whatever junk chain is laying around for stumping or if it's large I have a semi chisel for my 28" bar that gets the call.

 

[JustJeff]

Momma Robin was giving me heck for being too close to her babies as I stacked some of my scrounge. 8 more racks like this to go but they will have to wait. It's warm enough that I'm done for tonight.

 

[MustangMike]

I think my bike riding buddies are trying to kill me, or at least test me. We did 48 miles tonight. I survived it, but I'm kinda shot now!

I'm the oldest in the group, and have the least ride time this year (something about splitting and stacking wood).

But hey, I survived it! The first half of the ride was pretty fast, at about a 17 MPH pace, so I asked them to back it off a bit on the second half so I would survive it. I initially thought we were doing about 30 miles.

 

[woodchip rookie]

I cant even imagine doing 48mi on a bicycle

 

[Cowboy254]

Always nice to get off a little early .
I figured you would have some problems with filters.
Do you have the maxflow on limby.

Nah, Limby's bog standard. I'll keep him that way until the warranty expires then we'll see. In the case of the filter it's not a big drama as it is.

Not sure about you blokes but sometimes I reckon burning your way through your stash is like a trip down memory lane. These four larger pale rounds were from a fallen mountain ash (e.regnans) that I cut three years ago. The tallest hardwood in the world is a mountain ash down in Tasmania which is 101m tall and a lazy 4.05m or 160 inches in diameter. It's a lightweight hardwood that is easy to cut and very easy to split. Not much ash in it either so it scores about a 5 on Cowboy's Firewood Desirability Index (TM).



Not sure if it will fit in the firebox in one go but we'll find out soon enough.

 

[chipper1]

Nah, Limby's bog standard. I'll keep him that way until the warranty expires then we'll see. In the case of the filter it's not a big drama as it is.

Not sure about you blokes but sometimes I reckon burning your way through your stash is like a trip down memory lane. These four larger pale rounds were from a fallen mountain ash (e.regnans) that I cut three years ago. The tallest hardwood in the world is a mountain ash down in Tasmania which is 101m tall and a lazy 4.05m or 160 inches in diameter. It's a lightweight hardwood that is easy to cut and very easy to split. Not much ash in it either so it scores about a 5 on Cowboy's Firewood Desirability Index (TM).

View attachment 592963

Not sure if it will fit in the firebox in one go but we'll find out soon enough.

View attachment 592964

I was wondering because I've seen some videos that show how dirty they get vs the maxflow, it was pretty impressive what the maxflow was capable of.

I like going down that memory lane, especially if theres part of a notch or hinge in it .
Those rounds don't look very hard in comparison to the others, they actually look pretty soft, but looks can be deceiving and a picture even worse .
Looks at though if it doesn't fit you can just wack it with a fiscars and pop it would be good to go.
Has it been real cold there lately.

 

[chipper1]

Hmmm , kinda looks like fir ,,,, Heck , I'd burn it , it's gotta be better than pallets

I like my 14" bar on the 241 , chains are cheap , I'll toss them if rocked too bad and not cry about it .

I thought it was a spruce.
I burned that whole trailer load today minus a couple logs I threw off to the side that will get burned with some stumps I need to get rid of, my stump piles are getting a bit large and need to be gone. I did use two pallets to keep air in-between then branches, or the needles just pile up and won't burn well.
The 241 with a 14 is what I used on all of this except the stumps and the largest parts of the stem.
Not me, a 14" set up only takes a few minutes to sharpen, and not much longer if rocked(as long as I don't break the file lol). I have a grinder for 3/8, .325, and the rakers, but all my picco/lowpro is done by hand.

 

[dancan]

Hard to tell from the pics , flat needles or roundish ?

 

[Cowboy254]

Those rounds don't look very hard in comparison to the others, they actually look pretty soft, but looks can be deceiving and a picture even worse .
Looks at though if it doesn't fit you can just wack it with a fiscars and pop it would be good to go.
Has it been real cold there lately.

See, now you say that I had to go and look up my reference book . It has most useful Aussie species and some imported species that you'd find familiar which is good for comparison. Generally though, you don't actually hit mountain ash with an axe, you just glare at it and it falls apart. Let's see ...

Mountain ash: 12%MC density = 680kg/m , dry hardness = 4.9kN
Canada Douglas fir: 540kg/m, 3.0kN
Larch: 560kg/m, 3.7kN
Sugar maple: 740kg/m, 7.3kN
White oak: 750kg/m, 6.0kN
CANADA BLACK SPRUCE! 490kg/m, 2.4kN (There's all sorts of stuff in this book, I love it)

So yes, pretty soft - in fact one of the softest eucalypts. Understandable I suppose when it grows in the 500m-1000m altitudes, not too hot, not too cold and lots and lots of rainfall. We did find though a few years back that big rounds in the heater would last overnight without needing kindling to get it going again in the morning - just. Splits would burn out. I haven't cut any of this since I had farm access and could cut better stuff, but I might be back to scrounging ash again in a couple of year's time.

Temps have been down to -3C overnight and up to 8C during the day, depending on the day. It's cold enough when your house has cr@p insulation.

 

[Jeffkrib]

Mustang Mike
Sometimes its best to be the slowest in the pack means your not taking it easy. That's a respectable distance and average speed.

Cowboy
Was wondering if Mountain ash will last through the night. I've burnt thin skirting board type stuff and it burnt fast like pine will minimal hot coals. Often wondered if large pieces would be decent.

 

[Cowboy254]

Cowboy
Was wondering if Mountain ash will last through the night. I've burnt thin skirting board type stuff and it burnt fast like pine will minimal hot coals. Often wondered if large pieces would be decent.

Yeah, you have to put chunks as big as can fit in there to get it to last. The same volume in splits burns away much more quickly due to the significantly higher surface area for combustion.