Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[greendohn]

Nice clean cuts. Looks like you know what you're doing with a chainsaw. My cuts are usually a little slanted down to the right lol.

How did your 1500 truck sit with all that wood?

Thanks, Ambullo1, crooked/slanted cuts are usually a dull chain from what I've read around here. I' m pretty fortunate in that I have an old Foley-Belsaw chain sharpener and I keep a few sharpened chains in the truck, 1st sign of a chain going dull, I swap it out and I dull a lot of 'em!! ( I have to strap and drag wood out quite a bit which makes for dirty wood)

How does the old truck sit??? LOL, I usually load him down close to the bump stops!! and ride him home real nice and slow down the back roads,,

 

[Ambull01]

Thanks, Ambullo1, crooked/slanted cuts are usually a dull chain from what I've read around here. I' m pretty fortunate in that I have an old Foley-Belsaw chain sharpener and I keep a few sharpened chains in the truck, 1st sign of a chain going dull, I swap it out and I dull a lot of 'em!! ( I have to strap and drag wood out quite a bit which makes for dirty wood)

How does the old truck sit??? LOL, I usually load him down close to the bump stops!! and ride him home real nice and slow down the back roads,,

Yeah, been reading that too. I find if I switch my hands (use my lefty as the trigger puller and right hand on top handle) my cuts are a lot straighter. That may or may not be a sign of unconsciously over compensating for a dull chain by pushing with my right hand I guess. I really need to stop over thinking this stuff.

I've never paid much attention to payload ratings on trucks until recently. The whole 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, etc ratings seem obsolete. I thought a 1 ton truck will be able to hold approximately 1 ton but I was mistaken. I've also been reading car manufactures try to fudge the payload by removing parts from the trucks before they are weighed to artificially increase the numbers. Seems a bit shady to me.

 

[greendohn]

I've never paid attention to payload ratings. Hacking firewood is all I use this truck for and never haul on anything but the back roads, long, slow easy acceleration and just putt-putt along nice and easy to get home. Long slow stops taking it easy on the brakes.
The old truck was a "Fleet Truck" and a buddy of mine claims it's a "heavy 1/2",,he tried to show me how the springs were bigger/heavier than the ones on his '96 Dodge,,I couldn't really see much difference, but mine does sit just a little taller than his when it's empty,,I dunno.

 

[zogger]

Yeah, been reading that too. I find if I switch my hands (use my lefty as the trigger puller and right hand on top handle) my cuts are a lot straighter. That may or may not be a sign of unconsciously over compensating for a dull chain by pushing with my right hand I guess. I really need to stop over thinking this stuff.

I've never paid much attention to payload ratings on trucks until recently. The whole 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, etc ratings seem obsolete. I thought a 1 ton truck will be able to hold approximately 1 ton but I was mistaken. I've also been reading car manufactures try to fudge the payload by removing parts from the trucks before they are weighed to artificially increase the numbers. Seems a bit shady to me.

I wouldn't do that swapping hands too much, a few exceptions but not many. You should never be able to look straight down the bar when running the saw. Keep your face out of the plane of a possible kick back swing.

I saw a big saw once bind in the kerf for a sec and kick back and out and just about cut the dude, he was too far over and staring down his cut.

 

[Ambull01]

I wouldn't do that swapping hands too much, a few exceptions but not many. You should never be able to look straight down the bar when running the saw. Keep your face out of the plane of a possible kick back swing.

I saw a big saw once bind in the kerf for a sec and kick back and out and just about cut the dude, he was too far over and staring down his cut.

You're right. I just did it a couple times to figure out why my cuts were slanting. They stay straight on small diameter stuff but slanted on the big poplars.

About not looking straight down the bar, I was doing that too lol. Thanks to this site, the USFS pdf docs, and the BC Faller site I stopped. I don't any part of my body directly behind the bar now.

 

[Ambull01]

You're right. I just did it a couple times to figure out why my cuts were slanting. They stay straight on small diameter stuff but slanted on the big poplars.

About not looking straight down the bar, I was doing that too lol. Thanks to this site, the USFS pdf docs, and the BC Faller site I stopped. I don't any part of my body directly behind the bar now.

Just figured out why the slants are more pronounced on bigger diameter wood lol. The bigger it is, the more pronounced it will be. Duh! More distance to travel hence a slight imperfection in direction is magnified. I'll get this stuff right sooner or later.

 

[wudpirat]

Time for the Oxford Woodpirate to rant
Before joining this site, I was fat, dumb and happy. Cutting my firewood with a Stihl 015. I purchased in '73.
Hauling it home in my Mazda p/u (overloaded of course) spliting with a axe and maul,
Now I have over a dozen running chainsaws, another dozen waiting to fix and parts saws.
Two Dakota p/u and a hydro splitter, two ATVs with trailers and a trailer to haul the ATVs.
Couple helmets w/face shields and muffs couple pair full wrap chaps, couple 100ft bulk chain and the breaker and spinner to assemble, Oregon chain clone chain grinder and enough files and gages to supply a good size shop.
Was at Lowes yesterday. Came home with a qt 40:1 mix, bottle of Husky oil, bar mounted file fixture and a moisture meter.
The file fixture was to replace the one I missplaced ten years ago and the MM to prove my old tried and true dryness tester.
I would take a fresh split, put it up to my cheek. If it felt warm, it was good to burn, it it felt cold, it was too wet and needed more time. How did I do?
A fresh split chunk of dry pine felt warm, MM said 10%. A split piece of red oak felt luke warm. MM said 19~20%.
Cost me $20 to find out I wasn't to far off.
The 40:1 premix goes into the just in case box, along with the extra chain, spark plug, bar oil scrench and wedges and a saw, to be determine by the nature of the emergency.
Before this site, I didn't know I needed all that gear. You guys are doing your best to keep me broke.
Rant over, back to fat dumb and happy.
CUL

 

[Ambull01]

Time for the Oxford Woodpirate to rant
Before joining this site, I was fat, dumb and happy. Cutting my firewood with a Stihl 015. I purchased in '73.
Hauling it home in my Mazda p/u (overloaded of course) spliting with a axe and maul,
Now I have over a dozen running chainsaws, another dozen waiting to fix and parts saws.
Two Dakota p/u and a hydro splitter, two ATVs with trailers and a trailer to haul the ATVs.
Couple helmets w/face shields and muffs couple pair full wrap chaps, couple 100ft bulk chain and the breaker and spinner to assemble, Oregon chain clone chain grinder and enough files and gages to supply a good size shop.
Was at Lowes yesterday. Came home with a qt 40:1 mix, bottle of Husky oil, bar mounted file fixture and a moisture meter.
The file fixture was to replace the one I missplaced ten years ago and the MM to prove my old tried and true dryness tester.
I would take a fresh split, put it up to my cheek. If it felt warm, it was good to burn, it it felt cold, it was too wet and needed more time. How did I do?
A fresh split chunk of dry pine felt warm, MM said 10%. A split piece of red oak felt luke warm. MM said 19~20%.
Cost me $20 to find out I wasn't to far off.
The 40:1 premix goes into the just in case box, along with the extra chain, spark plug, bar oil scrench and wedges and a saw, to be determine by the nature of the emergency.
Before this site, I didn't know I needed all that gear. You guys are doing your best to keep me broke.
Rant over, back to fat dumb and happy.
CUL

Just sounds like it took you a while to understand the American dream, that's all.

 

[zogger]

Time for the Oxford Woodpirate to rant
Before joining this site, I was fat, dumb and happy. Cutting my firewood with a Stihl 015. I purchased in '73.
Hauling it home in my Mazda p/u (overloaded of course) spliting with a axe and maul,
Now I have over a dozen running chainsaws, another dozen waiting to fix and parts saws.
Two Dakota p/u and a hydro splitter, two ATVs with trailers and a trailer to haul the ATVs.
Couple helmets w/face shields and muffs couple pair full wrap chaps, couple 100ft bulk chain and the breaker and spinner to assemble, Oregon chain clone chain grinder and enough files and gages to supply a good size shop.
Was at Lowes yesterday. Came home with a qt 40:1 mix, bottle of Husky oil, bar mounted file fixture and a moisture meter.
The file fixture was to replace the one I missplaced ten years ago and the MM to prove my old tried and true dryness tester.
I would take a fresh split, put it up to my cheek. If it felt warm, it was good to burn, it it felt cold, it was too wet and needed more time. How did I do?
A fresh split chunk of dry pine felt warm, MM said 10%. A split piece of red oak felt luke warm. MM said 19~20%.
Cost me $20 to find out I wasn't to far off.
The 40:1 premix goes into the just in case box, along with the extra chain, spark plug, bar oil scrench and wedges and a saw, to be determine by the nature of the emergency.
Before this site, I didn't know I needed all that gear. You guys are doing your best to keep me broke.
Rant over, back to fat dumb and happy.
CUL

skidsteer with a grapple...

 

[Circle B MN]

MN, that's an excellent score of firewood. Care to share how/why you happened to "be the guy" who received the e-mail from the home owner. Fellow scroungers always like to hear the details of a score of scrounged wood, especially one of that magnitude!View attachment 377699

Just a simple want ad on Craigslist. Some times you get a lot of hits, other times it's quite for weeks. Keep your ad fresh and be ready if you get a bite.

 

[MountainHigh]

Time for the Oxford Woodpirate to rant
Before joining this site, I was fat, dumb and happy. Cutting my firewood with a Stihl 015. I purchased in '73.
Hauling it home in my Mazda p/u (overloaded of course) spliting with a axe and maul,
Now I have over a dozen running chainsaws, another dozen waiting to fix and parts saws.
Two Dakota p/u and a hydro splitter, two ATVs with trailers and a trailer to haul the ATVs.
Couple helmets w/face shields and muffs couple pair full wrap chaps, couple 100ft bulk chain and the breaker and spinner to assemble, Oregon chain clone chain grinder and enough files and gages to supply a good size shop.
Was at Lowes yesterday. Came home with a qt 40:1 mix, bottle of Husky oil, bar mounted file fixture and a moisture meter.
The file fixture was to replace the one I missplaced ten years ago and the MM to prove my old tried and true dryness tester.
I would take a fresh split, put it up to my cheek. If it felt warm, it was good to burn, it it felt cold, it was too wet and needed more time. How did I do?
A fresh split chunk of dry pine felt warm, MM said 10%. A split piece of red oak felt luke warm. MM said 19~20%.
Cost me $20 to find out I wasn't to far off.
The 40:1 premix goes into the just in case box, along with the extra chain, spark plug, bar oil scrench and wedges and a saw, to be determine by the nature of the emergency.
Before this site, I didn't know I needed all that gear. You guys are doing your best to keep me broke.
Rant over, back to fat dumb and happy.
CUL

LOL - I can relate with the moisture tester - you use it once, realize you could read your wood as well as any machine, and into the pile of once thought useful stuff it goes, never to be seen again. Until one fine morning, your wife happens to have too many cups of coffee and goes on a cyclonic cleaning binge, figuring she has license to include your tool shed (ohhhh the horror), and after throwing your stuff into various neatly organized piles, that you unfortunately will never know where anything is again, her eagle eye spots the once buried little moisture meter ..... and in her cleaning frenzy she asks .... "can I use this to measure the turkey in the oven" ......

I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go

 

[dancan]

Glad to see some of us got a scrounge in [emoji106]

 

[Marine5068]

Work colleague of mine wants to remove a large two-trunk Shagbark Hickory tree and said I can have it all.
He wont be dropping the tree until next year and it's only 1/2 km from my place.
Looks like a good score.
I'll try to get a pic of it to post next time I'm out to his place.

 

[benp]

Thanks, Ambullo1, crooked/slanted cuts are usually a dull chain from what I've read around here. I' m pretty fortunate in that I have an old Foley-Belsaw chain sharpener and I keep a few sharpened chains in the truck, 1st sign of a chain going dull, I swap it out and I dull a lot of 'em!! ( I have to strap and drag wood out quite a bit which makes for dirty wood)

How does the old truck sit??? LOL, I usually load him down close to the bump stops!! and ride him home real nice and slow down the back roads,,

Or your beat and dove in non-perpendicular. I know someone quite well that's guilty of that.

I scrounged up another Sugar Maple top today. I noticed this one when setting up my deer blind last weekend and only 40 yards from the trail.

The 510 wanted to eat today. I took it in to clear my path for the wheeler and cart, got up to the tree, and started cutting. Next thing I knew, cutting was done. Gary Lazer Eyes 7900 did not even get un-scabbarded.

Fiskared and loaded. It split awesome! I was surprised. I only left a 4 foot piece that was straight punky.

This is some of my dead sugar maple top scrounge from the weekend that was across the trail. It's the gray wood. I wish I could find a whole tree like that 4 feet in diameter.

 

[benp]

Work colleague of mine wants to remove a large two-trunk Shagbark Hickory tree and said I can have it all.
He wont be dropping the tree until next year and it's only 1/2 km from my place.
Looks like a good score.
I'll try to get a pic of it to post next time I'm out to his place.

Shagbark Hickory in Canada? What?

DAMN!!!! That is awesome!!!!

I brought home a bunch of seeds from my folks place in KY and tried to grow them. Unfortunately my dumba*s didn't realize there were 5 steps of dealing with said seeds before burying them in the ground.

 

[Ambull01]

Why is everyone from MN or Canada in this thread?

 

[MountainHigh]

Why is everyone from MN or Canada in this thread?

The rest of them didn't pass the exam!

When asked how many digits they have on both their feet, they all said 10 !

Or maybe it was the tricky question about what to do if you get frost bite on the end of your D__k !

 

[svk]

All jokes aside there are only about 4-5 MN boys on here plus whitespider who is just south of the border. His family used to have a cabin in MN but not sure if we want to claim him as one of ours

 

[MountainHigh]

All jokes aside there are only about 4-5 MN boys on here plus whitespider who is just south of the border. His family used to have a cabin in MN but not sure if we want to claim him as one of ours

.... and if you go back some pages you'll see other posters from NY, Georgia, CT, Indiana etc. ... and of course Maine / Mainewoods started this nice thread.

 

[svk]

Seems like most people on here are either northeast or Midwest with a few southerners and Appalachia folks mixed in.

Not much from PNW except for, well nevermind.