Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[KiwiBro]

If mixed species firewood sold for $450 a cord instead of $150 I sure could do it as a primary part time job. If I bust butt I can scrounge, process, split, and stack over a cord a day but that is hard work. I feel I could do a cord a day indefinitely without burning myself out. The only problem is I usually have about 20 cords of mental inventory so my scrounge would dry up in about a month and then I would have to buy wood. I guess it wouldn't be bad if I could be the logger as well.

There is money to be made as a small tract logger if a guy wants to do physical labor. All of the loggers in the area run big iron now and there is only one guy who will do smaller tracts and he is constantly booked out 3 years.

Yeap. That's the angle I'm chasing here - doing the little stuff the big boys don't want to do and that farmers/developers haven't the skill or motivation to tackle themselves. My spin on it is to, when/if funds allow, add as much value to the wood before it rolls out of the farm gates. Drop trees, split the firewood and burn the slash, debark and sort out the poles/post wood and mill the rest, and pressure treat the lumber/poles on-site with a mobile treatment plant. Farmers can use the wood themselves or sell it to their neighbours. It cuts the transport costs, which are significant here, out of the equation. That's the plan but costs $ and time and still not sure if worth it.

However, forestry being one of the most unsafe industries in NZ, there is all manner of anti-competitive legislation proposed to take smaller players out of business under the guise of safety. It happens in many industries unfortunately. They say it is to make things safer and get idjits out of the industry but they certainly don't mind targeting safe/good smaller competition in the clean sweep.

 

[nighthunter]

I'm 82 and as retired as it is possible to be. I'm out there every chance I get. Summertimes 4 days/wk minimum. I only work 3-4 hours day though, just go until I'm tired. Haul rounds and stack them to be split (manually) in the winter. I'm so far ahead that I should be good for 15 years if I don't cut another stick. I burn a lot of willow as I clean up old willow groves for farmers and I can't force myself to just pile and burn with the brush.

Temp now is mid 20s with no wind, been that way for over a week and naother week of it to go. Be out moving more willow into the porch as soon as I'm done here.

hey turnkey would you not be worried about the firewood rotting if it was cut now and left for 15+years or do you sell firewood

 

[KiwiBro]

an assistant I would't be tempted to murder with an axe after half an hour.

LOL. Good luck with that. The older I get, the less tolerant I become.

 

[woodchip rookie]

I'm so far ahead that I should be good for 15 years if I don't cut another stick.

15 years?! Does wood stay good that long?

 

[woodchip rookie]

With already having a big bike the Grom would be a good choice for shooting around town.

Problem with that is I don't live in town. I would either have to get on a 60mph highway for a ways or stop at a bagfull of traffic lights to get anywhere, but the Yamaha xt250 that I have also been looking at doesn't do much better on speed. From a practical standpoint though, a little dualsport serves more purpose than a street bike or minibike.

 

[Logger nate]

Ive been thinking awhile about this thread, i always wonder what we all do for a living. Im sure Farmer Steve is a farmer... But what type? Tomorrow ill be hunting a onion farm...

Started falling trees and running cat for my Dad when I was 16, went to work for local logging company running skidder at 18, couple years later started falling trees for the cat side then got into strip sawing for the line machines, did that for about 7 years (6 months cutting for helicopter). Moved to Alaska , worked for construction company mostly welding but ran equipment and drove truck too. After about 4 years started driving fuel truck and started a tree removal business with my buddy, 7 years later moved back to Idaho been driving fuel truck and part time tree work sense (10 years). Would have liked to stay with timber falling but I like to be home every night with a family, most cutting jobs you have to travel.

 

[JustJeff]

Before and after pics. Got my fill of 2 strokes today. New crank seals in my sons snowmobile engine. And him on the test run. Time to clean up, got tickets to a hockey game tonight!

 

[Cowboy254]

I'm a mechanic but the machines I work on talk back.

 

[James Miller]

Problem with that is I don't live in town. I would either have to get on a 60mph highway for a ways or stop at a bagfull of traffic lights to get anywhere, but the Yamaha xt250 that I have also been looking at doesn't do much better on speed. From a practical standpoint though, a little dualsport serves more purpose than a street bike or minibike.

Maybe you need something a little hotter then the 250. I'm thinking about a KTM 390 Duke but I saw this husky supermoto awhile back and thought maybe I could own a husqvarna .

 

[rarefish383]

The Briggs on my Huskee 22 ton died. Quit just like you turned the key off. I was on the verge of getting a Predator from HF. Just on a whim I took it by a friends small engine shop. He walked out with a wrench and tried the head bolts closest to the exhaust. He said they heat and cool at a little different rate than the rest of the head and often loosen and blow the head gasket. Sure enough they were loose. Told him to try a new head gasket. While he had the head off he saw a little piece of plastic holding the valve open. Turns out that Briggs, like every one now a days, uses as much plastic as they can in parts. The Intake manifold is plastic. The manifold is also made as a one size fits all of their small engines. The throat of the manifold is made to fit bigger engines, and as the engines get smaller, a little plastic insert goes in the throat to match the block. The little plastic insert broke and rattled around in my vales till it wedged the intake open. Purring like a kitten again. Now I have to wait for the four inches of snow we got today to melt so I can get over the hill to the wood pile. In MD, that means the snow will be gone by Monday, Joe.

 

[MechanicMatt]

Sadly no deer, but had a great time with the MustangManiac, oh I mean MustangMike. We got a bit of snow so I had to run to the dealership and hold down the fort. I'll be up tomorrow again before the sun rises, plowing this time instead of hunting...

So I'm the manager of the service department now, but for 15 years I turned wrenches. I saw the future, a worn broken down body and jumped on the chance to get in the office. Miraculously turned the department from a loss every year to the best profit maker the owners have. Imagine this, treat all your employees the way you expect to be treated and not like dirt, and guess what?? They'll bust their ***** and make the place a winner.

 

[svk]

When wife is away, on chainsaws we play.

Unfortunately I need a part or two for each so I'll need to pack them up again before she gets home from Texas.

 

[KiwiBro]

Driving tractor to jobs means on the first day I need a way to get home if leaving the tractor there. I've seen other rural contractors towing their cars/ute/truck with their tractor and some are even towing a trailer with the car/ute/truck they are towing with the tractor. Will be towing a trailer but don't want to be dragging any more than that. Was going to buy a little 50cc scooter to carry in the front forks of tractor. Don't need a motorbike license if under 50cc. But many of the rural roads are a bit sketchy for the wee biscuit wheel scooters I have seen. Then I found a NZ company doing 2WD electric farm bikes. These things can go just about anywhere and quite a few farmers here are replacing their quads with them.

Here's a link if anyone interested:
http://www.ubcobikes.com/

But the pricing killed it for me. At least twice the price of a 50cc scooter.

Some guys are hunting with 'em too. Can cover plenty of ground quickly, and silently.

 

[nomad_archer]

No way. I like runnin saws n stuff but after a whole day of scroungin I'm done for a couple days and want to do other stuff. I can just about scrounge enough wood for a whole winter in a week so I'm in no hurry. Not anymore anyway. The first year I scrounged I got all I could when I could. But now I'm atleast a year ahead so no hurry.

Wait until you get 5 ahead. See how motivated you are to get out on the splitter.

 

[flatbroke]

Scored a new spot today. Found a decent oak. 480 cd 24 inch bar getting after it today

 

[nomad_archer]

Second derail for the week. I finished up my season at farmer steve's. He saved a little magic for me this morning. At about 830 two doe came by and I shot the bigger of the two. To my surprise she was small and tender. We still gave her the full treatment, tractor ride and all. I was very fortunate this season. I am grateful for the opportunity (Thanks steve).

Little after hunting celebration. Family and hunting cabin tradition to do a shot after a successful hunt. I did 2 one for the deer and one for another safe successful season.

 

[muddstopper]

Butchered a couple of hogs yesterday while it was snowing. Put a pot of backbones and ribs on the wood stove this morning and ate them with cornbread and taters tonite. Must of snowed close to 6 inches while we where killing and scrapeing making it awful slick and muddy where we where working. Brought my cousins son home with me to see if he could kill a deer out behind the house. Turned into the road leading to my driveway and there stood a big doe. My neighbor was in his yard looking at the deer so I rolled down the window and told him we had a gun if we could shoot it. I knew the answer before I even asked, NO. I told him about the little 4pointer that was killed behind my house the day before and told him the boy with me is going to try and get one before dark. He sort of laughed and said there is 9 on the hill behind his trailer right now, he feeds them where he can see them out his window. I knew then the boy was screwed because those deer wouldnt leave the corn pile until it was gone and it would be dark before they made it up my way. I put him on the stand anyways and told him to hunt until dark or he got cold and the come on to the house. The boy surprised me, he made it until dark, but never saw a thing. It snowed all day, we ended up with 6 or 7 inches total, not a real good day to hunt or kill hogs.

 

[woodchip rookie]

Wait until you get 5 ahead. See how motivated you are to get out on the splitter.

I dont have a splitter

 

[chipper1]

Butchered a couple of hogs yesterday while it was snowing. Put a pot of backbones and ribs on the wood stove this morning and ate them with cornbread and taters tonite. Must of snowed close to 6 inches while we where killing and scrapeing making it awful slick and muddy where we where working. Brought my cousins son home with me to see if he could kill a deer out behind the house. Turned into the road leading to my driveway and there stood a big doe. My neighbor was in his yard looking at the deer so I rolled down the window and told him we had a gun if we could shoot it. I knew the answer before I even asked, NO. I told him about the little 4pointer that was killed behind my house the day before and told him the boy with me is going to try and get one before dark. He sort of laughed and said there is 9 on the hill behind his trailer right now, he feeds them where he can see them out his window. I knew then the boy was screwed because those deer wouldnt leave the corn pile until it was gone and it would be dark before they made it up my way. I put him on the stand anyways and told him to hunt until dark or he got cold and the come on to the house. The boy surprised me, he made it until dark, but never saw a thing. It snowed all day, we ended up with 6 or 7 inches total, not a real good day to hunt or kill hogs.

Time to get the flashlight and 22mag out.

 

[chipper1]

When wife is away, on chainsaws we play.

Unfortunately I need a part or two for each so I'll need to pack them up again before she gets home from Texas.
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I feel right at home looking at this picture, for various reasons .