Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

Wesspur
Rugged made
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Conquistador3 said:
Factor in the inevitable retail NG price hikes and you'll pay it back a year, a year and a half earlier than expected.
The beauty of firewood is it can be hoarded at the most convenient time and, if properly stored, will last years. NG by contrast cannot be hoarded. My grandfather had an LNG tank on the farm he filled when prices were low but that thing was a nightmare as far as maintenance and certifications went and I can only imagine things got much worse in the meantime. That's the reason he mostly used firewood.
Click to expand...
Market for NG is competitive. With colder weather like we are having in the NE more and more NG generators come on line to meet peak demands. The infrastructure can only handle so much before demand exceeds supply capability. Preference will be given to residential heating but at a higher price. With the closing of Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and eventual closure of Indian Point nuclear the demand for NG will increase more. I guess what I'm saying is firewood becomes easier to justify.

I've seen two propane deliveries across the street. It gave me a big smile.

Some local county temps last night.
FB_IMG_1514469269413.jpg

We got snow.
FB_IMG_1514404771520.jpg

My basement temp.
20171227_152611.jpg
 
MustangMike said:
The first time I really appreciated a synthetic stock was when I shot a friends 338 Win Mag at the range. The rifle was a fairly light weight Model 70, and being used to shooting my wood stock 300 Win Mag, I thought that lighter gun was going to punish me. But that fiberglass stock absorbed the recoil so well it almost felt like I was shooting a 243. I came very close to buying that gun from him, but he moved away before I pulled the trigger on that deal.

The fit and nice recoil pad on my Ruger Amer Rifle also results in a very pleasant to shoot gun.

After separating my shoulder while wrestling at college, shooting my 348 Winchester became very unpleasant. Before that, it never bothered me much.
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I have developed neck issues and heavy recoil guns tend to bother me. Seems to jar things out of whack with the recoil. Previously I never had any issues other than a sore shoulder.

Duck hunting in warm weather really does it because you are firing a good number of rounds. Glad I sold my 3.5" gun as those really punished you lol
 
Cowboy254 said:
How much is that new saw setting you back again? Free wood gets expensive after a while...with the new trailer and the new truck to haul it and the log jack and the fiskars and all the other stuff. And once the CAD kicks in....well you may as well not have started, since...

View attachment 621288

and CAD gets expensive as Cowgirl is starting to find out.

But if you just used electricity or gas, you couldn't post pics of your wood on the interweb. Well not here at least :laugh:.
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I might have to redo my math but I think I have a 3yr payback plan, and thats with 2 stoves in the basement and one in the garage.
 
What price per cord do you guys put on your scrounged wood? Even if you depreciate the cost of the saw over a couple hundred cords, the fuel/oil/chain/truck gas does need to be counted.

If I haul wood from the hunting cabin to home I think I am at about $35 per cord all in, and that doesn't count if I stop at the store along the way and spend 10 bucks on beef jerky and soda ;)
 
I don't worry too much but....
-Car fuel to collect wood and. 2 stroke fuel, less than 3 UK gallons per cord, so about £18
- less than a litre of bar oil, £5
- 60 ml or so of mix oil, £2
- a bit of chain wear, some other consumables accounting...£5

So under £35/ cord, okay that's more than I thought.....add a year to my payback calcs..... So I'm aiming at 6.
 
Iv never really looked at what it costs me to make fire wood. Are stove is near 20 years old so probly paid for its self a few times over. Figure I couldn't get into a new 60cc Stihl or Husky for the combined price of my 2 echo's. I'm so cheap I have to borrow saws from Steve when the wood gets to big. Hoping to fix that this year though. Pretty cheap but not free I guess.
 
Marshy said:
Market for NG is competitive. With colder weather like we are having in the NE more and more NG generators come on line to meet peak demands. The infrastructure can only handle so much before demand exceeds supply capability. Preference will be given to residential heating but at a higher price. With the closing of Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and eventual closure of Indian Point nuclear the demand for NG will increase more. I guess what I'm saying is firewood becomes easier to justify.

I've seen two propane deliveries across the street. It gave me a big smile.

Some local county temps last night.
View attachment 621344

We got snow.
View attachment 621345

My basement temp.
View attachment 621343
Click to expand...
A warm and fluffy 28°C here yesterday. Fishing is getting better, with bigger fish and longer fights. Worst problem this time of year are the phucking muppets in boats that haven't a clue or don't give a rats arse about other craft as they storm passed me and my 4" of freeboard while I'm fighting a fish and have little control over which way the bow/stern is pointing. Nearly been tipped out a few times now. Trailer (boat) trash. I wish they'd piss off back to whatever stacked urban shoebox they crawled out of.
 
Cowboy254 said:
and CAD gets expensive as Cowgirl is starting to find out.
Click to expand...
Is this some cleverly constructed attempt to avoid the cognitive dissonance? A layer or two to avoid the guilt?
When Cowgirl buries that bar in wood and the saw doesn't complain, the wide smile will confirm your plan to enable an accomplice has been accomplished. Twice the CAD with half the guilt. Cunning bugger. She'll be taking the 'roo to town for new tyres soon.
 
When I first started heating my house by wood, it was out of necessity, in 1979 the Energy Crisis (resulting from Iranian revolution) tripled the price of fuel oil, so a $35 air tight kit for a 55 gal drum, and a Homelite Super 2 (14" bar) paid for itself almost immediately! There was no choice!

But once I started doing it, I did not want to stop. Part of it was just to maintain my independence regardless of price or energy blackouts.
 
I've found a good way to use my shorts! I get a lot of shorts as I collect from the tree service guy's pile and all the bigger diameter stuff is bucked up, often very short, 6" is not uncommon. With a small stove I'm burning 12-13" stuff, I can shove a couple of shorts end to end but sometimes they are just too big. However stove #2 is slightly narrower but slightly deeper. Taking only 10" splits I've been sorting shorts into one bag as I take from the pile and move these by the new stove. Now comes the good bit. 6" fits nicely north south! I like this as I can ram the tiny firebox utterly full and not fear a log-alanche hitting the door glass and cracking it. Even a ickle 5kW nominal (that's about 18000 Btu/hour I think) can throw serious heat when rammed, even just idling. I now like my shorts!
 

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