Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[al-k]

That may be the best firewood tractor I have ever laid eyes on. Unbelievable. Yours or somebody else's? Either way, I am sick with envy.

That's my new toy at work, they replaced a old cat 960 last year. I have about 900 hours on it so far. I work at a bulky wast land fill.

 

[woodchip rookie]

Was it Honey Locust?

Dunno. I have been cutting mostly EAB the last 2yrs so if its not oak, ash, maple or pine I dont know what it is

 

[woodchip rookie]

Now there's a rookie error. You need to go to the @MustangMike school of scrounging where you've got bits of saws sticking out of all orifices (of the vehicle ).

I normally do. But this one time....however, even if I did bring more saws it wouldn't have mattered. The truck was full. The 550 cut a whole truckload on a 1 1/2 tanks.

 

[woodchip rookie]

And bring them guys a round of coffee for pulling the pile apart .

Yea I will have to do something. After I was there a while the guy I talked to the other day snuck up on me with an excavator. I had the saw running, the radio in the truck cranked with the doors open, theres equipment running all over the place, cant hear myself yell and hear what sounded like a Prius horn. I looked up and looked around and didnt see anything so I put the saw to the wood and soon as I touched the log I heard it again. I thought my 550 was honking at me. I stood up, turned around and there was a five foot wide excavator bucket in my face. You could have put a Prius inside the bucket. From the road you cant tell how big this equipment is. Till you're standing next to it. He saw that I was backing up to some logs he moved but they were all flat on the ground laying right next to each other and asked if it was good stuff or trash. GOOD! So he slid them apart like flicking a pile of matchsticks and I went to it. I looked over at the big five foot oaks and he had moved them apart when I had my back turned. SCORE!! I got home and told my 395 about it and it tried to pull its own rope.

"I'll be back......"

 

[woodchip rookie]

*SHOO*!...Glad I unloaded the truck and brought wood in last night. Winter blew in again this morning. I'm not cutting again today. After work I'm sitting on my tired azz and puting wood in the stove.

 

[woodchip rookie]

and is there an AS discount code for treestuff or any of the vendors? I just put $500 worth of stuff in my shopping cart at treestuff.

 

[rarefish383]

Good thing I brought wood up yesterday. I took the trash out at 5AM this morning and the drive way was clear. My daughter asked me to get her car down the drive at 7:45, it was a 1/4" layer of ice. I had to sweep up bark, twigs and sawdust around the wood pile on the porch to put on the steps to get to her car. She had salt in the trunk, or her car would have been trapped. Guess I'll go grind on my ax, Joe.

 

[chipper1]

And bring them guys a round of coffee for pulling the pile apart .

When guys do that stuff for me on a job i bring a cooler full of water pop and energy drinks as well as coffee (don't forget the hazelnut creamer ), and donuts or snacks depending on the time of day. I always encourage other who are having any other type of work done to do the same as spending 25-50 on goodies for the crew can get you a lot of work done that wouldn't normally happen.
My buddy just did this at his flip house last summer for the driveway paving crew and the tree guy , when I saw they were ready to put the huge skidsteer on the trailer I told him to mention the hump at the bottom they spent another 30 min taking it out, the guy on the skid was liking the energy drinks and water lol. I'd say he got and extra 150-200 in labor/equipment use and the way the driveway turned out to me would be more like a 1k difference and maybe more when selling it as it could be the biggest downfall selling the property.
Bringing goodies is good , and maybe some after hrs adult sodas as well .

 

[muddstopper]

Bring on the snacks and drinks, its amazing what a tired worker will bring to the table if you give them a cold drink and a little debbi. When I worked, I was always being asked for old xties and even the gravel we would crib out of road crossings. Had to be very careful what you gave away, who you gave it to , and who saw you do it. Let a little old lady come out and offer some sweet tea and a plate of home made cookies and she could get her driveway graveled, and maybe even paved, and all kind of old ties placed around her flower beds.

 

[Conquistador3]

https://www.arboristsite.com/community/forums/nursery.4/

Thanks but I suspect it's not the best of places to discuss the merits of the various kinds of birch available.

 

[rarefish383]

When guys do that stuff for me on a job i bring a cooler full of water pop and energy drinks as well as coffee (don't forget the hazelnut creamer ), and donuts or snacks depending on the time of day. I always encourage other who are having any other type of work done to do the same as spending 25-50 on goodies for the crew can get you a lot of work done that wouldn't normally happen.
My buddy just did this at his flip house last summer for the driveway paving crew and the tree guy , when I saw they were ready to put the huge skidsteer on the trailer I told him to mention the hump at the bottom they spent another 30 min taking it out, the guy on the skid was liking the energy drinks and water lol. I'd say he got and extra 150-200 in labor/equipment use and the way the driveway turned out to me would be more like a 1k difference and maybe more when selling it as it could be the biggest downfall selling the property.
Bringing goodies is good , and maybe some after hrs adult sodas as well .

Being nice to a work crew is always a good thing. But, remember, that if I send a guy and truck to your place with a free load of wood, and it takes him an hour longer to get back on the job site, because he was chatting while he had a couple 50 cent donuts and a dollar cup of coffee, while tying up $500 dollars per hour of my other men, you just cost that guy his job. If you slip him $50 bucks to do some extra stuff "while he's tying up a crew" he's definitely gone. We always preferred people showed their appreciation with cash, a soda, and send them down the road. We also let our guys use company equipment on the way home, or if they were top climbers we trusted, on weekends doing their own side work, under our license. My Dad was very generous with his guys. If they got in 3 hours late with another truck load of chips and wood, he let them keep all the money, and expected them to empty the trucks on their time, and he expected them to tell him how much time they used. He wasn't going to pay them time and a half to do their side job. It's funny how differently the owner of a company looks at $50 and a couple hours. They don't usually go into business, just to go out of business, because the people they supply a job to steal time and material from them, Joe.

 

[svk]

I know this is the place where we fell, cut up and burn trees but does anyone know a forum where the opposite happens, meaning people talk about nurseries and planting?

Long story short, I am rearranging the garden and while I have a highly trusted supplier of perennials and shrubs, I will need some trees as well. Nursery prices around here are horrifying and to make matters worse all trees I've seen have clear ballroot issues (sat too long in the container) so I've decided to "grow" my own. I've found a forestry nursery which will gladly supply me as many 2-5 years old saplings as I want for spare change and several sources of cheap nursery containers. I can make my own potting compost and trees can grow until they are ready to plant near the vegetable garden so I am all set there.

What I need is some help in choosing trees: I am well conversant about bushes and perennials but I may need some help in choosing the tall woody things as I have a tendency of chopping them up and burning them instead of growing them.

I really don't know if some place like that exists. It may? Maybe there's a forum or Facebook group dedicated to orchards or tree nurserys that may be able to help you.

 

[farmer steve]

Thanks but I suspect it's not the best of places to discuss the merits of the various kinds of birch available.

Is birch kinda like spruce?

 

[cantoo]

I run construction crews and if the owner shows up with alcohol I take them aside and explain the realities of drinking and driving. Bring coffee donuts or whatever but discuss it with the boss first. Rarefish is right and I have disiplined guys who should know better. We had a worker borrow a company truck to move, he got caught in a ride program an hour later and blew 3 times over the limit. Truck got impounded, guy lost his job and the Supervisor who let him use the truck no longer works for us. He didn't get fired but work suddenly got difficult and he found a new job. I don't drink so it's easy for me to say no. Coffee and cool drinks are a better idea.

 

[chipper1]

Being nice to a work crew is always a good thing. But, remember, that if I send a guy and truck to your place with a free load of wood, and it takes him an hour longer to get back on the job site, because he was chatting while he had a couple 50 cent donuts and a dollar cup of coffee, while tying up $500 dollars per hour of my other men, you just cost that guy his job. If you slip him $50 bucks to do some extra stuff "while he's tying up a crew" he's definitely gone. We always preferred people showed their appreciation with cash, a soda, and send them down the road. We also let our guys use company equipment on the way home, or if they were top climbers we trusted, on weekends doing their own side work, under our license. My Dad was very generous with his guys. If they got in 3 hours late with another truck load of chips and wood, he let them keep all the money, and expected them to empty the trucks on their time, and he expected them to tell him how much time they used. He wasn't going to pay them time and a half to do their side job. It's funny how differently the owner of a company looks at $50 and a couple hours. They don't usually go into business, just to go out of business, because the people they supply a job to steal time and material from them, Joe.

Sounds like you're dad was a great guy to work for.
Having owned multiple businesses a still owning one I get exactly what you're saying and agree. Having a business I think like an employee as well as an employer and I wouldn't want someone taking money to do extras while I was paying them unless I was getting a cut .
That being said a happy customer adds to the bottom line, and customer service goes a long way in getting repeat customers as well as references.
I was at his place on the day this was happening and had told him to have the cooler full of goodies both for them and me lol. I was taking care of cleaning up a couple trees I had taken down(one was on the drive). When they arrived I asked what their plan of attack was and how we could help since i had my little Kubota there, and he said we got it. Well the drive was previously all fist sized rocks and as he was trying to get the grade set they were constantly popping up. I told my buddy stay out of their way and where he can always see you and we'll get all those picked up. Every time he backed down the drive we would gather as many as we could before he came back up. He was very grateful and I'm sure that also helped as far as getting him to take the hump out at the bottom of the drive.
I try not to be the guy making demands without giving what they need to get the job done and some positive encouragement as well, it goes a long way as far as making everyone happy.

Bring on the snacks and drinks, its amazing what a tired worker will bring to the table if you give them a cold drink and a little debbi. When I worked, I was always being asked for old xties and even the gravel we would crib out of road crossings. Had to be very careful what you gave away, who you gave it to , and who saw you do it. Let a little old lady come out and offer some sweet tea and a plate of home made cookies and she could get her driveway graveled, and maybe even paved, and all kind of old ties placed around her flower beds.

Mental note, buy tea, i always have cookies laying around .

 

[muddstopper]

Being nice to a work crew is always a good thing. But, remember, that if I send a guy and truck to your place with a free load of wood, and it takes him an hour longer to get back on the job site, because he was chatting while he had a couple 50 cent donuts and a dollar cup of coffee, while tying up $500 dollars per hour of my other men, you just cost that guy his job. If you slip him $50 bucks to do some extra stuff "while he's tying up a crew" he's definitely gone. We always preferred people showed their appreciation with cash, a soda, and send them down the road. We also let our guys use company equipment on the way home, or if they were top climbers we trusted, on weekends doing their own side work, under our license. My Dad was very generous with his guys. If they got in 3 hours late with another truck load of chips and wood, he let them keep all the money, and expected them to empty the trucks on their time, and he expected them to tell him how much time they used. He wasn't going to pay them time and a half to do their side job. It's funny how differently the owner of a company looks at $50 and a couple hours. They don't usually go into business, just to go out of business, because the people they supply a job to steal time and material from them, Joe.

Yep, thats why I said you had to watch what you gave, what you got and who was watching. Railroad work is covered by a lot of different rules and regulation than lots of other jobs. Someone ask for used cross ties, you give them to him, he takes them and makes a flower bed next to a creek and the creosote leaches into the water. Then the epa gets involved, Company pays fines and the person giving away the xtie gets fired, and possibly held liable for the cost of cleanup. Railroad sells the ties to a large contractor. Contractor hauls truckloads of used ties and resales them to Lowes, Home depot. Lowes and home depot sells ties to customer and they place the ties close to a creek and creosote leaches into the water. Now the homeowner is responsible for the cleanup. Same ties, same homowner, same contamination, only the blame gets shifted.

 

[chipper1]

I run construction crews and if the owner shows up with alcohol I take them aside and explain the realities of drinking and driving. Bring coffee donuts or whatever but discuss it with the boss first. Rarefish is right and I have disiplined guys who should know better. We had a worker borrow a company truck to move, he got caught in a ride program an hour later and blew 3 times over the limit. Truck got impounded, guy lost his job and the Supervisor who let him use the truck no longer works for us. He didn't get fired but work suddenly got difficult and he found a new job. I don't drink so it's easy for me to say no. Coffee and cool drinks are a better idea.

I here you.
I certainly wasn't saying to send a drunk crew out on the road in a company truck , but can see how it could sound that way. I've worked with a lot of crews who were sub sub contractors and have cooked up BBQ and they've hung out for a long time after the job was finished, they we're not hourly employees. If I would have known you back when you were working just north of my place I would have done that for you .
I'm not much of a drinker as i drove truck for so long and with the hrs you end up working there's usually only a couple hrs stretch you could drink anything, and even then it wouldn't be much because of the laws for a CDL driver. Now days with my diet I don't do any complex carbs, so it doesn't really allow for any drinking anyway. I think the last time I drank was about 7 yrs ago out fishing, there was no water so I drank a couple beers my wife was like , I was like I'm thirsty lol.

 

[rarefish383]

Dad wasn't the average employer. He bent over backwards to help his guys. He wouldn't let anybody take a truck. But if you were a top man, that had been with us a few years, he'd let you take a whole crew out on a Saturday and do your side job under our license and insurance. You just had to bring all the equipment back ready for work on Monday morning, trucks empty, saws sharp. If he was off the job site and a neighbor grabbed the crew leader and asked for a price on something, he'd call Dad. "Hey boss, the neighbor wants their chimney cleared, told them $200 while we are here, can get it done in an hour." Dad might tell him if they wanted to work through lunch, do it. Keep $100 for the crew leader, give his rope man $50, and $25 for the two groundies. Then get on the next job ASAP. Or, he may say tell the customer we'll do it for that price next time in the neighborhood, we have to get this next job today. For his system to work, everyone had to be honest. The first time a crew leader tried to do a side job while on the clock, keep the money and not tell him, the whole system went down the drain. I guess his insurance policy was I usually went with them and ran the ropes, so it wasn't quite as naive as it sounds. But he took care of his guys and expected them to take care of him, and they usually did, Joe.

 

[svk]

The honor system seemed to work better back in the old days. It seems guys have enough trouble keeping a crew now let alone trusting them to take discretion on their own.

 

[woodchip rookie]

The next time I get out there if the foreman is out there I'll try to get a schedule. They quit about dark. I'll bring a pile of pizzas.