Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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Always a better way. Got the rest of the wood today and didnt break a sweat. About a full cord of silver maple, a little locust, and one hickory. Said he had about 2 loads of highly valuable black Walnut, already bucked, and about 10 loads of white oak. Wish I could take that little log loader with me.
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Now that's my kind of scrounging :rock:.
 
The x27..... The only polarising controversial topic on the scrounge thread. I’ll have buy one and form my own opinion but cutting and splitting has been the last thing on my mind over the summer months.
Just rember when you first use it: It is NOT a one tool does everything. It does not replace the maul or wedge/sledge. It is a replacement for any ax you have ever used and it will do a lot of what you used to use a maul for.

When Manually splitting Black Locust, Willow, Maple, Oak, the x27 now does 80-90% of the work
 
Yes I know to check for the 'wheat stamp'

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISPM_15

If it's unmarked it has not gone international and must likely is untreated.

Most of what I've seen is unmarked, the few marked pallets have been HT.

It's funny because just this week I read there's yet another palm parasite on the loose in Southern Europe besides the long established Red palm weevil. As it spread from the lakes in Northern Italy it is yet another case of poor quarantine practices and/or untreated pallets being waved through: most of the imported pests in Europe, from Tiger mosquitoes to Chestnut gall wasps, got through the big custom warehouse near the Malpensa airport. From there to the Lombard lakes, with their mild climate helping first generation exotic bugs to survive, is but a short hop.
All of the stuff we get from Eastern Asia these days has absolutely, positively no wood in them. Whatever requires reinforcements usually has a light alloy structure covered in cardboard, but this has long been the practice with industrial machinery and components.
Consumer products... now those are a completely different animal. As long as proper custom duties are paid there's really no interest in checking pallets have been heat treated (the cheapest way to make them ISPM-15 compliant) or in quaranting them.
That explains both the Tiger mosquitoes and all the Stihl/Husqvarna clones...
 
I used to snatch pallets up quick when they were easy pickins. Especially the big shipping crates that had 2x3's in them or alot of slats close together. Easy to split into kindling and super dry. But somebody told me about heat treat chemical they put in the wood, and alot of the lumber has an "HT" stamp on it. I stopped picking up pallets. It burns funny and I thought it was just because it was pine, but none of the other softwood I have does that. Next year I will be sure to have alot of strait grain, easy-to-split something to make multiple 5gal buckets of kindling before winter so I'm not using that stankass weird burning pallet wood.
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Nice saw James:chainsaw:.
Thank you. I thought about it a lot and realised in the 12 years iv been helping her dad do fire wood or doing it my self I can count on 1 finger the times a saw bigger the the Del saw would be useful. I will get more use out of this then then a 70+cc saw.
 
Climbing goes against a lot of your natural instincts. Like you have to keep your butt out away from the tree. If you try to hug it and get your knees too close, it changes the angles of your gaffs and they will kick out and then you get bark rub all down your chest, arms and face. Be careful, climbing is more addictive than CAD. Once you get it in your blood, your hooked forever, Joe.
 
Thank you. I thought about it a lot and realised in the 12 years iv been helping her dad do fire wood or doing it my self I can count on 1 finger the times a saw bigger the the Del saw would be useful. I will get more use out of this then then a 70+cc saw.
I hear that.
I always tell guys, bigger saw, bigger wood, bugger back ache lol. Its easy to just say no if you don't have a big saw, and even if you have to cut up a big one you always seem to figure out how even with a smaller saw. And if that won't work, that's what you got your AS buddies for, let them know and the big saws they hardly use will get pulled out and dusted off to come to the rescue:chainsaw:.
Hope you learn lots from the local tree service, no one here wants to take the time to show you anything. Glad you found someone local to help teach you, sure that's easier than the school of hard knocks :).
 
Climbing goes against a lot of your natural instincts. Like you have to keep your butt out away from the tree. If you try to hug it and get your knees too close, it changes the angles of your gaffs and they will kick out and then you get bark rub all down your chest, arms and face. Be careful, climbing is more addictive than CAD. Once you get it in your blood, your hooked forever, Joe.
I've got gaffs and a harness but figured just picking a tree and seeing what happened might not be the best idea. I've been known to do some things that normal people would pass on. The 100' cliff jumps at Raystown come to mind.
 
Just rember when you first use it: It is NOT a one tool does everything. It does not replace the maul or wedge/sledge. It is a replacement for any ax you have ever used and it will do a lot of what you used to use a maul for.

When Manually splitting Black Locust, Willow, Maple, Oak, the x27 now does 80-90% of the work
It’s probably going to be my one tool does everything that doesn’t go to the splitter. If it doesn’t crack apart with the x27, it goes to the side for when I pull the splitter out.
 
Call me lazy but I refuse to slug my guts out for little gain. I remember my very first scrounge. The ad read free maple first cone first serve. Well I got my green behind over there and picked up two loads of that maple...twisted knotted yard tree Manitoba maple. (Box elder) already bucked.
Came home and hit it with my axe for about 10 minutes. Went to the store and bought a maul. Slugged away for about an hour before I got on the internet and bought a saw. It was then I learned that a $35 craftsman while a good limbing saw, was not going to cut up these 30” rounds. A week later I had the cheap homemade splitter that someone’s gramps had cobbled together and presto, I had firewood! I just can’t imagine using a sledge and wedges or beating myself to death with the maul anymore than I can imagine taking my family to town on a horse and buggy! Lol. If I couldn’t own a splitter, I’d rent one.
 

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