Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[KiwiBro]

Serindipity struck and I found a kiwi who has just imported a simington 451c square grinder from baileys. I hope to once and for all answer the question of longevity in kiwi conditions when compared with round ground full chisel. I suspect Mike is right and with the right angles it lasts as well as round ground chisel.

 

[KiwiBro]

Whats the car

a ford

 

[svk]

It didn’t take me long to get this load but I was sweating bullets out at the log pile in full sun. Going to stack it and then do tasks that are preferably in the shade until it cools off tonight.

Just about every round in this load challenged me. Lots of knots and wavy grain as compared to the stuff I did last week that was very easy to work with.

 

[Marine5068]

This is the only pic I can post of yesterday in the Adirondacks. Must have cut down about 50 trees so my neighbor can build his cabin. Mostly Hard Maple, White Birch, a few Poplar and some others.

When you put the saw into Poplar, after cutting a Hard Maple, you think it must be rotten! Did it all with the 261 and the 044. Chris went to use his 460 after running my 044 a bit, and he put it right down and said "you have to sharpen my chain", which I did today. Yesterday, we just used my two saws.

Both of them went through a few tanks of fuel and were still cutting well.

I think the Hard Maple up there is harder than the Hard Maple down here. Likely has tighter growth bands.

We completed the planned work a little earlier than expected, good thing, we were both shot! Went for Dinner and a couple of beers and felt better for the ride home (I was the passenger). We cleared the proposed uphill driveway and the flat area for the cabin. Nothing huge, but about a dozen of the Maple and Birch were between 15 and 20". We bucked logs for a path and Chris moved them with his Kubota.

Today it rained on and off, so I sharpened saws, cleaned filters, mixed fuel, and took my Grandson to HF for his birthday shopping spree. He was a very happy camper and I got some recovery time!

Nice.
I know what you mean about Poplar. It's so soft.
I was cutting hard Red Oak then back to the Trembling Aspen and it was like I had to watch that I didn't cut too too fast.

 

[Marine5068]

It didn’t take me long to get this load but I was sweating bullets out at the log pile in full sun. Going to stack it and then do tasks that are preferably in the shade until it cools off tonight.

Just about every round in this load challenged me. Lots of knots and wavy grain as compared to the stuff I did last week that was very easy to work with.

View attachment 654318

Oak?

 

[bigfellascott]

Not bad for 45 cc’s

She's definitely capable of doing the job, my mate runs one every now and again in the Aussie hard wood we have here and it does the job fine, nice and light saw too which is nice to use for us ol farts.

 

[svk]

Oak?

I wish. It’s just aspen. But it’s easy to drive to and load and will rot away if I don’t take it.

 

[Philbert]

$575 is helping to ease the pain of giving up my first saw.

$499.95 for a new MS311 here, with an 18" bar; so not bad on your per use cost over 10 years (at US pricing)!

Philbert

 

[JustJeff]

In my experience, Square stays sharp just as long as full chisel round.

According to Madsen's website, Full Chisel is 10-15% faster than Semi Chisel, and Square is 10-15% faster than Full Chisel.

IMO, Full is 20% faster than Semi, and Square is 5% faster than Full.

I can sharpen Square just as fast as I can sharpen round, so I don't see any downside to it. If a chain gets rocked, I can have it machine sharpened, then re convert it to square.

Gosh I almost had him sold on the 10 saws thing before you told the truth!

 

[turnkey4099]

Is it a scrounge if I cut wood I don't want, can't sell, can't give away? Heard over coffee this morning that a neighbor a few miles over the hill had a hybrid poplar blow down. I came back from my usual 4 hour stint at Von's working willow to clean up the area and stopped by. Yep, a big poplar, around 24" dbh down in a crop of garbanzos. Retired couple woking to clean it up (saw just the wife). I asked if they or anyone they knew wanted the wood. Nope. I offered to cut up the log and haul off the wood at my usual horrendous price of "no charge" - I'm in it for the excercise. What I will do with hte wood is a good question. Add it to the willow stock I guess. I have heard it has an unpleasant odor when burned.

I did sell a very small batch of willow for campfire yesterday ($20. I wantednothing but he insisted) Him and daddy will be back for a bigger load later on.

 

[Cowboy254]

Whats the car the saw and trailer are hitched too?

a ford

Back in the day, them's'd be fightin words.

Joe, that's a 1969 Holden Premier. Bought new by my grandfather and handballed down to my parents when I arrived in 1975. I stole it when I moved out of home 20 years ago. When my grandfather stopped driving in 1997 his Premier only had 40,000kms on the clock. It ended up with my brother who took abysmal care of it and ended up selling it for $400 about 10 years ago .

In 1999 I worked for a year in the town where my grandparents lived. They were both in the nursing home by then and I would pop in to see them most days. Grandpa's vision wasn't good by then but he was mobile and I'd take them for a drive in his old Premier sometimes. Once I convinced him to sit in the drivers seat and though he obviously couldn't drive it, he did start it up and get to feel the steering wheel and the three-on-the-tree gear stick and you could see it took him way back. They were nice times.

That car has done very few miles in the last 7 years but has gone 420,000 miles all up. I took a picture when it was about to turn over 400,000.


I still have it but it needs some restoration work now.

 

[Cowboy254]

$499.95 for a new MS311 here, with an 18" bar; so not bad on your per use cost over 10 years (at US pricing)!

Philbert

Yep, about $430 Murkan I got for a 10 year old saw with three years use. Prolly cut less than 40 cubes (11 cord) in its lifetime. A new 311 costs about $1100 Aussie pesos here.

 

[Philbert]

Is it a scrounge if I cut wood I don't want, can't sell, can't give away? . . . Nope. I offered to cut up the log and haul off the wood at my usual horrendous price of "no charge"

A firewood 'scrounge' is a 'scrounge'. Whether or not you are a firewood 'hoarder' is a topic for a different thread.

Heard over coffee this morning that a neighbor a few miles over the hill had a hybrid poplar blow down.

Hear those hybrid poplars get great mileage in the city . . . .

Philbert

 

[woodchip rookie]

Dont they have regenerative braking?!

 

[James Miller]

New scrounging tool showed up today. Need the stupid double D tool or make my own. Needs adjusted a little. Thank you @chipper1

 

[bigfellascott]

Some pics from yesterdays wood cutting effort, this was a white gum the owner wanted cut up and removed. It's a new property we have access to about 5mins from home, it's got a lot of nice peppermint and gum etc standing that we have been given permission to cut down. we are just working from one end of the property down to the other.

This particular white gum is still green near the base and probably half way up but the tips etc were nice and dry/dead and have been burning those last night, all I can say is WOW boy doesn't it put out some heat, I recon I got 1, 2, 3, 4,5 ,6 deg burns sitting about 2m away from the heater LOL.

 

[bigfellascott]

View attachment 654349 New scrounging tool showed up today. Need the stupid double D tool or make my own. Needs adjusted a little. Thank you @chipper1

I'd happily run it too James, very nice saw.

 

[svk]

Got over a cord done today, over half of which was humped up a hill and then transported by wheelbarrow where possible. The last big tree was a bear to split as well. Workable enough that it didn’t require noodling except for the crotches but plenty of swings to get things halved. Did I mention it was in the mid 80’s with extreme humidity? I drank an entire pot of coffee this morning and I’m on my third gallon of water now.






As you can see I’ve been a busy boy. Going to sleep well tonight for sure.

 

[JustJeff]

Yeah it was 29/85 today, I wasn’t doing wood today. I even drove by some blocked up trees on the road and didn’t stop. May have to turn in my scrounge card if I don’t smarten up!

 

[Ryan A]

What's up with this white substance on this oak? Free oak tops from the neighbor. Will it dry up and be marketable? Thanks!