Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[chipper1]

It was someone on O P E that told me not to touch it. I've read a few times that it can help with idle problems.

I figure it's worth a try, what else are you gonna do with it. These kind of issues and guys trying something are what help to find fixes for problems.

 

[chipper1]

So the manufacturer of a chainsaw says to use 50:1, the premix gas that has their name on it is 50:1, the AT saws aren't "tunable" and were designed to run 50:1, but you put 40:1 in them? How do they run? I mean do they run fine?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Mine all run great, pull the cord and start cutting. I like them a lot as well as the newer versions of the mtronic saws with the control switch that returns to run after being shut off .
Lots of cool features on theses saws, the question is are they what's best in the long run for most guys, I don't believe they are myself.

perhaps the Auto tune can compensate for the 40/1 which makes the saw run leaner by richening the mixture.

The AT does take care of it.

 

[nighthunter]

@chipper1, I got to run this properly today and I must say it's 1 of the nicest 60cc saws I have ever ran and I might just pick 1 up, it has very nice balance on it with a 15" on it and a a lot nicer saw than my 362 I must admit

 

[James Miller]

I ran 50:1 for many years without a single problem the only reason I switched was the recommendation of the builders of my ported saws. The only problem I've ever had with mix is running 50:none .
I've heard of others having good results adjusting that screw (air bleed ?), seems that many are setting it at 1 turn out.
Here's a picture from the opeforum.
View attachment 658662

I'll give it a try what's the worst that could happen it still doesn't idle.

 

[DrewUth]

I would need to understand the situation regarding scrounging in your area a little better in order to give and answer. 45 min seems a bit far to get wood to me, but in your local that may be different. Do you have any local tree services around that need a spot to drop wood off, or have a yard they need cleaned up. Craigslist often had free wood as does Facebook(you'll have to search a bit to get the good ones most likely).
I typically avoid the toll roads in most areas I go as the small time savings isn't worth paying the tolls unless it's a totally inaccessible area which is not the norm(I've driven the east coast quite a bit in case your wondering).
I would lean towards #3 myself, as you will have quite a bit of cost involved in getting the wood if I was to go for this particular wood, but I'm not hurting for wood.
To me the situation with regards to your relationship with this person and how you have felt about how you feel they have treated you is what's the most important, work that out first and everything else will most likely come together, people are more important than wood.

Thanks for the response. I live near the Jersey shore, I have inquired with a few tree services but most around here are doing their own firewood processing so there aren't many scraps left. I have a few contacts locally for wood, but like I said- this guy is just short of begging me to get the wood out of there, I think because the customer/client was misled about that aspect of the project.

Thats essentially what I meant when I said hes left me feeling uncomfortable in the past- sending me to jobs where I was told one thing, the property owner was told another, and forcing us to work it out among ourselves regarding their expectations and my abilities. More than once, he told the property owner that he had a tree guy with the ability to remove all debris and do a huge job in no time flat- when in reality, it was just me and my nissan, with some good saws, and come-a-long and some steel cable. Pretty proficient, but far from a professional. And likewise, he would often tell me it was just "2-3 smaller trees, plenty of room to drop them" when it was in fact more like 5-7 trees, two over 30" in diameter, all in a yard around .75 acres.....I am a one man crew, have no means for disposing of the branches and brush, etc. So after a few times where it was abundantly clear he was lying to both me and the client to get what he wanted from both of us, I stopped doing business with him. Sure the cash was great and the free wood was awesome, but I found out as well I was liable the entire time- unlike what he had told me, that the solar company's insurance covered me. Don't ask how I found that out....

He has done a lot for me and I do like the prospect of wood, but he reached out to me a few weeks ago and I basically blew him off. He called back this morning and seems desperate. I'm honestly inclined to say "well then rent a truck and trailer and you can dispose of it at my location free of charge". With the baby, the hot weather, normal household chores plus the ever-dwindling amount of time left to do things I want to do (dirtbikes, fishing, boating, wrenching on projects, etc), I am hard pressed to find any sympathy for the pickle he is in, that is likely self inflicted. The wood would be nice, but all the aggravation may be more than its worth.

 

[LondonNeil]

He sounds like the sort of guy you can do well without, so yes, charge him or just don't bother with it. If it is just collecting some easy stuff then fuel plus say $25 per hour would be very very very cheap but makes the job more pleasant.

 

[Philbert]

Pick the stuff you want and leave the rest. You still helped him get rid of some of the stuff, and helped yourself.

Philbert

 

[JustJeff]

I tell guys that it’s too far. I explain that it takes me an hour to cut a facecord, an hour to load, haul, unload. An hour to split and an hour to move and stack. At $80 a facecord around here that’s $20 an hour minus fuel, chain, oil, wear and tear etc. I make less than $15 per hour doing firewood so it has to be free and close. Also being uninsured, I’ll only drop trees where there is no risk.

 

[farmer steve]

Opinion poll:

Former landlord/friend sells solar jobs, occasionally sets me up with wood or some light tree cutting that results in free wood. Have not dealt with him in the last year or so due to me feeling like I was being taken advantage of/being put in shady situations.

Has a job site 45+ mins away from me where the installation is completed but the tree service hired left the wood behind. 45 min trip is based on driving the toll highway nearly directly there, and will not be an option for the return trip when loaded down with wood. I work Mon-Weds; I am off Thurs-Sunday but that's when I am on daddy duty with my son and at 2.5 months old, he is not big enough to make the trip to get firewood with dad- so I would have to ask my mother to babysit. From his poor photos texted to me, it looks to be about 4-5 different stacks of wood, each one roughly what I could carry in one trip with my truck and converted boat trailer. Appears to be 90-95% oak, all green, cut in various lengths (typical tree service stuff) and ranging from maybe 20-22" in diameter and down.

I currently have enough wood for this coming winter, but have slacked off a bit and have nothing in the pipe for 2019-2020. Have son at home and two boats that I have been spending my time with instead of chainsaws. New oil boiler going in this fall to replace the 32yo unit original to my house, so oil consumption will be improving drastically...as well as new insulation going in my crawlspace today. I have a few other sources for wood locally, but nothing that is calling me and practically begging me to come pick the wood up...

So my questions/thoughts/options are:

1. Make a trip down with truck and trailer, ***** situation myself and decide if more trips are worth the time, take full load back? At roughly 90 minutes round trip, and my Frontier and smallish trailer only able to carry about 1-1.25 cords a trip.

2. Talk a buddy into taking the drive down with me (with his truck/trailer) at the cost of some wood/beer to try to get it all in one trip. This costs me some wood, but saves time and effort and helps the former landlord/friend out the most.

3. Tell landlord/friend that I will come and get it, but he needs to pay me in gas money and beer for helping him out, and I will be on my own schedule so I might only make one trip per week. I have to take into account the time spent unloading and stacking at my house too, you know. And its in the upper 80s out...

4. Tell landlord/friend that I am just too swamped and can't help him out, but if the tree service could deliver or he could rent a truck of his own, I am happy to provide a place for them/him to dump the wood.

Thoughts?

I like #2. Time with a buddy,get all the free wood you can on his truck/trailer and give him some AND beer.

 

[chipper1]

View attachment 658663 @chipper1, I got to run this properly today and I must say it's 1 of the nicest 60cc saws I have ever ran and I might just pick 1 up, it has very nice balance on it with a 15" on it and a a lot nicer saw than my 362 I must admit

I really would like one, but it would probably be cheaper to convert a 562 or a 555, but I don't need one that bad. Having had multiples of both those saws I can see where the small mount would be a sweet setup with that kind of power. I wouldn't mind a 362(husky) which is like a small mount 365(kind of), and then put a 372 top end on it, and if you wanted a real bad boy you could put a 372 xpw cylinder on it. It would be a bit of overkill for a 70cc saw with a 20" bar, but it would be fun.
If your 362 is the early standard carb model I get that, I never liked those, but if it's the newer mtronic saw that surprises me unless it's primarily the handling you prefer as the weight and power are similar and the new 362 has decent anti vibe. What do you like better about it.

 

[chipper1]

Thanks for the response. I live near the Jersey shore, I have inquired with a few tree services but most around here are doing their own firewood processing so there aren't many scraps left. I have a few contacts locally for wood, but like I said- this guy is just short of begging me to get the wood out of there, I think because the customer/client was misled about that aspect of the project.

Thats essentially what I meant when I said hes left me feeling uncomfortable in the past- sending me to jobs where I was told one thing, the property owner was told another, and forcing us to work it out among ourselves regarding their expectations and my abilities. More than once, he told the property owner that he had a tree guy with the ability to remove all debris and do a huge job in no time flat- when in reality, it was just me and my nissan, with some good saws, and come-a-long and some steel cable. Pretty proficient, but far from a professional. And likewise, he would often tell me it was just "2-3 smaller trees, plenty of room to drop them" when it was in fact more like 5-7 trees, two over 30" in diameter, all in a yard around .75 acres.....I am a one man crew, have no means for disposing of the branches and brush, etc. So after a few times where it was abundantly clear he was lying to both me and the client to get what he wanted from both of us, I stopped doing business with him. Sure the cash was great and the free wood was awesome, but I found out as well I was liable the entire time- unlike what he had told me, that the solar company's insurance covered me. Don't ask how I found that out....

He has done a lot for me and I do like the prospect of wood, but he reached out to me a few weeks ago and I basically blew him off. He called back this morning and seems desperate. I'm honestly inclined to say "well then rent a truck and trailer and you can dispose of it at my location free of charge". With the baby, the hot weather, normal household chores plus the ever-dwindling amount of time left to do things I want to do (dirtbikes, fishing, boating, wrenching on projects, etc), I am hard pressed to find any sympathy for the pickle he is in, that is likely self inflicted. The wood would be nice, but all the aggravation may be more than its worth.

When I look at all that it doesn't look like a deal I'd want to enter into unless you are starting a tree service. Also you spoke of being a professional, my definition of a professional is someone who gets paid to do something, it doesn't matter if they know what they are doing or not. A professional could be an expert, and an expert could be a professional, but whatever the expert does whether paid or not in that trade he is always an expert.
So do you want to become a professional, that's the decision you need to make. You need to get liability insurance to start, a DBA is nice as is a LLC, but neither is necessary in many places(sole proprietor works for you but you could still be sued against your personal property), but it's sure nice to have a separation of liabilities if something goes wrong(which it sounds like it already has) and in tree work it's not normally an if, but a when something goes wrong(remember the pictures of my truck last fall, or my tractor a couple summers ago, stuff happens). You also need some form of contract as you want to be able to have a way of keeping this guy good with his word. Personally if you want to start doing a bit of tree work look into what insurance will cost there and tell him a price based on that plus 25%, that will net you a small profit(the wood) and set you up for future work. Anything above the cost of the insurance you get you can spend on taxes, invoices, business cards and the like.

He sounds like the sort of guy you can do well without, so yes, charge him or just don't bother with it. If it is just collecting some easy stuff then fuel plus say $25 per hour would be very very very cheap but makes the job more pleasant.

Yep.

I like #2. Time with a buddy,get all the free wood you can on his truck/trailer and give him some AND beer.

But if he's already had issues with this guy he may be better working something out with the homeowner to separate himself from the guy unless he's going to get insurance.

 

[nighthunter]

I really would like one, but it would probably be cheaper to convert a 562 or a 555, but I don't need one that bad. Having had multiples of both those saws I can see where the small mount would be a sweet setup with that kind of power. I wouldn't mine a 362(husky) which is like a small mount 365(kind of), and then put a 372 top end on it, and if you wanted a real bad boy you could put a 372 xpw cylinder on it. It would be a bit of overkill for a 70cc saw with a 20" bar, but it would be fun.
If your 362 is the early standard carb model I get that, I never liked those, but if it's the newer mtronic saw that surprises me unless it's primarily the handling you prefer as the weight and power are similar and the new 362 has decent anti vibe. What do you like better about it.

It's a better handling saw that has better balancing than a 362 but the biggest difference between the two is fuel consumption,I can cut a lot of wood in a hour with the 362 but with the 560 I can cut the same wood but still have fuel in the tank left over, fuel consumption between the two is like chalk and cheese

 

[chipper1]

It's a better handling saw that has better balancing than a 362 but the biggest difference between the two is fuel consumption,I can cut a lot of wood in a hour with the 362 but with the 560 I can cut the same wood but still have fuel in the tank left over, fuel consumption between the two is like chalk and cheese

Wait, you can cut for an hr on a tank, that doesn't seem like much full throttle cutting. The AT/mtronic saws sure do well on fuel , and speaking of fuel, how about those flippy caps on that husky, aren't they nice .
Okay, I know which saw you like better and which one get's better economy in your situation, but the chalk and cheese thing I'm gonna need help with .

 

[DrewUth]

Yea,

When I look at all that it doesn't look like a deal I'd want to enter into unless you are starting a tree service. Also you spoke of being a professional, my definition of a professional is someone who gets paid to do something, it doesn't matter if they know what they are doing or not. A professional could be an expert, and an expert could be a professional, but whatever the expert does whether paid or not in that trade he is always an expert.
So do you want to become a professional, that's the decision you need to make. You need to get liability insurance to start, a DBA is nice as is a LLC, but neither is necessary in many places(sole proprietor works for you but you could still be sued against your personal property), but it's sure nice to have a separation of liabilities if something goes wrong(which it sounds like it already has) and in tree work it's not normally an if, but a when something goes wrong(remember the pictures of my truck last fall, or my tractor a couple summers ago, stuff happens). You also need some form of contract as you want to be able to have a way of keeping this guy good with his word. Personally if you want to start doing a bit of tree work look into what insurance will cost there and tell him a price based on that plus 25%, that will net you a small profit(the wood) and set you up for future work. Anything above the cost of the insurance you get you can spend on taxes, invoices, business cards and the like.

Yep.

But if he's already had issues with this guy he may be better working something out with the homeowner to separate himself from the guy unless he's going to get insurance.

I have no interest in being a professional tree service- I never did really, but I know what you are saying of course. I looked into it briefly, but its just not something I'm into. I generally only did it for the wood.

After all this consideration (thanks everyone for all of your input!!) I called him and let him know that I just did not have the time or resources to dedicate to picking it up...but if he had someone to move it, I had a place for him to drop it off. So he responded that he would try and get someone to deliver it to me.

 

[blades]

Bingo - best way to go

 

[nighthunter]

Wait, you can cut for an hr on a tank, that doesn't seem like much full throttle cutting. The AT/mtronic saws sure do well on fuel , and speaking of fuel, how about those flippy caps on that husky, aren't they nice .
Okay, I know which saw you like better and which one get's better economy in your situation, but the chalk and cheese thing I'm gonna need help with .

what I was suppose to write down in that previous post is when I said that I could cut for a hour is that I work in forestry and cut clean wood that is no wider than 12" in 9' lengths so that it can be transported easily on a truck/ semi for a firewood producer, the caps on the saw if I'm honest puzzled me for a second because I was so used to the stihl caps but then I found out that you have to keep twisting them off. The chalk and cheese thing is a saying that we have here to describe to items that are worlds apart, I was using it in reference to the fuel consumption

 

[nighthunter]

Wait, you can cut for an hr on a tank, that doesn't seem like much full throttle cutting. The AT/mtronic saws sure do well on fuel , and speaking of fuel, how about those flippy caps on that husky, aren't they nice .
Okay, I know which saw you like better and which one get's better economy in your situation, but the chalk and cheese thing I'm gonna need help with .

what I was suppose to write down in that previous post is when I said that I could cut for a hour is that I work in forestry and cut clean wood that is no wider than 12" in 9' lengths so that it can be transported easily on a truck/ semi for a firewood producer, the caps on the saw if I'm honest puzzled me for a second because I was so used to the stihl caps but then I found out that you have to keep twisting them off. The chalk and cheese thing is a saying that we have here to describe to items that are worlds apart, I was using it in reference to the fuel consumption

 

[chipper1]

Yea,




I have no interest in being a professional tree service- I never did really, but I know what you are saying of course. I looked into it briefly, but its just not something I'm into. I generally only did it for the wood.

After all this consideration (thanks everyone for all of your input!!) I called him and let him know that I just did not have the time or resources to dedicate to picking it up...but if he had someone to move it, I had a place for him to drop it off. So he responded that he would try and get someone to deliver it to me.

I may have carried on a bit, but it's kinda how it goes and it doesn't seem to end when getting a business off the ground. There's a reason if guys ask on here about starting a tree service many guys will just write them off as not serious, especially if they say something like I've cut 4 cords of firewood a year for a few years now and I think I'm ready to start a business lol. Its a good bit of work to start most businesses and some are harder than others, tree work isn't one if the easy ones as there are a lot of aspects to consider many have no idea of.
Sounds like what you told him was the right thing at the present time, I sure hope he finds someone to bring it to you, my guess is he would tell them that all they need to do is bring the brush and all to your place and dump it there .
I find saying no to an okay deal many times leads to an even better deal, looking forward to hearing how it all works out.

 

[chipper1]

what I was suppose to write down in that previous post is when I said that I could cut for a hour is that I work in forestry and cut clean wood that is no wider than 12" in 9' lengths so that it can be transported easily on a truck/ semi for a firewood producer, the caps on the saw if I'm honest puzzled me for a second because I was so used to the stihl caps but then I found out that you have to keep twisting them off. The chalk and cheese thing is a saying that we have here to describe to items that are worlds apart, I was using it in reference to the fuel consumption

Are you only going thru one tank in an HR processing wood like that, that doesn't seem like much still.
I like the husky flippy caps, they never get messed up like the Stihl flippy caps do.
That's funny. Here sometimes we say something is cheesey meaning it's cheap or not well built ie the homeowner class of saws are cheesey lol.

 

[farmer steve]

Are you only going thru one tank in an HR processing wood like that, that doesn't seem like much still.
I like the husky flippy caps, they never get messed up like the Stihl flippy caps do.
That's funny. Here sometimes we say something is cheesey meaning it's cheap or not well built ie the homeowner class of saws are cheesey lol.

operator error!!!!!