Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[chipper1]

I've been living here since 1976. There is a coyote den about 200 yards up the fence row from the house. Number of coyotes seen? Two and one of them was a pup peeping out of the den when I stumbled on it.

Tricky critters.
I've shared this before, but it was kinda funny, down but the Indiana Illinois state line just south of 94 I was buying a quad from a guy, I hear the notes going crazy, two packs and young ones, the guy says those wild dogs are always making noise out there, I said those ain't no dogs .
Might have been the same family that brought in this one.
It was supposedly a family pet in Wisconson when the picture was taken, who knows what's real on the net.

 

[chipper1]

Well guys, I got a message from a guy i know and he said his neighbor had a big red oak tree down and was I interested? I said Id stop by and look at it. Well, the red oak turned out to be a red maple, 26-28" diameter. Not my favorite wood to burn, but the guy was in a pinch so I told the guy Id take a couple pieces to help him get rid of it. I grabbed some 4' sections. I put them in the log pile without a plan. I decide to do some cutting, and decide to use my new stash of red maple to waste on. Surprise.. the red maple was hiding something... no not metal (yet), but some nice curly figure. I cut a proper chunk out of there and hit it with my handplane to clean up the surface.

i'll burn the off cuts... but for now the wood will be bowls and pens and guitar tops.

Very nice.

 

[turnkey4099]

Geez , the forecast is not looking good for me scrounging this weekend up here in Igloo , the land of the frozen tundra , it's calling for full sun and temps around 90ish or more , bleh ....
Oh well , looks like I'll spend Canada Day weekend on the beach staying hydrated

And it's going to be below normal here (66) so it looks like I will be wearing a shirt tomorrow processing a willow. It is over half brushed out. In my usual work "day" of 4 hours, I should have it all brushed out and bucked...if the wood is good. Will be noodled to loadable size and stacked for whoever wants to haul it off.

 

[LondonNeil]

Well it's lovely here in the land of permanent drizzle and greyness. We've had no rain to speak of in just over a month, last ten days or more had been 'heat wave' temps which for us apparently 30C is officially 'heat wave '.... Who knew!? Forecast is another fortnight of the same. My stacks are drying very nicely, very nicely indeed.

 

[JustJeff]

And it's going to be below normal here (66) so it looks like I will be wearing a shirt tomorrow processing a willow. It is over half brushed out. In my usual work "day" of 4 hours, I should have it all brushed out and bucked...if the wood is good. Will be noodled to loadable size and stacked for whoever wants to haul it off.

I’m splitting a load of willow now. Some got thrown on the pile to mix in with the heating wood but I think the rest will end up campfire wood. Nobody around here wants it.

 

[James Miller]

One of our fellow scroungers @bear1998 came to get his scrounged wood today i was storing for him. poor trailer.
View attachment 660088 View attachment 660089

Did he bring the freshly muff modded and tuned 352 along to try in anything?

 

[bear1998]

Did he bring the freshly muff modded and tuned 352 along to try in anything?

No....didn't even think about it....was more concerned if the rain would hold off....

 

[woodchip rookie]

I'm doing brakes on a dually. And the scraps aren't even flammable.

 

[turnkey4099]

And it's going to be below normal here (66) so it looks like I will be wearing a shirt tomorrow processing a willow. It is over half brushed out. In my usual work "day" of 4 hours, I should have it all brushed out and bucked...if the wood is good. Will be noodled to loadable size and stacked for whoever wants to haul it off.

Well, shucky darn, just got a call from my 4 cord/yr customer. Now wants 6 cord/yr so I will be bring some of that tree home with me on the next load. Had a problem so only top of it is bucked. It fell parrallel to and right on the edge of a deep ditch. Gonna have to get the farmer to bring his big tractor to pull it back so the rounds don't fall in....probably Saturday.

 

[dancan]

WOoT !
I have a power line swath to cut [emoji14]
Sadly, I don't think I can use my lecticity saws to do it [emoji24]

 

[Philbert]

Sadly, I don't think I can use my lecticity saws to do it [emoji24]

No meter; the electricity is FREE!

Philbert

 

[chipper1]

No meter; the electricity is FREE!

Philbert

But your burial most likely won't be .

 

[Cowboy254]

Cowgirl casually sends me an email from work this afternoon...

"Feel like you need to cut up an oak tree??"



Dunno where it is but keen to cut it and compare to our local species. Any clues as to what type of oak? Prolly not easy based on the pic that she sent me.

The thing is, I suspect most locals will turn their noses up at it, so if it's close, it's mine .

Edit: Person says it's English oak (but who knows if she has the first clue what she's talking about) and it is 30km away, over a range of hills. I normally wouldn't bother driving over there for wood but s'alright, I'll go and scrounge it just for the novelty value. And the weather up on the mountain is not so good for skiing so might as well scrounge.

 

[LondonNeil]

Can't tell on my phone. Wood colour looks right, bark..hmmm... Not quite as fissured as many I see at that size but could be, leaves are a good clue but I can't see them well on the phone. English Oak had a very strong and unique smell too, I like it, it's hard to describe... tobacco-ee perhaps (but I've never smoked so don't really know what Tabacco smells like!). It's a good wood and that trunk looks straight....mill a few beams, extend the wood shed?

 

[LondonNeil]

Oh and English Oak leaves, small ish leaf, rounded scallops, not really deep but they do vary.


Also has the canopy been brushed off already? Overall shape is a good indicator for English Oak. A tree on its own is wide but often branches fairly low, branches protrude horizontal from the trunk. If the branches go up and out at about 45 degrees, it's a Turkey Oak or another Oak. English Oak had less branches by number but boy are they big, Turkey Oak had far more, thinner branches. While English Oak is one of the hardest, slowest rotting, strongest and most awesome woods for burning, turkey Oak is..... Very mleh in all respects. Can't comment on other oaks, don't get them here.... Although I have noticed 2 or 3 large oaks with spikey leaves in parks by me, these are non native and rare. Only English is native here, although turkey is not uncommon (not named after the country, named after the bird, they eat the acorns)

 

[Cowboy254]

Things are evolving a bit. I have a mate locally who has a lucas mill. Just spoke to him and he's happy to come over and set it up and mill some stuff off it. Cowgirl admits to a dining table fantasy. So, there might be some stuff happening. It's all a bit complicated for me, I just cut lots of stuff and stuff that stuff in the firebox a couple of years later. All this milling and joining stuff is foreign to me, but it's exciting! We'll see how we go.

 

[Cowboy254]

Hmm, Will says it looks like turkey oak, and has orange fissures close to the base. Turkey oak timber not much use as it warps and splits during seasoning. Boo!

And he also says that he has lots of slabs and beams of blue gum off his property with bird's eye grain which is ready to go and he reckons is as good as anything else you'll find an you don't have to wait for years to season. And he can turn that into the sort of dining tables that Cowgirl mentions during intimate moments.

Not sure I want to drag my mate over the hill with his mill to work something that might not be awesome. Looks like the oak is firewood. But I'm happy with that too .

As an aside, about 15 years ago I picked up some firewood from a property that my old man thought was English oak. I was splitting some of it with a big maul in the evening twilight and sparks were firing off it with every hit and it was hard going to get it done. I can't quite remember how it burned as I wasn't really paying attention at that time, unfortunately.

 

[farmer steve]

check my thread out over in off topic. lookin for input.
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/zero-turn-mowers-your-fav.322307/

 

[al-k]

Look's like you will have your work cut out for you. A couple of big nasty's in the top of that thing. But I have seen some of the stuff you get and your definitely not afraid of a bit of work.

 

[JustJeff]

30 kilometers isn’t too far. That’s about 18 miles for those who don’t speak metric. I have gone farther but try not to. Usually it’s a favor when I do. As for scrounging, a local tree guy is selling dump trailer loads of rounds for $80. Buying wood goes against everything I believe except the math works out quite well. Roughly 3 facecord in a trailer that size. Facecord sells for $80-100 split. Takes me all day to cut a tree and load that much wood plus gas and oil etc.
Buying a truck load of logs costs more per cord (double) then that. So I may, gulp, actually buy wood.