Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[turnkey4099]

Glad you got it figured out.
I also had a rough day starting my Honda GX motor , I pulled it and didn't have a good enough grip on the handle and it pulled out of my hand, then I had to pull it one more time to get it to actually start, two pulls, very disappointing .
To bad I'm letting this one go down the rd, I like the Honda gx series engines, but the 35 ton huskee is too heavy for me(specifically the tongue weight).
You better get some more oak .

I have 27 ton. I discovered by accident that if I run the ram all the way out, the tongue weight goes WAY down. Same applies for changing from horizontal to vertical splitting.

 

[dancan]

Bummer, I can't find the thermolites here, there aren't very many of the Steplite-X either.
Maybe they would be okay since it's not quite as harsh here .
I've noticed my shoe size seems to be growing as well, been wondering about that.

Wet day here so I wore my Vikings

Then a thot came to mind , go to a Stihl or Husky dealer that stock chainsaw boots , look at the sole to see if they have the 3 sizes listed on them , if they do then you'll have a pretty good guide on sizing .
You could also send Bekina an email to find you a stocking dealer .
https://www.bekina-boots.com/en/boots
You can also look for a Dunlop dealer
https://www.dunlopboots.com/en-us/products/dunlop-purofort-thermo-plus--full-safety-e662843
The Dunlops are also a real good boot but are more money .
Look for industrial suppliers , I find that I get better pricing with them as opposed to the retail sales stores .

 

[dancan]

So , I get a call from Paul the developer Friday afternoon , "I know it's short notice and there's rain in the forecast but ,,,"
I met up with Paul this morning to see what he needed cut. It hadn't start to rain yet so I loaded a couple on saws and figured I'd cut till it started to rain .

6 tanks and I was done the house section

No biggies on this lot , I laid out piles so they can pick them out and stack them by the road for me to pick up

When I cut these lots I also make sure that I leave myself a clear trail to get in and out

I even made piles of Zoggerwood

There was only 3 trees that were 16" at the butt so everything was cut with the 241

No need to drag around a 32" bar lol
By the time I get the septic field done there should be at least 2 trailer loads

 

[Deleted member 150358]

I need a saw in that class. The 011 does great but my next step up are all 61-67cc saws. Jred 52 but it needs bearings and weighs a little more then your 241.

Been burning zoggerwood all week. Beats taking wood out of the shed.

 

[woodchip rookie]

still burning spruce....

 

[James Miller]

Burning .mostly maple hear. Only needed to keep the fire going overnight one time so far this year. Just not that cold yet.

 

[woodchip rookie]

yea i let it go out tonight...it was 73 in the house. WAY too hot for me

 

[Cody]

I've scrounged some of the elm up out of the ravine lately, my "bridges" work. I can't commit to using the nicer planks just yet but I might, I've got telephone poles I could use as well but they're rather old and cracked. If I were to use them properly then I'd have a seven foot wide bridge that would be rather nice. These are definitely a little shady to use, I guess it all depends how often I'll be using them, which won't be often as I'm looking at getting most of that dead wood out this year. I tore up a tire on my cart so I hauled some of them on the atv racks, almost seems faster as I leave them in 3 round lengths, around 51" or so. I can haul more with the cart but have to take it a bit slower, it's a pretty weak cart to begin with. It's been raining here again so that'll slow things down. If I achieve my goal this winter that's going to slow down things even more probably, almost depressing to think I won't be using the chainsaws as much to cut wood.

Some of the elm, measuring 16-21% on my cheapo moisture meter, I'll stack it for a year if I have to.


I ran 5 3/8" lag bolts through the planks into a 3x4 piece of oak for additional strength. These were the two skinniest boards we had milled so I figured if they held it up, so would the larger ones with the 3x4 in them. I'd like to turn them 1/4 turn and run them on something more substantial if it's a long term deal.


I've got two more rows to complete to finish off the south side, and I've started pulling off the north side. I'm pulling wood off the north side this year and some of the stuff on the bottom side is still a bit wet, so I think I'll move it to the south side to help finish that off, and then I'll start from the south side next year. After that I don't think I'll continue to stack wood in there, but I do plan on filling in the north side next spring so it's actually full.


I've also got some crates that I've started putting this years wood to burn in. One was a 5x10 pallet that I made, and that's a bit much for the 856 to move, two of them are 4'x4' and ones 4'x5'. We'll see if I use them much, it means I have to handle wood one more time but it might pay off. If nothing else I'll use them just to store wood closer to the garage and house, and fill them by using the four wheeler and dump cart.

 

[MustangMike]

Gave the 310 its first workout in over two years today. Nice little scounge 50 yds from my aunt's front door. My boy was there with his grandmother to supervise things. After I put the saw away I noticed there is a locust tree just to the left of this one that was part of the same root ball. I probably would have fooled with it first had I known. This looks to me like maybe an elm tree? What say you fellow scroungers?

View attachment 683138 View attachment 683139

I don't think that is Elm, at least not like any Elm around here. Looks like Pig Nut (aka Smooth Bark) Hickory to me. I think Elm leaves usually have teeth on the edge.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

I don't think that is Elm, at least not like any Elm around here. Looks like Pig Nut (aka Smooth Bark) Hickory to me. I think Elm leaves usually have teeth on the edge.

Can’t vouch for the pig nut hickory but correct on elm having a ragged edge.

 

[pdqdl]

Glad you got it figured out.
I also had a rough day starting my Honda GX motor , I pulled it and didn't have a good enough grip on the handle and it pulled out of my hand, then I had to pull it one more time to get it to actually start, two pulls, very disappointing .
To bad I'm letting this one go down the rd, I like the Honda gx series engines, but the 35 ton huskee is too heavy for me(specifically the tongue weight).
You better get some more oak .

There are several good ways to handle tongue weight without too much trouble.
1. Extend the length of your trailer hitch. (NOT the tow ball or receiver on the car, either!) This puts more of the load on the trailer axles and less on the ball. It also makes those short little splitters easier to back up.
2. Mount up a load equalizer. This involves buying parts and then attaching them, but they sure do work. It does, however, add new stresses to your towing vehicle that are much different than just lots of weight on the tow ball.

 

[chipper1]

I have 27 ton. I discovered by accident that if I run the ram all the way out, the tongue weight goes WAY down. Same applies for changing from horizontal to vertical splitting.

Thanks, that's a great piece of advice.
I found out that they tip up a little easier than I like with the ram out one time many yrs ago , but I never thought of using that to balance it for moving it around.
No worries anymore about that particular splitter, I sold it this morning to the first guy who came and looked at it, I did just fine on it.
I'll probably keep the swisher 34 ton around (at least for a bit or until someone wants it more than me), it's well balanced, has a great cycle time, has a winter start feature(belt driven pump with a disconnect for cold weather starting), and it even has electric start just need to get a battery for that to work. It also has some very goofy wood rack sort of thing on it that I will be pulling off as they are a huge waste of time, space, energy, and they are totally in the way. It would be nice to make those "racks" into a nice log holder and to add a log lift, but I don't know that I will keep it around long enough to do anything but remove the racks.

 

[pdqdl]

I don't think that is Elm, at least not like any Elm around here. Looks like Pig Nut (aka Smooth Bark) Hickory to me. I think Elm leaves usually have teeth on the edge.

Can’t vouch for the pig nut hickory but correct on elm having a ragged edge.

The word of choice for plant taxonomy (naming & identifying plants) is "serrated" . "Toothed" & "lobed" are other words for leaf shapes, but teeth are bigger than serrations, and lobes are smoother. Sometimes teeth are serrated.

Red maple & sugar maple.
https://northernwoodlands.org/knots_and_bolts/red_versus_sugar

So far as I know, all elm trees have serrated edges, mostly without "teeth". Obviously, this is one of those gray areas where either word can be used.

 

[chipper1]

There are several good ways to handle tongue weight without too much trouble.
1. Extend the length of your trailer hitch. This puts more of the load on the trailer axles and less on the ball. It also makes those short little splitters easier to back up.
2. Mount up a load equalizer. This involves buying parts and then attaching them, but they sure do work. It does, however, add new stresses to your towing vehicle that are much different than just lots of weight on the tow ball.

Thanks.
They are easy to back for me as I don't normally pull them with anything but my zero turn, a quad, or the tractor(with chains on the bucket like in the picture below, I also use hook them to the top of the bucket if I'm going up hill and can then use the bucket to push the splitter at the tongue which is how I loaded it today for the guy who bought it). I like them to turn fast as I can get them into tighter places which I find helps a lot. Hauling a splitter on the rd with a vehicle is not something I do very often, I like to put them on a trailer as the motor mount gussets on the most of them are not well designed and will cause cracks in the hydraulic tank from bouncing since they also have no suspension.
What type of load equalize are you talking about, one like you use for a large camper, it's just a little splitter , sure my suburban can handle that, it's my back that would rather not move them around.
I like handle @MustangMike made for the tongue of his, great way to get a proper lifting technique so as not to twist while lifting the tongue, I've pulled muscles in my back lifting them in the past and would rather lift properly than to deal with that again .

 

[pdqdl]

Shucks. You didn't say it was hard to move by hand. Consider this:



https://www.crofttrailer.com/croft-pneumatic-wheel-kit/

"Mounting plate on the this assembly does not rotate"​

 

[chipper1]

Shucks. You didn't say it was hard to move by hand. Consider this:



https://www.crofttrailer.com/croft-pneumatic-wheel-kit/

"Mounting plate on the this assembly does not rotate"​

It's sold .
A couple yrs ago I almost bought an electric trailer dolly that was used by a boat service company, but I didn't.
These days I think I'd get one of these , NOT, but it is pretty cool .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=67&v=GINFzcvHP3Q

 

[JustJeff]

Thanks.
They are easy to back for me as I don't normally pull them with anything but my zero turn, a quad, or the tractor(with chains on the bucket like in the picture below, I also use hook them to the top of the bucket if I'm going up hill and can then use the bucket to push the splitter at the tongue which is how I loaded it today for the guy who bought it). I like them to turn fast as I can get them into tighter places which I find helps a lot. Hauling a splitter on the rd with a vehicle is not something I do very often, I like to put them on a trailer as the motor mount gussets on the most of them are not well designed and will cause cracks in the hydraulic tank from bouncing since they also have no suspension.
What type of load equalize are you talking about, one like you use for a large camper, it's just a little splitter , sure my suburban can handle that, it's my back that would rather not move them around.
I like handle @MustangMike made for the tongue of his, great way to get a proper lifting technique so as not to twist while lifting the tongue, I've pulled muscles in my back lifting them in the past and would rather lift properly than to deal with that again .
View attachment 683223

I use a c clamp to hold a trailer hitch on the bucket of my little tractor. Works great for moving splitters, boat trailer etc. a bit more control than using the chain.

 

[chipper1]

I use a c clamp to hold a trailer hitch on the bucket of my little tractor. Works great for moving splitters, boat trailer etc. a bit more control than using the chain.

Thanks.
Do you have a picture. I just brought a raker grinder over to a buddies last night, he's a retired millwright and could whip something up in a flash. I look forward to the day I have a welder here, as well as a barn to put it in lol.
I've thought about that before as I have a couple Reese style receivers in the basement as well as a draw bar or two down there.
For the smaller stuff I usually use the mower/quad but anything with a heavier tongue weight I'll use the tractor, that's normally my larger trailers(16' steel, 20' aluminum) as the quad/mower do great with everything up to the 4x8 trailer.
Have a great day.

 

[Bocephous]

Gave the 310 its first workout in over two years today. Nice little scounge 50 yds from my aunt's front door. My boy was there with his grandmother to supervise things. After I put the saw away I noticed there is a locust tree just to the left of this one that was part of the same root ball. I probably would have fooled with it first had I known. This looks to me like maybe an elm tree? What say you fellow scroungers?

View attachment 683138 View attachment 683139

Looks like beech to me.

 

[James Miller]

The bucket on are tractor is drilled so we can mount a ball. Makes it easy to haul a splitter or trailer around the property.