Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[92utownxh]

Figured I'd stop in here. Yesterday an old friend who owns a landscaping business text me. He asked if I wanted some firewood. I said sure, but I drove the car instead of the truck to work. He says no problem, we'll dump it, where do you want it? It's all hard maple and cut to length already. Should be a good amount of wood. Sorry, it was getting dark when I got home so no picture.

A few weeks ago I took our boys into a good size small engine/chainsaw/lawn mower/tractor shop nearby. I've known the owner for awhile. I was showing the boys the saws and mowers inside, and they were pointing to the ones they wanted. The owner comes walks out from behind the counter and says I sure wish more guys would bring their kids in. He can't find any good help. He gave the boys some candy, and I got my files and oil.

 

[Cowboy254]

I grew up helping my grandfather gather firewood every summer. When I was too young and not strong enough to run the saw, I would put the tree on the ground (with an axe), then he would come along and cut it up with the saw. The rest of the summer was spent swinging an axe or 8# sledge hammer.

Boy, you had it easy. When I was a lad, we didn't have your fancy saws and axes, you had to take trees down and buck them up with your teeth! Then to split those little 60 inch rounds we'd have to strap a wedge onto our foreheads and BAM!

Young blokes have it too easy these days.

 

[KiwiBro]

Hey Cowboy, do you know anyone you trust coming to NZ anytime soon? fishfinders are $200 cheaper over there compared to here but they won't ship to NZ.

 

[turnkey4099]

I grew up helping my grandfather gather firewood every summer. When I was too young and not strong enough to run the saw, I would put the tree on the ground (with an axe), then he would come along and cut it up with the saw. The rest of the summer was spent swinging an axe or 8# sledge hammer.

I have the same experience with my peers... "Firewood, what?" "You mean the bags at the quickie mart that they sell for $8?" "You do how much work?" "Nah, I just turn up the thermostat."

Now THERE'S an idea for the next big video game - "Firewood Scrounger". Earn points for every cord gathered, bonus points if you help someone with storm cleanup or open a road, lost points of you cut down a tree for no reason. Buy/sell/trade equipment and supplies. It could he HUGE!!!!

'Open a road'. 2 weeks ago I decided to take a new route to my Stihl dealers, Part of it was on poorly maintained gravel and 2 lane pavement. 4 miles in I came to a tree down (had been a windstorm) across the road with a deputy sitting there with lights flashing as a warning. Said "If you don't have a saw in there you either have to go back or sit here and wait for my guy to show up". Almost any other time I wouild have had a saw there. Sure would have liked to have seen his saw drop as pulled one out.

 

[Deleted member 150358]

Didn't get what I wanted today. Tons of buckthorn in there. Might pull a chain in and yank it out. Did get a little done but it was by no means efficient work. Had to discard a few sections where the limb was touching the ground. Just too far gone.

This was all I got done. It was so dry I just filled the wood box.

 

[Deleted member 150358]

Best part of my day was I made chicken vegetable soup on hot oak fired woodstove!

Dads doing slightly better. Still weak and unsteady. Tells me today he has some concussion symptoms. Blurred double vision and so on.

I said we could go back to the ER. He's like no I get all these on a good day. Wait till Monday's Dr. appointment. (Has Thyroid, Afib and a few other chronic issues so I believed him).

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Some of you firewood scroungers would clean up my back yard, probably a hundred + oaks down from Hurricane Michael, I'll be cutting n pile burning for years
Edgar

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Roadtrip.

 

[Cowboy254]

Hey Cowboy, do you know anyone you trust coming to NZ anytime soon? fishfinders are $200 cheaper over there compared to here but they won't ship to NZ.

Sorry Kiwi, no-one I know is heading over the ditch anytime soon. A private NZ individual could ship an Oz fishfinder to a private Oz individual who could then shoot it over to NZ though, right? Prolly stihl work out cheaper.

 

[tdiguy]

My dealer says I'm the youngest guy that comes to the shop. I started helping my FIL do firewood at 19 when I met my wife and took over everything but bringing wood to the house and putting it in the stove a few years ago. Try to talk firewood with the younger guys at work and there head explodes. They would have to turn off the video games and go outside .

I was never really around firewood when i was younger. Other than being the one who wanted to cut the camp fire wood with a hatchet. Interestingly enough, now i enjoy almost every part of working with it.

 

[nighthunter]

I think there's firewood there somewhere under all that brash

 

[James Miller]

Gonna need some bits and pieces but I think I could like this saw in small doses. Chains still not right but it cuts ok.

 

[MustangMike]

For years, when I was in my late teens/early 20s we cut and split all the wood we needed to heat the cabin we hunted out of (was a friend of my Uncles) by hand. Mostly bow saws and mauls. Was a big project every year to get enough wood ready for hunting season.

Sometimes, we would stay up there for a week. Heat was from the wood stove, and light was by Coleman Lanterns. Water, food and clothing were back packed in.

 

[MustangMike]

The Doc reviewed the results of my MRI with me this morning. Pretty bad pinched nerve on the right side between L2 and L3. He thinks I will need surgery, but said he has seen worse cases recover from the exercises, so that is the path we are taking.

The only problem is they say "don't do anything that hurts", and pretty much everything I do hurts! I'll just try to work it out.

 

[Cowboy254]

The Doc reviewed the results of my MRI with me this morning. Pretty bad pinched nerve on the right side between L2 and L3. He thinks I will need surgery, but said he has seen worse cases recover from the exercises, so that is the path we are taking.

The only problem is they say "don't do anything that hurts", and pretty much everything I do hurts! I'll just try to work it out.

Check your PMs, Mike

 

[MustangMike]

Thanks, I'm following up on that! Exactly what I need!

 

[cantoo]

I got the auto cycle valve installed. See that fitting that doesn't have a hose on it, the hose is beside it? That little fitting was able to pump 16 gpm until I could race around the splitter and shut the key off. My shop was a mess. Still not sure that I have everything mounted correctly but it works. The 1st 2 spool valve runs the dump trailer and the 4 way wedge height cylinder, it's a power beyond valve and I ran the Out port to the tank and the Power Beyond port to the next valve ( auto cycle one). The next valve is the auto cycle valve and it's also a power beyond valve, I ran the Out and the Power Beyond Port back to the tank. Did I have to run the 1st valve Outlet back to the tank or could I have just left the plug in it? Tomorrow I'm putting a gas engine on my old electric powered conveyor. The weather is crappy so a good time to work inside. ( also an online auction too)

 

[JustJeff]

I’ve been saving a burly hunk of sugar maple for a cold night. We had one last week and when I went to put it in the stove, it wouldn’t fit through the door. Next day I took a skim off it with the craftsman. Since it warmed up a bit, I left it sitting beside the stove until last night. We came home around 9 and my wife started carping about how cold it was (68°) so I got a fire going and when it burned down, I stuffed that chunk in. It caught in short order and I closed the damper some. At 9 this morning, it was still 72° and enough coals to bbq over. Anyways, that’s my story about a hunk of wood. Lol.

 

[Deleted member 150358]

Nice! My stove is too small to bank up for the night. Might have a few coals at best. But it only heats 1000 sq ft of drafty old farm house.

 

[chucker]

Nice! My stove is too small to bank up for the night. Might have a few coals at best. But it only heats 1000 sq ft of drafty old farm house.

! "keep it simple" , it makes for a great life ! less is more in my home book.

 

[Cowboy254]

I’ve been saving a burly hunk of sugar maple for a cold night. We had one last week and when I went to put it in the stove, it wouldn’t fit through the door. Next day I took a skim off it with the craftsman. Since it warmed up a bit, I left it sitting beside the stove until last night. We came home around 9 and my wife started carping about how cold it was (68°) so I got a fire going and when it burned down, I stuffed that chunk in. It caught in short order and I closed the damper some. At 9 this morning, it was still 72° and enough coals to bbq over. Anyways, that’s my story about a hunk of wood. Lol.

Thanks for sharing your wood story!

I feel your pain. The bottom of our stove door is almost exactly the same as the height from the floor as the door opening itself. So if I put a big bit in front of the stove and it just blocks the door from opening, I know I'm probably going to be carrying it outside again to take half an inch off it. Annoying when that happens.