Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Backyard Lumberjack]

-4 this morning. half inch of snow yesterday after noon and 5" the night before. View attachment 700816

good pix! the night shift! tractor looks shiny and new... a black n white pix, with some orange in it, too...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Eesh you are cold! Stay safe guys!

UK getting coldest temps this winter...-13C in parts, but only about -2C for London.... Positively barmy!

as I remember it, it was always cold in England! always rainy, too! but the fish n chips made up for it all....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I built a windshield for my tractor last fall. Yesterday's -27 WC had me thinking that was a good move. My driveway can be plowed mostly while facing west. Yesterday's wind was from the WSW, was able to stay out for the half hour it took to plow no problem. Went over to clean out the snow the road crew put in the end of the neighbor's drive which required east - west travel and damn near froze in the 10~15 minutes it took to get there, clear the snow, and get back home.

stay warm square1, any pix of your windshield?...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Thought I'd share some firewood pics and a couple of the house. It's not as cold here as it is south and west of us. Only -15°C. The wind has been blowing hard for a few days and lake effect snow is stacking up. Early this morning every road in both counties here was closed, schools closed, where I work, everything except emergency services. Kids haven't been to school since last week and they are getting cabin fever.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

thanks for the guided tour. those are some of the best snow pix of the recent weather I have seen. thanks for sharing...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Just shoveled a path to a lee portion of the backyard for the dog to go out.
Couldn't even scold him for taking a dump in my den yesterday, though you'd think he'd at least use the rug in the bathroom

sorry to hear it,... tales of winter's delights!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I had -39 this morning. It is "up" to -23 now. No wind overnight but we have a breeze now.

My dual fuel electric boiler was shut off yesterday by the power co so I switched over to propane until this is through. For some reason the auto switch was not working immediately. My office (older building with forced air) had been turned down to 50 over the weekend and it was took a long time to get up to temp. The only water lines are in the back of the building near the furnace so no issues there. I had a water bottle in the far corner against the wall. It was covered up with some stuff and was about half frozen when I picked it up.

Sounds like natural gas customers were asked to reduce their thermostats to prevent a shortage of fuel. One benefit to being on your own system.

hope you stay warm svk - sounds like winter is just about to take over... omg!

 

[nighthunter]

Ran almost a full tank through my new MS 462, and let me tell you, a tank lasts a long time in that saw! Was a beautiful, sunny calm day when I started at 1:00, now (at 4:00) it is cold, windy, dark, and the air is full of snow, so sorry, no pics or vids today! It looks like a blizzard out there now!

Used the MOFO Hybrid to fell the tree and do some of the larger bucking (has a 28" bar), and used the 462 (20" light bar) for everything else. Of course, I had to rope it cause it was leaning toward a pool, and no clear path to drop it, so it hung up on trees and vines, was a real PITA to get down! But in addition to a good amount of fire wood, I have 3 nice Black Walnut logs to mill.

Both saws ran great, but the 462 has lightning fast throttle response, great speed and great power. No one is going to lament not being able to get a 044/440 any more, or for that matter a 460 or 461!

I will be extremely satisfied if the 462 stays just like it is, but it is on it's first tank of fuel, if it picks up like my 362 did, I will be ecstatic! This is clearly going to be a winning set up for those who want a saw to do everything from limbing to bucking w/o excess weight.

I don't think I'll do any mods to this saw other than the muff mod I already did, (2 - 1/4" holes in the side of the muffler cover) she just runs great!

wait till its broken in Mike, you'll love it more, I had no problems with a 30" on mine as long as the rakers aren't to low ;-)

 

[al-k]

Too cold for the saw

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you have to hate the shrinkage, lol

 

[MustangMike]

wait till its broken in Mike, you'll love it more, I had no problems with a 30" on mine as long as the rakers aren't to low ;-)

Sounds great, but will have to wait till after tax season. Have 5 appts today alone.

 

[svk]

You fellin better Steve???

Hey, was just a little below Zero here this morning with a slight breeze, and it wakes you up when it hits your face … plus I shaved the beard off for Tax Season, that doesn't help!

Did my last PT session this morning!!! I like my PT guy, but … Nice to be on my own again, and I'll keep doing the exercises.

I'm feeling better but my bullseye from the tick bite wont go away so I am on antibiotics for another 3 weeks.

 

[svk]

Re the "recommended" turn down of thermostats.....I guess it comes with the territory. Sort of like my dual fuel electric boiler-it's cheaper than gas for 6 months worth of heat but I know the gas unit will need to run 5-6 days a winter. It is has already paid for itself a few times over. Heck that one winter about 5 years ago when propane was 5-6 bucks a gallon, I paid 300 a month for electric.

 

[farmer steve]

A great day for scrounging. 12*/snow. A few dead ash trees .

 

[James Miller]

No wood scrounge today but got to use my Scrounged blower. I like light fluffy snow no need for a shovel.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I'm feeling better but my bullseye from the tick bite wont go away so I am on antibiotics for another 3 weeks.

yikes svk!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

View attachment 701141 No wood scrounge today but got to use my Scrounged blower. I like light fluffy snow no need for a shovel.

way to go JM! not too many have snow blowers that they can backpack on back... or carry in one hand... especially all those PTO models! lol

 

[Cowboy254]

Cold, what cold? I cut this wood last summer during the heat wave ( 30 C or 86 F ) and today ( -16 C or 3 F) threw some into the owb. View attachment 700966 View attachment 700968 View attachment 700969

What cold? 30°C, that's cold. I'm looking forward to the days when it's just 30°C and we can all sit around the fire and toast marshmallows while keeping our tootsies warm.

So, I looked at the sawdust pile this arvo
View attachment 701054

And the contrasting colours of the two different gum species I have been milling gave me an idea. A wee while ago I made my first incra style breadboard. Well, as is the supersize nature of this job I'm thinking how about do an incra style table? With real chunky turned legs. So, out from the blonde ambition fastigata log came some 8x8's and two inch stock for the laminations.

View attachment 701055
I'll have to cut some 8x8's and more two inch stock from the next saligna log but just how I can ever season that without it cracking is unknown. But for now I just put an offcut from whole lotta Rosie alongside blonde ambition to check the contrast.
View attachment 701056

I think it could come out very sexy but is a few years of seasoning away from happening.

But for now, I'm generating a fair bit of waste to feed Kermit (bilke S3)
View attachment 701059

That's some beautiful work you're doing there, Kiwi, hopefully the colour contrast is still there once it has seasoned. What's the normal ratio of quality timber to square edged firewood when you're milling? Pretty sure that if it was me doing that the ratio would be approximately 0:100.

 

[cantoo]

Cowboy, friends of ours just got home from Australia on Sunday. They were there for a month visiting their daughter who is an Engineer or something there. They said it was quite the extreme in temps getting home. Most of the roads have been closed for 3 days, kids missed 7 days of school in a row so far. Going to rain tomorrow and highs of 8 C here.

 

[cantoo]

I just spent a couple of hours moving snow so that we could get a couple of loads tomorrow for some dumb azzes who need wood. One guy didn't have the money before Christmas so he couldn't get it and the other guy is a new guy who's supplier in in Florida right now. He has enough wood to last until Tuesday or Wednesday. Normally I would tell them to take a hike but I have 2 loads left that I wanted to get rid of so I could start fresh next year and hopefully organize my wood yard a little better. My pathway to the bush has 6' high drifts so I guess that's it for dropping trees until spring or summer. I could drive across the field with just the tractor and maybe cut some trees down and pile them in the bush if I get really bored not sure how much snow is in the bush. I still have some equipment to build yet this winter too. And auction season is starting up again, couple online ones closing end of next week. One has equipment and jewellery so I'm bidding on a bit of both. Valentines day coming up you know. Green means I'm leading so far, things will go higher near the close.

 

[muddstopper]

Temps hit 50's here today. Put a little extra wood in the basement and decided to rid myself of some of the small chunks laying everywhere. Threw in just enough to keep a bed of coals without overheating the place. Supposed to hit nearly 60f the next couple days. I expect my drive to thaw and turn into a muddy mess. Spent yesterday helping BIL split about 2 cords of rock hard frozen wood. Dead on the ground, water soaked wood that weighed a ton. About two cuts and the saw would dull. Took a pickup load to a buddy and split about half a cord of maple I had given him last year. I told him to burn the maple first because it would be rotten by next winter.

 

[square1]

I'm doing my part .
Shame all those BTU's just rotting in the river valley, ash galore in there..

Looking south off 21 from Ionia to Ada will make you cry if you're a scrounger.