Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[cantoo]

Duncan, lots of water around here but it's dropping fast. The reason I bought my Kubota back hoe a few years ago was to install a gravity drain for my basement that we have had issues with every rain for years. Now I can go to sleep and not worry no matter how much rain we get. Now my driveway and fields are a mess but that's because I just can't stay out of them. I bought about 130 trees at an auction today and we just planted about 45 of them. The other s are going to have to wait until I get a little more ambition. And 100 of them were Blue Spruce. The rest were various hardwoods. Even planted trees around the junk on my fenceline. Red oak in the pics I think. And a couple of 1/4 Dutch elm grandkids standing on either side of it. It was a raw nasty cold wind last night.

 

[JustJeff]

Side of the road scrounge today. There was more but that round was heavy and I was wearing my going to town clothes.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[Cowboy254]

I put a round of peppermint (on the left) in with a round of locust this morning. I don't think the locust wasn't fully dry but for the purposes of ash comparison that doesn't matter. Neither had any bark on.











Ash festival on the right. If I came across a peppermint log and a locust log side by side, I'd be taking the peppermint first.

 

[LondonNeil]

Weird. I haven't noticed it do that.

 

[Cowboy254]

That said, I've been happily burning locust straight out of the trailer the last few days and it has been fine, you just have to have the right expectations. It wouldn't be ideal in the main part of burning season due to the ash build-up but for intermittent burning it's doing the job and we're nice and warm .

 

[LondonNeil]

Intermittent here too. Hottest Easter Sunday on record at 25C, no stove needed for a week or more ...I swept the flues. Cold again, burnt for 12 hours yesterday. Looks like just a few cooler days though.

 

[Jeffkrib]

The go with ashy wood is to only burn it the night before your going to empty the ash.
I have a dead pittosporum I’ll be chopping down in a couple of months. I’ll be burning it as it’s easier to carry to the back porch than to the nature strip for council clean up, I’ll be sending it up the chimney and in the ash bucket.

 

[Deleted member 150358]

Burning a lot of elm about half has bark on it. Works out ok since the total volume of wood is half a wheelbarrow per day at most. But yesterday I cheated and burned spruce all day.

Temps been 10-15° below average but the snow and rain stayed South of me. If it stays dry fire seasons gonna take off.

Local DNR is trading in their 064. It would be a nice one to have. They bought it to replace a Jred 801 that didn't have a chain brake doing federal storm cleanup in St. Peter after the tornadoes in 1998 all but flattened Comfrey and St Peter. Hardly been used since. I was hoping they would sell it on the annual garage sale since it was a local asset not part of the state rotation like most of the equipment. Oh well.

 

[svk]

Graded our road today with my neighbor’s pull behind grader.

There are 13 homes/cabins on our road. I’m the second house but end up doing about 85 percent of the work. A couple more neighbors will do some work but only if the road gets so bad that you start to lose fillings.

My wife was gracious enough to drive the truck so I could operate the grader. Took about 3 hours to do 7 passes each way on the 3/4 mile road. A couple neighbors did come out to help rake the root clods out of the road that were kicked up by the grader.


Hooked onto this rock under the road and although it stopped the truck initially, I took my wife to hit the gas and it popped right out of the ground LOL.

 

[chucker]

Graded our road today with my neighbor’s pull behind grader.

There are 13 homes/cabins on our road. I’m the second house but end up doing about 85 percent of the work. A couple more neighbors will do some work but only if the road gets so bad that you start to lose fillings.

My wife was gracious enough to drive the truck so I could operate the grader. Took about 3 hours to do 7 passes each way on the 3/4 mile road. A couple neighbors did come out to help rake the root clods out of the road that were kicked up by the grader.


Hooked onto this rock under the road and although it stopped the truck initially, I took my wife to hit the gas and it popped right out of the ground LOL.

View attachment 732887

? that must be one heck of a speed bump/pot hole...…. lol

 

[Philbert]

Graded our road today with my neighbor’s pull behind grader.

Pics of the grader?

Thanks.

Phlbert

 

[svk]

? that must be one heck of a speed bump/pot hole...…. lol

I filled it in with a shovel.

You can see the little dry spot on the top left of the rock, that was the only part above ground lol.

 

[svk]

Pics of the grader?

Thanks.

Phlbert

I’ll get one tomorrow.

My neighbor (who is approaching 70) got this from his grandpa who fabricated it a long time ago. The steel back then was so high quality, it just had a skim of surface rust. Not like the crap these days that just shales away as it rusts.

It pulls behind a pickup or tractor. I will say the added beef of a 3/4 ton truck pulls it a lot better than a half ton but either will do the job.

 

[Philbert]

My neighbor (who is approaching 70) got this from his grandpa who fabricated it a long time ago. .

Thanks.

Seems like a great idea. When I tried Googling for images of one, there were so many designs that showed up - most looked like they needed to be pulled behind a large tractor, instead of a pick up truck.

Philbert

 

[LondonNeil]

Thought @Cowboy254 might like this. I collected a little wood from my usual tree guy, half of which was eucalyptus. I texted to thank him and he replied to say not many people want eucalyptus. I explained it's easy to split but odd/a shame how it is so much less dense here than in Australia (it has growth rings a good 1/2" wide!). His reply

' Oh yeah those things grow like a weed over here. I think it’s because our climate is much wetter than Australia they thrive on all the water. They also tend to be a species that blows over in high winds quite frequently.'

Still, it splits very easy, the fiskars was sending splits flying across my lawn. It also dries fine so I'm happy with a little of it in the pile.

 

[chipper1]

I put a round of peppermint (on the left) in with a round of locust this morning. I don't think the locust wasn't fully dry but for the purposes of ash comparison that doesn't matter. Neither had any bark on.

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Ash festival on the right. If I came across a peppermint log and a locust log side by side, I'd be taking the peppermint first.

Peppermint does sound . Does it smell better than locust.

I've been happily burning locust straight out of the trailer the last few days and it has been fine, you just have to have the right expectations.

I know if there is moisture in it I have a lot more coaling/ash than I do if it's dry. I really like pulling dead stand trees out of the woods in Jan, Feb here. Drop them, buck them up, split them, into the bucket/wheelbarrow, then right into the house . For the larger pieces like that peppermint in your picture above I will stand those around the stove and just watch them get large(many will open up 8-10mm) cracks in the ends, then I use those for overnights mixed in with other wood .
The neighbor I share a driveway with asked me to help him with a few trees at his place, in his yard is a nice black locust as well as a cherry which he wants. Then in the back yard there are like 6 BL that are nice and tall with very few branches . Then at the very back of his property there is a whole bunch of BL that were pushed back there with a dozer when they build his house in the mid 90's, they have moss on them and are rock solid . I've got at least a yrs worth of wood just in the back. Once I get the edge of the field brush hogged for him I'll be able to drive my zero turn back there with a 4x8 trailer, haul it right to the woodshed area and then split it and put it right into the woodshed .

 

[svk]

Thanks.

Seems like a great idea. When I tried Googling for images of one, there were so many designs that showed up - most looked like they needed to be pulled behind a large tractor, instead of a pick up truck.

Philbert

It works great.

His grandpa also had a mid 50’s Dodge power wagon with all time 4 wheel drive. I’m sure that would have made a great tow vehicle. I offered to buy it from my neighbor several times but it sat on the back side of his lot for years and one day it was gone.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

You guys must have real dry climates. I can assure you there is no 20+ year old firewood around here, with the possible exception of Locust and maybe some Rock Oak (Chestnut Oak). I fact, a lot of wood will go punky after 2-3 years.

I can believe that, up in colder climates! especially, if one heats with wood. even humid climates such as down here in summer months wood such as oak can last a long time. I have an oak wood pile in my barn and its close to a 1/2 cord +/-... and it is dry and good wood. it is 22 years old! since cut and split. burns great, hot and as one would want. I have been using the 18 year old oak from outdoor woodshed in town of late, burns like been drying for one season. and while it is covered, its sides are open. definitely sees some humid air! I think I got a pix of the wood pile in barn, will post it if so... I may burn some junk now n then in mr Brutus... his appetite is never satiated fully... lol, but both wood piles burn just fine. I can buy into the fact, that due to time effect on the C in the wood, may be down on some BTU's... but from my point of view, and position sitting in front of the fireplace... well, let's just say... I often have to move back! lol ~

 

[chipper1]

Took some pictures of the locust . While I was brush hogging , all done so I can get back there pretty easily now.
All the ones just behind the rock and the ones to the left will be going. He's opening it up so he can put an orchard in beside the evergreens.

Also the one behind the barn(between the house and the barn) that goes up just left of the roof ridge on the barn("short" one with the goofy top) as well as the cherry just left of that.

 

[svk]

Here’s the grader, sans one wheel that’s getting repaired.

Yes that’s snow LOL.