Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Cowboy254]

@James Miller , I admire you for having the balls to talk about your past. Kudos, my friend.

There is a young lad I play cricket with, whose brother and father I also play with. He's about 22 and went way off the rails for a year or two. Cocaine mostly. Anyway, he drove home one night completely off with the fairies, hit two parked cars and a cyclist who escaped with scrapes and a broken nose. He came home and had a somewhat fractious relationship with his parents but resumed playing cricket with us and as luck would have it, we took out the premiership last season. Things are much better at home for him now. He got a job with a local builder who took him on with eyes wide open but he is paying his way. He had his court date 2 weeks ago and got off relatively lightly, he lost his drivers licence for 2 years and got 200 hours community service but no conviction and no jail time.

The young fella has realised that the drugs are a dead end and is turning his life around and I'm full of admiration. I admit, I used to have a pretty hard attitude towards those who went down that path but that was mostly my ignorance. Sure, there are plenty who I think need a good kick up the arse, but there are also many who are still good people with plenty to contribute, but need a bit of help and guidance from those that care.

If I must take issue with you, @James Miller , it is that there haven't been enough pics of that oak.

 

[Cowboy254]

Did a little splitting this weekend of the blue gum load I picked up the other week. It's hard going and the bigger stuff got turned into tombstones with Limby. Smaller stuff is splittable by hand. I found that with 12+ inch units the best way was to try to open up a crack with the Fiskars then hit it with the 8lber. There are some larger rounds left which I will have a go at but are twisted and may not be doable. No problem though, noodles have their uses too. There are a few bits of another evergreen tree there with the dark bark that burn fine but are less dense. Split easily though. I'll take this lot down to family members for winter 2021.

 

[turnkey4099]

I know what you mean. I can’t believe how much I use my MS170. Now I have the little 29CC Echo 280E, I want to do some limbing with it. If you told me when I was 40, I’d be usin a top handle before I turned 65, I would have broke a rib laughing.

When I switched from a MS210 to a MS196 top handle, the time to brush out a tree was cut almost in half.

 

[James Miller]

@Cowboy254 this is the only other pic I took yesterday. Starting to think this will make a nice work bench in the woods may save it.

 

[Cowboy254]

View attachment 802909 @Cowboy254 this is the only other pic I took yesterday. Starting to think this will make a nice work bench in the woods may save it.

I get that, but my greedy eyes see BTUs. Depends on whether you're short or not.

I have a theory that if you have been seriously short on firewood in the past you will be compelled to hoard firewood in the future. 4 winter's worth ahead suggests I am in that camp.

 

[Jeffkrib]

I also say good on you James for turning your life around.
I tell my kids “don’t take drugs as not one single good thing will ever come out of it” would you agree with that statement.

Cowboy has the thought of buying a hydro log splitter crossed your mind?

 

[Cowboy254]

I also say good on you James for turning your life around.
I tell my kids “don’t take drugs as not one single good thing will ever come out of it” would you agree with that statement.

Cowboy has the thought of buying a hydro log splitter crossed your mind?

No. I'm telling myself that I still have the spunk to split by hand. Mostly.

 

[James Miller]

I also say good on you James for turning your life around.
I tell my kids “don’t take drugs as not one single good thing will ever come out of it” would you agree with that statement.

Cowboy has the thought of buying a hydro log splitter crossed your mind?

I do agree with that. In my case I heard that from a young age. Mom worked with juveniles convicted of violent and/or drug related crimes for 20+ years. I saw the consequences long befor I found drugs.
Do your best to guide your kids on the right path and if they stray help get them back if you can.
The best laid plans and all that.

 

[farmer steve]

Has anyone tuned a Stihl 034 carb before? It has 2 low screws, one high, and an idle screw. I bought an aftermarket on off of E-bay and having a hell of a time adjusting it. Saw will start and idle but idle is like full throttle. I keep making counter clockwise adjustments to the idle screw with now luck. Does this sound like a metering level problem?

Not sure if you have this SM or not. I know from reading here that the AM carbs have been hit or miss for some guys.

 

[JustJeff]

I don't know that theres many people who haven't dealt with some form of addiction. Whether it be there own or family and friends. My BIL best friend died of a drug overdose not long befor that I kicked in his bedroom door to find him passed out with a needle on the floor at his feet. Having been an enabler a user and now clean for near 8 years this still isn't a topic I like talking about. Theres always someone that will look at my past and blame me for there present.

You can't stew over the things you've done. You can't forget about them either. All you can do is try to live better, be kind and loving. Try to be an example for the younger ones around you. 19 years next week of sobriety. For me it was the bottle.

And CAD is an addiction! Lol

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[rarefish383]

No. I'm telling myself that I still have the spunk to split by hand. Mostly.

Once in a while I’ll grab an ax to see how much spunk I have left in me,it’s still there. But, when the price of a decent splitter got below $999, I bought one. Now I park the dump trailer on the paved, level court in front of the house, put the splitter behind it, and put the half cord trailer on the other side and fill it as I split. When I get the trailer full, it’s time to give my back a break and do something else, so I take the small trailer down to the stacking area. I can get a lot more done before I’m plumb wore out.

 

[rarefish383]

You can't stew over the things you've done. You can't forget about them either. All you can do is try to live better, be kind and loving. Try to be an example for the younger ones around you. 19 years next week of sobriety. For me it was the bottle.

And CAD is an addiction! Lol

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

Good on you for 19 years. My wife’s family, on her dads side, had a history of alcohol abuse. Two of her brothers went through it. One married twice, the other 4 times. All are straight now. When I first got married I quit drinking for about ten years, because it upset my wife. I’d long out grown the days of drinking for effect, but didn’t want to put any more grief on her plate. Now she understands that one or two beers won’t push me over the edge. Since we’ve had kids, when we go out to dinner, I’ll have one beer. If it’s really good I might have two. On the occasion I have two, mom drives home. So, my kids have seen you can drink responsibly. I also remind the kids they have the genetic dispostion that makes them susceptible. Beware.

I give thanks that I can drink a few beers with friends now and then with no ill effects. One of my true joys is sitting around a camp fire, with a growler of Multifaceted’s beer.

 

[rarefish383]

I should have mentioned that her parents kept a dry house, but of course, that didn’t save her two brothers from self destructing. I’m glad they are all doing well now.

 

[square1]

Well, I finally caught up and replied to a couple posts. Now the good news. I joined the fraternity of brothers with FEL's. My fishing buddy had two rental properties and a 3.5 acre building site. He used the tractor to mow the building lot, he goes to settlement on it tomorrow. One of his renters had to move out due to losing his job. He tried to catch up on his back rent and just couldn't do it. So, he told my friend to just keep his tractor. My buddy let me have it for $2000, and I picked it up this afternoon. It's a NorTrac, 25HP diesel, with a loader, 4' bush hog and a grader box. The only thing is it doesn't quite fit on my trailer. The rear tires stick out about 6"s and the tail gate wont close. I just put ratchet straps on the tail gate to hold it up, don't know if the cops will like that?

I think this qualifies for the You Suck thread
Nice acquisition!

 

[knockbill]

Here's another sample from teh same site,,, I've cut it before, can't picture it with leaves tho!!! Any idea what it is? splits real easy...
Thanks...

 

[Ryan A]

Google says 660+ species of Oak.

I believe what you have is Pin Oak. Small, distinctive heartwood, with a wide sapwood area.

Here is pin oak I cut a while back, looks the same.

 

[knockbill]

Hmmm,,, other than splitting easy,, it doesn't have any Oak characteristics I've seen,,, no rays in the end grin,, no Oak smell,,, but I had a huge Pin Oak taken down about ten years ago, and saved a lot of wood, none left to compare now... My thought was a Maple of some kind???
Here's a pic of the sample against a big Pin Oak...

 

[panolo]

I do agree with that. In my case I heard that from a young age. Mom worked with juveniles convicted of violent and/or drug related crimes for 20+ years. I saw the consequences long befor I found drugs.
Do your best to guide your kids on the right path and if they stray help get them back if you can.
The best laid plans and all that.

Amen brother! My dad was sober for 42 years before he died and the amount of people that came up to me at his funeral and said he helped them get clean was insane. He never preached to us but we knew the consequences of using. I never had the problem where I couldn't quit. Get high as a kite for 3 days and stop on Sunday to make work on Monday. My brother on the other hand never could and fell off the rails to the point that he was living in a dugout in the woods. He was lucky enough that a guy my dad helped get sober 25 years ago struck a cord and made him understand he was at rock bottom and it was time to fight or take flight.

When my dad was dying I asked him why I never got spoiled as much as my brother and sister and he told me " I never had to worry about you". That my brother and sister were programmed like him and my mother. That he knew at some point they would battle the same demons he did and they may not be able to overcome them. They needed that type of relationship where I didn't.

Glad you were able to overcome your demons.

 

[svk]

It's too simplistic to say "PT didn't work", the reason being that there is a significant difference between what one PT will do for a given problem and the next. Same with chiros and osteopaths for that matter. There are a few reasons for this. A better way to put it would be to say "The PT I saw wasn't any good and the chiro did more to help in my case".

Medical doctors are generally more consistent in their approach to problems than physios, chiros and osteopaths as a rule - happy to explain why if anyone's interested. The greater variability in approaches among practitioners in the various physical therapies helps to explain why one patient's experience with one profession will be more or less satisfactory than the next.

Going to have to respectfully disagree with several points.

If your skeleton/spine is out of whack, all of the muscle exercises and pills in the world won’t put it back. You often need multiple forms of treatment to solve some issues. And if the medical professions would work together there would be better treatment plans and less pills. But we know big Pharma doesn’t like that so it won’t happen.

 

[svk]

Theres always someone that will look at my past and blame me for there present.

People are ****** like that.

I served on a board where one member treated another poorly because he was a “dry drunk”. It was totally stupid. Thankfully she quit.