Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Logger nate]

Here are two more shots of it. Maybe something in these pictures will help you identify it.

View attachment 827011View attachment 827012

It does kinda look lodge poly, bark looked more like lodge pole, if so biggest I’ve ever seen.

 

[Logger nate]

Good job, man! Gotta get over there and ride that trail!

Thanks buddy. I was thinking the same thing! Whenever your ready, would be a great time. It’s a really fun trail!

 

[mountainguyed67]

I’ve seen ponderosa pine twist like that, that’s what I thought it was. I’ve never seen lodge pole near that big but it could be.
Nice work! Did you happen to measure it?

We were probably above 9,000 feet. I haven’t seen ponderosa anywhere near that high, this shows elevations different trees grow at.

I don’t remember a measurement.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Wikipedia says lodgepole can achieve 7 feet diameter at chest height.

Also found this.
General: The Jeffrey pine may live 400 to 500 years and can attain immense size. It typically grows to 4 to 6 feet in diameter, and 170 to 200 feet in height. To date, the largest Jeffrey pine recorded in the western Sierra Nevada had a diameter of 7.5 feet, and a height of 175 feet.

So this doesn’t narrow it down.

 

[Haywire]

YepView attachment 827008
Really want to get a rack for the motorcycle though so I can take the 550, the little echo is nice but would run out of gas if you had to do much, used 3/4 of a tank for these two cuts. Really want a front rack but all the ones I’ve found so far can’t be used with a head light.

There's a couple saw carrying packs I've seen, but they don't come cheap! The old pack I use to carry the 550 kinda hangs on me like I'm carrying Sam around on my back. Gets old fast! Haha

 

[Logger nate]

We were probably above 9,000 feet. I haven’t seen ponderosa anywhere near that high, this shows elevations different trees grow at.

I don’t remember a measurement.

View attachment 827015

Oh ok yeah that’s pretty high.

 

[Logger nate]

There's a couple saw carrying packs I've seen, but the don't come cheap! The old pack I use to carry the 550 kinda hangs on me like I'm carrying Sam around on my back. Gets old fast! Haha

Yeah I bet! Lol. I’ve got a pack I could probably haul the 550 in but yeah I think that’d get old fast. I’ll probably see if I can make some kind of a rack myself.

 

[svk]

Well I’m awake and my back isn’t even sore today. I was starting to worry that something was wrong with me after I was so darn sore for those first few cutting sessions.

 

[muad]

Turned the pile I posted further up the page into a cord of splits.

I’m finally starting to get into splitting shape. Did the whole cord with the x25 and S2800 with only a couple quick water breaks. I’ve done 3.5 cords in the last 8 days so getting the rhythm and strength back. Those first few were brutal.

View attachment 826988View attachment 826989View attachment 826990

Nice work. I need to get the x27 out more. I feel lazy, and I know I'm out of shape! LOL

 

[chucker]

Well I’m awake and my back isn’t even sore today. I was starting to worry that something was wrong with me after I was so darn sore for those first few cutting sessions.

? old age setting in steve?? lol I feel it everyday! welcome to maturity of fine aged life...

 

[muad]

Any recommendations on chainsaw mounts for a tractor? I'd like a more secure way to carry the 241 or 361 with me on the tractor. I normally have the saw in my lap, which is not the safest.

I'd love to have something in my roll bar.

 

[chipper1]

Any recommendations on chainsaw mounts for a tractor? I'd like a more secure way to carry the 241 or 361 with me on the tractor. I normally have the saw in my lap, which is not the safest.

I'd love to have something in my roll bar.

You can get skidding winches with saw holders on them .
Many guys screw a couple 2x10 together and bore cut into the seam, then use u-bolts to attach it where they want the saw.
I think it was @Duce who had one mounted on the side of his bucket.
When I need to carry a few of them I load all my goodies into the bucket on my chaps and use my fuel/oil jugs to keep them from rubbing on each other.
The last time I hauled them in the bucket I went to the neighbors to help out with the good sized cherry. I threw a piece of wood I keep on the front porch in the bucket as I needed a little more room. I leave that piece of plywood on the side of the house or on the front porch for setting saws on when I blowing them off so I don't have to set them down on the concrete, don't want the girls to get scratched up .
Ported 440, 261, and 2166, and a MM2252, it was a fun day and only filled up to get a couple videos, and I didn't have to touch the chains up at all.

 

[chipper1]

I have done a similar thing with burning the coals down and it does work - but I think that less dense wood might work better than what I have. I have - when wood was really scarce at our place - sifted out the ash using a wire basket to get the remaining charcoal to reintroduce to the stove later on. That also works well and you get a fair bit of heat out of the charcoal but it is a good idea to put in a small bit at a time (ask me how I found out). Put too much in at one time and you drop the heat in the stove a fair bit initially as, unlike wood, there are no volatiles to get flames and heat happening straight away. But once it gets going things can get scary hot.

That's cool, well sort of lol. Did you fill the stove right up or what.
Do you export bags of charcoal to the US .

 

[muad]

You can get skidding winches with saw holders on them .
Many guys screw a couple 2x10 together and bore cut into the seam, then use u-bolts to attach it where they want the saw.
I think it was @Duce who had one mounted on the side of his bucket.
When I need to carry a few of them I load all my goodies into the bucket on my chaps and use my fuel/oil jugs to keep them from rubbing on each other.
The last time I hauled them in the bucket I went to the neighbors to help out with the good sized cherry. I threw a piece of wood I keep on the front porch in the bucket as I needed a little more room. I leave that piece of plywood on the side of the house or on the front porch for setting saws on when I blowing them off so I don't have to set them down on the concrete, don't want the girls to get scratched up .
Ported 440, 261, and 2166, and a MM2252, it was a fun day and only filled up to get a couple videos, and I didn't have to touch the chains up at all.
View attachment 827059

Thanks for the info. No bucket for me A tractor with a loader is in my list of "needs" for the farm. I got a quote to have one mounted on my 3930, it was almost $9K. Heck, I can buy another tractor for that!

I normally load up my little wood trailer, but with my plans to drag a bunch of logs to a spot in the woods first, I only take the tractor, chains, and a saw.

 

[chipper1]

Got her home!!

View attachment 826939View attachment 826940View attachment 826941View attachment 826942

That thing is a beast.
I always thought if I was going to have a big splitter I would buy a hydraulic zero turn walk behind and use the drive system(pump/pumps and wheel motors) on it so I could move it around the yard, the biggest limiting factor of that is you couldn't tow it, maybe a belt drive setup would be better, or just a two wheeled tractor?

Thanks for the info. No bucket for me A tractor with a loader is in my list of "needs" for the farm. I got a quote to have one mounted on my 3930, it was almost $9K. Heck, I can buy another tractor for that!

I normally load up my little wood trailer, but with my plans to drag a bunch of logs to a spot in the woods first, I only take the tractor, chains, and a saw.

That's a lot of money. I sold my first tractor with a load(also my first tractor) for 6300 iirc, it was a 2350 Kubota 2wd with a standard trans, great tractor, but I knew I wanted a 4wd and the hydro trans is such a blessing for what I do with mine.
Do you mainly skid in the winter, skidded logs can tear up some chains when they get dirty .

 

[chipper1]

Is lodgepole pine the only one that the grain twists like this? It is as far as I know. There’s a reason it’s called pinus contorta. It’s mostly lodgepole at that elevation, but there are a few jeffrey pine too. And a few places the elevation dips, there are red fir. In other words I’m not sure what it is, there are lodgepole around it.

View attachment 827009

You can see a little of the bark in this shot too. MS461 didn’t blink...
View attachment 827010

Looks like the common pinus trailblockus or pinus needalongerbarus, but I'm not an expert on pine lol.

 

[muad]

That thing is a beast.
I always thought if I was going to have a big splitter I would buy a hydraulic zero turn walk behind and use the drive system(pump/pumps and wheel motors) on it so I could move it around the yard, the biggest limiting factor of that is you couldn't tow it, maybe a belt drive setup would be better, or just a two wheeled tractor?

That's a lot of money. I sold my first tractor with a load(also my first tractor) for 6300 iirc, it was a 2350 Kubota 2wd with a standard trans, great tractor, but I knew I wanted a 4wd and the hydro trans is such a blessing for what I do with mine.
Do you mainly skid in the winter, skidded logs can tear up some chains when they get dirty .

It's really well balanced, and surprisingly easy to move around. The axle is a little on the anemic side, so that will need attention if I want to take her down the road.

I fired her up yesterday. I need a new battery, but otherwise she runs great. The cylinder moves really slow, so I need to see about changing that.

 

[chipper1]

It's really well balanced, and surprisingly easy to move around. The axle is a little on the anemic side, so that will need attention if I want to take her down the road.

I fired her up yesterday. I need a new battery, but otherwise she runs great. The cylinder moves really slow, so I need to see about changing that.

There are some nice axles on CL for sale, I think I have a nice one without brakes saved for 75, I'll see if it's still around. The bigger wheels make them roll easy.
If you went with a smaller ram that would speed it up a lot, I see those on CL often to, search "splitter" and "spliter", many misspell it and I've gotten some great deals because no-one saw them .

 

[muad]

There are some nice axles on CL for sale, I think I have a nice one without brakes saved for 75, I'll see if it's still around. The bigger wheels make them roll easy.
If you went with a smaller ram that would speed it up a lot, I see those on CL often to, search "splitter" and "spliter", many misspell it and I've gotten some great deals because no-one saw them .

So smaller ram vs faster pump?

 

[chipper1]

So smaller ram vs faster pump?

Either will work, but a larger pump also needs more power which means it drinks more fuel.
Finding a good balance is always difficult which is why I like a lot of the older store bought 22ton unit's, not to big which is nice for moving them, plenty of power for what I do, and they are fairly quick.
Here's the axle I was thinking of, nice torsion axle for towing. Not sure how difficult they are to shorten, never cut into one, but I'm sure theres plenty of info out there. If it's like a normal axle it would be real easy.
https://lansing.craigslist.org/grd/d/dansville-trailer-axel/7105705225.htmlHere's something to drive it around the yard with, not too far from you .
https://limaohio.craigslist.org/hvo/d/lafayette-dr-dump-wagon/7116545274.html