Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[H-Ranch]

H-Ranch, looks like BIL did outstanding to delimb that with a 170! That said, shortly before I bought my 365, my brother dropped a cherry tree in his garden with a 24+" trunk with....a 14" bar on a ms180 it was a short and dumpy tree but necessity and invention and all that.

He said the man lift was worth every penny of rental fee for limbing. I think he's got a 16" bar on the 170. Slower, but certainly capable of the task as you say. My 20" bar was none too much for the falling, so maybe equally undersized as his was for limbing! LOL

 

[farmer steve]

Rarefish, I don't have that much room to maneuver but I was planning a smaller version of your gantry on the few occasions I do haul a log. I think my small HF electric winch would lift a log onto the roller on end of my trailer. I'd rechoke to move it the rest of the way.

On another note, I like your free trailer. I could come up with ideas for that.

Hay wagons? Probably people on this forum would know what they are, but most people wouldn't. Spent a few summers on a wagon helping out the local farmers with their baling.

What's a hay wagon? . I kust drop em on the ground and then pick them up with the rock bucket.

 

[turnkey4099]

This is the second "Gantry" I've built on my trailer. The first was just under 6' high and people kept hitting their head on it. This one is close to ten feet high. I can hang a snatch block anywhere along the beam to get the log where I want it. This one is made with Pressure treated 4X6's. I unhook the truck from the trailer and run a 17,000 pound bull line through the pulley. Tie the end around the log about 3 feet back on the log. That way if you pull up just a few inches from touching the pulley, when you back up and let the log down, it slides forward on the trailer. I do put chocks under the trailer tires, but, the force of the truck pulling down on the gantry keeps the trailer from moving. When I pull the chocks out, they are loose.

If you don't have a dump trailer, make some short chain or rope chokers, and leave them on the back end of the log. Back up to a tree and tie off to the choker and pull out from under it.




The full load was loaded in less than a half hour, and it was our first day playing with the new gantry,

Very handy!! One of the best things I did was to put a tow hook on the front of my 82 F150. when pulling stuff I have a good view of what's going on. If I ever change to another truck, I'll do the same thing.

 

[rarefish383]

What's a hay wagon? . I kust drop em on the ground and then pick them up with the rock bucket.
View attachment 845093

When I was a kid, below 16, the only two jobs available were busting rolls of sod, and busting hay, at $1.65 an hour. I was trying to decide on which group of friends I wanted to work with, when my Dad said he had a friend in DC, that had a landscaping business, and was looking for a kid to push a 21" Lawn Boy. Only problem was he only paid $3.50 an hour. I thought for about a millisecond and said to heck with friends, to heck with sod, and to heck with hay. I'm going to DC to mow lawns. I've always loved mowing lawns and wanted my Dad to put in a lawn division of his tree company, and let me run it. Only problem, you would have to put on 3-4 lawn crews to make what one tree crew did. So, I stayed in the tree business till I was 29. Then I made the jump over to UPS because I always wanted to drive trucks too. Gave them the next 30 years. Now, I'm back to mowing lawns, at about $3.50 an hour!

 

[H-Ranch]

Like money in the bank, fellas.

 

[Philbert]

More like 'fuel in a wheelbarrow', I think.

Philbert

 

[H-Ranch]

More like 'fuel in a wheelbarrow', I think.

Philbert

One in the same! LOL

 

[tnichols]

A bit cooler today with tolerable humidity levels. Finally done with the top of a Shagbark and one Oak. Got to run the 441 on the stem of the Shagbark later in the day. Getting a pretty good jag of premium stack wood (13” and 10”) along with a pile of shorts and uglies. One more good day then it’s time to load out and haul home. This will feel nice in 3-4 years.

 

[Jeffkrib]

I burnt a block of hardwood on the weekend, it was a core of one of the rounds I bore cut to make an Orchid plant wooden log pot. The piece was more or less the size of the fire box, it filled say 85% of it. The block weighed a ton. Not 100% what it was but looked like blue gum. It ended up being an all nighter and then some…. This is what was left 16 hrs after I put it in.

 

[Cowboy254]

I burnt a block of hardwood on the weekend, it was a core of one of the rounds I bore cut to make an Orchid plant wooden log pot. The piece was more or less the size of the fire box, it filled say 85% of it. The block weighed a ton. Not 100% what it was but looked like blue gum. It ended up being an all nighter and then some…. This is what was left 16 hrs after I put it in.
View attachment 845194

Show us the wood again?

 

[farmer steve]

Like money in the bank, fellas.
View attachment 845162View attachment 845163View attachment 845164

 

[djg james]

A bit cooler today with tolerable humidity levels. Finally done with the top of a Shagbark and one Oak. Got to run the 441 on the stem of the Shagbark .....This will feel nice in 3-4 years.

I can't keep Hickory around that long. Powder Post Beetles get to it the first year and then it starts to rot.

 

[djg james]

I burnt a block of hardwood on the weekend....... It ended up being an all nighter and then some…. This is what was left 16 hrs after I put it in.

I wish I had a fireplace that was that efficient. When I built, I put in one of those heatalator inserts. I only get a couple hour burn before I have to reload.

 

[djg james]

....... I think he's got a 16" bar on the 170. Slower, but certainly capable of the task as you say. My 20" bar was none too much for the falling, so maybe equally undersized as his was for limbing! LOL

My 170 came with a 14" bar. One summer I had to cut all my firewood with it since my bigger saw was in the shop for months. And a lot of what I cut was 24" dia. hardwoods. Good little saw, but I overworked it that year. Started cutting at the top of the log and swinging the saw down until the bar was vertical. Then come back and cut through in the log the rest of the way.

 

[djg james]

I notice a lot of people here have a Stihl 440/441. I'm considering upgrading from a 038 for a little more power. A guy on CL has a 440 for $950. Way too much for a used saw. On another forum, a guy sells a single Walnut flitch for over $200. I'd like to try milling a few smaller logs and try to get into that market.
What are your thoughts on that saw?

 

[tnichols]

I can't keep Hickory around that long. Powder Post Beetles get to it the first year and then it starts to rot.

I’ve had the same problem in the past if I stored it outside. This will go in the woodshed/barn. That seems to help.

 

[MustangMike]

The 044/440s are really great saws, but getting hard to find good ones at reasonable prices.

For milling, I would prefer either a 460 or 660. As a general purpose saw, the new 462s are great. Not too much more than that 440 price, and lighter and faster, smoother, no tuning required and the air filter stays clean for a long time.

Replace that 038 with a 462 and you will have a big smile on your face! (Farmer Steve and Logger Nate are also fans of this saw).

 

[MustangMike]

Delivered a cord of wood (two loads) yesterday morning. Luckily I got it done by 10:00 (it had to be stacked on a deck).

Then I took my oldest Grandson to the range (13 years old) and let him shoot my bolt action 223 at 100 yds, his first time doing this. The Nikon on that gun goes up to 12X.

He shot well and he liked it!

 

[djg james]

The 044/440s are really great saws, but getting hard to find good ones at reasonable prices.

For milling, I would prefer either a 460 or 660. As a general purpose saw, the new 462s are great. Not too much more than that 440 price, and lighter and faster, smoother, no tuning required and the air filter stays clean for a long time.

Replace that 038 with a 462 and you will have a big smile on your face! (Farmer Steve and Logger Nate are also fans of this saw).

Yes I'd love to have a 660 for milling, but the 460 is only a 46cc saw?

 

[MustangMike]

Stihl MS 460 is 77 cc (440 is 71 cc). The bearings are the same, but the 460 case is a bit beefier.