Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Lee192233]

I was three trees short of my goal. Oh well, it was a great day in the woods. I took a long lunch to warm up and thaw the ice out of my beard. It was 8° when I started and got up to 17°.

 

[LondonNeil]

I tossed some pine in the wood stove last night. Don't know how it got mixed with the oak and ash by the stove, but it was dry so in it went. Probably lose my PA firewood card for admitting I burned pine inside lol.

Nothing wrong with burning pine as long as its dry

Until about January I was burning almost solely pine, felled right at the start of covid and seasoned for 18+ months against the south facing wall of my house. I want more! It was fat wood and I was running most of that time at 450C+ flue temps it was so calorific! I really want more! I've told my he guy, 'Scots and lodgepole please!'

 

[Doorfx]

Pine and fir make a nice fire.

 

[H-Ranch]

Another slow day - kids activities plus cold and wind late today. There's always tomorrow.

 

[chipper1]

Until about January I was burning almost solely pine, felled right at the start of covid and seasoned for 18+ months against the south facing wall of my house. I want more! It was fat wood and I was running most of that time at 450C+ flue temps it was so calorific! I really want more! I've told my he guy, 'Scots and lodgepole please!'

My stove is running at 475 or so right now, black locust coals and one 4" round of BL and the damper wide open. I had a little more coals and ash and want to get them burned down. That round and the coals should be down in a couple hrs and I'll be able to fill it full for our last colder night this week.

 

[chipper1]

View attachment 972741
I was three trees short of my goal. Oh well, it was a great day in the woods. I took a long lunch to warm up and thaw the ice out of my beard. It was 8° when I started and got up to 17°.

Nice haul.
Wish the ash here still looked that nice.

 

[chipper1]

I need a crew cab. But I'll wait a little longer till fuel prices drive the price down to what these trucks should go for.

I just help my buddy grab this one. He wanted to wait too, but he was able to sell his full sized custom van for real good money so it all worked out. You may wan to list yours now and see what you can get, crazy what some are paying right now.
This guy just spent about what my buddy got it for on the repairs and the new tires. If I was looking I would have been more than happy to grab it up, very little rust(my buddies van was rotten ) .

 

[cantoo]

Chipper, this is one of my son's rides. It usually has a trailer on the back of it.

 

[alanbaker]

eastern hemlock

 

[alanbaker]

Nothing wrong with burning pine as long as its dry

Burning 2 year-old split and stacked white pine today, never had a creosote problem

 

[ihookem]

Ya might want to try getting an extra year or two of firewood if you can. I remember very well about 10 yrs ago when heating oil went to 4 bucks and propane went to 6 bucks. Every goof ball with a fireplace was looking for wood those few years. The heating oil is getting real high, but we are near the end of the heat season. It will be 60 degrees here is SE Wis. next week so many will forget, but next year , watch out . I remember the media hyping it up and that makes it worse. Every college punk was trying to sell firewood for top price and looking all over for it. I have next years wood all cut and split, and at least half of 2023 - 24 winter in the back yard, some is cut, some is in 10' logs yet and none is split, but at least I have it... . Get ready for some real high heating costs the next 5 yrs.

 

[chipper1]

Chipper, this is one of my son's rides. It usually has a trailer on the back of it.

I miss my old 99 burban, but the excursion does a great job, unfortunately only 2wd.
Bet he has quite a few miles/kilometers racked up on her if he's anything like his dad .
You ready to start harvesting wood in the next couple weeks, should be some nice temps, but the ground will be solid. Tomorrow they are saying 42f here for the high, that the lowest high for the week, gonna be muddy in the woods. I may get out beside the house tomorrow and work on getting more locust to fill the woodshed for 23/24 season.
I was thinking of you the other day. I saw some racks that looked to hold a face cord, they had a hole just down from the top that looked to be for a fork lift to insert the forks. I'll try to get a picture next time I'm out that way for others to see, as I know you already have a system that works for you, just mad me think of you for some reason .
Hope all is well on your side of the pond.

 

[ihookem]

Yes, I also went cutting in the back yard today cause it is going to get soft out there this week.

 

[ihookem]

All is well here and was 0 this morning . I got some wood cutting in despite the wind. Another thought is , that firewood you have for next winter is now worth 100% more than it was last year. Just think , you made a 100% return on your wood in heat value. That is crazy, and tax free!

 

[chipper1]

Ya might want to try getting an extra year or two of firewood if you can. I remember very well about 10 yrs ago when heating oil went to 4 bucks and propane went to 6 bucks. Every goof ball with a fireplace was looking for wood those few years. The heating oil is getting real high, but we are near the end of the heat season. It will be 60 degrees here is SE Wis. next week so many will forget, but next year , watch out . I remember the media hyping it up and that makes it worse. Every college punk was trying to sell firewood for top price and looking all over for it. I have next years wood all cut and split, and at least half of 2023 - 24 winter in the back yard, some is cut, some is in 10' logs yet and none is split, but at least I have it... . Get ready for some real high heating costs the next 5 yrs.

You're right.
Also a good idea to stock up on pre-mix, bar oil, chains and bars if you need them. I just bought 5 flat files and a 6 pack of mix(each does 5 gallons at 50:1, I mix at 40:1 so 24 gallons of mix), I also bought a couple more gallons of ethanol free and have that mixed up and ready to go for this week. I have a few dead standing locust I have my eyes on and then the neighbor has a few he wants taken down as well.
I have a 105 gallon transfer tank I need to get cleaned out and ready to fill(any tips welcome), then I can fill that with my standard fuel and get my 5 gallon cans filled with mix again, all 6 or 7 of them.

 

[cantoo]

He's had 3 or 4 of those suburbans, my daughter totaled one last winter in a snow storm. He also has a tahoe, golf and a tiguan. He is a collector like his mother. We sold the Home Depot truck that I bought last year, made some money on it. The 4 door F350 has been working out good so happy with it. The diesel duallly F350 that I bought is waiting to go into our shop for tires and brakes and then we'll likely sell it too. I still want a 4x4 dually long wheel base to put a hoist on for a firewood hauler. My wife says no but she is weak. She's trying to claim the 4 door F 350 for her grass business but she has the Dodge 2500 with flatbed hoist on it so she doesn't need it. I might have to hide it at work for the summer.
I've been spending a bit of spare time in the bush while it's frozen. I can just drive across the fields with full loads. Going to be warm again this week so likely that will be it until it's dry enough for crop planting. I still have a path around the fenceline to get to the wood but it's twice as far and one section is always a wet hole. I figure with the price of fuel that people will be keen for firewood next year and with the ash getting crappy real quick I should get out everything I can.
The real Amish Auction season is fast approaching and we are even going to have some on site sales soon. I've been buying odds and ends of stuff online but it just isn't the same. And with covid pricing it has been crazy. I have a couple buddies who are auctioneers and they would rather do online than onsite sales.

 

[chipper1]

He is a collector like his mother.

Well at least he's collecting the good stuff .
Awesome you did well on the HD truck. I have a buddy with one, nice ride but just the single cab so that wouldn't work well for my crew. The boy is showing more interest in working with me and more initiative, so I may need to bump up my game a bit. The dually long box is a limo of trucks, heck my old 99 f350 crew cab shot box was pretty long, then again the excursion isn't a small vehicle either. I think I'd like to go for a larger work truck, like a top kick an f550/650, something like that. There's one on another forum I really like(I'll post a pic below), 4x4 as well, what a beast. But scroungers can't be choosers . I bet it gets about the same fuel economy as my excursion .
I'd do what I can to get the ash out too (speaking of ash I need to dump mine tonight lol) as that "crop" will be gone quick enough, ours is already mainly junk. I did find one nice stick of it mixed in with my locust piles when I moved them, ends up it was right on the edge of being to soft, glad I got it when I did as last yr and this winter I've burned a lot o punky wood. One thing about that is that at least I have enough other wood that I couldn't get to it, but I hate to see it go to waste.

we are even going to have some on site sales soon.

You mean an auction at your place .

 

[Lee192233]

Nice haul.
Wish the ash here still looked that nice.

Thanks, I'll be burning ash for years. My oldest son has expressed interest in making firewood to sell. I'll have a good stockpile of logs for him. I think I will have the nicer logs milled. It would be nice to have a supply of lumber with the way things are now.
Hopefully I'll be able to get out tomorrow and get a few more out.

 

[Brufab]

Anyone wear wrist braces or support while running there saws? My wrists are shot and was wondering if that has helped anyone.

 

[JimR]

We could begin another Scrounging thread subset: pine safely burned for heat.

Living in a pine forest among countless Ponderosa pine trees, I burn some pine pretty much every day. Most of my neighbors who heat with wood burn nothing but pine. Ponderosa at my elevation, and lodgepole at the higher elevations. Dry pine is quite safe to burn, altho the old wives tale against it is surprisingly robust.

If you burn it hot enough there is no problem. One good hot fire a day will burn off the creosote in the chimney.