Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[chipper1]

Did a pork butt on the Traeger yesterday. Twenty hours using cherry pellets. Having it today for my youngest son's 3rd birthday party.
View attachment 985160

Looks great, hope he likes it .
My boy says smoked food taste like bonfire, I see no problem with that .
Tell him happy birthday from Michigan .

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

w b looking good there H-R! ... firewood, too. i modded up my w b yesterday. you mite like the change. if i get time, will try to post a pix or two... Best Pick Pix! film at 11

for H-R
my wb tire went flat. had scrounged a solid, it was holding. lol. the flat had a tube. but alas, like in life... we all give out eventually! . and i din't want to pay over $30 for what was $6.50 over at HF! so i modded up a bit with some scrounged bike wheels i found on curb few yrs back. and a SS rod, soon to be an axle i saved (scrounged) out of old spa filter. and got to work. prob was drilling hole thru round rod, no fixture. finding all the parts needed to make work. spend no $ and not go to anyplace... lol. and... the axle rod was 1/2" and stamped holder for orig was 5/8ths. and i wanted a precision fit! so i fit, slipped, and such. progress was slow, but steady. i managed to come up with the fit +/- .000 lol by making some bearing halfs. like rod bearings in engine. that went well. all in all, project turned out well... no flats in future. all scrounged parts for my scrougned $15 wb at a garage sale few streets over one summer... imo:

back in service again!

 

[H-Ranch]

I did some scrounging this morning and will have a big reveal between 2:00-10:00 pm EST. Now don't any of you scrounging thread regulars start hounding me for hints because I'm not going to tell. Until then, here are a few loads I've been working on.

 

[SimonHS]

Well guys, starting tomorrow my heating system is going to be drastically changed.

For those who don’t recall, my house has boiler heat. I have a ca-1982 propane boiler, 2002 era dual fuel electric and a 1982 wood boiler.

The wood boiler is great although very inefficient…With one problem: The fellow who designed the heating system used a stainless steel pipe within the clay chimney. This guarantees that even if there was a chimney fire, it would simply burn out itself within the stainless pipe. The downside is that the stainless pipe is too small of a diameter to adequately vent the boiler in all conditions. Therefore when the boiler is heavily fired or on days where it’s warm out and there isn’t much draft, we get a lot of smoke blow back into the furnace room. Even with a small hood fan that takes away the excess while feeding the fire, it definitely makes the entire house smell like smoke inside. For this reason we’ve only heated with wood for two seasons in the last 40 years. So the fail safe that prevents chimney fires also prevents proper operation of the boiler.

Starting tomorrow, a heating contractor is going to remove my water heaters and my gas boiler and hook up a new very efficient gas boiler with instant hot water beside the electric boiler. He said the contaminants coming off the steel woodstove would surely plug up the new boiler and recommended bypassing it. He said if we wanted we could put in a heat exchanger so we could still run the boiler however with those draft issues and the fact that the new boiler is going to be super efficient, I’ve decided that we are going to bypass the boiler completely and as time allows I will remove it.

I’m going to look for a efficient freestanding woodstove that I can put in place of the boiler to use as back up heat for the house in case of power outages or Armageddon. Between that and the two fireplaces we should have plenty of heat for even the coldest days. The other free up space in the furnace room should allow me to either put in a standing freezer or a good sized gun safe.

For your 'Armageddon' stove consider something like a Jotul F118. It has high heat output (60,000 btu) and you can cook on it. I think it takes 24" logs.

http://woodenergywarehouse.com/product/jotul-f-118-cb/

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Nothing by wrong with the wheel barrowed use when wood deck & storage rack or shed is close by . I have wheel barrowed plenty of hard wood over the yrs . When it muddy or I'am hurt in then the quad or backhoe route wins out . I have 4 large 18" girth maple to take down shortly , 2 24 & 26 " poplar also that are widow makers just waiting to happen . Never a dull moment ! lol.

thinking i may skip the muddy route with my -o- flats wb upgrades.... lol

 

[rarefish383]

Maybe it’s been too long since I’ve seen an MF 65, but I think they looked somewhat different over here.

I just did a search for Massey 65 and our version has a little different grille. I think the ROP just puts it out of proportion. I have a MF 135, it's down with a clutch problem, but when it was up and running, I liked it.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

sometimes, over at the SA Ranch... every once in awhile... one of the residents gets in over their head...

 

[svk]

For your 'Armageddon' stove consider something like a Jotul F118. It has high heat output (60,000 btu) and you can cook on it. I think it takes 24" logs.

http://woodenergywarehouse.com/product/jotul-f-118-cb/
View attachment 985228

Nice, I’d definitely want one that allows cooking cause as some here know, I collect cast iron cookware.

 

[svk]

I did some scrounging this morning and will have a big reveal between 2:00-10:00 pm EST. Now don't any of you scrounging thread regulars start hounding me for hints because I'm not going to tell. Until then, here are a few loads I've been working on.
View attachment 985224View attachment 985223View attachment 985222

Whatever could it be?!!

 

[Philbert]

Well guys, starting tomorrow my heating system is going to be drastically changed.

I remember an idea from the 70’s, to put a car engine (vented exhaust, of course) in everyone’s basement. The internal combustion engine is nortoriously inefficient, but the ‘waste heat’ would warm the house. The engine would turn a generator to make electricity for everything else.

Philbert

 

[turnkey4099]

i hate it when like that happens! hope u get to the bottom of it. sounds like a neighbor! but i am only speculating...

After thinking about it overnight, it may have been one of my customers who stops by for just enough campfire wood for one day. I'll look around over there and see if maybe he left a bill tucked in a crack.

I mentioned putting a chain and lock on the gate at coffee club this morning. Cutting buddy is supply a 3' chian and Master padlock.

 

[Lee192233]

Looks great, hope he likes it .
My boy says smoked food taste like bonfire, I see no problem with that .
Tell him happy birthday from Michigan .

Thanks! I told him Chipper says happy birthday and he looked at me and said, "Thanks Chipper!".

The pulled pork was a hit. We only have a small Tupperware container left.

I think I may go burn a brush pile. The wind laid down and it's been sprinkling on and off today. Perfect conditions for a fire.

 

[Cowboy254]

Hi Scrounges, I did some scrounging!

Went out to my sister’s place and got a load. Had to use to BIL’s tractor to get into a location with plenty of dead dry Eucalyptus.

View attachment 984427

View attachment 984428

On the way home we took a scenic route as my wife wanted to take pics of this sunflower field, 500km towing ½ Cord of wood

View attachment 984429
View attachment 984430
This is the wood stacked ready to burn for winter, as you can see this species of Eucalyptus is an easy to split variety.
View attachment 984431
Also scrounged up this timber from our bathroom renovation. Our house was built in 1974 and is made from old growth Douglas Fir and Cedar from the West coast of America. Excellent for getting the fire going.

Hey Jeff, what is the wood? You can't just say 'Eucalyptus', scroungers need to know!

 

[H-Ranch]

OK, I know you guys can't stand the suspense any longer, so here it is.

Sire and stallion together.
Old faithful still works fine for firewood but it's getting a little rough for mixing mortar and other such duties so I've been watching Craigslist for a reasonably priced model to add to the fleet. And now I can move firewood twice as fast!
Plus a couple of bonus loads.

 

[cantoo]

I finally took the time to use up a few of the conveyors from the trailer load that I bought a few years ago. I'm planning to use it for a rounds deck for my 36" stroke splitter. I cut my OWB wood 32" long and usually 14 to 24" ash so it's a little heavy to lift onto the splitter. I still have the sides to put on it but it's close enough to try out. 7' wide x 10' long and about 42" tall. I will put a log under one end to get the slope I need to roll rounds down it. I also want to use it for slabs off my sawmill. Slabs will roll down onto a steel crate that I will then use my 36" saw to cut them into 48" long pieces for my OWB. I still have a bunch left for some other projects I want to do. This was made all from scrap steel from some crooked house stands. I heard there might be a shortage of mix oil and bar oil so I stocked up at the last couple of auction sales. 3 cases of mix, a couple boxes of Stihl small mix and 6 cans of bar oil. I then found 4 cases of bar oil that I may have set aside and forgot I had.

 

[H-Ranch]

enjoy seeing all ur pix, even if little changes!!!

This one is for you @Backyard Lumberjack - tried to change it up a little for you!

 

[GrizG]

Tough to see the color in the small image on my phone.,, but if it’s a muddy brown/grey it’s mineral stain. I run into that a lot with the maple I cut… it’s growing in very wet clay conditions. Ambrosia has a definite pink / reddish pink appearance. I see that regularly in small projects made by guys in my woodworking club. No indication it’s spalt as the tell tale black lines aren’t present.

P.S. I took a look at the image on my computer and there does appear to be some black lines that would indicate spalting.

That said, it is a good idea to wear a respirator when cutting or sanding spalted wood to prevent inhaling the fungus spores. This as some people have allergic reactions to the inactive fungus spores... reactions to the point of hospitalization. it's not a bad idea to wear at least a dust mask when sanding wood anyway!

 

[husqvarna257]

Well guys, starting tomorrow my heating system is going to be drastically changed.

For those who don’t recall, my house has boiler heat. I have a ca-1982 propane boiler, 2002 era dual fuel electric and a 1982 wood boiler.

The wood boiler is great although very inefficient…With one problem: The fellow who designed the heating system used a stainless steel pipe within the clay chimney. This guarantees that even if there was a chimney fire, it would simply burn out itself within the stainless pipe. The downside is that the stainless pipe is too small of a diameter to adequately vent the boiler in all conditions. Therefore when the boiler is heavily fired or on days where it’s warm out and there isn’t much draft, we get a lot of smoke blow back into the furnace room. Even with a small hood fan that takes away the excess while feeding the fire, it definitely makes the entire house smell like smoke inside. For this reason we’ve only heated with wood for two seasons in the last 40 years. So the fail safe that prevents chimney fires also prevents proper operation of the boiler.

Starting tomorrow, a heating contractor is going to remove my water heaters and my gas boiler and hook up a new very efficient gas boiler with instant hot water beside the electric boiler. He said the contaminants coming off the steel woodstove would surely plug up the new boiler and recommended bypassing it. He said if we wanted we could put in a heat exchanger so we could still run the boiler however with those draft issues and the fact that the new boiler is going to be super efficient, I’ve decided that we are going to bypass the boiler completely and as time allows I will remove it.

I’m going to look for a efficient freestanding woodstove that I can put in place of the boiler to use as back up heat for the house in case of power outages or Armageddon. Between that and the two fireplaces we should have plenty of heat for even the coldest days. The other freed up space in the furnace room should allow me to either put in a standing freezer or a good sized gun safe.

I know your pain we are replacing an old boiler with a new energy efficient one. The first company that came over the guy was sweating when I asked him how to tie in the OWB, the next contractor had no problem with it and he is $5000 cheaper and we get the rebate of $2700. The other company had the rebate automatically in the quote and the were giving us $1700 they were keeping the rest of the rebate.
Today when I was splitting my wife stacked it. Something stung her hard at the elbow, never saw it but if that was me I'd be getting a shot. Had to be a wasp in the pile starting up a nest.

 

[chipper1]

P.S. I took a look at the image on my computer and there does appear to be some black lines that would indicate spalting.

That said, it is a good idea to wear a respirator when cutting or sanding spalted wood to prevent inhaling the fungus spores. This as some people have allergic reactions to the inactive fungus spores... reactions to the point of hospitalization. it's not a bad idea to wear at least a dust mask when sanding wood anyway!

Gotta watch that stuff, in cali it gets a prop 65 sticker .
https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/fact-sheets/wood-dust
Speaking of stuff in wood, I won(drawing) a chunk of fatwood at a GTG yesterday.
Tonight I split a 1" thick piece off and then split a 1"x1" chunks of that down to small pieces for starting fires.
Most resinous wood I've ever seen.

 

[chipper1]

OK, I know you guys can't stand the suspense any longer, so here it is.
View attachment 985311
Sire and stallion together.
Old faithful still works fine for firewood but it's getting a little rough for mixing mortar and other such duties so I've been watching Craigslist for a reasonably priced model to add to the fleet. And now I can move firewood twice as fast!
Plus a couple of bonus loads. View attachment 985309
View attachment 985308

C'mon dad. You got a new wheelbarrow, and besides, think of all the wood we could haul with it .