Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Jeffkrib]

Fatwood is generally a thing from the southeast--Georgia and thereabout--from southern yellow pine.

But I harvest it here in Colorado from Ponderosa Pine stumps. Not every stump by any means. But frequently the stump remaining after I remove a Pondo has pine pitch oozing from it in copious quantity within a day or two. Kids go to sit on a bright, fresh stump and are practically glued to it.

Don't know how it works, but years down the line certain of those stumps are preserved, barkless, and quite heavy. I split them up small, and every piece glistens with pitch and smells like turpentine. You don't want to put a sizable chunk in the stove or you'd overfire it something terrible. I put a chunk about the size of my fist in the stove recently and the stove was cranking hot, making noises I didn't like, black smoke pouring from the chimney--and that's from wood that has seasoned many years.

I keep some around for firestarter--one match to a piece of it will serve in place of a fistful of kindling. I've given away several boxes and buckets of this stuff to friends. Pretty fancy stuff.

I’ve experienced this pitch filled from splits of pine, you have to be careful as it goes off like a nuclear reactor.
Even when you throttle the air down to nothing it’s hard to slow down.

 

[Brufab]

For the wheelbarrow aficionados. I saw this at the produce auction today.
View attachment 985733

Looks like a great mother's day gift

 

[JustJeff]

Pulled up alongside a fella drivers window to drivers window as folks will do on a country road. As we were chatting, a coyote trotted out of the ditch. I said " Hey Len, you gonna shoot that coyote?" Instead of his rifle, dude pulls out a revolver, a 357 I later learned, and extends his arm to shoot out the passenger window. Before I could mutter a warning, this poor dude fired. Inside his regular cab pickup. Coyote continued on his way. Len paused and looked at me, shook his head and put the truck in gear and drove off. He later said his ears rung for two days.

 

[JimR]

fatwood, interesting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwood

Fatwood works great for starting my woodstove fires.

 

[JimR]

Pulled up alongside a fella drivers window to drivers window as folks will do on a country road. As we were chatting, a coyote trotted out of the ditch. I said " Hey Len, you gonna shoot that coyote?" Instead of his rifle, dude pulls out a revolver, a 357 I later learned, and extends his arm to shoot out the passenger window. Before I could mutter a warning, this poor dude fired. Inside his regular cab pickup. Coyote continued on his way. Len paused and looked at me, shook his head and put the truck in gear and drove off. He later said his ears rung for two days.

Not too bright to shoot a revolver in a pickup cab.

 

[chipper1]

Not too bright to shoot a revolver in a pickup cab.

If it was to "relocate" a Coyote...
I would however tried best I could to get the muzzle out the window a bit .

Pulled up alongside a fella drivers window to drivers window as folks will do on a country road. As we were chatting, a coyote trotted out of the ditch. I said " Hey Len, you gonna shoot that coyote?" Instead of his rifle, dude pulls out a revolver, a 357 I later learned, and extends his arm to shoot out the passenger window. Before I could mutter a warning, this poor dude fired. Inside his regular cab pickup. Coyote continued on his way. Len paused and looked at me, shook his head and put the truck in gear and drove off. He later said his ears rung for two days.

That had to be a little loud lol, probably a bit "she'll shocked" looking at you but not being able to hear a word you were saying.
How's that saying go, experience is what we get when things don't go as planned, and we could add when things aren't planned

I wear hearing protection running saws most all the time and same with the wood splitter, and sometimes running the tractor, my ears rarely ring any more than normal. Bark box on the 462 could make them ring, it's obnoxiously loud , I'll run my 556 ar with a 10.5" barrel without ear protection before I run the 462 without for comparison, but I don't normally do that as I want the kids/others to learn to always wear hearing protection(I do however teach people to shoot in closed quarters without protection a few times so they know what to expect) as my ears constantly ring(maybe those cigarette butts didn't work that well when I was a kid), very loud right now even and I did nothing with anything loud all day yesterday as it was raining. Today will be a different story, noodles with a 70cc saw(probably the 462 as it's ready to cut with a freshly sharpened chain) cut a few rounds of elm for a friend at church to seed with mushroom spores, couple hours work with the tractor grading/ hauling asphalt millings and dirt, shuffling logs to the back, and cutting up a few smaller trees around the house with the ms201 rear handle, I'll wear hearing protection most the time .

Hope you all have a great day.

 

[svk]

I think you said you've several fireplaces and will put a stove in one. Do you use the others? You can still be primarily/almost solely wood heat with a stove or two.

Looks like I forgot to answer this the other day…I have one older wood fireplace plus a gas fireplace insert in the other old fireplace. Plus this third (new) woodstove will definitely keep the place warm.

We had a several hour power outage a few years back during one of the coldest nights of the year. With the one wood fireplace and the gas fireplace we were losing heat but it was still in the 50’s inside when the power came on. What pissed me off was I was like 2° from the hundred degree club that night and then the power went off and we started losing heat.

 

[GrizG]

If it was to "relocate" a Coyote...
I would however tried best I could to get the muzzle out the window a bit .

That had to be a little loud lol, probably a bit "she'll shocked" looking at you but not being able to hear a word you were saying.
How's that saying go, experience is what we get when things don't go as planned, and we could add when things aren't planned

I wear hearing protection running saws most all the time and same with the wood splitter, and sometimes running the tractor, my ears rarely ring any more than normal. Bark box on the 462 could make them ring, it's obnoxiously loud , I'll run my 556 ar with a 10.5" barrel without ear protection before I run the 462 without for comparison, but I don't normally do that as I want the kids/others to learn to always wear hearing protection(I do however teach people to shoot in closed quarters without protection a few times so they know what to expect) as my ears constantly ring(maybe those cigarette butts didn't work that well when I was a kid), very loud right now even and I did nothing with anything loud all day yesterday as it was raining. Today will be a different story, noodles with a 70cc saw(probably the 462 as it's ready to cut with a freshly sharpened chain) cut a few rounds of elm for a friend at church to seed with mushroom spores, couple hours work with the tractor grading/ hauling asphalt millings and dirt, shuffling logs to the back, and cutting up a few smaller trees around the house with the ms201 rear handle, I'll wear hearing protection most the time .

Hope you all have a great day.

I took to wearing ear and eye protection while shooting back in the '70s. The first couple hundred rounds I shot with my .30-06 I didn't have ear protection but after shooting about 25 rounds one day I made getting a pair a priority. I use both in my woodworking shop while running tools and use them with most outdoor power tools (e.g., chainsaws, trimmers, edger, bed redefiner, clippers, backpack blower). A notable exception is mowers (walk behind and zero turn) and snow blowers. It is a bad habit that I need to break.

I shot my 3" .44 magnum once, one shot, without hearing protection to shoot a deer. Never again! Holy crap... that was painful.

Regarding kids. I had my sons in my woodworking shop, working on the house and yard, and shooting from an early age. My friend Doug Stowe (fine woodworker, author, and educator) promotes "Wisdom of the Hands" and he had photos of them on his blog scribing sleepers for a new floor and hanging Hardi Plank siding when they were about 6 and 8 years old. I bought them hardhats, eye protection and hearing protection. They always saw me wearing the PPE and I never had to remind them to put it on. They aren't kids any more and they still wear it when they should.

 

[MustangMike]

With the 357 (etc) it is not just the muzzle blast, it is the blast from the cylinder gap.

I sold my real nice Ruger Stainless GP100 in 357 and kept my Glock 40 cal.

While I wear hearing protection at the range, I want to be able to fire my firearms out in the woods w/o imploding my head!

I will never own a rifle with a muzzle break!

 

[SS396driver]

Took my new to me 68 C10 out for its first real drive . Ran well brakes worked well, I went through them prior so they should. But I noticed a grinding noise . Checked under to see if i picked up a stick or something truck has 3/4 drop so not easy to do on the road nothing obvious. Jacked up the rear in my garage and put it in drive yup it's the rear . Took it apart the other day and axles bearings were fine so I took out the carrier and found this
Must have been a fault in the bearing no rust or wear anywhere .
So needless to say I’m replacing all the bearings . Ring and pinion look like new not bad for a 54 year old truck .

 

[GrizG]

Took my new to me 68 C10 out for its first real drive . Ran well brakes worked well, I went through them prior so they should. But I noticed a grinding noise . Checked under to see if i picked up a stick or something truck has 3/4 drop so not easy to do on the road nothing obvious. Jacked up the rear in my garage and put it in drive yup it's the rear . Took it apart the other day and axles bearings were fine so I took out the carrier and found thisView attachment 985911View attachment 985912View attachment 985913
Must have been a fault in the bearing no rust or wear anywhere .
So needless to say I’m replacing all the bearings . Ring and pinion look like new not bad for a 54 year old truck . View attachment 985915

Saw dust mixed in with the gear lube will smooth that right out... Probably best to use a dull chain as the big chips from a sharp chain may build up too thick.

 

[mountainguyed67]

2 commercial ceiling mounted hot water heaters .

Why did he heat water that was already hot???

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

For better or worse all of my brass is sized full length. I have multiple guns in most of the calibers I load for, so I figured no sense having gun specific cartridges when I am only hunting and plinking.

If I was going for accuracy with one rifle I would neck size.

hmm, well, i do remember... when it came to hunting and accuracy... my Dad always resized the neck...

i have a pix of him with a Cape Buffalo shot on one of his African hunting trips. the pursers/guides called him a name in an African dialect that meant: "one shot heart hunter!"

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Fatwood is generally a thing from the southeast--Georgia and thereabout--from southern yellow pine.

But I harvest it here in Colorado from Ponderosa Pine stumps. Not every stump by any means. But frequently the stump remaining after I remove a Pondo has pine pitch oozing from it in copious quantity within a day or two. Kids go to sit on a bright, fresh stump and are practically glued to it.

Don't know how it works, but years down the line certain of those stumps are preserved, barkless, and quite heavy. I split them up small, and every piece glistens with pitch and smells like turpentine. You don't want to put a sizable chunk in the stove or you'd overfire it something terrible. I put a chunk about the size of my fist in the stove recently and the stove was cranking hot, making noises I didn't like, black smoke pouring from the chimney--and that's from wood that has seasoned many years.

I keep some around for firestarter--one match to a piece of it will serve in place of a fistful of kindling. I've given away several boxes and buckets of this stuff to friends. Pretty fancy stuff.

hi CB i dont use fatwood, but i sure do like cedar fence kindling...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Not too bright to shoot a revolver in a pickup cab.

that is what i cannot figure out regarding all the road rage shootings down here...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I wear hearing protection running saws most all the time and same with the wood splitter, and sometimes running the tractor, my ears rarely ring any more than normal.

i use PPE for ears even lawn mowing. definitely using my tractors. saws need no comment! to me it's sorta like the guy who welds with no eye protection... or uses sun glasses!

sometimes i will run my equipment, not saws... and not close to buildings w/o PPE ear. so i can hear the engine and related assemblies operating under load. for best results, plugs and over ear set...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Took my new to me 68 C10 out for its first real drive . Ran well brakes worked well, I went through them prior so they should. But I noticed a grinding noise . Checked under to see if i picked up a stick or something truck has 3/4 drop so not easy to do on the road nothing obvious. Jacked up the rear in my garage and put it in drive yup it's the rear . Took it apart the other day and axles bearings were fine so I took out the carrier and found thisView attachment 985911View attachment 985912View attachment 985913
Must have been a fault in the bearing no rust or wear anywhere .
So needless to say I’m replacing all the bearings . Ring and pinion look like new not bad for a 54 year old truck . View attachment 985915

something ate up the case hardening! nice wear pattern on the ring... spiders look nice, too!

 

[GrizG]

hmm, well, i do remember... when it came to hunting and accuracy... my Dad always resized the neck...

i have a pix of him with a Cape Buffalo shot on one of his African hunting trips. the pursers/guides called him a name in an African dialect that meant: "one shot heart hunter!"

View attachment 985954

Whether to full length resize or neck size only has another variable that needs to be considered beyond accuracy... that being the gun's camming capabilities for chambering the round and extracting it. I primarily hunt with Ruger No 1 single shot rifles and they can seat a tight cartridge case without much trouble so neck sizing is fine. Most bolt actions will work fine too. On the other hand, some guns, semi-autos and lever guns in particular, may not feed and extract tight cases well and almost demand full length resizing. From a practical standpoint, hunting dangerous game isn't a place to have a chambering problem. On the other hand, whitetails generally aren't going to tear you apart or run over you and stomp you into the ground.

Also, you don't need pin point accuracy if you are shooting big game at close ranges. When "my woods" were thick with underbrush and low branches I shot a lot of deer at close range with a circa 1965 Ruger .44 Carbine. That gun is miserable at 100 yards... lucky if it will hold 10-12" groups. After correcting and ruling out problems with the gun I came to the conclusion that the problem is the bullet diameter. Early on the barrel specifications for the .44 Magnum were different for rifles than they were for handguns with the rifle bore being larger. Turns out the SAAMI standard for pistols was a bore of .417 and groove of .429 and for rifles a bore of .424 and groove of .431. Today they use only the smaller standard for both. Seems .429 bullets rattling down the bore aren't much good at longer ranges but still make one shot kills at close range.

P.S. The first time I shot a Ruger .44 Carbine it was one owned by my friend's father. We cut down a tree with it.

 

[JimR]

something ate up the case hardening! nice wear pattern on the ring... spiders look nice, too!

I've done quite a few rear ends and never saw a bearing that looked like that unless there was metal in the oil. How were the pinion bearings? You should check them since you are this far into it.

 

[SS396driver]

I've done quite a few rear ends and never saw a bearing that looked like that unless there was metal in the oil. How were the pinion bearings? You should check them since you are this far into it.

All the other bearings were perfect . This one just went . The oil didn’t have any metal or metallic look to it . Even put a magnet in the drained gear oil nothing .