Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Backyard Lumberjack]

It's a dying trade! Im the youngest cutter on the crew and Im 46. IMOP there are so many variables involved as far as experience level. A lot of professional cutters can only cut, or should I say. Have experience cutt'n only one or two species very well, or only on moderate terrain. Some have only cutting experience in second growth stands. Witch have far far less snags then an old growth forest. Just a few of many examples. I'm sure you get what I'm saying though. The best timber fallers I personally myself have ever seen or worked with. Were 60 years old 25 years ago and had 30+ years experience. They could cut any species on any ground. Were talking cutters who grew up in Old Growth camps who's Father's cut and came from the old school. My boss is 060 and he puts more timber on the ground than both the other cutter 48 and I 46. Not more than both of us combined of course. But his numbers are always higher than either of ours by several trees. He knows many many tricks of the trade! Witch saves him time and energy. IMOP Thats what it takes to be a good cutter and for others to recognize you as a good cutter. But!!! Hear's the interesting thing. He leaves his falling axe in the pickup!!! Dosent use one, and dosent need one! Im not joking! Hes that good! He says "Why thats just one more thing to pack around!" Don't get me wrong. If he has to cut a fringe leaning hard over a steep draw, or something similar along those lines. Occasionally he will knock the rust off the Poll of his axe.

Cut safe, stay sharp, and be aware!

interesting! ~

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Not to mention that death or disfigurement aren't usually a possible consequence for making a mistake in the college-edumicated fields. I've had scary moments while both climbing and falling, and have been in verrry uncomfortable situations during timber fires.

...and falling, i can just imagine!

that bit on Las Vegas has piece on one tower where riders, $100/drop (pop) ... get suited up for a 30 second free-fall ride on down... cable connected. i have made several sky dive jumps... i know that free fall feeling. also, took one of the aireal up/down rides in vegas... i know that freefall sensation!

WOWwieeeeeee....!

 

[bob kern]

Finally bucked up the hickory that fell a few weeks ago. Got near 4 rics out of it. No more splitting for a while tho since the splitter started spewing hyd. oil as we finished up. Seals out on the cylinder.

 

[JimR]

Cleaned up some of our backyard and look who comes to visit us. He came right up behind our garage and walked up the driveway to cross the road. I'll try to load the video.

 

[JimR]

Video is too large to load.

 

[steved]

Pulled about two triaxle's worth of wood, then pulled and hauled a few trailer loads home to get him started in the meantime.

One maple we pulled yesterday was nearly 60 feet long...12 inches at the butt, six inches at the cutoff, and straight as an arrow. We had a few cherry nearly the same.

 

[501Maico]

The high temps finally broke here. I had the splitter parked behind my house in the shade and moved the rounds and splits.
This is the best log of the bunch, about 11' long and no branches. It had rolled into the woods so there was no mud packed on the bottom.







It all split nicely but I piled the most uniform splits on the left, candidates for cross stacking. I'm not a fan of the extra time and frustration but I may have more wood than storage space.


Cut split and stacked during the heat.

 

[Jeffkrib]

The fireplace starts in the walk-in basement and up into the first and second floors. Here's a couple picts.,

All the stone came right off this place,

I also milled out the stair treads too, and the fireplace goes through and is used in the second-floor master bedroom too...

SR

That’s some serious thermal mass there.

 

[svk]

Hate to go against the grain guys (even though I generally agree with you), but I'm thinking of making a custom gun.

Not that my Ruger American Rifle in 30-06 will not do anything I need done (especially with slightly hot handloads that shoot 1").

The problem is the current trend is small bore (6.5 and 6.8 mm), and I like a little larger (but not 45, etc). I'm very disappointed that very few manufacturers even chamber the 338 Federal, which seems to me to be a very good cartridge.

I'm thinking of having a 338-06 made up ... I think it would be perfect for heavy brush. I've also noticed over the years that larger diameter bullets kill faster, and a fully expanded 338 is much larger than a fully expanded 30. I don't mind a long action, and the 06 case seems to be the perfect size, and your magazine capacity will be greater than with a magnum.

My Nephew (MechanicMatt) took his nice buck (up at my property) with a Ruger M77 chambered for 35 Whalen, a combo that was only offered for a short time and is NLA.

Was going to do it for my 70th, but shortages of everything precluded me from doing so. I guess what I'm really looking for is something that performs like my 348 but allows me to use a scope! There is just something about using a cartridge that not everyone else has, especially if it works even better!

FYI, there are no 1,200 yd shots in the thick woods, I've only taken one deer much past 100 yds and it was within 150 yds. Open field hunting is much different.

Sounds awesome Mike.

I have a .338 federal. It hits like the hammer of Thor, however has very mild recoil! 338-06 is on my wish list too. IMO .338 seems to be the sweet spot for gaining top velocity/energy out of mid size cartridge cases.

I think I shared that I purchased a .35 whelen improved earlier this summer. Finally found a box of regular whelen ammo so I can fireform this fall.

I never had a shot at deer past 50 or 60 yards until they logged up here. They are doing the last batch of logging in the next year or two and then all the woods in my area will have been logged in the last 30 years. The good thing about that is that it’ll be a few years before they start logging again. Once these last few clearings grow up again I can hunt exclusively with “brush guns” again.

My longest shot on a deer is 160 yards. In jr high I did knick a doe at about 300 one time. We chased it for 2 days and never caught up with it. Learned my lesson after that.

 

[MustangMike]

That is a nice size bear!

My Uncle who taught me to hunt was the most ethical hunter I ever knew. Would not use a scope, would not hunt from a tree stand with a gun, and would never shoot a doe (although small bucks were OK, you don't need many bucks). You were also not allowed to stop and get out if you spotted a deer from the vehicle. You would go and start where you planned to hunt as if you had never seen it.

He hunted with a Model 95 Winchester in 30-40 Krag. It had a 28" barrel and a thin blade front sight. For those who don't know the 30-40 was our military cartridge after the 45-70, and guns chambered for it are often marked "30-US".

We transitioned to the 30-03 in 1903 and the 30-06 in 1906. The 03 was loaded with a 220 grain round nose bullet, and it soon became obvious that it did not have the range of the 7mm Mauser. The 06 used lighter spitzer bullets.

Although my uncle used 180 grain bullets (instead of the military 220 grain), he always insisted on using round nose bullets because they were more reliable. Bullet technology has come a long way since then!

 

[chipper1]

My job this past week was mostly cutting hardwoods...I'm used to cutting softwoods, mostly pine, fir, and some redwood, and am used to how well they hinge. I tried to apply the same techniques to a side leaning oak and ended up having to cut it out of the tree it got hung up in.

Whoops . How's that saying go; experience is what you get when things don't go as planned.
Surprised it wouldn't just swing for you . I always get a kick out of guys saying pine doesn't hinge well, I'm not sure what they are comparing it to. At least you have the skills to get a hung tree out, that can be a dangerous job, and storm damaged leaners are even worse as they had forces making them go where they went outside of gravity and can be harder to read. I feel storm damage is some of the most dangerous wood too be cutting.
Many times even the same species take much different techniques, which I know you're aware of .
I posted these this spring, not sure you were in here then. They all went perfect, nice when that happens, it was my saw that was having issues lol.
The first in this group(one on the right) was leaning to the right in the pic, I just used a tapered hinge and let it fly. The second was leaning to the left and had canopy weight(a couple larger branches) off even further left, I used a slightly tapered hinge and the cable on the winch to pull against the lean so the hinge would hold. The 3rd was leaning hard towards where the picture was taken and just left, I set up the winch 180 off the lean and used a standard hinge but a small step cut for the back cut to hold it while walking to the tractor, little pull and over she went. It's nice when it all goes as planned...

Looking at the holding wood on the butts, it's pretty easy to see what I did with the hinges, it also makes the hinges look fatter than looking at the stumps(not sure why the hinge looks so narrow on the stump?).


This is the last one getting pulled over, it's gonna hit me .

Not to mention that death or disfigurement aren't usually a possible consequence for making a mistake in the college-edumicated fields.

Yep, but their mistakes could cause others to die. Oddly enough it seems some of the people I have the biggest disagreements with have been engineers/ architects, seems things look great on paper or a screen, but they don't always work in the real world. That being said, I'm also grateful for their work as I know it's not my forte (especially the paperwork side of things).
Here's one that could have killed someone, actually my whole family. I was changing a bulb in the track lighting in our kitchen, and sparks started flying . I replaced the light/track system last night, but had taken out the bad ones a while ago, good thing they never started a fire. I'm sure the guy who designed them slept fine last night .

 

[JustJeff]

I've seen enough firewood related posts between the truck fixing and trailer building and gunsmithing. It inspired me to finish this winter's stacking. I have 10 of these racks sitting on landscape timbers on blocks, under my deck which has tin on the underside. 10 facecord or 3.3 full cord. I use between 7 and 9 depending on the wood and the winter. Had to pull out the splitter to get the last half a rack filled. Feels good to be ready for the year. Now just need to split next year's wood. My hound has done some scrounging too!

 

[svk]

Ran the brush saw for a while this morning. Worked up quite a sweat because it’s getting warm. It’s kind of strange to be the sweaty and not be dirty. Usually I’m working on cars or running the saw so I’m full of dirt and dust.

 

[Kodiak Kid]

...and falling, i can just imagine!

that bit on Las Vegas has piece on one tower where riders, $100/drop (pop) ... get suited up for a 30 second free-fall ride on down... cable connected. i have made several sky dive jumps... i know that free fall feeling. also, took one of the aireal up/down rides in vegas... i know that freefall sensation!

WOWwieeeeeee....!

View attachment 1010010

I believe he's referring to the scary moments he's had "climbing timber" and "falling timber". However I may be wrong about that.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Absolutely Agreed! It can all be very very dangerous work! I had a very close call today as a matter of fact that could have seriously injured or killed me. Simply because of my negligence by not paying close attention to my complete surrounding's. I won't get into detail, but lets just say I got very lucky. I have close calls all the time that probably wouldn't kill me or seriously injure me, but they would definitely hurt and probably put me out of commission for a day or two with accident report paper work involved. I avoid many hazards by paying attention and staying focused. When a person gets fatigued and sloppy is most often when he gets seriously hurt or killed. That's why OSHA forbids timber fallers to work more than 6.5 hours a day when on the books for a company or under contract. For good reason too. Im in pretty decent shape, but after 6.5 on the saw. Im pretty worn down and much slower and fatigued for the last hour of work compared to being fresh in the morning at start up. Especially in difficult terrain!

Cut safe, stay sharp, and be aware!

My scary climbing moments happened when I was tired and was just trying to rush things. Things like taking a larger top than I should have(with a pull line too...red flag!) Or when I almost ran out the end of my line descending from a tall pine when I was still 30' off the ground(because I failed to put a stopper knot back in it.)

...and falling, i can just imagine!

that bit on Las Vegas has piece on one tower where riders, $100/drop (pop) ... get suited up for a 30 second free-fall ride on down... cable connected. i have made several sky dive jumps... i know that free fall feeling. also, took one of the aireal up/down rides in vegas... i know that freefall sensation!

WOWwieeeeeee....!

View attachment 1010010

I believe he's referring to the scary moments he's had "climbing timber" and "falling timber". However I may be wrong about that.

I wasn't sure if that was sarcasm, but yes...timber falling, not actually free falling lol. Knock on wood, I've never fallen out of a tree!

 

[Sierra_rider]

i like that work table... bench!

It's on wheels too, so I can roll it out to the front of the shop to blow the saw off with air and not make a mess inside. There is also a small 4" vise on the end of it, it doesn't show up in the pic though.

What you also don't see in the picture is my 30' long workbench/cabinet space behind me. After having that much work area, I don't think I could ever go back to a single small bench.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Whoops . How's that saying go; experience is what you get when things don't go as planned.
Surprised it wouldn't just swing for you . I always get a kick out of guys saying pine doesn't hinge well, I'm not sure what they are comparing it to. At least you have the skills to get a hung tree out, that can be a dangerous job, and storm damaged leaners are even worse as they had forces making them go where they went outside of gravity and can be harder to read. I feel storm damage is some of the most dangerous wood too be cutting.
Many times even the same species take much different techniques, which I know you're aware of .
I posted these this spring, not sure you were in here then. They all went perfect, nice when that happens, it was my saw that was having issues lol.
The first in this group(one on the right) was leaning to the right in the pic, I just used a tapered hinge and let it fly. The second was leaning to the left and had canopy weight(a couple larger branches) off even further left, I used a slightly tapered hinge and the cable on the winch to pull against the lean so the hinge would hold. The 3rd was leaning hard towards where the picture was taken and just left, I set up the winch 180 off the lean and used a standard hinge but a small step cut for the back cut to hold it while walking to the tractor, little pull and over she went. It's nice when it all goes as planned...
View attachment 1010052
Looking at the holding wood on the butts, it's pretty easy to see what I did with the hinges, it also makes the hinges look fatter than looking at the stumps(not sure why the hinge looks so narrow on the stump?).
View attachment 1010055
View attachment 1010056
This is the last one getting pulled over, it's gonna hit me .


Yep, but their mistakes could cause others to die. Oddly enough it seems some of the people I have the biggest disagreements with have been engineers/ architects, seems things look great on paper or a screen, but they don't always work in the real world. That being said, I'm also grateful for their work as I know it's not my forte (especially the paperwork side of things).
Here's one that could have killed someone, actually my whole family. I was changing a bulb in the track lighting in our kitchen, and sparks started flying . I replaced the light/track system last night, but had taken out the bad ones a while ago, good thing they never started a fire. I'm sure the guy who designed them slept fine last night .
View attachment 1010058

Nice directional control with those, it's always when you get everything to go into the lead.

The excavator we have working out there, was a ways up the hill, so I figured on just "sending it." Not so much lol, it wasn't too bad, I've hung up trees worse than that lol.

Like I said, not a ton of experience cutting that specific species of oak. Most of the oak I cut locally is a different species called Ca black oak...that stuff is usually rotten in the inside, between the rot and the sheer weight of them, you'll never get one to swing. This stuff I was cutting the other day, I just wanted to see what I could get it to do.

This pick of a black oak is a good representation of what most of them look like...no I don't try to swing these lol!

 

[djg james]

I've seen enough firewood related posts between the truck fixing and trailer building and gunsmithing. It inspired me to finish this winter's stacking. I have 10 of these racks sitting on landscape timbers on blocks, under my deck which has tin on the underside. 10 facecord or 3.3 full cord. I use between 7 and 9 depending on the wood and the winter. Had to pull out the splitter to get the last half a rack filled. Feels good to be ready for the year. Now just need to split next year's wood. My hound has done some scrounging too!
View attachment 1010066View attachment 1010067View attachment 1010068

Nice stash of wood you got there. I also do something similarly under my deck. It has a ceiling so everything stays dry. But I only put four 10' rows under there. The rest is living space.

I can't understand what keeps the uprights on your wood racks from spreading apart?

Your dog hunt, other than firewood?

 

[chipper1]

Nice directional control with those, it's always when you get everything to go into the lead.

The excavator we have working out there, was a ways up the hill, so I figured on just "sending it." Not so much lol, it wasn't too bad, I've hung up trees worse than that lol.

Like I said, not a ton of experience cutting that specific species of oak. Most of the oak I cut locally is a different species called Ca black oak...that stuff is usually rotten in the inside, between the rot and the sheer weight of them, you'll never get one to swing. This stuff I was cutting the other day, I just wanted to see what I could get it to do.

This pick of a black oak is a good representation of what most of them look like...no I don't try to swing these lol!

View attachment 1010078View attachment 1010079

Thanks.
Most oak will break or chair, when limbing them you have to be very careful and understand the limitations. When limbing it's a good idea to cut your face, then make fairly good sized side cuts(basically your making a "post" when finished with the back cut), to remove as much if the tension/compression (that's where a chair happens for those that don't know).
Good that you get to practice on them in a safe/er environment, a target rich environment is not the place to practice.
I'm still surprised you didn't just swing that bad boy .
Looks like a beautiful site/office there .

 

[Sierra_rider]

Thanks.
Most oak will break or chair, when limbing them you have to be very careful and understand the limitations. When limbing it's a good idea to cut your face, then make fairly good sized side cuts(basically your making a "post" when finished with the back cut), to remove as much if the tension/compression (that's where a chair happens for those that don't know).
Good that you get to practice on them in a safe/er environment, a target rich environment is not the place to practice.
I'm still surprised you didn't just swing that bad boy .
Looks like a beautiful site/office there .

That pic is actually from a completely different job awhile back...I give myself kudos for missing the fence. I hear you on the chair...notice the evidence of a side-bore, made more difficult because my 36" was just a few inches too short. I was cutting nice solid live and valley oaks this past week, but yeah...they still don't hinge very well lol.

I've always used notches a lot when limbing/brushing out oaks when I climb them. It's the only good way to control the direction of the limbs. Also box cuts to minimize the chances of splitting.

On pines and, even firs to a certain extent, I mostly use peel cuts. Very rarely will I cut a notch, they peel so nicely, you can really manipulate the limbs without notches. A peel, in combination with a well time kick of the spur, I can dang near get the limb onto the other side of the tree by the time it hits the ground.

I hear you on the practice...my knock against a lot of climbers, is their knowledge of falling is rather limited. It's easy to cut a tree down once it's a short spar with a pull line in it IMO. Most of the trees I get to cut are fire-damaged trees that are severely compromised and I'm usually just putting them down where it's the most safest for me. Even if the wood is solid where I'm facing it, there is often widow makers and sketchy tops that I don't dare pounding wedges on. So I try to play around a bit when I get trees that are solid and aren't actively trying to kill me.