Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Honyuk96]

I've never used a nice wooden handled splitting axe, but I do like the two fiscars splitting axes I have. I prefer the x27 over the x25 (iirc) even though I'm not real tall (5'7"). They are different than using a large splitting maul as they don't have the weight behind them, it's all about the speed with them. Here in the states they also have a lifetime warranty, which is great. I let a buddies kid try mine out, he swung just past the round and nailed the handle on it, it busted the head right off. Had I not seen it myself I would not have believed it as I had over swung it myself and never had a problem, not sure if I started the fracture and he finished it or if he hit the perfect spot. I contacted fiscars and the said get online and follow the instructions, put my name and address in and sent pics, they sent me a new one free of any extra charges. What's not to like about that .

Over swinging or a bad deflection is not a good ting. This was w an x27. Compound fracture.

 

[Squareground3691]

Over swinging or a bad deflection is not a good ting. This was w an x27. Compound fracture.

Steel toe might of minimized the damage. ?

 

[Honyuk96]

Steel toe might of minimized the damage. ?

Sure would have. I was in shorts and sneakers

 

[501Maico]

The heaviest wood I have come across was a 24" DBH live willow oak that was very dense and wet. Even the larger limbs cut 16" long was a chore to lift. I was using their brand new small Kubota to load my trailer so I was curious about the weight of the trunk pieces. An online wood calculator said 265 lbs. for a 16" length. It wouldn't surprise me if they were closer to 300 being so dense and wet.

 

[501Maico]

Not long after I bought my rural property I had a permanent resident show up that I called friendly deer. I'm not sure why, but out of 150 acres and other wooded property around me she decided to spend most of her time next to my trailer and barn. I could stand right next to her but she didn't want to be touched. She wouldn't run away but instead walked a few feet and start grazing again. Every year she birthed her fawns in a thicket about 30' behind my barn. They were nervous seeing me but when mama didn't run they stayed put. When the fawns wanted feeding, they would hit her hard underneath with their heads. I didn't know this and was wondering what the hell they were doing the first time I saw it.

 

[JustJeff]

My wife spoke up and said "sure my husband will cut down those trees" so that's what I'm doing Saturday unless it's snow squalls. Couple obviously diseased ash. Probably turn into 6 or 7 trees before the day's out.

 

[svk]

I could post photos all day, but I’ll post the one in proudest of from this last year.

View attachment 1032534

How many different types of woodland fowl do you have? We have ruffed grouse and spruce grouse.

 

[MustangMike]

Sorry to see that foot injury, that is why I posted about safety!

Every now and then that X-27 will go through something so fast it will surprise you.

 

[MustangMike]

Just some snowflakes here (our first this year), only the bed of my trailer got white, but up at the property we have snow, and the temps should keep it through opening day on Sat.

I plan to but the Blizzak tires on the truck today as we will be going up on Fri. The 2 mile drive up the Mtn is not paved, has some sharp switchbacks, and some steep climbs. One year, when I had the Escape, I was the only road vehicle to make it up the mountain as I had chains on all 4 wheels.

 

[MustangMike]

More trail cam pics up at the property! Guess I was wrong ... the 4 point buck is a 4 point buck, and there is also a 5 point buck. Both have very high antlers, good body size and no brow tines. They must be related. Both of them, and a much larger buck (with brow tines) have come into the same scrape, along with one doe.

The body size of both the 4 and 5 point bucks are notably larger than the does, so IMO, they should be shooters, but we have to play by the stupid rules!

On our other trail camera, we have doe's several times, a very small spike, a buck with a broken tine on the right side, but the top of the left side looks good (can't see the rest of it), but the right side has a brow tine.

There is also a 9-10 point buck (no huge tines) on this camera, but we have only seen him twice, both times at night. Not sure if it is the same large buck that is on the scape camera as the angles are in the opposite direction (he also came into that camera in the daylight).

Considering we ONLY had does on the cameras the first few weeks they were up, this is getting very interesting, but the 3 point/side rule will make if very tricky as to what you can shoot! The only one exempted from this 3 pt rule is my 13 year old grandson.

 

[sean donato]

Just some snowflakes here (our first this year), only the bed of my trailer got white, but up at the property we have snow, and the temps should keep it through opening day on Sat.

I plan to but the Blizzak tires on the truck today as we will be going up on Fri. The 2 mile drive up the Mtn is not paved, has some sharp switchbacks, and some steep climbs. One year, when I had the Escape, I was the only road vehicle to make it up the mountain as I had chains on all 4 wheels.

got a set with the crv when I bought it off a friend. It was my wife's driver till I got the escape this summer. She's already told me she's taking the crv back till I get a set of snow tires for the escape. She didn't find it funny when i pointed out I happened to have chains that would fit the escape lol. How are the blizaks holding up? I have the winter force tires on the crv.

 

[MustangMike]

I don't put a lot of miles on them, but they seem to last well for me. Only leave them on in the winter, but I have separate wheels and tires for both the Mustang and the F-150. Both sets are several years old and in good shape. Only put 2,500-3,500 on each set each winter.

Putting the Blizzaks on the F-150 make it like a snow country Ferrari on paved roads and I no longer bring chains for going up the unpaved mountain 4wd road in the snow. They also improve the Mustang's performance in the snow, but I avoid deep snow with it, the 4wd F-150 does so much better (4wd, much larger diameter tires and better ground clearance).

The Mustang tires are the high performance Blizzaks and they do well on cold dry pavement also. In Tax Season, I do a lot of scooting around on local roads with no time to waste, so good tires are very important to keep me out of trouble!

 

[sean donato]

I hear that. You get them studed? I change them seasonally as well. I think this will be winter 7 with them. Lost a few studs last year, but overall I've been happy with them. Just the debate of which brand to get and if the extra cost of the studs is worth it or not. My buddy had them studded as soon as he got them and at the time it was a very small fee per tire. I bought the Honda from him in fall, so he never ran them. He has a jeep now and has always ran studded tires. So no experience without them, and I never ran snow tires before getting the Honda.

 

[SS396driver]

A lot of their stuff looks like it's targeting the micro-brew hipster well manicured beard crowd, but, they still make a damn good hooded sweatshirt.

I was at Tractor supply a few years ago and the citiot asked me where I bought my jacket . I told her right here she said she had been looking for one for her husband and couldn’t find one . I pointed to the rack . And she said none look like mine . I told her mine looked like the ones on the rack and after 3 or four seasons of working in it it looks like it does now . She had the deer in the headlights look and said” we’ll that won’t work. “

I suggested she go to goodwill or Restore for a used carhart or smiths .
She actually asked if I’d sell mine . What a maroon .

 

[MustangMike]

I do not get them studded. They may work well on ice, but they ruin dry road performance. It is a tradeoff I'm not willing to make, I drive too aggressively.

Plus, they have yet to fail me in bad weather. The truck (with no posi, just standard 4wd) seems to go anywhere with them. (I did not order the truck, bought it new off the lot).

The Mustang's enemy seems to be deep snow more than ice.

 

[MustangMike]

My daughter forwarded some cabin pics from October:

Me cutting wood, and the view pic includes those huge windmills on the horizon! I'm still pissed about them!

 

[jolj]

Steel toe might of minimized the damage. ?

Or cut your toes off.

 

[Sierra_rider]

I'm just running all-terrains on both of my pickups. My Dodge diesel doesn't see that many miles, so I have a little more agro tires on it(Cooper stt pro.) It helps it in most situations and I'd be worried that it would chew through a set of dedicated snow tire. The diesels seem to chew through rear tires, especially the manuals...I'm not doing smoky burnouts, but I guess the torque is hard on the drive tires. That truck sucks in the snow, even in 4wd.)

The Tacoma is my daily driver and really does well in the snow regardless of what tires I have on there...the small/midsize pickups are much better in that regard. I'm running the Cooper Discoverer AT3s on it...they clean out well in deep snow. They just don't wear as well as the crappy stock Goodyears...those would howl hard around corners, but take forever to wear out.

My only complaint about the Taco, is you have to be in low range to use the locker. I understand that they are worried about some idiot ripping around with the locker engaged and spinning it sideways...I've had a few vehicles that were auto locked or spooled/lincoln-locked, and they took a light touch with the throttle in snow...but really useful on hills and deep snow. My old k20 has a Detroit in the back and a posi in the front...talk about an interesting truck to drive in the snow. It would kill it in the snow, just "odd" going around corners.

 

[Lionsfan]

I hear that. You get them studed? I change them seasonally as well. I think this will be winter 7 with them. Lost a few studs last year, but overall I've been happy with them. Just the debate of which brand to get and if the extra cost of the studs is worth it or not. My buddy had them studded as soon as he got them and at the time it was a very small fee per tire. I bought the Honda from him in fall, so he never ran them. He has a jeep now and has always ran studded tires. So no experience without them, and I never ran snow tires before getting the Honda.

Don't overlook Nokian's. I've ran a set of unstudded R3 Haikapeliti snows ( no idea if that's spelled right) on my wife's 4-Runner the last few years and they are excellent.

 

[Lionsfan]

The 8" of wet, heavy snow we got last night turned inton3" of barnyard goo at Lafarge cement, Alpena, Mi.