Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Cowboy254]

G'day fellers,

I'm 50 pages behind and will be reading my eyes to the bone to catch up, but I thought I should let you know that I am coming over to the USA with the family over the Christmas/New Year period. Staying with in-law family in the middle of New Hampshire. I'd love to be able to run some saws and shoot some guns but I won't really have the ability to travel around much. But if some of you blokes in the northeastern states feel like a drive....?

Anyone about?

 

[Cowboy254]

G'day again fellers,

Went down to the coast for some fishing last weekend. Mitch, whose farm I cut most of my wood from, came down as well. His father was from this place and he wanted to scatter his ashes (finally, after 19 years). Had a great weekend, caught Oz salmon, tailor (bluefish), bream, luderick and mullet. Kept a few, let most go. Perfect weather too.







Dinner at the pub after, looking out over the estuary.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

Yes it’s a van , just like it’s a saw , it’s what on the inside, that makes the difference, modified van or ported saw.

Or for US$100K (CA$130K) you can roam the pavement and the woods with a 4x4, 6.6L Duramax/Allison transmission combo, 12,000lb hooklift and an aluminum 2 cord box. And yes, inside is what counts. That Duramax produces a respectable 14 mpg (17 L / 100km) at 50-60 mph (80-100 kph) fully loaded with 2 cord (8,000 lbs, 3,600 kg) of hardwood on board. It's sweet spot is 50 mph (80 kph) where you can average 15 mpg (15 L/100 km). Pictured here with one cord aboard.

 

[JimR]

They attack Maple? Dang! I don't have any ash here, but quite a bit of Big Leaf Maple on my property.

On a different note, I'm glad I got firewood done for this winter on Thursday. I got a call while I was at a birthday party for my granddaughter requesting that I go to North Carolina with a PNW Incident Management Team to assist with Hurricane Relief. I fly out tomorrow night or Monday.

Some bark fell off this tree and under it were a few of those little bustards.

 

[JimR]

This Stihl will be Stihl for a long time. Owner unknown

 

[diver64]

Some bark fell off this tree and under it were a few of those little bustards.

Are you sure they were EAB? The common EAB are only found on ash.

Some bark fell off this tree and under it were a few of those little bustards.

EAB are exclusive to ash. They can be easily confused with several other insects, though. I'd be very surprised if that was what they were.

 

[JimR]

Are you sure they were EAB? The common EAB are only found on ash.

EAB are exclusive to ash. They can be easily confused with several other insects, though. I'd be very surprised if that was what they were.

That is what i thought too. I'll get a picture for you today of one when I go over to the farm. It was an EAB.

 

[diver64]

That is what i thought too. I'll get a picture for you today of one when I go over to the farm. It was an EAB.

County Extension would be very interested to hear this I bet.

 

[chipper1]

Are you sure they were EAB? The common EAB are only found on ash.

EAB are exclusive to ash. They can be easily confused with several other insects, though. I'd be very surprised if that was what they were.

As far as I've heard, they will move to other species when there are no ash available.
But, they don't seem to proliferate as much in them, so theres that.
I sure hope the young ash we have coming up don't get tore up by them. Once the leaves are all off and the grasses die out, I'll be able to see how the bark looks on all the ones I see along the roads better, hoping for the best.

 

[chipper1]

On a different note, I'm glad I got firewood done for this winter on Thursday. I got a call while I was at a birthday party for my granddaughter requesting that I go to North Carolina with a PNW Incident Management Team to assist with Hurricane Relief. I fly out tomorrow night or Monday.

Sounds great, it's a mess down there. I'm sending a saw out to a local this week, lots of large trees down at their property.
Bummer is that theres been a lot of the government getting involved and shutting down much of the cleanup and support, and you know the government isn't the most efficient...
Happy birthday to your granddaughter from Michigan.

 

[chipper1]

This Stihl will be Stihl for a long time. Owner unknown

Turned out to be an expensive stick, hope the log was worth as much as it looks to be.

 

[JimR]

As far as I've heard, they will move to other species when there are no ash available.
But, they don't seem to proliferate as much in them, so theres that.
I sure hope the young ash we have coming up don't get tore up by them. Once the leaves are all off and the grasses die out, I'll be able to see how the bark looks on all the ones I see along the roads better, hoping for the best.

This tree was already dying in the area where I saw the EAB. From what I just read they will attack a dying Maple tree.

 

[chipper1]

This tree was already dying in the area where I saw the EAB. From what I just read they will attack a dying Maple tree.

That makes sense. Kinda like black/carpenter ants get into wet decaying wood and tunnel, unlike termites that will just eat the wood .

 

[Lee192233]

G'day fellers,

I'm 50 pages behind and will be reading my eyes to the bone to catch up, but I thought I should let you know that I am coming over to the USA with the family over the Christmas/New Year period. Staying with in-law family in the middle of New Hampshire. I'd love to be able to run some saws and shoot some guns but I won't really have the ability to travel around much. But if some of you blokes in the northeastern states feel like a drive....?

Anyone about?

I'd gladly show you around if you were around Wisconsin. I'm sure someone in the Northeast will take you up on it.

 

[sean donato]

This is yuppie or hipster territory...View attachment 1209067
Holy sheite!

One of the guys I work with just bought a 4x4 sprinter van. Is a super base model compared to that thing. He got it "used" with very low miles on it. Uses it to go to dirt bike races/ events. Won't tell anyone what it cost, but the rumor is it was over $100k.

Well, it's not progress like @sean donato on the shop, but this will help get stuff off the floor. Got the second shelf above this one installed, too, and one more to go above that. I envision it as low access inventory of spare fluids.
View attachment 1209074

We'll take any form of progress lol. Heck you're further ahead then me, I'm not even to the point where I know where a shelf can go!

I love how these guys have snorkels above the roof, in a vehicle that costs $50k to 120K before they wasted money with add ons, so they can"drive under water" with a gasoline engine. Uh huh! How'd that work out for you Sparky?


At least the sprinter has a diesel engine and might run a while longer underwater...oops, Electronic fuel injection! And a fuel tank that would take on water when submerged. Diesel engines don't run so well on water.

We had a state park where you could drive across fords of 6" of water. I liked going over there to watch the plymouth dodge slant 6s stall. Frods and shoveys stalled too, but not as often.

Used to four-wheel up at Rausch creek, and paragon. Plenty of ways to "water-proof" electronics on gas and diesels. More then a few time I took my 93 f-150 through water that was chest deep in the cab and never had issues with it shutting off. Need to plan for that way in advance, and modify to accomplish your goals. There's some what of a learning curve, but it's not difficult to do.

Afternoon fellas. Spent the morning building a trailer hitch for my tractor. I know, my cuttin' and weldin' skills ain't top notch, but this thing was built with 95% scrounged material.

View attachment 1209263View attachment 1209263

Nice! The prime of recycling! Love the r-14s too. My favorite tire style. Best combination of traction and not testing the yard up.

 

[sean donato]

@MechanicMatt get well buddy, that's some serious stuff. Hope the Dr's figure out what's going on.

 

[diver64]

That makes sense. Kinda like black/carpenter ants get into wet decaying wood and tunnel, unlike termites that will just eat the wood .

That does make sense.

 

[H-Ranch]

We'll take any form of progress lol. Heck you're further ahead then me, I'm not even to the point where I know where a shelf can go!

That's a fact! If anything gets done it's better than nothing. LOL

The attached garage is further along than my barn to be sure. I was supposed to have $50k in equity for barn building from selling the old house when we bought this place. But... then the great recession hit. The day we listed the old house was the day the stock market crashed. And then for good measure it crashed again the next day. So we ended up with two houses for almost three years (not what it's cracked up to be). Finally sold it at basically a break even price. So now the 38x80 barn structure is built, but I'm still living with a dirt floor and no electric service. Like I think you've said before, first world problems, right?

 

[Lionsfan]

Trial run for the new hitch.

 

[MechanicMatt]

They attack Maple? Dang! I don't have any ash here, but quite a bit of Big Leaf Maple on my property.

On a different note, I'm glad I got firewood done for this winter on Thursday. I got a call while I was at a birthday party for my granddaughter requesting that I go to North Carolina with a PNW Incident Management Team to assist with Hurricane Relief. I fly out tomorrow night or Monday.

Safe travels and as a guy with family down there, THANK YOU