Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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marcy-m said:
I'm going to look for a few of those so I can use the container, then. Great idea. I hate wasting fuel when I overfill it.. I had been cutting 3-4 times a week since the middle of May, so even the ethanol fuel won't sit long in the saw.

Going to see about screwing a board to one of the rounds. That should make a huge difference. Thanks!

I guess I'm just now realizing that one saw can use different length bars. Great advice that I'm saving. I would love to get that Husky 350, but it's not possible at the moment. Hopefully soon, though.

I told my brother in law today that I had some elm logs for his fireplace. Made him super happy. Made me super happy, too. Our stove's firebox is about 12" tall and the door opening is smaller than that. Most of the elm I got recently would need to be split for us to use, but I'm glad he can use it. Happy, happy, happy.

I wonder if your grand pappy chose Tuesdays so it wouldn't interfere with his weekend moonshine hangover? Funny :)

Thanks Zogger for all the good learnin :)


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Zogger is a wealth of information. I have a 50cc saw that I bought when I didnt know much better. I have a 16 and 20 inch bar for it. I run the 16" bar 90% of the time now. Lots of power and the smaller bar is a lot easier to keep out of the rocks, dirt and everything else you dont want to get it into. Plus its faster to sharpen the 16" chain.
 
Marcy,
I use one of those no-spill gas cans and I have only overfilled once because I missed the opening. Those gas cans are press button. They work well. I use them for everything now but the are a little expensive for a gas can. I overfill the bar oil more often.
 
Back to the original question for a moment: I used to do most scrounging using Craigslist, which is frustrating. People don't take down their ads when the wood is gone, or it's a tree service that stacked the wood on the customer's curb and posts an ad saying Go get it and let us know if it's gone. It's annoying to drive out and find nothing. But just recently I made friends with a neighbor down the street who's a field manager for an arborist company, and he's really happy to give me all the wood I want. Yesterday I came home to find a nice pile of clean logs in my driveway, ready for cutting and splitting, no driving required.

This guy is welcome to come sit in the back yard and enjoy a cold one with us any time he chooses. :)

Regarding women with chainsaws: Does anyone remember the 1970s jailbait rock band The Runaways? The girl who fronted that band is now a chainsaw carving artist: http://www.chainsawchick.com/
 
MountainHigh said:
Seems crazy that your winter in Texas and southern US sounded harder than ours in the BC mountains this past year! I've always thought of Texas like hot cactus country in Mexico, even in the winter !? Or was it just that snow and freezing temps are not normal and homes are not built for it?
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I don't know about the comparison between our houses and ones built further north. We aren't used to the cold, (just like y'all might not be used to our kind of heat), and while we weren't nearly as cold as Kentucky, our cold weather seemed to last much longer than normal.

Our first frost date is around the middle of November, and we'll get a cold and usually rainy snap. But it's not unusual for us to be playing a family game of football in tshirts and jeans after the Thanksgiving meal. Many times we just need a light jacket for the after game on Christmas.

I think it's more that we can't get acclimated to the cold because it's so up and down. It's a usual thing to be in the 70's and 24 hrs later be in the 20's. A few days later back up in the 60's.

We burned, I'm guessing, about 2 cords last winter. The house was in the lower 70's most of the time. We also split all winter from piles that were at least 2 yrs old. We were still burning at the end of March which is unusual even though our last frost date is the middle of March. We had at least two or three days where everyone slept on the floor around the fire. During an ice storm, my husband's job rented hotel rooms that had electricity for everyone. We don't get that cold often enough for us to get prepared for it as a community I guess (though I'm preparing for it for our family). Last winter was colder more often and for a longer duration than normal. We weren't prepared, so that made it harder. i hope we'll have prepared enough this next winter.

We don't have much snow, but we have terrible ice storms seems like once a season where the power's out for a few days or a week.

But, no, when it snows here it's considered an unplanned holiday where everyone hits the grocery stores for hot chocolate, popcorn for the fire, fire logs, and movies. People call into work, the kids stay home from school, and we play outside! After dark it's movies and video games. It's hilarious how many people do this here. We only get accumulated snow maybe once a season if we're lucky.


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CTYank said:
Stihl dealers, last I saw, were selling mauls made by Ochsenkopf for $80; some folks think they're a bit too heavy, but the price is appealing. A newcomer on this scene is Council Tools of North Carolina, making a variety of hand-forged edge tools, at reasonable prices.

As to whether a batch of wood can be dried in time, that's impossible to calculate. What is possible IMHO is to make an effort, then when it's time to burn, try some samples and see it they're ready for the show. My rule of thumb is to burn from a batch that's dried enough to go, and of lowest quality to do the job. IOW, efficiently use up crap first.
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Thanks for the info about the differences. We have a maul that can pound wedges. My teen daughter mainly uses it, although the harder splits she leaves for me. I think it's a 6 or 8 lb one...I knew this last winter, but don't remember now. We've had this maul since the 90's or maybe earlier, so maybe it's better than the current look alikes at WM & HD. I will check out Stihl and Council Tools. I was having issues with the $60 Fiskars, so ha ha it's gonna have to be really good for me to spend $80 on it. I have yet to find a Wm or Hd that carries the fiskars, so once I get it in hand I may decide to stick with what we have.

My daughter has worked so hard splitting most of the 2-3 cords we have now. I would like for her to have a better tool if at all possible. All the good things I see online about the fiskars is the only reason I was even looking. We're not unhappy with our maul, but maybe we just don't know the difference yet.

Great drying strategy! Last winter we did everything wrong, but this time I know better. I know the wood better and a little more about what to expect heat wise. We generally have to start 2 fires a day because the middle of the day is too warm for a fire.

Getting enough kindling was a huge relief this time around. Last winter we were splintering off junk ends of 2x6s because we ran out of sticks and smaller stuff. We should be good this next winter, though.

Thanks for all the help! I have learned a ton of stuff :)


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GeeVee said:
Marcy- get a small hand truck for moving wood. You could use a 32 oz. sport drink bottle for re-fueling, but then you'd risk over filling your refilling tool. Just the squeeze action might help? I have few left, but the old style gas can that had a vent on the top behind the handle could be used to fill with. The old style gas cans are hard to find. In that case that you have the newer cans- which suck, just use your finger. You are over filling the saw, because of the amount of fuel in the nozzle is on its way when you see the saw tank is full, you reactm but its too late for that amount in the nozzle. Perhaps, just getting the saw up on a table and closer to your eyesight, and just barely tip the can enough to trickle it in the tank? * If you have one of those trigger/handle POS cans- get rid of it. A can with a plain old spout will do fine if you aren;t in a hurry. Put it and a bottle of oil in a milk crate and you're portable. I'd consider a cork or stopper on the spout.

I can see pretty soon you wondering why your just sharpened chain is cutting well. Take the rakers down every so often.

This place has so many people willing to help, just holler. A good saw is great, a good friend with a saw is better. As long as the saw you have is running proper, and sharp chains are in hand, save the money for a tool you dont have. Although, I think if you are running a small late model Mac, you may run it to the end of its service life and need to opt for a more durable machine that is more readily rebuildable.

I have never been let down by Echo saws- and I have ten Stihls. The Echos I have now, been known to sit for a year, and start right up with the leftover fuel that I left in it. No Stihl ever has done this. For over twenty years, Echo products have been good to me. All Echo landscape equipment I owned all were the most reliable. Multiple identical ( i had a big company) line trimmers, edgers, blowers, hedge trimmers, saws, Echo could handle intermittent use, Stihl blowers used ten times a day, sometimes wouldn't want to start if you didn;t hold your mouth just right when starting.
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Genius! Thanks for suggesting the sports bottle. Since this is all new to me, I'm a little leery of getting creative. I have a sports bottle that I don't like, so it'll be perfect. I think you're right about getting it closer to see. I can use that funky "full" funnel with the sports bottle too. This seems like it'll work!

The gas can is a 1 gallon with a little air hole on the back, but it doesn't act like the bigger ones. I think the air hole is too small, and the pouring isn't even if that makes sense. I fill lawn mowers with a bigger can and never have a problem overfilling. This little one is different though.

As for hand trucks, we use a big one in the back yard. I think I can strap it down on top of the wood. Thanks!

I always wear my hair up, but I was thinking more along the lines of pushing it all up in a hard hat so maybe I wouldn't stand out as a woman. It can be distracting when cars drive by and stop and people stare at us working. It embarrasses the kids and me.. The women are the worst in their reactions. i wish we could say it didn't bother us, but we'll get there. Seeing those women cutting in competitions on youtube last night was wonderful! We have never seen a woman doing anything even close like that here. Very traditional roles here, for the most part.

About Duck Dynasty, sorry, but we love those guys. They remind me of people in my extended family, but we were what we call hicks long before that show came along. I would hate it if people started acting a certain way, though, just because of a tv show. I'm with you on that one.

About the rakers, I was aware of them. The sharpening guy filed them down on the electric and it cut a lot better. That stihl video really helped me see what they are, but my chain doesn't have the size numbers on it that I can see. About how much cutting before they will need it? I know you said go by when it's not cutting as well. Just wanted an idea. The whole sharpening thing is over my head at the moment, but I will be tackling it soon.

Good to know about the Echo equipment. My son loves their trimmers. It'll go on the short list. Thanks!


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nomad_archer said:
Zogger is a wealth of information. I run the 16" bar 90% of the time now. Lots of power and the smaller bar is a lot easier to keep out of the rocks, dirt and everything else you dont want to get it into. Plus its faster to sharpen the 16" chain.
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I can see it being harder to keep out of the dirt. I hit the "dirt" once when I put the saw down and it walked on me. When I grabbed it, the nose went into the pile of noodles and saw "dust" thankfully. Now I know to stop the saw and have a working chain break. Agreed about Zogger- my saw's running again thanks to his advice :)


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nomad_archer said:
Marcy,
I use one of those no-spill gas cans and I have only overfilled once because I missed the opening. Those gas cans are press button. They work well. I use them for everything now but the are a little expensive for a gas can. I overfill the bar oil more often.
Click to expand...
I'm going to look for one of those because this little one is terrible. Thanks!


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Sorry didn't mean to take over this. I'll shut it for awhile. Thanks for all the GREAT advice and tips!


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Definitely love that can and how it stops flowing before over filling! I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for something like this.


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Marcy , SlowP who posts mainly in the forestry and logging forum has Barbie stickers on one of her saws and there are a few other women on the site so you are not alone .
Don't apologise for taking over the thread because you haven't , post away , ask the questions , tell us what you know and tell use we're idiots when we're wrong , Clint (The person that started the thread) started this to see and to help others on getting firewood in other ways than buying it and to see how people processed it so we can all learn from each other so a thread with no chatter was not his intent , I'm always happy to share my limited experience and hope that some of the stuff that has worked for me will work for others and I'm sure the others posters feel the same way in sharing .
BTW , I used my electric Makita to cut up the odd length stuff that was given to me the other day , it worked fine after I sharpened it by hand to repair the nail damage from cutting pallets .
Get a Fiskars X25 for your daughter , throw a tire on the ground and fill it with rounds of wood , I'm sure she'll like it .
 
nomad_archer said:
Marcy,
I use one of those no-spill gas cans and I have only overfilled once because I missed the opening. Those gas cans are press button. They work well. I use them for everything now but the are a little expensive for a gas can. I overfill the bar oil more often.
Click to expand...

Those no-spill gas cans look great - I haven't seen them up here yet, but will keep an eye out.

This guy seems to think there are leaking problems with them? Anyone experienced the same issue or is he just not tightening it adequately?
 
marcy-m said:
About the rakers, I was aware of them. The sharpening guy filed them down on the electric and it cut a lot better. That stihl video really helped me see what they are, but my chain doesn't have the size numbers on it that I can see. About how much cutting before they will need it? I know you said go by when it's not cutting as well. Just wanted an idea. The whole sharpening thing is over my head at the moment, but I will be tackling it soon.
Click to expand...

What some call "rakers" (as if they were cutters, like on a hand-saw) have been called "depth gauges" by mfgs since the first chipper chain. Gee, that describes their function.

Seems like some folks are talking up randomly filing them down occasionally. Not a good idea. Once filed down too much, the chain gets really grabby, a safety problem, and very rough-cutting at best. Chain links can even be damaged. Once too low, they can't be raised.

To do them right, you file them down to .025" below the tops of the cutters. That's all. Some filing guides, like Granberg's "File-N-Joint" enable quick simple and precise setting. I even posted a quick, cheap and dirty guide to setting depth gauges with one, to reduce conscious thought requirement: http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/filing-depth-gauges-with-granberg-guide.238512/

I've found that, using that guide for filing, a chain's cutters gets worn back so slowly that the wear rate on the depth gauges keeps them in step- they almost never need filing.

Fluid containers:
In my "kit bag" are a fuel container for a backpacking stove. Holds mix tighly sealed and easily poured. Also a dish detergent bottle full of bar oil. Works great. Cost nada.
 
marcy-m said:
Definitely love that can and how it stops flowing before over filling! I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for something like this.


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Click to expand...
what kind of two stroke mix are you using?
 

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