Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Cowboy254]

Off of a redwood?!

Yeah, we have big limbs down here.

Nope, that's a southern blue gum, E.globulus. It's pretty heavy stuff, between your black locust and osage but not as good as some other eucalypts for burning (but still ok). Many trees in my immediate vicinity are easy enough to split with a maul but he first time I tried to split a bit of blue gum across the grain the maul bounced off without leaving a mark. It was like I had hit it with a rubber mallet. Took me a while to learn you can split it off around the edges but for big rounds you need to be prepared to hit it as hard as you can half a dozen times at least per split. And you'd better make sure you're hitting the same spot.

 

[KiwiBro]

Not sure if it is the same there but E.globulus tends to have slightly more interlocked grain than E.saligna here, the latter being the easier of the blue gums to split here. But that's only in my limited experience and I've only come across a few fence-lines of them so far. I think i prefer the look of E.globulus timber though.

 

[Philbert]

I would love to visit your side of the world, but your trees terrify me.

Philbert

 

[Cowboy254]

I would love to visit your side of the world, but your trees terrify me.

Philbert

Wait till you meet the snakes! Then again, we don't have bears so perhaps it evens out.

 

[MustangMike]

Well, my Mastermind 460 got the call today to noodle 5 of those big rounds to fill my trailer (1/2 cord), and the wheelbarrow I put the Hard Maple handles on provided the interim transportation! (That wheelbarrow was given to me cause the handles & legs were broke, I really like it now, very strong).

So let's see, why do I need 3 ported 77 cc saws ... One to run the 36" bar to buck the rounds, one to run the 24" bar to noodle the rounds, and one set up with the 24" wide nose bar to do the milling! Sounds about right to me!

 

[Cowboy254]

Not sure if it is the same there but E.globulus tends to have slightly more interlocked grain than E.saligna here, the latter being the easier of the blue gums to split here. But that's only in my limited experience and I've only come across a few fence-lines of them so far. I think i prefer the look of E.globulus timber though.

I think you're right on the whole, though I have less experience with saligna (also called a Sydney blue gum here). Globulus is a bit denser so it generally follows that splitting will be a bit harder in eucalypts. My other piece of evidence is that my skinny accountant brother was able to (eventually) split a Sydney blue gum in his back yard and he certainly doesn't have the forearms of AS's resident accounting guy. There was a picture of MustangMike 50 odd pages ago and he had forearms like Popeye.

 

[chipper1]

Howdy guys, been a while.
Looks like everyone is doing well.
I'm only 186 post behind now, I was 400+.
Got a nice little load of wood today and ran a bunch of saws just to get them out, and to get one ready to sell.
I'm supposed to get a bunch more in the next week or so so the tree guys I get my wood from tell me. I'm expecting 4 or 5 loads at least if i can keep up with them .

 

[Cowboy254]

Well, my Mastermind 460 got the call today to noodle 5 of those big rounds to fill my trailer (1/2 cord), and the wheelbarrow I put the Hard Maple handles on provided the interim transportation! (That wheelbarrow was given to me cause the handles & legs were broke, I really like it now, very strong).

So let's see, why do I need 3 ported 77 cc saws ... One to run the 36" bar to buck the rounds, one to run the 24" bar to noodle the rounds, and one set up with the 24" wide nose bar to do the milling! Sounds about right to me!

Surely you need a spare for each one?

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Wait till you meet the snakes! Then again, we don't have bears so perhaps it evens out.

Just the drop bears. I've heard they're nasty.

 

[turnkey4099]

Wait till you meet the snakes! Then again, we don't have bears so perhaps it evens out.

No bears? What happened to the "Drop Bears"?

 

[benp]

Good day scrounging.

The Pferd CS-x showed up and I got to try it out.

The flippy cap end opened. This is how files are replaced.

The raker file is interesting. It's one piece, that's how thick it is.

It does a good job. I have a tendency to get full chisel a little "hooky"and down into the straps at the end. This is the 510 with near end of life chain. I didn't have those issues using this.

The 7900 with a newer chain.

My only thoughts are it gets the chain pretty aggressive with how much is taken off the rakers. I used the 510 all afternoon and it would bog with anything other than a light touch to it. Grabby as hell but once I figured it out it cut very well.

Did I mention it gets the chain sharp? Lol. I had a tooth catch on my hand.

I scrounged 2 standing dead spruces and a Sugar Maple today.

The spruces were beyond standing dead. They will go poof in the stove but be good mixing wood.

The sugar maple was absolutely primo.

 

[svk]

Looks good.

Not to get too technical but maybe alternate between this and something like a granberg where it doesn't take down the rakers if you are finding it takes the rakers down too much if used every time.

 

[benp]

Looks good.

Not to get too technical but maybe alternate between this and something like a granberg where it doesn't take down the rakers if you are finding it takes the rakers down too much if used every time.

I was thinking along those lines too. alternate between this and the Husky roller.

I am curious to see how it does with semi chisel. I am thinking aggressive semi chisel would be fun.

 

[benp]

No bears? What happened to the "Drop Bears"?

I believe everything there will drop you if you are bitten by it.

Isn't AUS the only country that everything there wants to kill you? Lol

 

[svk]

Isn't AUS the only country that everything there wants to kill you? Lol

Check out some books by Capstick. Everything in Africa will kill you as well.

 

[svk]

I was thinking along those lines too. alternate between this and the Husky roller.

I am curious to see how it does with semi chisel. I am thinking aggressive semi chisel would be fun.

Yes. Short bar on your bigger saws and hold on!

 

[benp]

Ha!!!!

Hard No.

I'll be putting in an order to Left Coast. I can't bring myself to run small bars on big saws.

 

[KiwiBro]

I am thinking aggressive semi chisel would be fun.

It sure is. The funner part is approaching that line between scary dangerous (to body and saw) aggressive and super productive aggressive. There's a 20" loop for my 7900 I call The Angry Bastarrd and boy oh boy is it fun. Until it bites back.

 

[benp]

Foreman is shot.

2 red squirrels make awesome baby sitters. He was mad as hell at me for not shooting them.

I swear he barked at me more about "why are your not shooting them" than he did at the actual squirrels.

 

[benp]

It sure is. The funner part is approaching that line between scary dangerous (to body and saw) aggressive and super productive aggressive. There's a 20" loop for my 7900 I call The Angry Bastarrd and boy oh boy is it fun. Until it bites back.

What's done to it?

I can't imagine semi chisel getting real rammy.