Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Cowboy254]

Here is my scrounge boys. Lots of work here. Knarly old growth maple. Almost a shame to turn it into firewood but it is a yard tree. I'm going to see if I can cut a couple cants or big slabs. The problem becomes moving them as this is some heavy green maple. Also, I pray to the wood gods that I don't find any metal. I don't want to ruin that 36" chain on my 298.
It's roughly 12' long.
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Great looking trunk, looks like you've got your work cut out there. I love the look of maple. Does the darker heartwood burn differently to the sapwood? One of our local species, candlebark, has good heartwood with very little ash while the bark and the sapwood has plenty. If you're burning trunk material it is good but if you're burning 3 inch stuff which is mostly sapwood with bark on from the branches you fill your woodbox up with ash in three days. I take most of that smaller stuff to my brother in Melbourne, it's all much the same to him. You can see the clear delineation of heartwood and sapwood as it burns.

 

[svk]

went to the woods today but no wood scrounged. just this guy. guess i have an open treestand for @nomad_archer for rifle season.
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Nice work!!!!

 

[tpence2177]

I do have a pretty nice scrounge for me hopefully once I heal up. Decent sized oak that will probably be several loads in my little Nissan hard body. Don't need to scrounge right now because I'm thinning the trees on my land right now, but that tree will be rotting by the time I get my land how I want it lol.

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[LondonNeil]

I always wear steel toe cap boots to split wood ( and safety specs). An accident can be nasty. Mend well.

 

[Cowboy254]

I do have a pretty nice scrounge for me hopefully once I heal up. Decent sized oak that will probably be several loads in my little Nissan hard body. Don't need to scrounge right now because I'm thinning the trees on my land right now, but that tree will be rotting by the time I get my land how I want it lol.

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Sorry to hear about the foot sounds like you dodged a bullet (almost). You can permanently mess up your mobility with an accident like that.

Nothing wrong with stuffing wood into your car, all great scroungers do that when they must. Minor point though, thinning trees on your land definitely counts as scrounging.

 

[tpence2177]

Sorry to hear about the foot sounds like you dodged a bullet (almost). You can permanently mess up your mobility with an accident like that.

Nothing wrong with stuffing wood into your car, all great scroungers do that when they must. Minor point though, thinning trees on your land definitely counts as scrounging.

I'll post pics of my "scrounge" today next time I go out then lol.

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[dancan]

Went and worked the selling woodpile for a few hours this afternoon .

This was my takehome scrounge/pay .

 

[Marshy]

Great looking trunk, looks like you've got your work cut out there. I love the look of maple. Does the darker heartwood burn differently to the sapwood? One of our local species, candlebark, has good heartwood with very little ash while the bark and the sapwood has plenty. If you're burning trunk material it is good but if you're burning 3 inch stuff which is mostly sapwood with bark on from the branches you fill your woodbox up with ash in three days. I take most of that smaller stuff to my brother in Melbourne, it's all much the same to him. You can see the clear delineation of heartwood and sapwood as it burns.

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Hard Maple heart wood is a little more dense but neither makes a whole bunch of ash. Maple is great for building a killer bed of coals. It's definetly top pick when no oak is available.

The 36" bar just isnt reaching through while I'm trying to noodle-mill that slab. Not to mention the irregular edge of the log is making it so I can get my dogs to bite. I'm going to a e to get some outer dogs for this 298. I decided to call it a night before uninterrupted the neighborhoods dinner hour. I'll take the trailer back tomorrow and see if I can get a slab off. I am going to give my uncle a call because I think he has a Alaskan mill. He also has some bigger saws too. The lower trucjbis going to make some big slabs but I'm going to need a 46" or so bar.

Here's the "small" half (upper) of the trunk. I bucked it in half, two ~6' there.

 

[dancan]

Sure takes a lot of fuel to mill that doesn't it lol

 

[Marshy]

Sure takes a lot of fuel to mill that doesn't it lol

I noodled from the cut end then had to rip the rest. I'm going to have to cut off the live edge to get the bar all the way through, there's no other way without a longer bar. It wasn't too bad on fuel, 1 tank for the top slab and one more the the second slab cut. It's still not 100% free yet. I'm going to need a tractor to move the slab. I'm likely going to half the lower trunk because its 40"+.

 

[nomad_archer]

went to the woods today but no wood scrounged. just this guy. guess i have an open treestand for @nomad_archer for rifle season.
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That picture is great. He is way way bigger than he looked in the picture you sent. He is pretty awesome.

You tell me when and were and I will be in the treestand as soon as I can as long as it is on one of the many days I plan to hunt.. Although I cant get anywhere early these days, it's like moving mountains trying to get momma and the two kids out the door in the morning. But I sure can get there as soon as I possibly can. I have 6-8 days I hope to hunt out of the 16 day rifle season. I hope I don't need all of those days to relocate one to the freezer. If I end up without one it wont be for a lack of trying.

Again steve awesome buck. I cant wait to see it in person. By the way I like your style of draggin' the deer out.

 

[farmer steve]

That picture is great. He is way way bigger than he looked in the picture you sent. He is pretty awesome.

You tell me when and were and I will be in the treestand as soon as I can as long as it is on one of the many days I plan to hunt.. Although I cant get anywhere early these days, it's like moving mountains trying to get momma and the two kids out the door in the morning. But I sure can get there as soon as I possibly can. I have 6-8 days I hope to hunt out of the 16 day rifle season. I hope I don't need all of those days to relocate one to the freezer. If I end up without one it wont be for a lack of trying.

Again steve awesome buck. I cant wait to see it in person. By the way I like your style of draggin' the deer out.

tell mom to take off the first day of rifle season so you can be here early. stihl several reports of several "large" bucks in the neighborhood.

 

[nomad_archer]

I see an Alaskan mill in my future. This **** is too much like work though. My free hand noodle-milling is far from straight so I'll be cutting a thick slab, around 12". I stopped to asked the guy down the street if he would load the slab with his compact tractor but he wasn't home. His wife was and she said she'd let him know. This thing at 12" might weight 1000 lbs.

I was thinking about a mill myself when I had that monster to deal with. I cut it up the same way you are and it was almost too much work. The part of the stump that was flush cut at 16" was left laying flat. I could only get it 6" off the ground using a digging bar and another round as leverage. All 200lbs of me could sit on the end of the digging bar and it only lifted the round 6 inches or less. I got a smaller round under it and then used chains and the truck to drag it onto bigger rounds so I could noodle it while it was still horizontal. That was an adventure. Long story short --> I hope you are able to get the help of a tractor.

 

[JustJeff]

Got some of my red oak split up, then I missed a swing and hit my foot. Cut through my boot and took a little chunk of my foot. Was able to finish splitting up most of it then I had to get off of it. Oh well trying to not go to the doctor, pretty sure it's broken though.

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Pics or it didn't happen! Lol. Seriously, hope its not too bad.

 

[tpence2177]

Oh yeah forgot to upload a pic lol. This was before stitches. Foot is really swollen there lol. 7 stitches later it's feeling much better unless I put weight on it.

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[PA Dan]

Ouch! Hope you heal fast!

 

[Marshy]

Oh yeah forgot to upload a pic lol. This was before stitches. Foot is really swollen there lol. 7 stitches later it's feeling much better unless I put weight on it.

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You're so lucky that wasn't a Fiskars axe! Ouch man, take'r easy.

 

[Marshy]

My plan tomorrow is to take my tractor and quarter the lower trunk and take it home to mill at a later date. My uncle has an Alaskan mill he said I could borrow but it cuts 32" max. He has a 42" bar to use to max the mill out but it .404 chain. Ill see how it goes. More pics tomorrow.

 

[svk]

Oh yeah forgot to upload a pic lol. This was before stitches. Foot is really swollen there lol. 7 stitches later it's feeling much better unless I put weight on it.

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Wishing you a speedy recovery. There's lots of good threads on here for you to read in the mean time.

 

[nomad_archer]

tell mom to take off the first day of rifle season so you can be here early.View attachment 536795 stihl several reports of several "large" bucks in the neighborhood.

If I try that one you better have a cot setup next to the wood stove for me to spend a few nights. But in all reality I wont be that late considering the latest I have gotten out of the house this last week was 630. That puts me at you place around 730 or earlier if I don't miss any turns which isnt bad considering the 1 hour drive and in the woods not to long after the party starts. But it is what it is. I gotta help out so I can hunt.

But this is better than last year when the earliest I could drop the kiddo off at daycare was 7am and I had a 30 minute drive to hunt and a 15 minute walk. I didn't much matter I didnt see anything but hunters until 330. I have resigned myself to the fact that when the kids are young I am most likely not going to see the sun rise from a deer stand when I am hunting from home. Honestly I am ok with that.

Nice rodney dangerfield picture. I feel like I should watch on of his movies tonight. Caddy Shack feels right.