Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Palm learner]

I don't scrounge but I saw down the street from where I live , there is a huge complex that cut several pines and they left the rounds out .. I noticed one huge oak branch had been cut and bucked up .
I returned in my truck and grabbed it

 

[JustJeff]

Brought in some of my scrounged sugar maple from last year. It's dry and full of btu's... maybe should have put one less piece in the stove!

 

[zogger]

Hi guys! Sorry for delays, this site became real unusable for me, I keep coming back to try it. Seems to be OK today. I am on a real slow and limited bandwith cell service. Once I go past my alleged high speed data, it drops to like dialup speeds, 1/2 an hour or more to load one page.

Anyway, been splitting maple and scrounging logs to finish cutting later. Sorta fun getting stuff that is relatively easy to split. Have a bunch more down to go scrounge. The boss hired this guy as a general gofer and he's been clearing up and down the streets. Old school, everything is sloping farmer's back cut, he don't want to hear about it either..hahaha!

We went 25 weeks without rain, finally getting some this past week and now. Glad we didn't get burned out. Shame about all the fires just north of us, wicked bad. That Gatlinburg fire alleged someone set it, but that's all they say, no details.

Running the smogger every day now, light loads. Whoop! Love heating season!

 

[svk]

Hi guys! Sorry for delays, this site became real unusable for me, I keep coming back to try it. Seems to be OK today. I am on a real slow and limited bandwith cell service. Once I go past my alleged high speed data, it drops to like dialup speeds, 1/2 an hour or more to load one page.

Anyway, been splitting maple and scrounging logs to finish cutting later. Sorta fun getting stuff that is relatively easy to split. Have a bunch more down to go scrounge. The boss hired this guy as a general gofer and he's been clearing up and down the streets. Old school, everything is sloping farmer's back cut, he don't want to hear about it either..hahaha!

We went 25 weeks without rain, finally getting some this past week and now. Glad we didn't get burned out. Shame about all the fires just north of us, wicked bad. That Gatlinburg fire alleged someone set it, but that's all they say, no details.

Running the smogger every day now, light loads. Whoop! Love heating season!

Good to hear from you.

I'm hoping to get down to WNC and Georgia sometime this winter. Where are you in relation to Atlanta?

 

[MustangMike]

Only scrounged a 1/2 cord for my Daughter today, but it was a tough scrounge. The field is long & narrow, and high in the middle. On the side, about 100 yds apart, a White Oak had lost a good size branch, and a Red Oak also lost a good size branch. I can drive the Escape & trailer in the middle of the field, but then put 2 saws, axe, timber jack, and my bag of wedges, etc in a wheelbarrow and down I went. Did all the cutting with the 362 & 440, they were about perfect for the job.

Had to wheelbarrow all the wood back up hill at an angle so as not to be too steep. Hey, it is seasoned Oak, and when the owner said I could take it I could not just leave it there! Besides, it is stuff like this that keeps me young! Wish I had the equipment some of you guys have, but I would not have been able to get it in there any way. Houses have been built around the field, and the access is kinda sketchy. Luckily, when I'm loaded with wood, I go down the hill.

The pics are from my driveway, I stopped at the house on the way to my daughter's.

 

[zogger]

Good to hear from you.

I'm hoping to get down to WNC and Georgia sometime this winter. Where are you in relation to Atlanta?

1.5 hrs N on 75, 6 miles in

 

[Logger nate]

Well went to Christmas party tonight they wanted everyone to say what their favorite color was and their hobby, I said camo and cutting firewood

 

[Jeffkrib]

Dancan, that's a lot of wood you have there, is that for personal use or you selling?
Just wondering if you burn that much per year?
Is it still considered scrounge if it's for commercial pourposes?

 

[Cowboy254]

Oh man I laughed at the "Blue gum saw dust is fair at best."
Do the noodled chunks split ok by hand or are the still pretty tough? You do have some awesome scenery there Cowboy. Holy cow.

Hey Ben, the noodled chunks are going to be a bit variable I think. There are plenty of branchy bits and they are going to take a whole lot of swingin. Other bits might just take the standard 45 or so big hits with the maul to split. I've only ever had to split green bluegum so this will be something new.

@MustangMike , I'm a bit the same. When I was a lad and needed to know something, I'd pull out a volume of Encyclopaedica Brittanica to find the answer. Now I just have a whinge on the interweb and some guy with big forearms from the USA tells me exactly what I need to know. Had to use the same trick on Limby again today BTW. The conditions I'm cutting in now are much warmer than what I normally cut in, I wonder if that is a contributing factor?

Anyway, I picked up another load from the farm today, all stuff that I have cut previously. A lot of it is pretty rough and ready, will probably noodle it down to a size that I can shoehorn into the heater because you can bet your pants that it won't split. The Bobdog got out yesterday at the Lady Farm and went for a 6 hour run. He came out with me today but he was a bit tired and wasn't running ahead of the ute. He eventually caught up. Hey Bob.



So I cut off the other half of the bluegum trunk, the last bit before things start to get awkward. If I had an indefinite amount of time, I'd probably work on the trunk and get there eventually. If I had even more time and the gear and the competence to do it, I'd mill the trunk. As it is, I don't have any of that stuff and will go and find a peppermint that isn't as much of a PITA to convert into BTUs.



I had already filled the trailer with dodgy bits and offcuts so I noodled these two chunks into smaller chunks and left them there. Now I have a reason why I have to go back even though the farm is full of snakes, spiders, scorpions and drop bears.



Otherwise, I'm done with this tree. I have taken 7 loads (+ another 0.3 loads to pick up) x 1.2 cubes = 8.76 cubic metres = 2.3 cords or thereabouts. Or in pictorial form,



minus



Now, the basic weight (0% MC) of bluegum is 700kg/m. 8.76 x 700 = 6132kg (13490lbs). Energy value of 1kg oven dry eucalypt = 19000kJ. 19000kJ/kg x 6132 = 116,508,000kJ. Convert to BTUs by dividing by 0.948 = 122,898,734 BTUs. Should keep us warm for a while. I'm going to find something easier to cut next. Bob was pretty knackered by the time we got back.



Then I went home and unhooked the trailer. Didn't have time to unload it because I had to get showered and changed to go to child No.2's ballet concert .

Then as I was about to go inside I saw this little guy sitting on top of the bluegum pile.




He wanted to kill me, but I didn't let him.

 

[square1]

^^^ cleaned up real nice ^^^

 

[square1]

Dancan, that's a lot of wood you have there, is that for personal use or you selling?

Neither, He is OCD and has CAD NTTIAWWT!

 

[Jeffkrib]

Cool pics yet again. Get yourself a 36" bar (I think Virtus machinery does the cheapest stihl bars in Aus) and come back in winter for the rest. Haha I know what you mean about kids concerts at this time of the year, very busy time in our household too.
I was always of the belief that timber had in the order of 26mj per kg no matter what the species.

 

[benp]

Hey Ben, the noodled chunks are going to be a bit variable I think. There are plenty of branchy bits and they are going to take a whole lot of swingin. Other bits might just take the standard 45 or so big hits with the maul to split. I've only ever had to split green bluegum so this will be something new.

@MustangMike , I'm a bit the same. When I was a lad and needed to know something, I'd pull out a volume of Encyclopaedica Brittanica to find the answer. Now I just have a whinge on the interweb and some guy with big forearms from the USA tells me exactly what I need to know. Had to use the same trick on Limby again today BTW. The conditions I'm cutting in now are much warmer than what I normally cut in, I wonder if that is a contributing factor?

Anyway, I picked up another load from the farm today, all stuff that I have cut previously. A lot of it is pretty rough and ready, will probably noodle it down to a size that I can shoehorn into the heater because you can bet your pants that it won't split. The Bobdog got out yesterday at the Lady Farm and went for a 6 hour run. He came out with me today but he was a bit tired and wasn't running ahead of the ute. He eventually caught up. Hey Bob.

View attachment 541075

So I cut off the other half of the bluegum trunk, the last bit before things start to get awkward. If I had an indefinite amount of time, I'd probably work on the trunk and get there eventually. If I had even more time and the gear and the competence to do it, I'd mill the trunk. As it is, I don't have any of that stuff and will go and find a peppermint that isn't as much of a PITA to convert into BTUs.

View attachment 541076

I had already filled the trailer with dodgy bits and offcuts so I noodled these two chunks into smaller chunks and left them there. Now I have a reason why I have to go back even though the farm is full of snakes, spiders, scorpions and drop bears.

View attachment 541077

Otherwise, I'm done with this tree. I have taken 7 loads (+ another 0.3 loads to pick up) x 1.2 cubes = 8.76 cubic metres = 2.3 cords or thereabouts. Or in pictorial form,

View attachment 541078

minus

View attachment 541079

Now, the basic weight (0% MC) of bluegum is 700kg/m. 8.76 x 700 = 6132kg (13490lbs). Energy value of 1kg oven dry eucalypt = 19000kJ. 19000kJ/kg x 6132 = 116,508,000kJ. Convert to BTUs by dividing by 0.948 = 122,898,734 BTUs. Should keep us warm for a while. I'm going to find something easier to cut next. Bob was pretty knackered by the time we got back.

View attachment 541080

Then I went home and unhooked the trailer. Didn't have time to unload it because I had to get showered and changed to go to child No.2's ballet concert .

Then as I was about to go inside I saw this little guy sitting on top of the bluegum pile.

View attachment 541082

View attachment 541083
He wanted to kill me, but I didn't let him.

I've never seen a tree that dry with no rot. That is awesome Cowboy!!

I would love to fill the boiler up with a load of those blocks and see how long of burn I could get. I imagine it would be a lot longer than 14hrs I am getting now.

Would be awesome to have a stash of that for the -30F nights.

Bob looks like a good buddy.

The visitor probably wanted to talk about car insurance.

 

[dancan]

The wood I scrounge up is only for personal use , none of it is for sale .
I do have a pile of wood that I have bought , that stuff is for selling .
I do scrounge up the end cuts and splitter trash from the selling wood for home
Nobody would want to pay the price if I was to sell any of the wood I scrounge up and take home , when I factor in the cost of my fleet , time and effort it would polly be cheaper to heat with propane lol
If someone is in need of some wood I'll give them some of my scrounged wood , not my selling wood .

 

[Logger nate]

You ever drag a spruce in the house for a tree and let it warm up , black spruce didn't get the name cat spruce because cat's like to climb it lol
Balsam fir for christmas trees
Nate , since you like the chevy ride better , I'nm on the way to get my passport , be there soon to pick up that squarebox roughrider LOL
My 99 superduty rides some nice on dirt roads , even with the extra leaf springs in the back .

You are welcome to come down anytime for sure Dan but I think I'll keep the old square box sense it rides pretty good with the 02 springs . Bring your tractor when you come down there's a bunch of red fir on the downhill side of the road I need to get out
Zogger glad to hear your safe from the fires, sounds pretty bad, praying for rain.

 

[panolo]

@Cowboy254 Love the updates! That wood looks awesome!

 

[MustangMike]

Had to use the same trick on Limby again today BTW. The conditions I'm cutting in now are much warmer than what I normally cut in, I wonder if that is a contributing factor?

I also noticed that it usually happens to my saw when it is unusually warm out, which is likely why I have not had the problem for a while. Saw ran just great yesterday (other than operator error). Was initially hard to start until I realize i did not set it to the "Start" position! After I figured that out, it was perfect!

Hopefully, the computer will eventually adjust to warm starts. Otherwise, we at least know what to do! Actually, my nephew (MechanicMatt) figured that out for me, but it works!

 

[svk]

Well went to Christmas party tonight they wanted everyone to say what their favorite color was and their hobby, I said camo and cutting firewood

That's awesome!

 

[CaseyForrest]

Load 6 I believe.

sent from a field

 

[CaseyForrest]

Load 7.

Helpers for the day. Didn't get puteruser in the picture but he's shy.

sent from a field