Maggie’s The Woodchuck and Firewood Hoarders Thread

#951
Spent the day running the 550xp, what a fantastic little saw! Dropped about 70 box elder and a handful of hardwoods, from thigh size to a couple feet across. Just cleaning out a wood lot so pieced out into skid steer workable lengths. 8 hours straight -10 min for lunch and I’m a bit tired but could have kept going for hours. The right equipment sure makes for an enjoyable day. The lot is just over 2 acres. Be back to clean it out December 8th.
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#952
Mr. Zick said:
Spent the day running the 550xp, what a fantastic little saw! Dropped about 70 box elder and a handful of hardwoods, from thigh size to a couple feet across. Just cleaning out a wood lot so pieced out into skid steer workable lengths. 8 hours straight -10 min for lunch and I’m a bit tired but could have kept going for hours. The right equipment sure makes for an enjoyable day. The lot is just over 2 acres. Be back to clean it out December 8th.
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That’s a long day on the saw. And I thought us poor IA bastards were the only ones cursed with Box Elder (Manitoba Maple) ?
 
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#958
Last load of the year, Gambel Oak and Bigtooth Maple. 272xp spun bearing, had to go back to the 1992 Stihl 038 Magnum. Best saw I've ever owned, I'm sure we've cut over 100 cord together.
 

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#960
I don’t but hear they are the cats ass. I think they would have an advantage on the big saws (24” plus) where the weight savings would be noticeable. I toyed with the idea for my 441, just never got around to it.
 
#961
I've run Sugi's plenty. Are they worth the extra price? Not for a 20" bar... If you get into long bars, they make a nice light version that is worth the extra dollars.
For the money, it's tough to beat an Oregon bar, just make sure you get one with a replaceable tip. I've seized more than a couple nose sprockets.
Typically, I run a Stihl bar (even on my Husky's, but with an adapter), they're harder than the Oregon bars, and with better sprockets. They're more expensive than the Oregon's, and on par or less than the Sugi's.
 
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#962
Other thing you could do is just take those 20" chains to a good saw shop (any saw shop really), and have them break/spin them down to 18"... It's just a matter of pulling 4-6 drive links.
I got tired of buying loops, so I bought a breaker/spinner. Amazing how much less chain I waste.
 
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#965
In order of durability, in my experience:
Cannon/Stihl/Sugihara (tie)
Windsor/Carlton & WoodlandPro (tie) (WP bars are actually made by Cannon, or used to be at least, but the sprocket tips use a different bearing and sprocket, which doesn't last as long for me)
Oregon/Echo/Husqvarna, etc (all manufacturers outside of Stihl use rebranded bars, typically from Oregon) (also, they make different grades of bars, so I'm talking pro grade bars, not the cheap consumer stuff... )
Forester (I hate these POS's, but they make for good cheap hard nose bars for really nasty jobs, where you'll trash anything anyway)
 
#966
Thanks again for the replies.

I have used Stihl, Oregon and Husqvarna bars all with good luck.

Running a Dolmar 7310 and have changed out the nose piece once on the original 20 inch bar, but now running the 18 inch bar. This saw has had 90 tanks of gas ran through it. Thought I would retire it at 100 tanks and give another saw a chance. Have a Dolmar 6421 just waiting to go to the woods. For now I'll just carry on with the 18 inch bar, but only have 2 chains with it, so will get another 20 inch sometime.

I have never had a tree fall and bend a bar, but as sure as I give $100 for a bar it will happen that afternoon.
 
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#967
Bluebird day today with light winds, no snow, etc... Worked in the timber just across from us, so never more than a half mile from home. Scrounged a small bit of Mulberry and scored a fair amount of Black Cherry. One was a blow down root ball and all hung up in the tops of others at about a 45 degree angle. The other dead standing with top blown out. Both dead 2-3 years as the bark was/had shed mostly ??. Two good sized pickup loads.

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#968
So i took a bowl turning class last week. Never ever any of you guys do that. I made a bowl in the class and have since bought a small lathe. (Nova comet 2). It came with a chuck and a small set of tools. Went back and bought a set of bigger rikon carbide tipped tools and some wood and bottle stopper kits. Went back again and bought a bigger parting tool, a bowl gouge and a block of ambrosia maple to make mom a bowl for christmas.
So far made a few things for presents. Some bottle stoppers and a semi finished base for the wife and just finished up the biwl for mom. It has been fun learning all of this. Wish we had some of the good wood down here in florida.
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#969
Northfl said:
So i took a bowl turning class last week. Never ever any of you guys do that. I made a bowl in the class and have since bought a small lathe. (Nova comet 2). It came with a chuck and a small set of tools. Went back and bought a set of bigger rikon carbide tipped tools and some wood and bottle stopper kits. Went back again and bought a bigger parting tool, a bowl gouge and a block of ambrosia maple to make mom a bowl for christmas.
So far made a few things for presents. Some bottle stoppers and a semi finished base for the wife and just finished up the biwl for mom. It has been fun learning all of this. Wish we had some of the good wood down here in florida. View attachment 6988154View attachment 6988155View attachment 6988156
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What wood species is that? I’ve never turned anything, but the limited reading I’ve done on it I understand certain species are more desirable than others.
 
#970
Ambrosia Maple... which is really any species of Maple that's been infested by Ambrosia beetles. They leave a fungus in the tree (their feces technically grows it), which discolors the wood and leaves the discoloration, which most people find decorative. Some of the wood will have bore holes from the beetles themselves, but many turners choose a chunk where the discoloration has grown/leeched through the wood, but the beetles haven't bored.

Maple is a great wood to turn, as it's nice and hard without being too hard, and its typically tight grained (again, depends on the species). Willow actually has a nice color and grain to it as well, and is very soft, so it makes turning it easier, though often times it's so soft it can chunk out...
 
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#973
MotorOilMcCall said:
Ambrosia Maple... which is really any species of Maple that's been infested by Ambrosia beetles. They leave a fungus in the tree (their feces technically grows it), which discolors the wood and leaves the discoloration, which most people find decorative. Some of the wood will have bore holes from the beetles themselves, but many turners choose a chunk where the discoloration has grown/leeched through the wood, but the beetles haven't bored.

Maple is a great wood to turn, as it's nice and hard without being too hard, and its typically tight grained (again, depends on the species). Willow actually has a nice color and grain to it as well, and is very soft, so it makes turning it easier, though often times it's so soft it can chunk out...
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I've split a lot of wood over my years, and I can honestly say, unequivocally, that Willow is by-far the absolute easiest wood I've ever split in my life. It was SO easy, that I simply walked around, swinging the axe like a windmill in one hand, hitting all the bucked-up pieces on the ends, and the pieces were splitting in half with practically NO effort whatsoever.

And all those bucked pieces were in the 16-18" long range. And anywhere from 3" diameter to 8-10" diameter. Buckers 'n splitters heaven, let me tell you.
 
#974
Yeah, air splits pretty easy! Haha. Willow is one of those woods I don't even bother with... Half the time the grain is so twisted it doesn't split straight anyway, and it doesn't stack worth a darn... Plus it has such little heat value, I wouldn't bother cutting or splitting it unless it was all I had available. It doesn't smell very good burning either.
 
#981
Once again proving it’s not what you know, I ran into a buddy that works for the village I live in. He informs me that they are taking down a FEW HUNDRED ash trees due to emerald ash borer, with some maple and oak mixed in, and they need a place to go with the logs. Unlimited firewood delivered for free right next to the stack. No tops or brush and all clean. Also told me they will stop delivery only when I say stop.
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#982
Mr. Zick said:
Once again proving it’s not what you know, I ran into a buddy that works for the village I live in. He informs me that they are taking down a FEW HUNDRED ash trees due to emerald ash borer, with some maple and oak mixed in, and they need a place to go with the logs. Unlimited firewood delivered for free right next to the stack. No tops or brush and all clean. Also told me they will stop delivery only when I say stop.View attachment 6989625View attachment 6989626
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Wow! Sure hard to beat that! Great score. Do you have an OWB or a stove? I have a Brave 34 ton and love it.
 
#984
Mr. Zick said:
Once again proving it’s not what you know, I ran into a buddy that works for the village I live in. He informs me that they are taking down a FEW HUNDRED ash trees due to emerald ash borer, with some maple and oak mixed in, and they need a place to go with the logs. Unlimited firewood delivered for free right next to the stack. No tops or brush and all clean. Also told me they will stop delivery only when I say stop.View attachment 6989625View attachment 6989626
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All great BTU wood, congrats...
 
#993
Well I decided to make my main wood shed larger this year and give me a spot to park the tractor in the winter. Thought it would be a piece of cake, just auger a few holes and have my buddies help me drop the telephone poles into place. Well scraped the gravel off to begin digging the holes and I found it was solid 2"-12" pit run all the way down. I needed to go down 40" so it took me over a week to get both holes done by hand, loosing it with a pressure washer each night. They ended up being like 3' x 4' each due to the stacked pit run and opening it up to clear the bigger rocks.

Buddies were all backed up on their schedules so I decided to do it by my self.

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Thank god for the tractor and a bunch of chains.

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#994
Got the poles in and plumbed up pretty nicely, the actual hard part was mixing the 26 - 80lbs bags of sackcrete by hand.

Cut the poles off and my buddy had time to help me get it up and secured, a little bit of a challenge still I was out of travel on the tractor:)

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I had some rough cut 2x8x16 timbers stored up in the out barn in the back that worked out nicely.

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Had to move most of my wood to the patio area under the carport during construction so it will not get completely filled up this year.

Dog Tax, he only dropped his tennis ball in the concrete 8 or 9 times and stepped in about 4 times. Better than expected.
 
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#997
Decoy said:
Poles aren't going anywhere soon.

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18-20" of pit run

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3 ft pieces of Rebar and a combined 26 bags of mud, 4 tennis balls, one squeaky Squirrel toy, a couple of misc sticks I threw him to get him away

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Gave up and let him keep his signature in tack

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Nice job on the shed. What size Kubota is that? I had a l5030 and upgraded a few years back on a m6040 both been great tractors.
 

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