Hello all: after lurking for the past six or seven months, I finally decided to become a member of FHC. I confess: I love trees, both alive and dead. I love to plant 'em; I love to be out amongst them; and I love to heat with dead versions of 'em. I'm rather middle-aged, and not as spry as I once was, and I can only hope some day to have stacks like you all do. As of today -- in the midst of this awful cold weather we're having, my lone "stack" is pretty much gone. I got a late start this fall -- after years of having help in the past -- I'm now on my own. It took me a long while to send out the chainsaw for repair, and then an even longer while to figure out how to get it started. I'm still having problems getting it started consistently. (It's a Stihl 390 --anyone have any suggestions?) When I can't get it started (rather often, unfortunately), I drag out the handsaws. I have a lot of land-- mostly forested -- with a lifetime supply of downed/dead trees. There was a pretty awful icestorm around these parts in 2008 (so bad the National Guard was called to clear roads -- no power for two whole weeks!) so I'm still working on "harvesting" the oaks downed from that storm. My property is filled with oak, maples, and pine. I've learned a lot over the years -- maybe 30 years ago or so, in another life and at a previous home, I learned that willow (downed thanks to Hurricane Bob) is not a good candidate for the fireplace. Maybe 25 years ago or so, I spent days handsawing (with a notch cut) a huge ash only to have it get caught/hung-up on another tree as it "fell". That was pretty discouraging. Haha -- I should go and see if it is still there, hanging in mid-air. Thanks to your forum, I've learned a whole bunch of terms -- like bucking, and stacks, and three-year plans. I need a sawbuck (or is it bucksaw?), but I don't have the tools/time/competency to make one. I've tried to wedge long logs in the bucket of my tractor, but that doesn't work too well. Any tricks to this anyone can share? Or, alternatively, where can one purchase a bucksaw? I have a masonry fireplace; it's also known as a Russian heater. In a prior house, I had a Vermont Castings woodstove. Both have/had their quirks. The masonry fireplace heats up slow, but then gives off a gentle, sustained heat for over 48 hours. I'm writing this email with my back to one of the walls -- wonderful and warm! Well, I don't want to drone on too long in my first post. Thank you all for listening to me. Thank you also for all of the kind advice that you so freely and gently give out -- this woodchick has greatly benefited from it all, and I hope that I can pay it forward in the future. Woodchick P.S. In my next post, I'll try and post pictures of my "set-up" -- another term I've learned from you all!
Howdy You are gonna fit right in here. I'm sure one our members can help you with your saw. We like to cook and eat around here also. Once and a while we'll even joke around
Welcome to FHC Woodchick Theres tons of good info here and folks that can steer you in the right direction regarding your saw.
Jack Straw -- haha re: food, here's a pic of the pizza oven above the firebox. temp is about 375. I use it for all kinds of things (including pizza) -- heating up my lunch, toasting my sandwich or bagel, keeping the coffee pot warm in the a.m., etc.
Welcome. Looks like you have a lot of good down oak, get all that you can! Having a nice stockpile of firewood is money in the bank
Welcome to the club Woodchick Chainsaws are often very finicky about starting procedures. One extra pull on the rope while choked will often flood the saw and it won't start. This video has some good starting info. With proper technique and practice, your saw should start EVERY time within a few pulls. Good luck.
Hi Woodchick ... welcome to FHC. Lots of good folks here. Oh yeah... knowing you took 7 months to decide whether you'd jump in here says a lot... mostly, that I will never ever ever go shopping with you...
If I'm using my tractor without the forks on it, I lift one end of the log with the bucket and place wood splits or rounds under the log to get it up off the ground, and let it down. Be careful, the log could roll off the splits as you are cutting rounds off it.
Thank you all for such a warm welcome! fox9988, I watched the video -- thanks for sharing it. I think maybe my mistake is that I try a rapid up-pull the entire pull. Video says to do a slow pull until I feel resistance. I will try that this week. I did know about not flooding it. If I can't get it started after a few pulls, I leave it sit (while I sulk). I wish mine "burped" more. haha -- that's another new technical term I just learned. Woodchick
