So to kinda break away from the thread on criticism, I wanted to share the positive points of this score. Everyone here is "pulling" for each other, so I want to share the glory here for everyone who was encouraging in the first days of my recent score. High points 1) I have never put 5 & 1/4 hours behind a saw before today. I took no breaks, save to fuel the saw and change a chain. The last 45 minutes the muscles started getting fatigued. Swinging the maul at the end loosened up the shoulders pleasantly. 2) I keep fuel, bar oil and other bits in a back pack. Saved a lot of time walkin back to the truck. With the chill today, i wore the pack all afternoon. (1G fuel, 1qt oil, wedges and a tool) 3) I didn't know how I'd manage in 48*F, rain, and some wind. Getting older leaves me enjoying heat a little more. When the t-shirt got wet and I cold, a bit of dry clothing was a blessing. I take a clean shirt on every hoard...few things suck worse than driving home in a sweat soaked shirt. Rain makes the finer dust absolutely stick to wet clothing and shoes. 4) I am doing the 8/16 "fast". I had coffee only today (w heavy cream and honey)...no meals (since dinner last night) till I got home from cutting. I have plenty of energy stored as fat, so nice even energy level all afternoon, despite the rain and chill. 5) I took one 8 minute break, when a fellow pulled up, and offered me all the maple in his yard...tree legs. Just cut and haul. Will check that out in a couple weeks. 6) I have been ripping bigger rounds in half with the saw. Today, I cut them them about half way through, and then whacked them with the maul. That felt good, and was easier than cutting all the way through. Red Oak rounds primarily. 7) they left the stump rounds...sitting right on the stumps. Top of the rounds was a good 30". I have never dealt with those before. I cut them into quarters from the top down (pic)....lotsa really fine dust. The rain and wind kept the dust down. 8) I bought traffic cones from Tractor Supply. Well worth the cost to warn traffic to slow the fxzk down. I cut more than I thought originally was there. Not much more.left to cut though! I'm into my 4th gallon of bar oil this season, and ate up 2G gas in the last 12 days or so. Pics: working the stump round. The other...everything that is pictured was cut today. The tree trunks were already on the ground...I didn't fell any of them! Shout out to buZZsaw BRAD. Thanks for listening to and encouraging me. Sca
That's a lot of hard work but the benefits of it are sweet! Good on you for getting it done. Once upon a time I loved looking at logs like that before I made lumber out of them. Seems lately I've been thinking back to those times and wishing I had stayed with it...until the industry got a big hit and mills closed all over the place.
Being prepared almost always pays off. Although I never heard him say it, my father has told me that my grandfather routinely mentioned taking more clothing than likely needed, because “you can always take it off, but you can’t put on what you didn’t bring”.
Well thought out and planned. Nice that you have some room to process roadside and a level spot. I have a couple scrounged cones i use when in hazardous roadside areas. Too busy or dangerous ill say no as its not worth it. You're "braver" than i am cutting in the rain. Ill cut when damp out but not rain unless i get caught in it and have to finish up. Looks like some great wood and well worth the effort. Hoard on and cut safe my friend!
We have a saying here...the difference between disaster and adventure is preparedness. Your dads saying applies to cordwood rather aptly. Sca
I wish I had a way to make lumber out of some of it!!! Its almost a shame to just burn all.of it. Sca
Enablers, yeah sometimes. But I think we all know the direction we're going. Sometimes circumstances make that vision hard to see. Sometimes I need some sense knocked back in to my head. Call it perspective shift when things get disjointed now and again. I like that about here!! Sca
I don't think I would regularly choose to cut in the rain, but it was plenty safe. There were zero mosquitos, and it wasn't hotter than three of the four Hells. And just for myself, I scored some points for my "man-card". I too have turned scrounges on roads waaay too busy. Sca
Dear son and I hauled and stacked 6 loads of wood home from the score. We're visiting family, and have the last load of wood in the trailer to be stacked when visiting is over. It was 50 ish, rained or drizzled most of the day. Highway traffic was light at 7am, but crazy by 1030. No skeeterz, no sweating. The rounds pile is 7' tall 16' and 4 tiers deep as of today. Wooohooo! Sca
I was out in the 48 degree light rain on Saturday, worked 5 hours nonstop and didn’t get cold at all. I have found that the T-shirts’ sold as Tech-t’s or Dri-t’s can keep you really warm when it’s wet and cold. I’ll often start with two on and peel one off if I get too warm. Although they sell them as keeping you cool and dry from sweat when it’s hot they really amount to a thin thermal T-shirt when it’s cold.
Thats cool...I like the idea of higher tech t shirts. 'Course I could have found a rain coat....but then I'd have been soaked inside from sweating. Will look for those tshirts at dickssportingoods. Points went onto Paul's "man-card" recently! Sca
Just reread my post. 6 loads made it home at the time of writing, with the 7th with us. We had help from a young fella who is the kid of a friend, kinda a mentoree to me. 14yo....and the kid can work. Seriously impressed. He hauled 4 loads with us, grew tired, and then picked up the splitting maul and promptly destroyed two large rounds. On a larger level, and looking at what three accomplished in a short time, I wonder how many of us are fighting our battles 'on our own'? Not just hoarding wood either. To my detriment, I work alone more than I should...because I don't reach out, because I don't take the time to cultivate relationships (when I honor getting work done over relationships), because I have been rejected one too many times....so I just "hate people" and go it alone without even trying to find help. I need to make some changes. But I'm thrilled that most of the wood in the above.pics, is gone! Sca
