Hi folks. I went out for a cut yesterday. The only standing dead wood currently available on Crown land worth burning in our area is Interior Douglas Fir. Standing Larch is prohibited this year. It is really all I burn aside from the orchard fruit wood available locally. The fruit wood is another beast entirely. You can warp your stove in a hurry with the knotty apple in these parts if you are not careful. But, the seasoned Douglas burns hot and clean for me. No hardwoods in our forests. I run older saws as well. Just my style. Beater Homelite XL-76 in on the action yesterday. Huge torque in a small package. Cut and split yesterday and already smelling, checking and drying nicely. This wood will sit for at least two seasons before it hits the stove. Although, it will be dry in 3 months in this current climate. Happy and safe cutting. A little clip from yesterday just before I started bucking it up with the XL-76. It made quick work of things.
Hi Hoggwood I don't think I've met you yet, and I'm happy to do so! Nice video of a great running saw, glad you had a chance to get out and gather up some btu's.
Bet it smells like Christmas over there! Good score, and cool saw. Might have to grab up an older machine this winter and get my feet wet with some tinkering. Are you saving the bark for top covering or something else? Or just destined for the compost/trash pile? I've been processing some red maple that's been sitting in the round since February or so, and a lot of it is dumping nice big pieces of bark. I've started using the bigger sheets to "mulch" around some newly transplanted lilac bushes, and it sure makes mowing and weed whacking easier.
Thanks fellas. The aroma of the terpenes Doug Fir gives off when cutting and drying is exotic. The high content of terpenes proves for excellent BTU to mass ratio. I always burn the bark that falls off at home. I know lots of folks couldn't be bothered. It has even more BTU content than the wood and provides a very nice insulated layer in the fire for longer burn times. Some of the thicker (4" +) Fir bark is primo if you can find a big, older growth tree. When insects attack the trees and they weaken, prior to dying, their resin production tends to fill the bark with golden galleries of syrup. Good stuff, if seasoned until that sap shatters like peanut brittle. Must get the moisture out of it. Here is one of my 2 cord, 3 year old piles. I'm thinking of burning come this October. Some pieces of orchard cherry and larch scattered in there. Little treats for those cold nights.
I save the bark for barbecue fuel. Makes a really HOT bed of coals. Someone told me they had used it for forging steel. I take great pains to keep it separated from the (almost indistinguishable) white fir bark.
Welcome to the club Hoggwood! There are a number of us from BC here so its nice to have another join the ranks. You're amongst friends, Welcome! I burn lodgepole pine, doug fir, larch and a bit of birch here in the east kootenays. Im itching to get out and cut as I have a few doug firs standing dead I want but its been so darn hot out.
I love douglas fir. I have four large dead standing firs, easy to get to, just waiting to be taken down. Maybe I'll get them this year, maybe in the spring. The smell of split douglas fir can't be beat.
Down here, the cheaper stuff is "hem fir" (whatever that is), but nothing larger than 2x4. The quality studs and larger are doug fir. The only cedar is fence boards. I can identify DF by the smell because I've spent so much time selecting studs at HD.
When cutting on Crown land to they require you to have a spark arrestor on the saw. The Homelite seem to move right along through the fir. I believe it is around 58cc so making it a nice size.
I run a lot of older saws I have rebuilt. I am as much of a saw hound as a wood hound. Usually they are inexpensive and/or close to free to obtain. Homelite 7xx-9xx , xl-76/130, Mcculloch Super Pro/Pro Mac, Pioneer P-series, Echo VL/EVL, Poulan Counter Vibe/early Pro...they all pull like trains. The most modern I have is an 026/036 combo. They aren't nearly as convincing in the wood for me. They hold they shelf down honestly. I'd rather run an '87 Poulan 3000 and an '82 Jonsereds 630. Equal or better to the task IMO. Yes we are required to have a spark arrester, fire extinguisher, shovel etc. These mufflers have baffles with very small holes that sort of function as arresters as well. Most of my saws have been pulled down and reassembled. The exhaust ports are always kept free of build up. The greater concern for me is the fine dust/pitch that sticks to the muffler and smolders. I get in the habit of not setting my saw down, but instead keep it in the cut of a round when idling or cooling off. Keeps the muffler out of the grass and eliminates the possibility of the saw rolling over (muffler down) when your back is turned. You are correct on the displacement. Fantastic ergonomics/balance and proximity of rear and top handles for hand placement. For no anti-vibe, they are relatively smooth with the full comp chain. They actually run the identical piston to the SXLAO Homelite. Like a SXLAO on steroids. They always open a few eyes at the cutting events or in the bush. As envious as I am of folks and their latest and greatest, it is enjoyable to take a rebuilt $15, 40 year old saw design and plow through the rounds with conviction. There is nothing like a pyramid reed valve design for torque. These xl76/130 (123 in the US) are completely nuts in the cut for their physical size. I have not run another saw design of the same displacement that has the torque of these. Shops here cannot, by law, work on old saws anymore as they lack safety features. As such, few folks choose to fix and run the older machines. I'd like to think my job is to rescue them.
No doubt, hemlock is also just everywhere so they create good timber. Affordable. Doug fir is like the all time favorite smell. Freshly cut down, its like describing how oranges smell.
Usually hemlock around here but can be a few varieties of fir too depending on what the mill had. Hemlock doesn't handle water as well and rots faster than fir.
Yep Hoggwood I would have to agree on the pyramid reed valve design that it can flow a lot of fuel into that crankcase.
