I had thought of starting a fire to see how good the locust burns and rotisserie the deer leg. I hadnt had lunch and was hungry. No BBQ sauce with me either and i was on a mission to score wood! You might be a wood hoarder if you skip lunch to score wood!
The quest was on for an hour this afternoon. Hit the score. Forgot my toolbox and had to run home as i needed the file to sharpen. Finished cutting the one tree and was able to get down to the rootball. Next tree a few feet away to the right. Thought the end grain pattern was cool on this round. Was able to buck another "round" off the trunk i cut Tuesday. Maybe able to get another two but way too tangled to get at. Ive seen how strange BL is at ground level, but first time experience for me. Are these ever round at ground level? Ive seen some bizarre ones on FHC threads. Started working my way in on the second tree and it is still partly alive. The sucker limb is over an inch from 20 months of growth. Bark was tight on half of the rounds bucked on this one. About half a PU load...1/4 cord in an hour of cutting and loading. The stack prior to todays load. (Back row of the three is poplar) and after todays load. 45 minutes to split todays load. Not quite a cord yet. A few splits with bark still firm. Probably stack these separate. Quest load number five should happen tomorrow. Temps in upper 20's. Perfect in my book for hoarding! Im liking these smaller loads as im able to process right away and not roadside for another scrounger to take.
Black locust is tops. Doenst smell the best but hey it heats the best and that's the best thing about it.. lol nice score
All this talk of locust I had to go get some. A couple of dead off the ground tops and a couple dead standing trees. Thanks Brad
Im so jealous...you can just drive into a field and cut the stuff up. I literally have to hack through a jungle and carry rounds out. All kidding aside, glad that im an inspiration.
Didnt have much time today but did hit the quest for a half hour. Cold and windy with frozen ground finally. One tree top that was cut off (looks like it was the top that had hit the fence and back of the building) and pushed into the weeds. Bucked a few rounds off and sectioned remainder to carry to road. Started to buck by the front and saw a DPW truck drive by. Threw the lengths in the PU and beat feet. Wood was frozen which was nice as it wasnt muddy! Put the 16" bar from the 290 on the 261 figuring less sharpening to do. Looked wierd on it as ive only used the 20" bar. Hard to believe a 16" bar is all i ever used on a saw up until two years ago. Seemed so small. The 16" cut a lot better and i think it was a semi chisel chain. The 20" was full chisel. Does it make a difference when cutting locust? Doubt ill have time to hit score tomorrow. Stuff to do before snow arrives late afternoon.
Why not use the 290? The semi chisel chain won't dull as fast, does cut slower in regular wood though.
Good question about the 290. Guess ive really fallen in love with the 261. Much lighter and i guess you could call it my go to saw now.
The tractor does help but I stihl had to hack through briars and vines to get to the stuff to get a chain hooked up to drag it out.. Plus some is down over a bank and in a little creek with rootballs attached.
chain on the base and pull away? The spot im working it'd be impossible. Brick pumping station building surrounded by a chain link fence with a 3' strip of grass on the perimeter then all weeds, wood, prickers, vines etc. The last tree closest to the road will be easiest, but dont quote me on that.
Do like i do...hum the "Mission Impossible" theme when hacking your way in to get to the rootball and/or hook up the chain! Any other wood any id be leaving it. Still cant believe what im going through to get this!
