Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

Dealer support for my Husky 51 is 30 feet away in the garage, lol.
Fortunately, the only thing I've replaced on it in over 15 years (besides plugs, air filters, bars, & chains) has been to swap the muffler for a good used unit. I've been really lucky and had a super reliable saw that has cut hundreds and hundreds of cords without a ever letting me down. And I bought it USED in high school, so who knows how many cord it had cut before then... (probably not many, it looked like it was still brand new when I bought it)

Edit- Oil pump does leak if you don't store it on its side, though.

 

I'm running an old McColluch. I have 3 of their saws, a 110, 610, and 10-10. The 110 came with 10" bar that I replaced with 12", and now it needs to be tuned after I was messing with the carb. The 610 came with broken throttle level. Took that to a small engine place that replaced the parts needed by picking through their boneyard. This saw needs to be adjusted as well because if I stay off the throttle for about 5-10 seconds, it chokes out and dies. The 10-10 is my main saw, and I replaced the 16" bar with a 20". I just had the chain drive on the clutch break and went back to the small engine place and managed to get a whole new clutch (used but not broken) with replaceable chain drive. The original was all one piece.
I didn't pay anything to buy the 3 saws, but I have put a few dollars into them for upgrades and repairs, but still less for all 3 than buying a new Stihl.

 

Really hurt my back the other day getting my winter heat ready. Reaching over and taking out my card from the wallet to order pellets is such a strain!

 

I haven't done anything with my wood pile lately. When it's already 80 degrees in the morning when I get up, the last thing I want to do is go out and chase my saw around or swing the maul. Supposed to cool down some for this weekend, though, so hopefully I can make some progress.

 

Cut up a bit more plum and some walnut the other day

 

Got out this morning and started cutting around 5:30, before it got hot. Probably pissed the neighbors off, but their dogs were outside barking until they got home around 1AM last night, so fair's fair.
Got everything cleaned up by 9 or so, which was good because it was already in the mid-70's by then and I was absolutely covered in sweat, dirt, and sawdust.



Now I've got all of my 4-foot stuff sectioned up to stove length so it's time to start splitting. Not right now, though. It's 80 degrees in the shade at the moment, and I don't particularly care for heat stroke.

 

Let's haul some firewood.

 

Hell yeah! I've always wanted one of those, specifically for that reason!

 

Drove/rode many miles in one of them. Learned how to back a trailer with one. Scary memories

 

At least they have power steering, lol. I learned how to back a trailer with a '57 Ford tractor and it had no power assist.
Kind of a lousy learning curve.

 

Big Madrone out on the lawn of a client's house I was at last week , that big main stem is about 42" through

 

Now I feel silly for asking about it in the TW Live thread. Oh well.

Scored some white oak for my stove for next year. Pretty rare wood around here, but a local cemetery was taking a lightning-struck tree down and a guy I know works there. They were going to just pay to have it all chipped up and let it rot out behind the cemetery, but I managed to wrangle taking it off of their hands and cleaning up the mess for free, and they jumped on that. So now I've got about 2-2.5 cord of white oak drying for next year.

 

Sweet deal

 

A tree, with roots down in the ground pulling nutrients from the dearly departed, that was struck dead by the heavens, and you're going to store and burn that stuff at your house?

 

Especially because of how hot white oak burns. I've used it before and it's just like coal.

Well I figure that the lightning strike was to let the demon who had spawned inside the tree escape, so it should be all set now.

 

Now that I think about it, the plot sounds a little more like this:

 

Wood stove is the only way to roll. Still 90 degrees here in NW Virginia, but I will get some pics up once I start cutting and storing. I have got trees laid down all over my property.

 

You don't have this year's firewood already split ?

 

Not yet...

I have enough from last year to get me at least through January. I usually don't need to start heating my house until the beginning of November. Winters get very dry here. I can have wood seasoned in 3-4 months in a pinch.

ETA: my wife's family also has a kiln, which helps a lot!

 

Do you have a saw big enough to go through in one pass, or will that be 2 cuts to get through the trunk? Sounds and looks like a few trips of getting firewood.