Staying Busy and out of trouble, 2020-21?.

[doc henderson]

I am sure you did the same hours before, but 40 went to the company, and the leftover was for you.  we are all proud of the progress you have made.  keep us informed and we we all hope we can do half as well as you when we are elderly... like you!  :D :D :D

[Old Greenhorn]

I am sure you did the same hours before, but 40 went to the company, and the leftover was for you.  we are all proud of the progress you have made.  keep us informed and we we all hope we can do half as well as you when we are elderly... like you!  :D :D :D

Well maybe I am old, but I ain't dead yet.

[nybhh]

Wow you've been busy!  Nice catching up on this thread.  I'm out of places to stack wood at the moment and have my firewood taken care of for the next year or two. 

I have 4 standing, long dead ash trees between the house and the creek (easy access with the tractor) that aren't worth milling and all good/easy firewood size. They have been dead for a while and will burn well this year even if you don't get to them until later in the summer.  I've avoided cutting them since I don't need the firewood and they keep better vertical but the wife would sure appreciate them gone if you need more firewood, just let me know.  

I could probably point out 25 cords of standing dead or recently blow-downed hardwoods just along the trail I walk every morning with Cello.  Now that I look at it every day, its beginning to aggravate my OCD and its just gonna turn to mushrooms if nobody takes it.   

[Old Greenhorn]

I kind of had this in the back of my head, but didn't want to ask. I know you are busy working on the current project. Now that I can get access to the dump trailer once in a a while I can handle a bit more than those loads I got from you last time. Around 5,000# should be safe which would be a good load. I think.  I am into the bigger logs now which produce more cord wood than all the short 8-14" short stuff I have been hacking away at.
Witt that in mind and the dump trailer available, perhaps we look at doing some of it in a few weeks? I have tables to finish up, the dust collector to install, and a duct system to design and build, and clean off the outside wall of the shop for the new firewood pile. Plus, of course milling to do.
Knowing me, I will push through this as fast as I can regardless of how I feel and then need a short break to get 'real work' done before I do another round. (Although I would like to check in on Cello, they grow SO fast!)
I know you also have that section out by the road, is there anyway to make a small landing in there so we could work off the road? I can't recall the exact terrain. I know there was a lot of dead standing that needs to get gone.
 Thank you very much, I appreciate the offer and will take you up on it. This is one year I do not expect to get ahead on firewood as I usually do, given that I have more than doubled the requirement and I may be cutting in early March next year to make up for it.

[nybhh]

Yea, a couple weeks would be great.  I have a contractor back for 2-3 weeks to help get the metal on this building and I am heavily involved in that but my non-work schedule clears up after that.   Sending you home with a dump load of 12-16" dbh ash should be no problem and the good thing is most of the tops have already fallen so there won't be much cleanup.  

There is good landing space on the other side but most of those are much bigger trees and millable so I want to wait on dropping those until I have time to mill my half.  Hopefully this fall/winter

[Old Greenhorn]

Yea, a couple weeks would be great.  I have a contractor back for 2-3 weeks to help get the metal on this building and I am heavily involved in that but my non-work schedule clears up after that.   Sending you home with a dump load of 12-16" dbh ash should be no problem and the good thing is most of the tops have already fallen so there won't be much cleanup.  

There is good landing space on the other side but most of those are much bigger trees and millable so I want to wait on dropping those until I have time to mill my half.  Hopefully this fall/winter

Once again, the timing appears to work out well. ;D if it goes well, the ground will freeze early and the snow will hold off, then we can cut that roadside area and stack for your mill and for firewood and move when possible. So far my experience with that dead ash is that it will sit for quite a while (if off the ground) provided you seal the ends within 25 seconds of cutting (although sooner is better). :D
 OK, will we call that a tentative plan. Another win-win for the Ulster County FF chapter.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I am more bushed tonight than I was last night, I really had to push myself to keep going at it today, but I took more breaks (and one short nap in the shade), but I managed to squeeze out two complete loops and stacked about 3/4-1 cord more. I am going to run out of wood before I fill the stacks. I worked mostly with big rounds today as I got into the bigger, longer logs. All the short stuff I had has been cleaned up and stacked.


 
Scroll back and you'll find the same photo from Sunday (the first photo in reply#135)
 with a lot more wood, all gone now.
Today I started the trash fire up to burn the junk, bark, and rotten stuff that collects. I find if I 'clean as a I go' it just all gets done and I don't have a mess left when I am done. Every once in a while I throw a pile on the burn bucket. So I am catching up on that stuff.


 
I also have a bunch of short chunks and junk, but good clean wood. That will either be for campfires or the shop. It looks like another day or so and I will be clean of wood and have to run down and grab the logs I stowed here and there in the woods since last fall. There isn't much, but maybe another half to 3/4 cord. I should get that cut up and stacked too. Then I will have to wait until Brandon and I can get together or something else comes along.
SO here is where the pile sits tonight. I didn't come in until 8:30, so this is a little dark.


 
I have a load sitting there to unload in the morning and I just learned my 11 year old step-grandson will be here for the day tomorrow and he is always good help. I had thought I would change gears tomorrow, but in light of this development I think I will stick with it. It goes much faster with a second person. My wife had been helping me stack a bit, but she was out most of the day working at the farm co-op, so I was on my own today.
Also, wondering what you guys would make of this:


 

I have this nice, green red oak log producing these and I am wondering what I can do with them. Let your mind run wild and give me some ideas. I am hoping they might dry without cracking. I am thinking I might get 10 or so more out of the log. They look like eyes to me.

[thecfarm]

The eyes have it. Got a bump from a white maple for a nose?
I rarely work on wood all day. Well, I rarely work on any one thing all day.  :D  I have about 10 projects going on around here. Might be kinda low on the 10 too.  :  This keeps me fresh all day long. 
Just like last night, Have a real steep hill to mow by the house. Wife does not like to do it, and I don't blame her any. This is with the bush hog. I went down by the edge of the woods and found 4-5 places that I need to finish leveling out. Found some rocks about softball in size that I left behind too.  : A project that I forgot about. 
I split my work up, so I can work all day.

[Nebraska]

That new boss of yours is pretty tough it appears. I saw the rounds on the chair and wondered if you could make googlie eyes with some hockey pucks and resin, for no purpose but to do it, somebody wouldn't  have to buy them and put that project up on social media..

 Be careful that bark and waste fire doesn't light your firewood pile...... : apparently it happens :.  Looks like you have gone a good distance on the wood. I have about 3 cord in totes, and need to get another trailer load of totes as I will quickly fill what I have. Better get those kids out and fish some more.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, working for me is no picnic! ;D
 The waste fire is contained, so there is that. I had to site in in a specific spot because or overhead concerns and the limited room I have to navigate the trailer and Mule in the driveway to make the turn around and back it up to the splitter. It was still hot enough this morning to just re-kindle with a little stir and I collected a few more loads of junk to get rid of today. very little goes to waste here but bark and rotten shag constitute 90% of it. Since I used to just rake it into a pile and hope it would rot, I realized that dog won't hunt, so now I am burning it and trying to catch up on stuff from years past.
 Those eyes, yeah. I was thinking I might make a piece of art to hang on the front of the shop, there is a bunch of blank space. Hockey pucks aren't a bad idea, maybe I can find something else. Sometimes totally useless things are the most fun. Gonna look around for a bump cutoff too, I bet I threw 3 in the fire yesterday. :D
 Oh, Cfarm, normally I do rotate jobs through the day as you do, but when I get on firewood it is like I am on a mission, the process flow is set up, all the equipment is out and I just get in a groove and can't focus on anything else. It is the one thing I just want to get done so I don't have to think or worry about it for the rest of the season. Seeing the pile full always gives me comfort. I am just weird that way. There are worse proclivities I suppose.  ;D
 Got out a little earlier today and unloaded the trailer, restarted the fire and got it all queued back up to cut and split another round, but I think I will stop at one today. 
I am just too tired and achy. smiley_old_guy

[Old Greenhorn]

I just checked, last year I started wood in the last week of March and finished the first week of May (5 cords for the house). This year I started last Thursday and I have about 3 cords stacked as of this morning. I have about 4-5 good logs left here to cut and split, then I have to go skid some stuff up from across the road.

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

   I'd rotate those "donuts" around to different positions and see what images they trigger. The burn barrel sounds like a pretty good idea.

   Sounds to me like you need to get your labor pool back together to help Grandpa stack his winter wood supply.

[Old Greenhorn]

Super idea! I will do that today for sure!
 This virus thing with the associated 'home learning' and my son's work schedule have everything messed up. Maybe by the time I am doing shop wood it will smooth out.

[doc henderson]

maybe a 1/2 of a cookie or round as the brim of your hat, and it can be your 3D avatar.  even the chair looks a little like you,     if you use some imagination.  the grandsons might enjoy the slight caricature of grandpa!  

[Old Greenhorn]

Short early entry tonight. I am bushed after 5 days of pushing it on the wood. I finished splitting all the wood I had in the yard. All clean, for the moment.


 

I parked the last overfull trailer load at 5:30pm.


 
Every trip through the gate is a bit of a pain, I don't have much clearance. But the wife already has all her planters out, so I can't get around the easy way. This will have to do.


 
I played around with 'Woodrow' some more and gave him a nose. I have two options as I found two small burls when I was bucking.


 
I have this big blank spot on the front shop wall over the short door. Maybe I can make a flat round/hex/square/rectangle thing and mount this stuff up on there? I dunno. Just for fun. I really should paint that block, but I hate to get into that until I have things under control in a year or two.


 
Tonight as I go to sleep, hopefully soon, I will be trying to figure out what I can do with basswood logs. :D

[thecfarm]

Eyebrows, couple curved branches??

[Old Greenhorn]

Eyebrows, couple curved branches??

Yeah, I gotta go shopping in the woods tomorrow. ;D

[samandothers]

Cut the bottom outta ya chair and place one of those doughnuts over it you'd have an out house without the house!

You could then just sit and enjoy nature! 

You asked for ideas.  You did not say they had to be good ideas. :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Cut the bottom outta ya chair and place one of those doughnuts over it you'd have an out house without the house!

You could then just sit and enjoy nature!

You asked for ideas.  You did not say they had to be good ideas. :D

Ideas are ideas, there is no bad or good, just different. I actually  was thinking as I worked my way up the log the holes would get smaller, so I might make some cup holders out of the for the fire ring seats. Not sure how they would be for an outhouse, those holes make a pretty small target. ;D

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

   I still remember sitting my ol butt down on a frozen cracked porta john seat in Bagram so I am here to tell you the outhouse idea is pure desperation! Its kinda like eating a possum - times ain't got that hard yet.

   I'm thinking glasses and googly eyes and such. Place them at every imaginable position and see what your imagination finds. Get other opinions from family and friends too. They will see something you don't.

   On the basswood I cut up a big one about 15 months ago into 1100 bf of 4/4, 8/4, 12/4 and 16/4 with the target market as wood carvers. I stickered the wood good ran a fan between the stacks for 2 months as I had read it is bad to mildew if you don't keep very good ventilation on it. If you have not already sawed it I'd check with local wood carver clubs and offer to custom cut it for them. Otherwise saw it into as thick stock as it will make, sticker it good with plenty of ventilation. I would not worry about edging it too clean as the carvers may be fine with a little rounded corners. Good luck and if you sell out and need more come see me and bring a trailer. :D

[Old Greenhorn]

times ain't got that hard yet.

  I'm thinking glasses and googly eyes and such. Place them at every imaginable position and see what your imagination finds. Get other opinions from family and friends too. They will see something you don't.

   Good luck and if you sell out and need more come see me and bring a trailer. :D

No times are not that hard yet. ;D
Yes, I did that and took a bunch of photos, but I didn't want to load up the forum with whimsy. I need a better background besides the chair to help my cloudy mind visualize better. I might play with it some more today while I let my body recover. I have wood to stack and logs to skid, so light work today. I will be looking for more pieces to add to this 'work of art'.
 So with your basswood, did you have mold issues? I am guessing it did not sell like hot cakes? One other use for this is solid body guitars and I reached out to a luthier friend and he would like a few pieces, as well as some ash and poplar. I put a thing on my FB page looking for carvers.

[WV Sawmiller]

OGH,

  I did not have any mold issues but I left a 30" pedestal fan on it for 2 months when I first stacked and stickered it. I cut it to 8' logs because it was so big and all I could drag out with my Kawasaki 650 on the frozen ground in February. I left the biggest/butt log because I could not see how to cut it free of the rootball on the steep mountainside without the rootball rolling over the top of me.

[Old Greenhorn]

Good to know WV, we get bad humidity, but I think you guys have us beat by a far piece.
 Well, today I was slow getting started, just kind of weary and dragging a little. I had that insurance cal and got all the understood, finally got at it by 10am and emptied and stacked the last of the split wood, then I parked the trailer and cleaned it off, cleaned up a little more in the splitting yard and burned the remaining junk I created, but I still have a 2 year backlog on stuff to burn to get things all cleaned up. I'll spread that out, that fire makes a lot of smoke and I have had it going for 3 days straight now.
 I got a surprise visit from one of my happy customers, he stopped by on his way home from food shopping with the wife to pick up the 2 remaining boards I owed him on his order and have been sitting here for a few weeks. We had a nice visit and it was a nice surprise and break in the day.
 After lunch I put the new winch on the skidding arch and removed the old one, plus the electric one I had put on there and never use. The new one is rated higher and has a really low ratio (too low, actually) and it works just fine. Then I went down across the road to fetch up the logs I had stashed over the past year. I forgot exactly what I had down there but it wasn't a lot, still it's another half days work to cut and split, so it's something. I think I will still be short, but closer.
 I played with my phone and the new window mount and shot some video of the trips up and down, but it was more comical and boring than anything. I picked out the least worst and am uploading it to YouTube now. It should take another hour or so and I can link it here later. Anyway, after that I was pretty well soaked, it was hot and humid here today and I know we have worse coming, but I am still adjusting to it like we all do each year. SO I knocked off. I did a quick run to the store for eggs, milk, and beer, then got on the yard tractor and mowed the lawn to get it done.
 When I was up at the store it was packed with weekend visitors, holy cow there are a ton of them! I wish they would just stay home for a few more weeks but they are walking around like 'it's over' and buying out the store. They didn't have my beer, all out. Now I am really ticked. We had plates from 4 different states in that parking lot and I wanted to tell them all 'go home and leave us alone'. But, that would be rude. ;D An age old question popped into my head as I left: "If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot 'em?" :D ;D

[Walnut Beast]

It's good they had your beer 😂

[Walnut Beast]

No all out 😡