Today's score

Bought a Sihl MS261 and MS660 on Friday and went to get wood today. Only used the MS261 today. The photo is what my dad and I got accomplished in about 5 hours today before it got ridiculously hot. The pic is from my parents place before I took the wood to my place. The wood is now sitting in my truck in our driveway and I have to stack it today. Do you guys think I got a cord today between what is in the truck and what is stacked by the splitter?

DaFattKidd said:

Nice score. I'd guess it's pretty close to a cord. We'll know once you get that stacked. Post some pics and measurements when it's all up there.

What kind of wood is that?

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Some of it is locust according to my dad and the rest is oak according to both he and me. I'm not quite as good at identifying trees yet, but I can tell what is an oak, birch, maple, poplar, and cherry. While I have cut some wood in my days, I never really worried about what it was or how much we were getting because I was cutting it for my dad for him to use. I just wanted to get it done ASAP so I could get back to hunting, fishing, cycling, and shooting. Now that I am going to be burning it for myself, I still want to get it done ASAP so I can get back to those hobbies of mine and my family, but I am now paying attention to the type of wood and I am paying attention to the equipment since I just bought the two saws. I never want to cut with a dull chain again. Too many horrors of dull chains and stubborn saws that would not start when I was younger (i.e., dad maintained, or didn't, the equipment).

DaFattKidd said:

I have a few other questions as well: what are you burning this in, and how much wood are you planning on burning this year?

I just looked up the price on those saws and woah momma you dropped some dough on those bad boys. Is this something you do professionally? Those are some serious saws. Good luck and be safe with them.

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I'll be using a Yukon Eagle Polar furnace to heat 4,500 sf and we are looking at putting a 1,600 sf addition on the house. If the furnace can heat the house and the addition, so be it. If not, we will go with a wood stove in the addition and a separate AC system. Anyway, I was told I need 4+ cords of wood a year, and then my dad is thinking about putting in a wood insert. So, I am guessing anywhere between 4 and 8 cords a year will be cut with my saws since my dad usually has POS saws.

Yeah, everybody has been giving me grief about what I spent on the saws. The HVAC guys that will be installing the AC on the furnace also gasped at the furnace price unitl they actually read about it. Ultimately, I am pretty cheap, which is the reason I do almost all the work on my cars, bikes, house, guns, rods, etc. Just to give you an example, I had to change the AC clutch on my car this year. I did it in April, but against my normal tendencies I didn't spend the $100 on the special tools needed to install the clutch. Well, the clutch coil came loose and broke. Had to replace that at a cost of $36. This time, I bought the specialized tools. The removal and installation of the clutch and clutch coil was that much smoother this time around and I am kicking myself for not spending the $100 the first time around. Initially, I was going to go with the MS250 occassional use saw and the MS 460, but decided to step both up a notch to the MS261, a professional use saw, and the MS 660. I am looking for longevity and dependability from the saws. Figured I would use the 18" bar for the majority of my cutting and the 25" MS660 for the really big stuff. Like I said, I do almost all the repairs on our cars. The addition we are contemplating is a 40x40 two story addition with living space upstairs and a garage/shop area for me underneath with 4 garage doors and a 12+ foot ceiling. I will also be installing a vehicle lift in there. The lift will run about $3,000. My father in-law questioned the vehicle lift, until I saved him about $700 on a vehicle repair. He was just up here last week and wanted me to change his antifreeze. When I had to slide under the car to drain the radiater he said "I can see how a lift would come in handy." I had to work under his car in Florida on a POS blanket when I did the repair that saved him $700.

I am convinced that time is money, and that if I buy the right tools for the job that allow me to do a quality job and get the job done quicker, then I am coming out ahead in the long run. For the most part, I always buy top of the line tools and the right tools for the job. I'm 40 and I am hoping these saws last until I am 70. I have things like a 2 stage 60 gallon compressor. Some of the best shotguns, hunting equipment. fishing equipment, etc. Ultimately, I think these saws cost me $250 to $300 more than the initial saws I wanted. If they save me 2 hours of cutting time over the initial saws I was going to buy, then they will have made up the difference in price as far as I am concerned. Thing is, it is tough to determine if they will save me that kind of time. Another example I can give you is my main hunting shotgun. I bought it 14 years ago and have used it a ton. It still works flawlessly. However, it was the best thing out when I bought it, and also the most expensive.

DaFattKidd said:

you have a huge house.

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I guess, but it really isn't. We have a ranch with 2,100 sf finished upstairs and a 2,300 sf unfinished basement with HVAC duct work in it to finish it. Right now, we have 3 beds and 2 baths. It looks like somebody intended on finishing the basement at some point, but never got around to it. There is a rough in for a full bath down there along with the sump to pump it to the septic tank. We are going to finish the basement, but we need to do a little water control beforehand. We need to buy a tractor with a loader and backhoe and install a french drain around the front and sides of the house. Might even have to use a drywell for a couple downspouts. We want to make sure that we don't have any water problems once we finish the basement. We had a little bit of a water issue in March, but nothing since then. However, I can see the efflourescence (sp.) from previous water issues.

You're probably going to ask how we have more sf in the basement than upstairs, and the answer is that underneath the 2 car garage there is an unfinished room with a cement floor and celing and brick & block walls. That is going to be my "man cave". Until we build the addition, the current 2 car garage is going to be my shop, but I cannot get my truck in there and installing a lift is pretty much out of the question. We have a ton of work to do to this place. Prior to buying this place, we lived in a townhouse and the HOA pretty much took care of all the yard maintenance. Now, we have 2 acres and a bunch of landscaping that has been neglected for years. Since buying this place, I have become a member on this board, a tractor board, and a tree cutting board.

If things go well, in 5 to 10 years I will have a farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Something between 100 and 200 acres. Then, I can take my kids out to the country for the weekend like my parents did with us. I guess it is always good to have big plans. Having a farm has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. Spent a lot of weekends on my aunt & uncle's farm in PA that was about 120 acres. Those were some really good memories. Other than the burnt down house, which was the end of my aunt & uncle's owning the farm, I cannot say I have one bad memory from that farm.

Sorry about the ramblings. I get going and the fingers just keep on moving.

Woody Stover said:

I'd guess that to be a little over a half cord...

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If that does not stack out to about a cord, then I am calling it quits on cuttting wood and I am selling the big saw. As hard as my dad and I worked for 5 hours, if we only got a little over 1/2 cord, then it will take us close to 80 man hours to cut 4 cords. 20 man hours a cord just isn't worth it, and trust me, we were humping it while cutting, splitting, and loading that wood.

Does it take you guys about an entire day to cut, split, and stack a cord of wood by yourself? $200 a cord would seem pretty cheap then. I'll see how it works out for the year and then decide on this for next year.

firefighterjake said:

Guessing 2/3 to 3/4 of a cord . . . actually I'm changing my thought . . . close to a cord based on the fact that the load in the bed of the truck is neatly stacked and it almost looks like an 8-foot bed. Generally, my buddy and I have found that with loose rounds "tossed" in our 6 foot pick up beds it takes three loads to equal a cord . . . or just a dite over that amount.

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It is an 8' bed. I refused to buy a truck with a 6 3/4' bed because I wanted to be able to haul plywood and 8' drywall with the tailgate closed. I can stack the wood pretty good in the bed. I figure the better I stack it in there, the more I can haul versus just throwing it in the back of the bed and letting it lay however it falls. I pretty much put it together like a jigsaw puzzle. The last row is usually somewhat tough with the tailgate, so those pieces usually get laid in there sideways. I am going to have to stack this stuff up sometime soon to see what I actually have. If it doesn't come close to a cord, I am going to have to rethink this cutting firewood idea unless I have absolutely no legal/CPA work to do.

Jags said:

1/4 of a cord.

Oh - and I am looking for a lightly used 660. ;-P

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Thanks. That was good for a late night laugh before I get back to work.

I'll keep you in mind if I decide to get rid of the 660.