Today's Scrounge--post the free btu's

[CheapBassTurd]

I'm trying the split technique as soon as it gets light.
Can't stop bringing the fibrous treasure home so I better figure out a
faster way to break it up. Looks like he wasn't wasting energy in the swing either.
(He also looked like he bench presses Volkswagens. LOL)

Good time for a multi piece comparison of axe, splitting maul, and an X-27 at this angle.
Currently the maul is winning until I get my swing back. The maul can use gravity to gain head speed.

Sent from my Commodore 64 with dialup

 

[JSeery]

You stuffed that in that car? Very nice.

Yeah, it's surprising what you can get in a 4 door car once you decide you don't care what happens to the upholstery. I actually find myself more limited by the rear shocks than the actual space in the vehicle.

 

[excessads]

I actually find myself more limited by the rear shocks than the actual space in the vehicle.

Yeah, even though I did a little guesstimate of how much weight vs. what the Gross wt rating of the car plus the visual cue of tires not rubbing well, the struts look and bounce ok with no leaking but the alignment is messed up for sure, good thing I run out of space for stashing.



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[Hasufel]

Yeah, it's surprising what you can get in a 4 door car once you decide you don't care what happens to the upholstery. I actually find myself more limited by the rear shocks than the actual space in the vehicle.

I used to have a Plymouth hatchback and, once it was no longer my primary car, I hauled all sorts of stuff with it. It had only 2 doors (well, 3 if you count the hatch) and had a lot of cargo space with the back seat folded down. If I needed extra space I could remove the passenger seat pretty easily. You're right, though--weight is the real limiting factor.

 

[Hasufel]

In my case, scroungewagon was not deployed as the mini-score is about 50 ft across the street from my driveway. Neighbor's oak trees are getting pruned. I don't really have to split the 4" diameter logs as they would fit in my century insert, but.....they will season faster. Even with steel toe boots and wide stance, I m not taking any chances. I tried the youtube Russian method laying the log down and aim at the corner and let gravity take its course:

Boy, it works great! Green wood or not, all got splitted.....safely.

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I tried out the youtube method this morning and I agree, it works pretty well! I've been splitting some 12-inch white oak but it's really stringy and a bit knotty. The X27 wasn't doing much on the full rounds so I'd been using the Fiskars maul to halve or quarter them before switching to the X27. But with the new method, the X27 opens them right up. There was only one knotty round that needed two or three strikes to get started--all the others popped right open.

 

[Dobish]

so much restraint being had right now.....

 

[warno]

It won't be today's or even tomorrow's, but sometime soon I'm getting into this pile at the city dump.

 

[excessads]

It won't be today's or even tomorrow's, but sometime soon I'm getting into this pile at the city dump.

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Holy COW! that's a landfill load of wood! How many cords would you think you got there?

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[warno]

Well let's be clear, its not all mine. It's the open to city residents city dump. Lol

I have no idea. The pile is, I'm just guessing, at least 100 feet square. And it consists of many small piles from dump trucks and semi dump trailers, And many many huge chucks that are at least 4 feet across. It's simply a dumb amount of wood.

Our town, and surrounding area is highly infested with EAB so the city has commissioned cutting down what seems like every other tree in town. It's sad to see such mature trees go but it's become a liability issue keeping them standing dead.

 

[Dobish]

we have a log and limb drop off this weekend.... last time they had one, i got a few pretty good scores... Not sure if I will have time to head up there and scrounge, but I can probably convince the wife that I need to take a load of brush

 

[Smock2015]

Where about is it in Illinois

 

[JabaduGarfunkle]

Picked up a nice load today from the tree removal place. You can see mostly spruce on top but thats because I wanted to make sure I could fit all the ash first and topped off with spruce after. Thanks for another half cord!

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Good hit, Jabadu ! Was that snow in the background?

Whoops. The first one is frankentractor V.
Found two full ash, bucked at a beautiful 20" or so in the pic, and it's on the verge of punkosity.
Roadside, up here in woodstove country lie these babies mere yards from the stop sign and they are decomposing????
Are me n' Tim the only scroungers in a forested area? Sheesh. (Ran into a fellow scrounger named Tim. We're both
far enough ahead that we share information. lol) This isn't even my personal permissioned stash. I prefer bringing home
small loads that I can offload and split right away. Usually it comes home and is in the stacks before I go in the house.
U can see that "cedar row" is now getting stuffed with rounds and the next 4X8 pallet is out n' leveled for stock. The stack
now surpasses 100ft by 6-8 ft high. Cedar row is 210 ft. (full acre) Plenty of room for more.....

 

[JabaduGarfunkle]

Good hit, Jabadu ! Was that snow in the background?

Ya,. A storm last week dumped over a foot on us and we have had more snow and rain since. Ah well... They don't call us the great white north for nothing

 

[Destructor]

The local cemeteries have been providing me with wood for the past two years. I enjoy walking through the old graveyards nearby. Last year I stumbled upon dumped cherry mostly cut to length in the maintenance area. I made several trips with my Grand Marquis to get all the stuff that was still good. It split well and dried out quickly. Another cemetery provided me with the cut up pieces of a blown down pine 12” dia. pieces. It took the limb of a maple with it. All of it fit in my trunk, three loads. Last spring I got 5 trunk loads of tulip and locust. A few weeks ago I went back to the cemetery that provided me with the cherry and scored some dead cedar. I’ll be going back for more. The cedar I don’t have to worry about rotting. The big rounds are a beautiful deep red inside. I got some white oak just up the street on the curb and I get all my fathers uglies that he can’t split down further, mostly oak and cherry. Over two cords by the trunk load. My grand Marquis has a surprisingly big trunk. I don’t have a stove yet but I use my masonry fireplace often, the masons who built it in ‘54 did a very nice job.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Up here in the hilly sliver of Indiana this is what people miss.
Looks like ordinary topography from the vantage point of the stop sign.
This 2 ash turned out to be 4 and is the "just laying there" rounds mentioned in post #40.
Now I just look for the power lines that crisscross the forested areas and the roads and just start looking.
Scrounging rules! Bring home, split, dry, burn.

Grabbed and palletized 18 knot-free 10" to 22" barrels, and there's a full load of pretties still there! (5 mini loads for me.)

Mama was pretty cool about it after I got most of the mess/ piled rounds under control on the pallet and
stuffing them in cedar row. It only gets better after the greenery dies off. Found quite a bit this last spring
after the meltoff.

 

[Hasufel]

I tried out the youtube method this morning and I agree, it works pretty well! I've been splitting some 12-inch white oak but it's really stringy and a bit knotty. The X27 wasn't doing much on the full rounds so I'd been using the Fiskars maul to halve or quarter them before switching to the X27. But with the new method, the X27 opens them right up. There was only one knotty round that needed two or three strikes to get started--all the others popped right open.

I was out splitting red oak this morning and found one important limitation to the youtube technique--it doesn't work so well if the rounds are getting soft around the edges. The soft stuff was cushioning the blow like a shock absorber. I had to switch back to the old method so that the ax was hitting the solid core. I guess I waited a bit too long, but I don't like splitting when it's warm and buggy outside.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Grabbed my standard 12pk of barrels and stripped the bark. This batch is in the background
12ft below the road and about 4-5 ft above the swamp water level further back.
This group isn't going to stay intact long. Had the punky slime under the stripped off bark, which
peeled off in large pieces. The gooey layer was very thin and the wood is solid right under the bark n' slime layer.
Seen it before but not to this extent. Some ends mushrooming, moldy white spots also. Scraped off the slime
with my pocket knife and the wood goes hard right under it. I think I got the stuff in time......

You guys on the other hand are seeing old news. Keep 'em coming, gang. I'm backing off a bit
unless there's a major score to post. There's no reason for me to dominate this thread.

PS, the slime was ALL ash, as is 80% of the local scrounge.

 

[Tom123]

Asplundh is still cutting in the neighborhood. I got this load of white oak on my way home from church today.

 

[spawner]

Parents had a 3' thick sugar maple taken down today. Filled my truck as I cut/split it. trunk is 3'x25', and there are several large branches. this will keep me busy for a while.

 

[spawner]

Black birch and red oak, from a local farmers road. Load#3, from couple days ago... Just figured out how to post pictures

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Change in plans and the scrounge is now gold. (whether I want it that way or not)

A gifted red oak (and 1/2 of the wood wall in cedar row) just plain isn't ready. It was a standing dying but
way wet inside during processing. The scrounge split/stacked from April-Aug is burning great luckily. Won't
be getting to the August section till shoulder so it still has time to dehydrate in that dry winter wind. The red still
has moisture in the weight, sound, and putting it near my face. This was without opening one up! The surface
from the July splits are radiating water vapor still. No way this stuff is going into the pig yet.

We're real darned lucky I started and didn't stop hoarding. This last spring I kept grabbing all I could as if it
were still January and now it's paying us back. That Red is gonna make next season sweet. Looks like ash
scrounge this year as 80% of the usable fuel on site. Some dry, the rest drying wonderfully.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

Looking for a possible ID on this stuff.

Went to visit with my dear mommy today and my hometown dump has 4 loads of the same size.
The stuff is hard and smells like red oak. Dry as dust and VERY heavy. The quality and age make this my best
score yet.
Then the plot takes a twist. Gassin' up (@ $1.88 w/ preferred member card) with my kid in the avatar, and a random dude walks up
saying "You want more of that?" We all know the answer to that. I'm thinking "Gee, we have 5 years now promised scrounge rights
plus what's on site totalled up but I have pallets and a forest so go for it Mark". "I'm in this sling with a busted chainsaw and anything you have
bucked would be a huge blessing, and I'll toss you some cash too." He said he is an ex stover and just got tired of the rituals at his age and just
pays the gas bill now. Took my head off when he said "just get it off my property and there's 30-50 truckloads about the same size as
what you have there." WHAT???? Did I hear you right? Holy crap! Went from 2 years ahead to 4 years ahead with scrounge rights, found
6 more piles in the dying foliage for another year, and he offers up his whole back yard other than some to be left for bonfire cookout parties.
His wife VERY gladly scribbles their name, number, addy, and hands it over. Pics to follow indeed. Then, there's still Asplundh coming to
drop 7 ash on my land a leafless tree I can't ID but looks like maple with the horizontal fat curved limbs of large and low diameter. The bark edges
say maple too.
Without going all religious on this thread, for those who live Biblically, Christians/Jews know the area where God allows us to test Him is with
our finances and the 10% minimum tithe. Mama always gives up 50-75 bucks every week no matter how broke we are and literally every time
the money comes back even bigger and in different ways. Bought a ladies stuff in the checkout line cuz she was short and she told her kid they
had to put his cereal and other oddities back so they could afford basics and we told her to keep everything on the counter and we'll cover the
shortage, and go get a few things you passed over already. Cost us 42 bucks. Get home to a check in the mailbox for a hundred bux from
a church friend who wanted to bless us! This happens all the time reinforcing my faith and trust that God is real and loves us all.

What I am doing is offering as much wood as one can carry if you really need a boost and aren't just being lazy or seeking handouts.
Bring a truck with a trailer and I'll give you a year's supply of firewood. The price? You have to stay for dinner and tolerate my family.
Anyone living within an hours drive, or peeps retired/ disabled with spare time that can drive further and hold down the couch overnite is cool too.
I can't keep all this free crap and not bless someone in need. Plus, we can create the illusion that we have friends. LOLOLOL
It will be pretty cool to meet a regular or two from the site, dear brothers of the flame. We're an hour east of Chicago.

NotAlwaysCheap

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Unbelievable score and way to go helping those in need out. It's oak, can't tell red or white. Awesome, a man will reap what he sows.

 

[Dobish]

That's a great score, and a great opportunity to do well by others. Good work.