Suburban firewood processing, and why to be careful with yard trees

[DiscoInferno]

Spent the weekend getting started on my recent haul, a 32"-base red maple from a front yard a few blocks away. Used the saw to deal with the large and not-so-straight-grained pieces, hence the pile of wood shavings in the foreground. So I had the largest (and thus lowest) round up on edge, and was slicing it in half, when the chain goes completely dull. I didn't see any sparks, but there was some dirt coming out with the shavings, so I assumed I hit some sandy stuff. Swap chains, cut in a different area, then eventually I split the chunks. There was a narrow fissure going up through the middle with dirt and small roots in it, and I split that chunk along it. Out falls a handful of white landscape rock! See the photos of the rock and what it did to the chain. You never know what you'll find in a yard tree, although it seems like a forest tree could find some rocks also...

Since I'm doing all this in my (short) driveway and it was decent weather, all my neighbors seemed like they walked by at some point to tell me that it seemed like a lot of work. I just tell them about my $50/month winter gas bill. I'm like the local mountain man or something. :lol:

 

[EatenByLimestone]

When the cost of gas and oil goes up next winter you will be toasty warm.

Matt

 

[keyman512us]

Disco:

I didn’t see any sparks, but there was some dirt coming out with the shavings, so I assumed I hit some sandy stuff. Swap chains, cut in a different area, then eventually I split the chunks. There was a narrow fissure going up through the middle with dirt and small roots in it, and I split that chunk along it. Out falls a handful of white landscape rock! See the photos of the rock and what it did to the chain. You never know what you’ll find in a yard tree, although it seems like a forest tree could find some rocks also…

Disco...You came across a "patch job tree". It's a little know thing that "old timers" used to "repair" a damaged tree. The old way of thinking...and it did work for the most part. If a tree had "cavities" or "soft spots" old timers would scrape/clean out the "hole" fill it with whatever they had (usually concrete) and over time the cambia layer would "envelope" around the patch instead of rolling around it. There is a tree in my neighborhood that a friend of mine (also another 'tree man') told me has BAGS worth of cement in it! We joke that if anyone goes to cut it down...we're going to break out the lawnchairs and a six-pack...and watch the comedy show!...lol Sucks you lost a chain or two...but now you know why tree guys/sawyers are leery about urban/"door yard" trees...they can "Be a treasure chest"...

 

[begreen]

If it was only a handful of rock, the stones might have been left by crows or ravens. We see all sorts of caches in the crotches of trees here, especially in the big maples. Sometimes there will be small bones, clam or crabshells in there too.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Talking to a sawmiller in Maine last week who once sawed a log that contained a shotgun that somebody had leaned up against a sapling and forgotten, many years ago.

 

[Todd]

Nice score! Your neighbors will be jealous come next winter when your toasty and their freezing.

Whatch out! I found a nail in a suburban white oak last year with my chainsaw. The chain looked similar to yours.

 

[Metal]

"Your neighbors will be jealous come next winter when your toasty and their freezing."

I assume his neighbors have gas or electric heat so they will probably survive. Their wallets might be thinner though.

 

[DiscoInferno]

The neighbors will still be warm, but I'm hearing about gas bills in the $300-400/month range. Mine were sometimes around $250 several years ago before I started burning wood, and gas has gone up a lot (and then come down some) since then. I'm still a long ways from paying off the stove and install, but there's more satisfaction this way.

I expect I can save the chain on my cheapo HF grinder, it looked like that once before from sand. I'll run out of tooth pretty soon though. I've got a couple of dedicated "rock chains".

That rock didn't look like concrete, but like the standard white landscaping rock they sell in bags at Home Despot. People sometimes put that around trees like mulch, so I assumed somehow it got sucked up into the tree. The cavity would only have been maybe a foot off ground level.

 

[Gooserider]

As a FWIW dept item, I've been really impressed by the cheap chains that I got at Home Despot, seems to hold up much better than the more expensive Oregon chain! I've been through about 3 tanks of gas on the current chain and it just isn't getting dull - It still cuts like mad and throws a good chip, arguably better than my Oregon chains did when new.

Supposedly this chain is "low kickback", however I've noticed it looks a lot more like the older style chain than my Oregon chain did - most noticeably the Oregon chain had these little depth limiters in between the cutter links, and the Home Depot chain doesn't. I have noticed it does sometimes "jump" a little more than the other chain but not enough that I have any trouble controlling it.

Given the lower cost, I'd highly reccomend these chains - can't recall the name and the saw is out in the garage, but it seemed to be a Home Depot house brand, and the cost of 2 chains and a bar was less than what two chains alone from Oregon would have cost.

(This is on a Poulan Woodsman saw)

Gooserider

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I wonder if they are treated like the newer handsaws are. I can sharpen my old Disston handsaws all day long if I wanted, the new handsaws are hardened to a point where it's nearly impossible to sharpen them. Let us know if you have problems sharpening them in the future.

Matt

 

[DiscoInferno]

I did look at some chain in walmart the other day, but it was .050 guage and I need .058.

The only difference I noticed between my Oregon safety chain (73something) and my Oregon death chain (73somethingelse) is that the safety chain has big rounded rakers. They seem to cut the same, Oregon claims the saftey chain cuts better. (But then why do they still sell the other one?)

 

[elkimmeg]

Looking at your chain. You might be able to correct it with a machine sharpening, to be used as a backup .
All depends on how much has to be removed to sharpen it and how much is left.. I do like the shihl chains they cost a bit more but seem to last longer
and cut better

 

[DiscoInferno]

I've repaired that chain once before from similar damage, using a grinder, and I'll try it again. (I'm not very nice to chains.) Does anyone know how small it's OK to grind the teeth before it's time to toss it? Is the issue just the structural integrity of the tooth itself, or does the distance to the raker become too large? This chain, and another one I've reclaimed with the grinder, are sometimes a little jerky. I was wondering if that was due to the increased raker distance, or just some unevenness in the left/right tooth length (need to get some calipers) or something like that.

 

[Gooserider]

I'm not an expert, but I think you can basically sharpen it till there's no more tooth, or close to it. However you also need to file the rakers to the appropriate depth below the tooth, otherwise they keep the teeth from digging in... There is a guage you can get that drops over the tooth to protect it from the file and control how deep the rakers are, comes in various thicknesses, check the chain specs for which one you need.

Gooserider

 

[Eric Johnson]

Goose is right about filing them until there ain't nothing left to file--if you're filing them correctly.

As a matter of fact, in theory the chain should get sharper as it gets smaller.

There used to be a style of chain called "chipper" which had a rounded edge, as opposed to the more popular "chisel" and "semi-chisel" chains you usually find today. One thing the old chipper chain had going for it was that it stayed sharp a lot longer. A curved cutting "point" can take a lot more abuse than a sharp one, if you can picture what I'm trying to describe. Chipper chain wouldn't cut as fast as chisel chain, but it was actually better for typical firewood cutters, since they tend to get the chain into more dirt and obstacles than pros. Chipper chain is also less prone to kickback.

 

[WarmGuy]

Looks like nice wood.

Do you split your wood while it's sitting on top of that round that the maul is leaning against? If I were doing it, I'd want it a bit lower. That is, use a chopping block that is only half as high, or lower. You might be losing some power by having the wood so high.

 

[jpl1nh]

Yeah...that's a sweet pile of wood. Were any of those neighbors kind of pudgy? May be a bit of work but I thinks its actually fun, and it sure is good for you and your wallet!

 

[DiscoInferno]

Looks like nice wood.

Do you split your wood while it's sitting on top of that round that the maul is leaning against? If I were doing it, I'd want it a bit lower. That is, use a chopping block that is only half as high, or lower. You might be losing some power by having the wood so high.

I have a hickory stump that's lower, maybe 6-8" high, as my regular splitting block. You're right that that big round is too high, especially given my lack of height, although I was using it that day just because it was there.