We've been cutting and burning, burning and cutting... as much as our bodies, equipment, and weather has been allowing.
I had to go buy yet another $10 fuel tank vent for the Husqvarna... the one I replaced before fell out again. This time, I drilled a hole in the damn thing and wired it to the fuel line, so if it does fall out again, it won't go far. I also decided my sprocket was worn enough to start worrying me, and replaced that. And... when my oiler quit working it must have taken the temper out of my bar, because that wore out badly and I had to switch to a spare... fortunately, I found a good deal on a couple more high-quality ones on ebay.
Yep, heating with wood is economical, but definitely not "free."
I've been very disappointed with my files, too. Over the course of 5 years, I've gotten quite good at honing my chains... but the files just wear out so quick, and with all the debris I run into in the logs and occasional smacking into things regardless of how careful I am, it all adds up to a lot of hand filing. I've started swapping out chains now to prevent downtime, and I just bought an electric sharpener last night, so hopefully filing won't continue to be such a pain...
I even seriously contemplated buying a big Husky 460 last night... but I waffled on it... can't decide if I want to stick with the chains/bar size I have, or go to a new one and invest in all that. And the 460 is a hell of a lot of weight to be slinging around. Part of me thinks I should just keep one saw running mint, since I'm not cutting for a living. Worse case, if I blow it up, I can always run into town and plunk down the big bucks on a new rig. It'll cost me a day, but maybe better than having a new one sitting around depreciating and deteriorating... I haven't decided.
Even so, with all of the problems and the black hole of money-sucking that chainsaws can become... there isn't anything sweeter than a razor-sharp chain zinging through an oak log, resting on another one at a convenient height.
So, the piles grow and mess diminishes, bit by bit.
Today, a farmer friend came out to check out my wood. Apparently, he has a big wood boiler. At first, I thought he was interested in my split stuff, and I told him that I had so much effort invested in that stupid wood, what with my small-scale operations, that I didn't want to sell it. However, he was actually interested in some of the bigger rounds, laying on the ground for two or three years, and some fresh-cut. I had heard that some people burn green wood in their boilers, but I didn't believe it until now... seems pretty crazy to me... definitely won't get as many BTUs that way... but to each his own.
Anyway, he offered me $100 for this pile
and the rounds in the foreground here.
Good deal for me, good deal for him. He's going to haul it, and now I don't have to worry about splitting all that before it turns into compost. I'd guess there were about 3 cords there... split seasoned wood gets around $100/cord this time of year, delivered. Considering the labor involved in splitting, I'm quite happy to sell the rounds, laying on the ground, picked-up, for that price. He's happy because most wood sellers around here want to process the wood and sell at a premium, plus I live nearby so hauling is minimal. And we barter other things.
If this evening is still, I'll be doing some more serious burning. We got some rain overnight, so conditions are good, if it isn't too breezy.
I've decided this is the best way to deal with tree tops, in our situation. Mulching the branches involves a whole lot of effort and fuel - more than it is worth... I can grow mulch or suck it up with the lawn mower every fall. Farther out from the home site, I'd just build big brush piles for wildlife and let the piles compost over the years... but I don't really want any more fox, wood rat, or copperhead snake habitat than I already have close to home.
Ron
Ron
Good lord. Split seasoned hardwood is north of $300 a cord here; softwood is at least $125 a cord - delivered and dumped. This kind of stuff really interests me and I think you might like it too: The softwood, usually pine but sometimes juniper, comes from BLM lands - anybody can get a permit for a nominal fee and go fell trees on their plot. The nearest forests are only about 20 miles from me - we are in the desert, but very close to the wooded Sierras. The tree cutter guys chop it into rounds, then usually sell it to the firewood dealers. They split it and season it, then sell it to the consumers (via word of mouth or Craigslist). Hardwood is often almond or walnut, trees that aren't producing anymore in the orchards of central California. I think the orchard guys take out the trees, then the wood dealers go pick it up, cut, split, and store it, and eventually sell it. It's an awful lot of labor for not much profit, so I don't begrudge the prices as long as I get full cords in consistent lengths.
ReplyDeleteSome of my neighbors burn green wood like stupid rednecks, but miraculously nobody's chimney has caught on fire yet.
That is interesting, thanks. I think it is the same around here... there are several million acres of Mark Twain National Forest, and I'm pretty sure you can get a permit to cut. After all, better to have people harvest it selectively and have small controlled burns than a total wildfire.
DeleteI think the rationale for burning the green wood in the boilers is that they are outdoors and don't have a chimney to speak of, so creosote isn't a big concern. I'm guessing they are burning green to compensate for bad firebox designs... if too much air is allowed, then dry wood won't last long at all.
We get seasoned hardwood about $125 to $150 a cord up here split and delivered. I think you got a pretty good deal for the wood you sold.
ReplyDeleteIf it were me, I would keep selling wood until I had sold enough to pay for a new chainsaw. Then I can rationalize that it didn't cost me an extra dime if I overlook the current chainsaw upkeep and the cost of my labor.
I've seriously thought about buying a heftier trailer, delivering wood with it to justify. I may do that yet. We'll see. I still need to refine my technique if I'm going to be serious about selling it.
DeleteEven though I may have left the impression that I think two chainsaws are better than one, I don't really think a spare chainsaw is really needed (I only carry one these days).
ReplyDeleteKeeping the chains sharp and replacing them often along with replacing the bars once in a while would be the best strategy. Things like using chains until they are completely worn out before replacing them (which I always used to do) always leads to worn sprockets, worn bars, or much more expensive parts.
Besides, the older you get the more downtime you need and the more downtime you take the older you will be able to get. So, if the chainsaw breaks down and needs to be worked on, it's doing you a favor by making you slow down so you can reach the grumpy old codger stage of your life.
Or, the secret to long life and better living through pain-in-the-ass always breakin' down chainsaws (just keep an eye on your blood pressure when you want to throw the saw as far as you can when it refuses to cooperate and actually start).
That's good advice. I've found that the time it takes to hone (or swap) my chain is well worth it. And I'm paying a lot more attention to whether my chain is getting adequate oil nowadays, taking the time to blow everything out real good when I'm maintaining it. It makes a big difference.
DeleteMel would argue that I've been in the grumpy old codger stage for a while now. :)
One hundred per cord is cheap. If you invested in a tank to St. Louis, you'd get twice that I bet for seasoned word. Nonetheless, better to pocket the C-note and avoid the hassle.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
Yeah, I've ridden in firewood-logged parts of the NF, and it's not bad at all, not like stereotypical logging. The FS marks off certain trees you're not allowed to cut, and most people don't cut everything possible anyway, so it's a pretty natural-looking result. Better than an overcrowded forest that's just going to burn sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteYep, I've come to realize that over time here, too. Way back when, on our property, 50 years or so ago, they logged it all off. Then they let it all grow back, and the result is way too crowded. Almost every cut I make, I see borer damage. Better to thin and select than to wait for nature to torch it.
DeleteEventually, I'll be thinning out the trees farther out, when I get the closer in projects wrapped up.
Hassle avoidance was a major factor. The wood he wanted was the worst wood I've got, amazingly. I was only too happy to oblige with a good price on less-than-perfect wood.
ReplyDeleteThen he looked at my mountain of really nice fresh wood and said "we might be able to do some trading... I burn a lot of wood... I've got a dozer and track loader... I could clear that spot by the barn and widen your driveway, if you wanted..."
I think I have mentioned before that my brother works for the forest service and does a lot of tree marking. I've toured several of his districts where thinned mature trees have been allowed to grow and thrive and I must say, it is quite impressive. It certainly changed my political views of forest service land. I used to believe that it shouldn't be touched at any price and that nature should always take its course but now I think that selective logging is very beneficial and should be encouraged.
ReplyDeleteI used to wonder why we didn't just let nature take its course, too. Then, came to realize that humans have interfered for a long, long time. As soon as we built permanent homes and set out to control wildfire, we interfered. Our harvesting practices interfered. The way and scale that we grow food does. And so on.
ReplyDeleteSo... I've come to see forest management as interfering to compensate for all the other interference. :)
A healthy forest is amazingly productive, in all sorts of ways. I can't wait to thin out some of the trees and give the understory better conditions. Deer and turkey will abound, among other things.
Something I never realized is that we humans chopped down all the trees for hundreds of miles around Reno, to build mining stuff for Comstock. So what's here is monocultures planted by us a hundred years ago. Now there's some beetle epidemic in the pines, and I keep thinking "well duh, it's ALL PINES now, it's perfect for a beetle eating pine."
ReplyDeleteSo, yeah, they're stunningly beautiful places, and they're home to lots of wildlife, but they're not really natural forests. We might as well do our best to manage them.
This whole topic is incredibly interesting to me, too.
ReplyDeleteI used to actually think that corn fields were nice and natural-looking. But there isn't much of anything natural about a corn field. At some point, I realized that I was surrounded by pesticides and herbicides, mixed in with heavily sprayed hog manure, and even frogs were scarce amidst the greenery.
It took me a long time to see the woods that way though. Beyond the absolute minimum we had to clear for the home site and a garden, I had very mixed feelings about cutting down live trees. Over time, though, I've learned that the species composition and the quality are very important, and the only way to get to a healthy balance is to do a lot of cutting.
Back in the day, when the fires were allowed to burn, the pine seeds would sprout and the oaks and hickories would only have gotten established where conditions were very favorable. As I understand it, the pine seeds are triggered by fire, because they have evolved to take advantage of fire, since they can then benefit from a more open canopy that will allow them to grow. Nowadays, though, we prevent most of the fires... so the oaks and hickories grow instead. That's ok, where there is adequate water and they are spaced far enough apart. But on dry ridges, like where our home site is, there should be a lot more short-leaf pine, and more white oak vs. red oaks. Both of the former are far more drought-tolerant... so they will get stressed less, leading to less insect damage and wildfire potential. Also, by reducing competition, they will grow at a much faster rate than they do now, and make better-quality lumber someday.
Come April, I'll make my first tiny contribution towards diversity, planting out 25 short-leaf pine on the ridge by our house (along with the other 150 native forage trees where I'm clearing). Long-term, I want to do much more.
In my mind, I picture Abby's kids (?), someday, enjoying a majestic forest, with critters abounding and healthy trees. I imagine them being able to use the lumber or to sell it, as the time comes. Hopefully, continuing to manage the woods and keep it healthy. In a sense, it will be their inheritance, if all goes well.
I lean more towards managing native grasslands with controlled burns (if I could I would like to burn our pastures once in a while to control the cedars), but I've read some wildlife management articles about using controlled burns to thin out the understory, and using a fast or slow fire (into the wind or with the wind) to achieve different management goals.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that you might be able to have small controlled burns if you had a few helpers, alot of tools, and did simple things like raking leaves to create firebreaks and cutting small trees down before the fire. Or, start out with small 1000 sq.ft. strips over a long period of time around the management perimeter, then have a "let her rip" burn in the center part.
I wonder how long the seeds lay dormant for pines? And, if you burnt a small area, would they be likely to grow without planting seedlings?
A couple of interesting links on the topic:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.watersheds.org/farm/update2.htm
http://oaksavannas.org/fire-fuel.html
When I've been burning, I let the fire consume a big area of debris, maybe 20-30' in diameter. What I find is that, absent any significant wind, the oak leaf debris burns very slowly and very low. The fire just gnaws it's way through. So, I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of using fire for controlled burns. When I've cleared everything out, I'll wait for the right conditions and go ahead and burn off all the debris, then remove rocks to the point where I can mow as needed while my trees get established.
I still have a lot to learn in that regard, but I've observed forestry management examples at some MDC sites. When you've seen healthy forest, with well-spaced maturing trees, and a healthy understory, it makes a person realize how over-crowded most of the woods around here are. It's one thing to read about it, another to see examples of forest after burns.
I'm not sure about pine seed viability, but I think it is in excess of 40 years. Maybe more. I'd like to get to the point where I can do controlled burns of areas... but we'll see... the public, of course, thinks fire is always bad, and I'm not sure I could recruit enough helpers to do it safely. We'll see. When I get beyond the clearing where we live, I may contact some forestry people about it.
My brother burns thousands of acres of forest service land every year down in Alabama where he is now and also in NW Arkansas where he was for a time. A properly controlled fire is HUGELY effective in controlling the understory and burning up downed fuel. The big problems are that so many people want that house in the woods and they struggle to get the proper humidity, temperature and wind conditions that will properly clean up the woods and yet not burn houses built in the woods with no fire prevention gaps around them. Then on top of that, no matter how much they tell the nearby people that burning the forest is healthy for it and will prevent unintended forest fires, they always complain bitterly about the smoke for that couple hours on that one day once every so many years.
ReplyDeleteI've burnt a lot of CRP ground in my day with grasses but never a forest. I'm always worried about not understanding the conditions well enough that I get a crowning fire or an uncontrollable fire. My brother and his crew make it look easy but they also use helicopters with a flaming pellet machine gun and other gadgets to start and control the fire that I don't have access too.
Yeah, I think the hardest part about burning is convincing the neighbors that it is a good idea. Fortunately, I don't have many neighbors, and the ones I do have are pretty reasonable. Or seem to be. I'd probably call them in advance, to explain what I was doing.
ReplyDeleteWhen the time comes, I'll contact someone from the MDC to get more info and possibly some help with it.
As long as I'm procrastinating on more body-building/destroying labor... this is a link to the Missouri state law on open burning:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sos.mo.gov/adrules/csr/current/10csr/10c10-6a.pdf (page 45)
Our land is zoned agricultural, but even without that designation, burning for the purpose of removing vegetative matter or yard waste is permitted, where we are located. The county could have more stringent rules, but ours doesn't. Of course, a person has an obligation to be careful and not damage anyone else's property or cause a public nuisance.
Ok... time to get out there and get something done. It's a beautiful day today.