Archive through December 18, 2010

[kmcconaughey]

May as well start off the new page with a fresh load of firewood. A week late due to the snow storm, but no problem, none of this will get burned until at least 2012. I took a few photos of the full load, then switched over and took video of most of the unloading then switched back and took a few action photos. Nice 10 cord load of 8' logs. Now the work begins, well, maybe come April.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Nice truck too!

 

[dfrisk]

KRAIG - I'd almost say there was some NAVISTAR DNA in that Western Star. The slope & shape of the hood, shape of the cab sides around the doors. But since Western Star was bought up by Freightliner/Daimler-Chrysler years ago I doubt they play well with Navistar.

I do like the painting of the tree on the hood.

 

[aschumacher]

Oh I see snow, for a moment I thought this might be a rerun of "Swamp Loggers"

 

[fcurrier]

Kraig: (drool)
That's a beautiful load! What's it made up of? Nice size to block and split without needing a vertical splitter! Does his hood decoration make you want your bonsai trees to look like that?

UNDER EDIT: Oh, P.S. etc. What's a load like that cost? I've seen 8 cord loads (weight scale) that same butt size but treelength sell for $1000, here. Mostly made up of maple, beech and yellow birch. And . . . weight scale is roughly 2 1/2 tons per cord.
You're too fast -- I was editing!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank, yes nice size pieces, should be easy to cut and split. It appears to be mostly White Oak and Red Oak with the majority of it being White Oak. A very nice load.

Once I start cutting it I'll get a closer look and be able to tell if there's any other stuff in it. No birch in this load, at least that I can see.

 

[digger]

Frank,
Up my way, oak is $70.00 a cord delivered and stacked.
It's not worth my time to go cut it for that price!
10 cord here,

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank, this load was $90/cord delivered. It makes a bigger pile than nine 100 dollar bills does, that's for sure. When I first started buying the semi loads back in the early 1990's it was under $60/cord delivered. This load came from well over an hour away from my place.

 

[rwilke]

Kraig,
Thanks for sharing the link that provided different tree BTU values. Very interesting!

RWilke

 

[digger]

I'm liking this half warm weather!
I filled the stove up yesterday morning and went out to check it and the sucker is still full!
And I haven't started using this years wood yet.
At this rate, I won't have to buy wood next year.

 

[aaytay]

Does anybody here have experience burning the wood of an "Olive" tree? There doesn't seem to be much info on the web about the BTU-value of the wood, but I have access to 4 trees, and the owner is willing to mulch up the branches herself if I drop the trees and get rid of them.

Here's a few pics....

I'm all up for free-firewood, but I thought I would ask if anyone here has burned this stuff before. I learned after cutting down three LARGE ELM trees a couple years back that it almost wasn't worth my time because of the (lack of heat) that wood put out once it was in the fireplace.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[digger]

Art,
All Kidding aside, you would be better off taking the logs and having them cut up and dried, Wood workers love that stuff.
It's a super wood for bowls and vases and pen blanks.
It's a super hard wood and actually burns about as hot as hickory or hedge.
Cured about 3 years and it will over heat most fireplaces and small wood stoves to the point of warping.

I had a neighbor just last winter loaded his wood stove up with nothing but olive and he had to open the door and drag about half of it out to keep from boiling the stove over. LOL

 

[aaytay]

Charlie-
Thanks for the tips.

I guess I'll jump on it then. Maybe I should just get a fire going, then add one stick to each firebox of Oak. Kind of like adding Nitrious to a drag-car.

Well, either that or I could just burn one good load of it at the end of each fire-season to blast out the chimney dust.

LOL!

 

[aschumacher]

Art, here is reference to Olive wood http://www.oldtownenursery.com/firewood-that-burns
Also note that a number of sites say that all fire wood has the same BTU...pound for pound. Which I guess means if its heavy there is a lot of BTU(oak), if its light lower BTU(pine).
Ooops, looks like I'm a little late, still good reading at the site.

 

[aaytay]

Allen-
Thanks for that article. I like this statement from it....

"So, for some perspective, Pine has 17 BTUs, Walnut has 23, Our local, native Oaks have 28, Almond has 32 BTUs and Olive has 37!"

 

[jbaker]

heres my haul from the last two mornings.
the farmer across the road cleared a tree line it is cherry and hackberry

 

[kpeaney]

Jeff, looks like you will be occupied for a while.
KennyP

 

[fcurrier]

FWIW: The company Jeanne works for "gives" her about 5 cords of firewood a year. We pay for the trucking and she "gives" it to me to do the block-split-pile dance. I've had all kinds of "fun" playing with this load. Had to move it from the end of the driveway to where you see it with Lucy. Then had to have a load of pea-stone hauled in so I wouldn't have to work in the mud. Raking it out with a 149 - blew a hydraulic hose. Fortunately had a spare on a parts 149. Done for today - going to a Landowners' Appreciation Supper put on by the local ATV Club because we let them use our property as part of the ATV Trail System. Life is good.

P.S. I got poetic while doing this:
I like my tools, I keep them clean
I paint them yellow, never, ever, green.

 

[jharvey]

Shure hope Lucy isn't that red thing!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank, I'll second what Jerry asked. Nice pile of wood. Nice poem too.