Work Done 2024

[NickW]

Honey locust is split and stacked. It's a little over 1/2 cord. Hopefully ready in 2 years. The ash and mulberry is unloaded and ready for processing. Seems like it's ready to burn now, so in 2 years it'll be dreamy.

I haven't processed much the last couple of years so I'm a little behind on the stacks, and my body is protesting being abused this way...

 

[Dieselhead]

Honey locust is split and stacked. It's a little over 1/2 cord. Hopefully ready in 2 years. The ash and mulberry is unloaded and ready for processing. Seems like it's ready to burn now, so in 2 years it'll be dreamy.

I haven't processed much the last couple of years so I'm a little behind on the stacks, and my body is protesting being abused this way...
View attachment 331388View attachment 331389

If you start to feel pain take a break! Back injuries are absolutely no fun and take months to heal. I had that fun to deal with this past winter.

 

[Stelcom66]

Honey locust in the trailer, ash & mulberry in the truck - from the tree service pasture 30 minutes south of me. The 2 big rounds in the back of the trailer probably should have stayed there. I had to roll them over and tip them in with everything my legs could give...
View attachment 331348

Looks like 2 people would have a heck of a time with those! Between the trailer and trucks, looks you got a great load.

Picked up another load of maple and mulberry last night. Probably still another two trailer loads to get yet!
View attachment 331360

Wow, what is the length of that trailer? !

 

[Jonathco]

Wow, what is the length of that trailer? !

It's an 18 foot trailer. I am planning to go get the final two loads this weekend, hopefully!

 

[clancey]

The problem with back injuries is you think that you are young again and can do the weight and at a certain age--you should not even try or think about lifting up too much weight. Once your back goes out your in for a whole load of "other problems"---believe me I know for I did not take my own advice and have multitude of problems now at age 80...So use good judgement and do not "overestimate" your self. Pictures look good everyone and you all try to be careful...Honey locust looks great--good for you....Try to be good everyone and safe...old clancey

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

This is geared towards weightlifters but is a good article for those who are active in general. I work in orthopedics and by far and away I try to avoid telling people to "be careful" and encourage people to stay active and even pursue some form of strength training in order to stay healthy.

Fear, Catastrophizing, and Training

Introduction Regular followers are likely familiar with our interest in a "biopsychosocial" approach to both training and injury, particularly the

www.barbellmedicine.com

 

[clancey]

Weight training is great but trying to put a negative on a common sense warning about being smart as we get older on what we can do and what we should not do I believe is a good road to travel on. When you are getting up there in age one needs to be more proactive then being accused of fear mongering and yes I read the article and of course we all know we need to keep Our bodies in good shape with proper exercise but there will come a day when our bodies through normal process changes and can no longer do the daily work of lifting too heavy of a object because they will be affected for the rest of their hopefully long lives. Getting hurt takes a long time to get well and one is totally out of commission for the normal chores of the household. Do not "overestimate" yourself if you are coming to a charming age because you have lifted heavy objects all your life. and worked all your life. If I just went through a patch of ice and I had a oldster walking behind me of course I am going to say---be real careful here...My late husband was a weight trainer and at prime he was 6 foot four and weighed near the 200"s as well as a gym trainer as well as a masseur so I say again just be careful as you reach a older age for it will affect you for the rest of your lives---stay safe and use good judgement and Oh how I wish that I took my own advice. (Broken shoulder, three broken vertebrae, a broken fore arm in two places and muscles that just do not get nerve innervation anymore because of the breaks---be careful and stay safe my dear friends and use better judgement than I have used over the years. Thanks for the article Wisco but just use "common sense" and do not think at 70 you can lift what you did all your life and that's why I am going to check into that conveyor belt rolling platform to make it easier for me to move 50 pound bags of seed.. Thanks..clancey

 

[all night moe]

conveyor belt rolling platform

There is no belt. These are tracks, commonly 18'' in width, with various lengths. They do link up together to get longer runs. 10' may be the most common length. The top surface has many wheels for that "conveyor" affect. They are a bit heavy individually, by themselves.

 

[Stelcom66]

It's an 18 foot trailer. I am planning to go get the final two loads this weekend, hopefully!

Huge! That's 10 feet longer than the bed of my truck.

 

[clancey]

anm. Thanks for telling me that for I am going to look up all this type of equipment on the net..Its was the great idea that you had to lessen the load on a members back...---and me too...Thanks so much...clancey

 

[all night moe]

I pulled over 1 and dropped a second dead black ash trees today. The pull over was the bigger of the 2 with a slight back lean towards the house and a harder side lean, towards the garage. With the pull rope, I used 5:1 block and tackle on a distant anchor. Also used felling wedges since I was working solo. Once I got into the back cut, I started with the line pull. Cut a bit more while minding my hinge wood, and more pull with the tackle. At this point pulling the rope was getting difficult to gain ground. Tree was still leaning back. Inserted wedges to hold and lift. Some more pulling and wedge pounding continued. My wedges were a bit to long. 2 bottomed out in the cut. I broke those trying to drive them deeper.

Long story shorter, the homeowner gave me a hand a couple times on the block and tackle. More wedge driving and tickling the cut with the saw. Few more whacks on the one wedge and cracking was the report. Bit more pull, more wedge driving with good effects. A final pull put that ash right where I wanted it. 2nd ash was a free drop with no fight.

Originally, when I sold the job, I mentioned going home with a pickup load of dry limb wood. The HO was quick at piling up limb wood by his deck. I went home empty and never pushed for the wood. He burns for heat and I could see he wanted it. All good though. I offered monies off the bill for helping on pulling the 1st tree over. He refused while paying me more than I asked for. Everybody won.

 

[Woody Stover]

Some of those rounds are so big I might not even be able to move them at all. The 2 big ones in the trailer are 25"x41" & 27"x29" and so heavy I could barely stand them up to roll.

Lately I've been using a peavey to move the big 'uns.

 

[ctreitzell]

I jus caught up with the thread

all this talk about health!

In my last post in this thread I talked about wearing high compression tights...well in June 2024 I had the surgery I was waiting for to correct my circulation issue which had me wearing the tights...so, I haven't had to wear tights!
I still have them and will wear them on long car/ plane journeys etc

Also, last year, when I was doing that cherry picker work, I contracted some form of vertigo which gave me a motion sickness sensation- I felt like I was always moving. That was after 6 out of 7 days in a row/ 4 hrs a day in the cherry picker demoing my barn ruin roof. Well, that motion sickness took nearly 6 months to finally stop being a problem! I couldn't do much, for fear I might fall or if there was something more severe wrong with me. I had vestibular physical therapy, saw an Otolaryngologist (ear Dr), made various life changes. After a long air flight, that problem went away!

Then I came back to France and had that vascular surgery and was laid up for two months! It has been all I can do try to keep up with the plant control here. It is still perennial spring and even now as it is getting colder, the grass is still getting higher every day!

I've started working on the wood burner- replacing the baffle...I'm getting there on that. I've mainly been doing audio work for a documentary...I'm still a long way from finishing that...and now burning season looms

 

[ctreitzell]

Really, all I have done wood wise this year is dismantle a pile of fencing that was in front of my wood pile

 

[ctreitzell]

I also started working on the big oak that fell on my property last feb...still a long way to go...I don't have a bigger bar...I did have toad hop out while breaking off a big chunk...made me think twice on subsequent cuts!

the toad jumped out about where the maul handle is when I was breaking that piece off!

 

[Pinesmoke]

With the weather turning cooler it won't be long before I can start tearing a pile up in front of the house. I had to flush cut some stumps to open a buggy trail into that area.

There was a 16" pine snapped in a wind storm last winter, about 15' off the ground. The top was in the way and just too ready to burn.

2 loads and probably 2 more for the trunk.

Now I can get into the woods in front and just need to wait for yellow jackets finish dieing so I can start pulling the mess apart.

@thewoodlands I have trail envy man.

 

[thewoodlands]

With the weather turning cooler it won't be long before I can start tearing a pile up in front of the house. I had to flush cut some stumps to open a buggy trail into that area.
View attachment 331590
There was a 16" pine snapped in a wind storm last winter, about 15' off the ground. The top was in the way and just too ready to burn.
View attachment 331591
2 loads and probably 2 more for the trunk.

Now I can get into the woods in front and just need to wait for yellow jackets finish dieing so I can start pulling the mess apart.

@thewoodlands I have trail envy man.

It's always nice when you open up or make a new trail, nice job.

 

[Stelcom66]

@thewoodlands I have trail envy man.

I can only dream about having property like yours! That is a cool vehicle for navigating/hauling in the woods. What is it?

 

[Pinesmoke]

I can only dream about having property like yours! That is a cool vehicle for navigating/hauling in the woods. What is it?

It's a Massimo 500cc. They sell at Lowe's and tractor supply. I got a screaming deal this spring from a 85yo farmer. Locks into serious 4wd and will pull most of what I chain to it lol.

 

[Stelcom66]

Nice! Sounds like it's well suited for the jobs.

 

[Kamiobi]

We got our first snow last night. It's almost a month earlier than a typical year.

We started using the wood stove in the evenings in the middle of October, and on cloudy days, we will have a fire in the morning. Last season, we barely had enough firewood to make it to the end of April, so I decided to try to get some more in the woodshed. One tree had been standing dead for at least six or seven years. I figured the upper branches and the top half of the trunk would be dry enough to burn late in the season. The problem was it was a very risky cut; as you can see in the photo, the trunk was split, so I wasn’t sure how rotten it was inside. My first plan was to drop a nearby birch tree onto it, knock the dead stuff off the top, and hopefully knock it entirely over.

But wouldn’t you know it? The one time I wanted to drop a tree onto another, I missed it! It fell a few feet to the side and didn’t even knock off one branch. I was pretty nervous when making the cuts, but nothing fell on my head, and the trunk didn’t split. The moisture content of most of the wood is 15 to 17%, but the lower part of the trunk is between 20 and 24%.

It took two trips to get everything home, and I ended up with half a cord.

 

[Pinesmoke]

Got the trunk dropped bucked and out this morning. Another load and a half.

Here's a pic of the sister tree of the one I just took out.

Ended with a nice pile of stuff ready to split and burn. The bottom 2 rounds were the only wood that felt other than dry.

This is the pile that gets cleaned up soon. I think I'm gonna pick up a chipper for all the brush I have. Since there is a permit only burn here through winter it seems like the way to go. Plus I can chip where the brush is at instead of having to move the brush to a fire.

 

[Stelcom66]

We got our first snow last night. It's almost a month earlier than a typical year.....

You've got snow already and here in New England we've had 2 days with the highest November temperatures ever recorded, above 80º !
I would prefer cooler weather at this point. That felled tree looks nice and seasoned, although the lower part may still need to dry out more. A half a cord that's spilt is a decent load to bring home.

 

[all night moe]

Today I brought home 4 silver maple logs. About 12'' dia and9-10' long. Bucked them up as I pulled them out of the pickup bed.
Swung the old Fiskaris splitting axe on some of the rounds that were left over from splitter fest.
Next, I'll be making an interior storm for the bathroom window. From 1x2'' wood framing and wrapped with ultra clear 4mil plastic on both sides. Some weather stripping around the sides will help those ole drafty windows. Pop em in for fall and pull them in the spring.

 

[Stelcom66]

I also started working on the big oak that fell on my property last feb...still a long way to go...I don't have a bigger bar...I did have toad hop out while breaking off a big chunk...made me think twice on subsequent cuts!....

Some really nice scenes there, and I'm not just talking about the wood!