Getting our winter firewood

[StarCruiser]

The enclosure is a newspaper lock up which I have modified and added the extension to housing controls and exhaust in as sound reducing was as I can. The whole case comes off for servicing etc. The engine churns out around 14hp IIRC and it uses all that. Both the splitter and the power pack are on wheels. The splitter can be towed but this has only happened once. [emoji20]

 

[BobMurphy]

Maybe I'm odd, but I find grass cutting therapeutic too, sort out most of my problems walking behind the rota-mower for 4 hours in the summer. Like the idea of the mini-on-a-stick, I've seen them and always wondered if they're effective. Good for pruning the uppers on the fruit trees.

I'm with you on the grass cutting - though if I let it get too long it can take me 12 hours with a 53cm Honda Rotary! Sometimes I have to use the Stihl strimmer on the lawns and let it dry before mowing - it can be wet here in Scotland .

The 'Pole Saw' is a Ryobi strimmer with changeable ends. I bought four extension shafts which means it can reach nearly 20ft - but its a bit wavy and needs a firm hand . Its difficult to apply pressure to the bar so it needs to be sharp.

Its very handy - but invariably too short for the bits you really want to cut!

Bob.

 

[froggy Steve]

Get yourself an Iseki SXG 323...cut wet grass upto 18" high, and collect it too

 

[clivehorridge]

Thanks for that Bob, might have a look for something like, it mostly Stihl stuff here though.

Get yourself an Iseki SXG 323...cut wet grass upto 18" high, and collect it too
View attachment 23590

Sadly, too many trees and bushes to make one of them worthwhile for me. See here.

Sorry for the thread-jack

 

[Pat]

The workmanship of yourself and a lot of other members including Ben is excellent.I do a job but it is rough compared to
you chaps.

 

[BobMurphy]

I do a job but it is rough compared to you chaps.

Its all in the 'finishing off' . . .

My cut trees .

Just need to pick up all the dead ivy and dig the stumps out .

Its dark and a bit dreich here, wish I had Pat's weather .

Bob.

 

[Pat]

Bob,I was looking back over your photos of

tree felling and the neat finish which I admire.We have got most of our winter firewood in now and our son and his lovely English wife were on the job as well.Before she went back to the home country,she became vey good at reversing the log splitter and Gator.I'll try to upload some photos of our foresters.

Also there is a photo of our zero turn mower.It is Ferris made by Briggs& Stratton with a 21 hp Kawasaki and 48 inch cut.Its a beauty and got it off a mate who bought it real cheap at auction.I love auctions.
The big tree is a silver dollar gum which were very popular 40-50 years ago.No one knew how big the damn things grow to,again it was a mates son in law who came up and felled it from the top down.They wouldn't take any pay for the job so we had just had 11 lambs killed and dressed.You wouldn't believe it offered him one and him and wife smiled and said thanks but no,we are vegetarians.​

 

[clivehorridge]

Nice equipment there Pat. I like the zero turn mower. I'm contemplating a ride on, although with only 2,000 m2 it hardly seems worth it.

 

[Pat]

The mower had only done about 50 hours when we got it and it didn't take long too learn how to operate it safely.It is very good when the ground is firm but in winter very dangerous on slopes.we used to use it all over our .10 acres cutting thistles etc but don't now and if we get longer grass ,we bring it under control with the rotary slasher..My son was telling me that on his section
in Nuneaton he hardly ever mows the grass outside .of Spring and Summer.There are a terrific lot of interesting topics at the club right now.
Chas has slowed up on the jokes lately.cheers Clive.

 

[froggy Steve]

I also have a John deere 1445 4x4 with diff lock out front mower ...its Fin awsome! However, when at rather jaunty angles in very wet conditions, it does have a tendency to slide down the hill towards the lake.....I end up sliding deck up, along the bank ........all good fun, but the 'lake' is a soak away reed bed full of slime and frogs........at the John Deere farming equipment site in a nearby Town! Pic shows recent cut at PSG foot ball stadium.....

 

[Brian S]

Bob, I use an electric splitter, one of these

http://www.forest-master.com/duocut-fm10-electric-log-splitter.php

Not done too much with it yet, (probably 2 cube) but what I have done, I'm well impressed with it

 

[Pat]

I also have a John deere 1445 4x4 with diff lock out front mower ...its Fin awsome! However, when at rather jaunty angles in very wet conditions, it does have a tendency to slide down the hill towards the lake.....I end up sliding deck up, along the bank ........all good fun, but the 'lake' is a soak away reed bed full of slime and frogs........at the John Deere farming equipment site in a nearby Town! Pic shows recent cut at PSG foot ball stadium.....View attachment 45984

Steve,Your mower has a big advantage with the deck being out front,whereas with mine to sharpen the blades I have to unbolt the deck and drive off it.Takes about 15 minutes to take off and the same to replace,but with the 21hp she rips through the job. I slipped sideways down a slope one day,got my wife to tow me with a quad we had then,got that stuck too and my wife left me to it.Finally got out using the loader on the DB about 6 ft at a time and all covered in mud.What sort of motor has your John Deere got?By the way
the stadium seems to have the wrong sort of goalposts.Very hard to kick a conversion with those.

 

[Pat]

The mower had only done about 50 hours when we got it and it didn't take long too learn how to operate it safely.It is very good when the ground is firm but in winter very dangerous on slopes.we used to use it all over our .10 acres cutting thistles etc but don't now and if we get longer grass ,we bring it under control with the rotary slasher..My son was telling me that on his section
in Nuneaton he hardly ever mows the grass outside .of Spring and Summer.There are a terrific lot of interesting topics at the club right now.
Chas has slowed up on the jokes lately.cheers Clive.

Hello Clive,we probably don't have much more lawn than you but our mower gets the job done pretty fast.It does not catch the grass just has a side chute
and that suits us and we don't let the grass get too high.Cheers Pat

 

[Pat]

Thanks for that Bob, might have a look for something like, it mostly Stihl stuff here though.





Sadly, too many trees and bushes to make one of them worthwhile for me. See here.

Sorry for the thread-jack

Just had a look at your garden Clive,it'good and that is the first time I've seen
the house from that angle.It looks very impressive.

 

[froggy Steve]

I think its a Yanmar 3cyl, 1400 cc diesel with 30HP - best thing it has a 60l fuel tank! Blade changing/sharpening is easy (when the muppets dont tighten things with a 6ft bar when it had a service last time!) I leave it on the trailer, drop the prop, pull a couple of pins and its at 90 degrees, ready for a spanner and a block of wood it will cut 5.5 acres of wet longish grass on very bumpy ground in about 3 hrs, a good earner!

 

[chapel gate]

Some nice set ups. I really should be getting on the firewood case, just struggling for time at the mo..

 

[froggy Steve]

back to fire wood - I wish I had one of these recently - cleared 43 Poplar trees from a customers garden, his garage and barn are overflowing with wood now! He is giving it away after paying my guys to fell, chop and split!

 

[Chas]

Chas has slowed up on the jokes lately.cheers Clive.

Just for you Pat.
"It's just too hot to wear clothes today," Jack says as he stepped out of
the shower, "honey, what do you think the neighbours would think if I mowed
the lawn like this?" "Probably that I married you for your money," she
replied.

 

[StarCruiser]

back to fire wood - I wish I had one of these recently - cleared 43 Poplar trees from a customers garden, his garage and barn are overflowing with wood now! He is giving it away after paying my guys to fell, chop and split!

Hmm now that would be useful. However as much of the logs that come to me are in odd shapes, large trunk sizes (up to 800mm or so across) and are often bent, I would not have much use for it. I did quite a bit of youtoob watching on log splitters before I built mine and decided that many of the processors were great as long as you fed them straight logs. I'll post up some pics and vids when I next use mine.

 

[chapel gate]

Your not far off the mark there sc, they will cut odd shaped timber as long as the bend, twist etc is within the max cutting diameter of the machine.