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| Wood Stove | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 14 2010, 11:59 PM (1,111 Views) | |
| Mommacat | May 5 2012, 03:23 AM Post #61 |
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Just out of curiosity, I looked at chainsaw chaps to see how much the cost has gone up. I was kind of surprised, they have't really gone up all that significantly in the past 10 years or so - not like some things where the price has gone up double from then. I saw they have a good selection of safety wear and I didn't really spend much time looking at the equipment, but seems like they have just about everything a person would need to be a serious logger! Thanks, Grizzly! |
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| Grizzly | May 5 2012, 08:43 AM Post #62 |
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I finally dug my chaps out and started wearing them. I've been bringing in fire wood every chance I get and have worked my way a lot deeper into the woods and hills. As I was stumbling through the brush and hill side I figured this type of terrain is where accidents happen. When I opened the chap package I was a bit irritated with the big label saying "made in china". I tried checking out the safety specs but had no luck and have not found any real safety specs on any other brands so far and are all about the same price range. They are fairly comfortable to wear so that's a good reason to keep using them. |
| Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns | |
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| HandFarming | May 5 2012, 12:03 PM Post #63 |
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Thanks for the link and have bookmarked it. Chaps are on my list but we have wood to pick up from a few years ago and yet to burn so no rush to cut trees this year. It still needs to be hauled in, split and stacked though. And then the rewarding part-next winters' warm heat. I can't believe how people are so dependent on natural gas and propane. I think we bought $65 for cooking with last year and most people spend that or more in a month on just heat. Seems lazy to me. |
| You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think. | |
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| Mommacat | May 5 2012, 09:16 PM Post #64 |
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Our national dependance on oil and natural gas is kind of a plot against ordinary people - in most cases people don't have a choice. For example, if you're going to heat or cook with wood, you have to get your insurance company's "approval" and, very often, pay a substantially higher premium. Some lenders won't lend money to buy a wood heated home, either. Another thing is that more and more people don't live in single family homes - no apartment complex I've ever seen allows tenants to heat with wood. And, if every home was heated with wood, we wouldn't have a tree left standing anywhere on the planet by now. Its a rock and a hard place situation. I use electricity, but that wasn't even a choice - its what the place came with -had it been gas or fuel oil, I would still be living here. I think that anyone that can make the choice is luckier than they realize; most people don't have that luxury. Back to the chaps -no surprise that most chainsaw cuts are to the legs - however, not when actually felling a tree - they are more often gotten when de-limbing. Its an awkward postion to begin with and hard to predict if and in which direction a limb may snap back. I understand that deadfall and standing dead trees have less tension in the branches, but its still wise to be cautious. And wear those chaps and carry that whistle!! |
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| Grizzly | May 5 2012, 09:19 PM Post #65 |
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Fire wood gathering is not as easy and fun as many think it is. I've seen many wood burners and cutting equipment for sale and barely used. The most excuse I've heard is "it's too messy" which translated means "it's too hard". I'm sure I have more than one winters worth gathered so far but been getting rained out lately so now it's time to start splitting. I'm always looking for easier ways so now I'm building a splitter that runs on a skid loader. I've heard this is the best solution yet for faster and less handling of large pieces. You still have to split into smaller pieces for indoor type wood burners but your not killing yourself trying to handle the huge ones. Once you quarter a large one you could even split by hand fairly easily. Even considering adding a hoist under my wood trailers for unloading cause for some odd reason I'm not getting any younger. Also looking for a log roller, cant hook, or peavey. Seen them many times and never gave them a second look so that's on my list for flea markets. Today we are going to a primitive farm estate auction. Those are my favorite kind, tons of rusty crap to dig through, not to be mistaken with china crap. I'll let everyone know if we find anything really cool, or just brag about it. OOPPS, Already forgot about the whistle. Oh well, the dog will be the only one to hear it and he's usually busy looking for dead deer bones. We can almost assemble a deer with everything he's brought back. Edited by Grizzly, May 5 2012, 09:25 PM.
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| Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns | |
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| Mommacat | May 6 2012, 12:17 AM Post #66 |
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Funny on the reassembled deer carcass! Maybe you'll find some of your old-fashioned logging gear at your auction today. I've seen restaurants with old logging stuff hanging on the walls as decorations - weird! But, the old-time lumberjack theme seems to real popular up here...if the SHTF, might run into the local coffee spot and grab some "equipment" off the wall!! LOL As for the whistle, I always think that if a person doesn't show up when they're supposed to, its getting dark and hard to find things in the woods, that would be the best time for it to be handy...just a thought.... a dog might not want to leave your side and so wouldn't be much good for much besides company...well, unless you happen to own Lassie, in which case you could just have her run out to the nearest road, flag down a passing car, and write a note in the dirt with her paw!! LOL |
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| Grizzly | May 6 2012, 08:58 AM Post #67 |
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Pretty sure my dog hasn't learned to write in the dirt or anywhere else but I'll keep trying to teach him. As for today's auction, It was a good time. Hardly any people and most things were very cheap, under $10. I got another blacksmith post drill $3.00, a very nice hand crank bench grinder with original paint and label $5.00, misc. tools for $1.00-$2.00. Raven pick up some things, a crock, a very old egg basket (I've never seen one like it) a crappy old seat off a horse buggy ( you'll have to ask her why?). They did have and old log cant hook with a bad handle, kind of ruff, but an antique dealer went after it so I didn't bother. It's always more fun when there's no crowd and one can afford to get a few things. |
| Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns | |
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| Mommacat | May 6 2012, 11:55 AM Post #68 |
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It's good that you found some stuff - some of the best stuff I have I've gotten at garage sales and you just never know what you'll find. I don't like garage sales that have a lot of clothes, so I don't usually stop at those, I am usually more interested in old-time kitchen and household stuff. But, that's getting harder to find, too. A friend recently gave me a little parlor stove with a "cooktop" - meaning its flat and you could set a pot on top - its pretty ornate everywhere else. Its quite small, but in a SHTF situ, I was thinking I could probably punch a hole in the livingroom wall to put in some stovepipe. I think stovepipe is pretty cheap, so I am going to look into getting some, just to have on hand and also the collars for it. Not that I'd really want to stay here, but I might have to for a while, so being prepared would be good. As I think I mentioned, my heat, and everything else, is electric. I am really looking forward to the swap meet next weekend. I am not looking for anything in particular, but maybe will find something. I would be very happy if I could find a washtub - a metal one. But, we shall see.... |
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| HandFarming | May 7 2012, 11:10 AM Post #69 |
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Ha! I think you mean-wood gathering is not as easy as it used to be. Sounds like old age creeping up. Know the feeling well. We bought this farm 5 yrs ago and as soon as the kid moved out-we quit heating the whole house and just keep one room toasty. Sure cut down on the wood cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking. We are even thinking about getting a full log burner with a hoist to load it once every few days. The benefit is less time spent cutting and splitting and hauling/stacking and less wood bugs all over the house. Though I love to sit next to the warm fires on cold days...nothing like it. Well, guess after getting the gardens in on the few dry days we have coming up, it will be back to cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking next years piles. I had an aunt who heated that way on her own till she was 78 so I best buck up and get at it. |
| You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think. | |
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