Weekend project

DeerMeadowFarm · May 05, 2015, 10:58:21 AM

My "road" to my back field has been getting a little tight when I go down it with the hay wagon. I had wanted to keep some trees for a boundary/buffer but since I bought the woodlot behind it I decided to clear it back to the wall. I started with this:

Cut two tankfuls worth of trees with 346XP and ended up with this:

Used the grapple forks to move the brush up here to burn:

Processed the trunks with my buzz saw. I almost got a full row! That row is 12' long and almost 4':

All except for a few birch the missus confiscated to use in the fireplace for decoration in the summer:

DeerMeadowFarm · May 06, 2015, 02:07:51 PM

Boring story I guess? :(

Raider Bill · May 06, 2015, 02:28:40 PM

smiley_dozy_bored :D

How does that saw work? Did you make it? Does the table move?

I bet someones going to say something about no guards ;D

DeerMeadowFarm · May 06, 2015, 02:29:50 PM

Saw works awesome. My FIL put it together for me. The table does move.

Raider Bill · May 06, 2015, 02:38:01 PM

Being a city boy and all I first thought you either drove or lowered the logs into it.

are you burning the brush in that stove?

Mooseherder · May 06, 2015, 02:56:05 PM

How come your FIL doesn't like you? :D

Rick Alger · May 06, 2015, 03:55:25 PM

A couple generations ago there were a lot of those rigs in use, mostly driven by a belt connected to a pulley on the side of a tractor. That was when you'd split your wood out of four-foot bolts and then saw it to length on the table.

DeerMeadowFarm · May 06, 2015, 04:20:42 PM

Quote from: Raider Bill on May 06, 2015, 02:38:01 PM
are you burning the brush in that stove?

Yup. It's an old oil tank on wheels. I tow it to my brush piles and feed it throughout the day. Doesn't get me in trouble if I'm burning when it isn't "open burning season", I can light it on Saturday morning, fill it, do some work elsewhere, fill it, do some more work elsewhere, etc. I don't have to stand there and tend it. The last thing I do before coming in for the night is to fill it and the next morning it's ready to be loaded up again. I've had it hold coals all week before to the point where I could just throw brush in again and it'd light itself. One of the best ideas I've gotten from this forum!

hedgerow · May 06, 2015, 05:07:44 PM

I cut a lot of hedge and pretty much anything 12 inch's and under in dia gets run threw the buzz saw the one I currently use I build from scratch has a roller table 36 inch blade and a 13 HP honda engine. It is mounted on the trailer with the wood splitter. I need to get set up so I can post pictures. Over the years I have owned a lot of different buzz saws from ones running off flat belts to ones that were PTO driven to a gear box and then v belts. The current one is the best being self contain. Yes they can pose danger but a chain saw can too. With the right blade that will cut a lot of wood with very little maintenance.

r.man · May 06, 2015, 09:04:28 PM

I was not bored at all, I like the life on the farm stories and I enjoyed seeing the pictures. I have been a bit busy since the snow and mud so I haven't gotten a chance to do much at my own place. I will have to settle for living vicariously through you. When I saw the burner I thought it was Shinwhatshisnames post and had to go back and check.

thecfarm · May 06, 2015, 09:11:08 PM

I feed my OWB just about the same thing to heat my hot water in the summer. ;) I cleaned all my stone walls along the field. I mow around them now with a mower to keep the bushes out.
What's the plan for the stumps? I have cleared off about 2 acres that have been grown up for 40 years. Looks real good now. The grass will come back in a few years too.

samandothers · May 06, 2015, 09:19:44 PM

I was looking at the small trunks hanging off the side of the grapple wondering.... could I lower that slow enough onto the saw to saw some off from the grapple

. I am lazy and that would probably be too dangerous, but it was a thought! :

DeerMeadowFarm · May 07, 2015, 09:15:09 AM

I yanked a bunch of the stumps out using the stone bucket on my tractor. Most birch have some pretty shallow roots. The larger ones I'm going to have to dig around a bit before they'll come free. :(