rarefish383

The picture of Breezy was next to one of the bird pics so I threw it in. I figured there would be a pet thread somewhere. My Dad was a very avid outdoors man. He could wet the area between his thumb and forefinger and make the squealing noise of a baby rabbit, it would call in fox and hawks. He could make make the noises of several baby birds, and get the parents to dive bomb us. But, I have never heard of the woodpecker ring. Although, it makes sense, they are very territorial. I was about to wander off on my Dads family, how he was raised, instead I'm going back to the welcome forum and I'll add it there. Including one of my ancestors that sat in the British House of commons between 1727 and 1741.

My dog really never growls, she sticks her nose through the gate and then falls to sleep. As her head starts to slide down, it pulls her lips up, showing her teeth. In this pic she is asleep!

Yeah, one of my mates down in Oz said he had kids to help with his wood stacking. When my son was still in grade school, my wife asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up? He said he didn't know what he wanted to do, but, he knew he didn't want to climb tree's or work for UPS, both the things that I did. I told him, if he didn't want to wind up digging ditches he better get smart. He took my advice. He got a BS in Physics and a Masters in Computer Science, and programs Missile Defense Systems. My daughter got smart to. She has a degree in Health Biology and a Masters in Occupational Therapy. So, now they say, "Dad, you sent us to school so we can BUY our firewood, not MAKE it ourselves!"

I had hundreds of pics since I put up the new feeders I got for Christmas, and I just went through and deleted most of them out. The blue ones are Eastern Bluebirds, in the Thrush family. They are native to the Eastern part of the US, and migratory. But, some lazy ones will become resident, and stay the winter. Before I put up my Bluebird boxes I did a search and it said when they become resident in very cold weather, they will squeeze 8-10 birds in the house to stay warm. In that pic, I was trying to see how many were going in the box. The 4 bright blue ones with the orange breast are males, the females are dingy, faded blue. I counted 5 males and 3 females going in and out of the box one day. For the past three years I've had a pair lay 3 clutches of eggs during the summer. The big Woodpecker is a Pileated Woodpecker, they are migratory also, and have a very distinctive call and flying pattern. When they start pecking my Oak trees they sound like a machine gun. Their primary diet is big black ants. So, they peck holes to make the trees bleed, and attract ants. The two little purple birds are Purple Finches, I think. The House finch has purple too, just not as much on the breast. The red and black one on my logging truck feeder is a Rose Breasted Grosbeak. I had two on that feeder a couple years ago, and they are the only two I have ever seen. The hawk in the tree watching my feeders is a Sharp Shinned Hawk. I built a big Squirrel Habit Trail that ran all over my back yard. The squirrels are so funny jumping from one feeder to the next, falling, then starting over. We pay a fortune to have our lawn treated for weeds, and most of the weeds come from bird seed that falls on the ground, so I'm not allowed to put feeders over the lawn anymore. All the action I'm getting now is actually in my Bernese Mountain Dog's kennel. She's mad because the birds won't let her in her box.

Do you guys have Vermeer and Rayco over there? We used Vermeer for the best part of 40 years. A friend has a big Rayco and that thing is a monster. To Bob, I'd follow the advice of these fellows, I don't know the equipment you have available. But if you do have Vermeer and Rayco, they are worth a look, Joe

Wow, we are about 3640 miles apart, and the advice here is almost word for word what I would give . I started working for my Dad on weekends at about 14, then full time during the summers when I was 16. By 18 I was driving the chipper trucks with tow behind chippers. Also started climbing at 18. Now I'm 65 and retired. But, if I have a side job to do, I have no trouble getting a climber. All the years starting as ground help, then working up to a rope man, then climbing, I know how to run ropes, and can watch the climber and know how he is going to rig things. I've gone full circle. My climbers say that it is a smooth day with me on the ropes. It's a good feeling when people trust you not to hurt them, and to know their trust is not misplaced. Good advice, Joe

Yep, it got new bearings and a new pair of shoes, Then I gave it to my brother in law.

Couple from my old feeder.

A few on the feeder out my desk window, Joe.

I sold my smaller dump trailer two weeks ago, so I'm back to using the feed table and throwing the splits in a small trailer or just stacking them behind me.

Every one does thing differently, my 72 year old cousin uses his splitter vertically, sitting on a block of wood. I use mine horizontal. I've had both knees replaced and can't squat, plus my back would kill me splitting vertical. He says he can out split me. But, he just throws his splits over his shoulder. I put mine in a trailer and stack it in a wood shed. I just bought a new wood hauler, so I had about 1 cord, 128cubic feet, on the new trailer. I lowered the tail gate, and placed two blocks of wood under the corners to make a work table. Put my splitter next to the work table, and backed my other trailer up close. I got my son to shoot a short video. If I'm not loading onto another trailer, I often use a motor cycle lift as a feed ramp. I can lower the lift to the ground and roll the logs on, then lift them to the height of the splitter. Here's how this old fat guy does it, Joe.

That was about 15 years ago. It's either a Sugar Maple or a Silver Maple, I forget, and I can't make out the leaves in the pic. We had a hurricane coming up the East Coast, it was hitting North Carolina hard. The home owners were old family friends and asked if I could get it down before the storm hit us, in Maryland . When I went to look at it, the lead I'm standing on was cracked, and just a gentle wind was opening the crack up a good 12". I was afraid to put my weight in the top to piece it out, with the house and power lines under me. I was lucky and got my crane guy out there. He charged me $814 for 4 hours. The operator had the whole tree on the ground, packed up, and gone in 4 hours. Then it took me two days cleaning it up. Oh, the storm turned and went off shore. The day I took it down was calm, no wind, and hot. It was the first day of the year it hit over 100 * F.

I was just passing through looking for some info. Then I found out a good friend is a member here too. So, I started posting, and you blokes have given me such a welcome, I think I might just stay and chat some. There may be a learning curve, I tend to have a strange accent. I'm getting a bit older and quit climbing about 4 years ago when I had both knees replaced. But I still collect chainsaws and axes, and like to ramble. Thanks for the welcome, Joe.

Hey guys, was just visiting a friend and saw this thread, we have one over her too. I collect saws, and my criteria is 70CC's or bigger and 28" bar and bigger. If I find something smaller that is special, I don't toss it. Like my ikle 08S my mate pulled out of a recycle bin. The one on the bench today is a McCulloch 7-10, it's 70CC's so it just made it. I got it for $20 US. It had good spark but no compression. I pulled the muffler to take a look at the piston and cylinder. The exhaust port was almost covered over with a big chunk of carbon. You could see where a chunk broke off and gouged the piston bad. The plan is tomorrow I'll get the case sealed up and the rest of the saw back together. The bench doesn't look like this now.

Thanks Neil, thought that was you. You know you are one up on me with those two Kent's? I don't like being one upped by a junior guy, Joe.

I told a good friend that lives in London I joined up here. Turns out he is a member also. He asked if I would give my perspective on Cat v Secondary stoves, from a State Side view. First my experience is a bit of Apples to Oranges. I come from a fourth generation Tree Removal Company. All of my wood was free from my Dad, or from farmer friends, that had dead standing Oak trees that needed removal to keep from taking out cattle fences when they fall. So I have no comparison of costs. Well, that's not exactly true. Our electric bill was 1/3 of my neighbors. But, I don't know how they managed their homes. When we built our house in 1987 the first thing I did was go look at stoves. First stove: our first stove was a Russo insert. It was a cat stove. It sat half in the chimney opening and half out on the hearth, with a decorative seal around the opening. It was a large stove, probably a very large stove buy your standards. I burn almost exclusively Oak, Cherry, Locust. The stove would take wood 22" long, but I split mine 18", to keep the window clean. I could pack the stove almost solid front to back. Side to side was harder, and as it burned, the pile would collapse against the door. With it packed tight I could get good 12 hour burns out of it. With the Cat engaged you could not see any flames, just a faint red glow. With roughly half of the stove sitting on the hearth, out in the room, there was a large piece of steel that got hot, and radiated heat. In our 1400SF house we had to keep the windows cracked in the living room and kitchen and the doors closed to the 3 bedrooms, down to freezing or a little lower. With the flat surface of the part of the stove that was in the room, if power went out we could cook on it just like a range. We had that stove just about 30 years, and I replaced the Cat twice, three Cats including the one in the new stove. Real bad winters I'd go through 5 cord of wood, mild winters 3-31/2. Second stove: A few years ago my wife decided she wanted a "Pretty Stove" that didn't take up space on the hearth. So we spent about $5000 on installing a Jotul insert. It is a "Pretty Stove". Here's where the apples to oranges come in. The Jotul's fire box sits entirely inside of the opening for the chimney, so there is no steel in the room to radiate heat. It has a very attractive surround that seals the opening. The firebox is also different. The old stove had about 14" on the hearth, and 12" inside, so it had a deep firebox. Since all of the Yotul is inside the chimney area, it is only about 13" deep. It is 25" wide. I still cut my wood at 18', because I have customers that take 18" wood, and I'm not cutting different lengths. So, the Yotul will not hold the volume of wood the Russo would. Since I have to stack it side to side, I can't pack it tight, or it will fall against the door as it burns down. I can only get a 3 1/2 to 5 hour burn, stacked as tight as I can get it. That's about what the sales man told me to expect. I have found that if I leave the blower on 24/7 it keeps the house comfortable. The 12 hour burn was the big issue when we first got the new stove. Now I'm retired, so filling it more often is not a big issue. So my perspective is more of doing the research of what you want, and matching it to your home, than if one is better than the other. I live about 30 miles from both Washington DC and Baltimore MD. I'm still in farming country. In the winter I smell smoke from most of my neighbors. In the spring, summer, and fall, I smell cow poop. We are still allowed to have out side brush and leaf fires, except a few months in the summer. I think if I could find a new Russo, that's the stove I'd like. It took a while, but my wife finally said it takes more work, in and out, and a bit less heat, from her new Pretty stove. The Jotul salesman was honest and told us we would not get the same performance, they were two totally different stoves, Joe.

I was just going to say the opposite, makes it hard to flush a stump. But, the grinders are sooo much nicer than the ones we had 30 years ago. We had a Vermeer model 15 that was 8 feet wide and would beat the death out of a 3/4 ton pickup. Like an F250. We pulled it with a 12' stake body 1 ton. Then we had a Vermeer 630A that I towed with a pick up, then moved around the job site with a John Deere 265. The tires would rotate in, so it could fit through a 36" gate, then rotate back out to grind. Anyway, in the States, the West Coast guys have to have a full wrap, as an East Coast, residential climber, I never used one, so I never missed one. I have full wraps on several of my 90-100CC saws, but they are just shelf queens in my collection. I made it 50 years of residential work with out one, and I made it to retirement in one piece, Joe.

Over on this side of the Pond, I still run through about 5 gallons of mix per month. I'm retired from a fourth generation tree removal company. I have about 70 saws, most over 70CC's, so just trying to keep them in tune I use a lot of fuel. I used to tell friends that might use a chainsaw 2-3 times a year to just buy a cheap Poulan Wild Thing for $99 and throw it away when it dies. Now, I recommend they buy a good electric. It is the way of the future. I guess you have the same problems with ethanol fuel that we do? If you let a saw sit all winter, chances are the carb will be gummed up from the ethanol evaporating, leaving the detergents that are in the gas to gum up the works. I have friends that no matter what I say, they use the cheapest oil mix they can find. They live the old saying, "save a penny, spend a pound". Their saws are always buggered up. I use Stihl Ultra Synthetic. I was in the middle of a logging job when Covid hit. The home owners cancelled the job. My Stihl 660 sat with a full tank of fuel till November, and it started and ran fine. I think the stabilizers in the Stihl Ultra do help. As for the battery saws, I've heard that the Stihl and DeWalt are both top shelf. I haven't used one yet. Too expensive. I use all of my extra money buying old saws, Joe.

Big bars for Homelites are hard to find over here too, and can get quite pricey, more so with condition. The 45" .063 bar I got when I converted one of my 1050's to 1/2" is an old Oregon bar, that I thought was made for a Homelite. I was looking at the numbers stamped in it, and it's stamped McCulloch and has a Mac part number. If you run across any old, big bars, don't pass them up till you check them out, they may swap. This is a Mac bar on the 1050.

Yes, you are good. It's a 383, 4 speed Convertible. I bought it from the original owner in 1999 and drove it for a few years, then took it apart to restore. Kids, house, work, got in the way. I just talked to the restoration shop that is going to do it, he's going to start on it in 4-5 weeks. Do a search for Bucky Hess, he's a Super Stock Hemi Cuda racer that restores Mopar race cars. This is the car when I got it. Looks like a little old lady's car, until you open the hood. Sorry wrong pic, not sure how to edit it out, here's the car too.

Oh, here's the old 1050.

Not trying to hijack your thread. Just dropped in for a visit from Frederick Maryland, USA. When I saw the old Homelite doing it's job I had to throw in my 2 cents. I started milling about 10 years ago, and I use a Homelite Super 1050, 100CC's, that my Dad bought brand new in 1973. It put in 20 years of commercial tree removal, then 20 years of me cutting firewood with it. Still runs like a top. A few years ago I bought a Stihl 660 to give the ole 1050 a break. I recently put a 45" bar on it. It runs 1/2 inch pitch chain. I had another Super 1050 with a 36" bar and 404 chain. I like the 404 better than 3/8's for milling. I have found that my 660 with 3/8's will wipe out every tooth on the chain if I hit a nail or piece of fence wire in a log. The 404 will just clip it off and maybe dull only one or two teeth on each side. I used to use a ladder system for a rail. Somewhere along the line I changed to a 2X8 or 2X10 framing board that is at least 18"s longer than the log. That way I have an "In feed" ramp to get started in the cut, and an "Out feed" ramp to end on. I had a pic of me milling with the Super 1050 but I must have lost it on photobucket. Here's a pic of a fold up table I made from a White Pine that went down in a storm on my property in the mountains of West Virginia. It folds up against the wall. My friend folds it up to put his cot under it, so the room doubles as a bunk room and dining room.

Mornin, Mates. I was searching for info on an old Elwell pole axe I found at auction, and stumbled on your site. I'm a fourth generation Arborist, retired. When I saw "Big CC chainsaws" , it struck a chord in my heart, so I had to look. I love big saws. I know you were talking about the extinction of big saws, but I collect the old ones. My biggest is my Dad's 180CC Disston DA211, twin cylinder. I have 100+ CC saws from Stihl, Homelite, McCulloch, Pioneer, David Bradley, and some small makers that used the Power Products engines. I'll see if i can post a couple pics. In the mean time, can anyone point me in the direction to find info on my Elwell pole axe? Thanks, Joe.