The Official Work Pictures Thread

[Nutball]

If I had an affordable source of Ethanol only, I might try running a saw on it for a while. The chemicals they have in gasoline can expand and degrade some rubber or plastic materials, and it can leave behind gel after evaporating. Ethanol (alcohol) as far as I know is much less harmful to rubber and plastic, and evaporates without leaving behind any residue other than the water it absorbed. I think the water is the main concern with ethanol.

 

[stig]

Just get yourself some alkylate.

 

[Nutball]

I would, but it is super expensive, at least in the USA

 

[Tree09]

Charge more. Fuel in a saw is miniscule compared to the job.

 

[stig]

It is pricey here as well.
$12/gallon.

I spend about 5 grand on it yearly.
But that is a drop in the ocean, compared to other expenses.

It keeps our saws in great shape and our lungs, too.

Magnus ( Who seems to be missing?) can tell you the difference between saws run on that and regular gas as longevity goes.
He runs a saw shop.

 

[lxskllr]

$12/G? That's pretty good, and I might consider it at that price. I'm at $5-$6/G with corn free gas and oil. Cheapest premix I've seen in $13.50/110oz(TruFuel 40:1) at the Amish hardware store.

 

[Burnham]

Alkylate here costs around $25 usd a gallon.

 

[stig]

Gotta say, my price is from buying large amounts of it.
Makes it cheaper.
We go through close to 2000 liters a year and buy it in drums.

Buy it by the gallon, whole 'nother story.
At least around here it is.

any work we do for the State Forests, we have to run it, that is part of it, too.

But I do like it.

I used to have a case of cronic broncitis for 20 years or more.
Lost that when we switched to Alkylate, which is why I think the fumes are better for you than the regular gas ones.

 

[Nutball]

~$30gal Stihl Motomix is the only alkylate I know of around here. I have seen an Aspen ad on another forum, but it seems like they are looking for USA dealers rather than regular customers. Personally, one barrel would last me 5 years, maybe 1-2 barrels per year for the company I work for.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I get all the pretty ones
Family of mice kept ducking in and out of the rotten base

 

[lxskllr]

Straight drop? How'd it look inside? The white pines I've been dealing with seem to consistently rot from the outside in. The outside will be ugly and sketchy as hell, but once you get inside all the trash, the wood is surprisingly good.

 

[stikine]

I get all the pretty ones
Family of mice kept ducking in and out of the rotten base

Punky old SOB

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I put a 3:1 rig in line, 2 redirects (so I could pull from the driveway far away) and pulled 3X with the one ton on 650' of rope. I fully expected the tree to break either just above DBH or at the root crown. She held with some cracking of protest further up. Face cut the paper and back cut. Pulled into the lay. Found about 12" of core left.

 

[cory]

Nice!

What kinda oak (?) is your double pulley strapped to?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

A young valley oak.

 

[gf beranek]

Nice job, Stephen!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Thanks Ger!

 

[Burnham]

Well done, Stephen.

I hate cutting a felling face into a tree that far gone. My SOP was to bore a few vertically oriented cuts into the area I planned for my hingewood, to test for the degree of rot. Then plan accordingly.

Once upon a time, the second bore I placed in an ugly hazard tree caused total failure at the point of bore. That's a good indicator that the tree is well and truly rotten to hell .

No body nor no things got damaged, owing only to my complete luck, that day.

 

[Jomo]

Pull rope looked mighty low to me yu lazy bum!

All's well that ends well I guess.

Just razzin yu Stephen.

Jomo

 

[ruel]

I never think to pull with a porty, looks way Kinder to the rope. Gonna have to get a pulling porty for black Friday!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Truth be told B, made me nervous as all get out. I almost bored it. But I was afraid I might finish a crack or trip what little would be holding it up. Three test pulls with the truck before I cut made me feel a little better. I had her tied up at 80 feet. plenty of leverage. Kept a little tension on it so it would go sideways or into the lay should it fail. Just not over back wards to the pump house. Rob on radio keeping tension with the one ton. Soon as I saw that back cut open up, I was out of there, clear and then had him pull. Figured I had crippled it enough to get going forward. All kids of goofy lean and weight. No tellin. Tree was about 46 DBH. Best part of 100' still standing. 12" of wood aint much holding all that up.

 

[stig]

I never think to pull with a porty, looks way Kinder to the rope. Gonna have to get a pulling porty for black Friday!

All we ever do, because our pulling lines are Dyneema.
Can't put a knot in those.

For the 22 ton rope, I had a mega porty made.

O.C.G.D. Thread, part two

Naval Jelly is rust remover, gelled phosphoric acid... wouldn't be well suited for protecting battery terminals, I think.

masterblasterhome.com

 

[ruel]

Double braid dyneema or 12 strand? Nice light weight for tons of strength.

If hollow braid, how do you anchor to the pull tree? Isolated and choked? Over a good branch and choked at the base?

How does the dyneema hold up to abrasion on bark? Lots of rough barked Picea around here

 

[stig]

Over a good branch and 3 turns around the base before choking it if it is a hard pull.
Our ropes are spliced with a metal eyelet on the ends, so we can isolate it with a shackle, but that is only for light pulls.
Always want to avoid putting load on a tight bend with Dyneema.
We've been using it for 10 years at least, the ability to set a pull rope with a bigshot instead of a climber, means a lot when you do lots of trees.
It holds up well to abrasion.
In fact, I have nothing bad to say about it, except you have to know how to work with it.

Honestly I have no idea what kind it is.
I don't splice, got Richard for that.

 

[pete mctree]

Must have been a week for crap and crumbly trees. This beech was dropping bigger & bigger pieces on the road. Had to climb up and get some side weight off before I dared fell it. Not the best trees to work on, but I did park a 10t tractor in the field so I had something to attach my winch too.