-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
Husqvarna's helmet looks better than the Stihl in terms of the face shield. I think the weakness on the Stihl face shield is the frame. The Husqvarna appears to have a nicer, better molded frame to the shield. And the helmet looks a bit nicer too.
https://www.husqvarna.com/us/helmets...met-technical/
The shield is definitely key, especially if you wear glasses. And you really need one when you are running the string trimmer through brush.
Wear face & eye protection when using anything that can spit crap at you or if working in forest brush. I didn't have a face shield in the olden days (or a string trimmer) but I think it's insanity to run anything like that, that spits material out without a face shield and safety glasses/goggles underneath. With a string trimmer I also put on my snake proof shin guards; that's just a "hurt preventer", as opposed to a bona fide sight saver, and not really a big deal but it's nice to have the protection and I don't have to watch for snakes as carefully....I think.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
This safety equipment convo combined with the (something like) just making a few cuts rushing to go vote caused me to grow my late Mom's wagging finger this morning.
Parachutists die on their 10,000th jump not their earlier ones...it is when they rush/ get cocky/ don't double check their safety prep work etc.
Wagging finger mode now off.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
Kask actually has
a nice model built like a hardshell bike helmet (interior is compressible polystyrene) with a much better visor. For $300. The Stihl was $80. But as you said, it only has to save you once to be worth it. I think if I was cutting down trees, then I would consider something like that.
That's a very nice climbing helmet (meaning helmet/muff/face shield) but it's not at all necessary to spend that kind of dough to get, as a practical matter, all the protection it provides. A quality, functional helmet that meets all the relevant CSA and ANSI standards can be had for under $100. To my mind, and unless actually climbing, the only thing the extra $200+ buys is insurance against getting a crappy helmet. A chin strap and quality, ratcheting adjustable headgear is well worthwhile. But with a teeny bit of internet review research and asking around at your saw dealer you can get all the protection that a helmet can afford for a whole lot less. Then take some of the savings and get something like the 3M goggle gear 300 goggles and wear them underneath. If you need prescription lenses you can get the glasses frame insert, stick the lenses in and you've got outstanding eye protection. At the very least wear good, cord retained, safety specs with side shields.
If you're doing serious felling or woods work then get some education so you can better identify and manage hazards that may not be so obvious, and learn methods of work that will keep you out of trouble. Expensive PPE is no substitute for knowing what you're doing...and knowing when you're over your head and need to back off.
Regardless of what you're doing, from large work to small brushy stuff "so you can get the car out", never, ever be in a hurry. More than that, make it conscious SOP to slow down, meaning intentionally decide to work slowly and deliberately, taking repeated "step backs" to ensure that you've scoped what you're doing before proceeding; and I mean slow down when you start walking to the shed to get your equipment; the entire operational should be framed by intentionally moving slowly the entire time. Cutting that little brushy stuff in a hurry and without your full face protection is an invitation to getting smacked in the face/eye.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Thanks. You obviously are concerned about safety. I think I can handle it from here.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
This is a good resource and the link will take you to a review of the MSA brimless climbing helmet/accessories.
Note that at least one commentator prefers brim style when doing ground work, for a couple of practical reasons. If using the clear face shield in humid environments the extra space between face and shield is a definite bonus. I don't do a lot of cutting but based on the experience with my shop face shield I wouldn't want it any closer (as it would be with a brimless climbing helmet) and when working in the rain (which I do not avoid if something needs doing) having a brim keep the drips away would be a nice thing.
https://www.arboristsite.com/communi...helmet.343196/
If looking for a chainsaw helmet I'd want as much mesh wrap (around to the sides of the face) as possible; some have more some less.
A number of folks on other helmet threads at that site have noted that many of the less expensive helmets are pretty much the same as the more expensive ones from the saw mfgs. Getting replacement parts might be a different issue but if you're not a pro and not a hammerhead with your gear then that would seem a minor issue.
You'll notice a few eye injuries in this thread: https://www.arboristsite.com/communi...helmet.327699/
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
Thanks. You obviously are concerned about safety. I think I can handle it from here.
Sorry to sound preachy but understand that while I haven't made ALL of the mistakes myself, I've given it a pretty good effort! I know what it's like to think you might lose an eye, but fortunately end up suffering no permanent injury. One doesn't want that.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
I'm looking at splitters. I remember a recommendation for Club Cadet. Doesn't seem like there is a nearby dealer for that model. I can order from various outlets, but only a few are recognized by the brands they sell as legit dealers. And like anything these days, quite a few of the more popular models are sold out and have been for a while.
Based on (again) recommendations, I am looking for a horizontal/vertical model powered by a Honda engine running in the neighborhood of 24 tons of oomph. That feels like overkill, but it also seems to be the sweet spot on cost, size of wood and speed of cycle. Hydraulic fitting quality seems key. And arrangement of things like exhaust, filter, fillers seem key. Don't want loading the splitter to require standing/sitting right in front of the exhaust. We have a local Honda motor dealer, so they said they can repair any Honda motor regardless of splitter brand. And hydraulic hose repairs as that's all they do all day every day on tractors and other machinery. Not sure why they don't sell splitters though...
Here are two I've bookmarked. Just trying to read between the lines on reviews and judge a 2-D image on a laptop screen. All advice welcome.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...783_200628783#
https://www.logsplittersdirect.com/B...RoCR8oQAvD_BwE
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Jorn,
With a little ingenuity (and some chain lube) I'm pretty sure you can convert this thing into a splitter:
https://krisdedecker.typepad.com/.a/...88c3173970d-pi
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
I'm looking at splitters.
Splitter.
https://i.imgur.com/aHCfmnK.jpg
I split about four full cords this spring with mine, easy peasy.
Unless you're planning to start a commercial firewood operation, I can't imagine you need any sort of noisy gas-powered contraption to ruin the peace of this very simple task.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
caleb
I split about four full cords this spring with mine, easy peasy.
Over how many sessions?
If I were to have to do that sort of thing I'd have to work my way up to it very gradually, just like any other significant new-to-my-body exercise.
Otherwise, I'm 100% certain that I'd mess something up, and if it was a big enough issue a $2k hydraulic splitter would have been worth every penny.
But, yes, at first I'd try to do it by hand. Little by little. If I just wasn't up to it, then I'd bite the bullet and get the earth-destroying internal combustion motor powered version. (although a pedal-powered model would be cool)
https://youtu.be/ZFjrW0O9C40
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mabouya
Over how many sessions?
If I were to have to do that sort of thing I'd have to work my way up to it very gradually, just like any other significant new-to-my-body exercise.
Oh no, just go at it for 8-10 hours and see what happens. Personally, I woke up with a fever the first night, but it got better after that. Similar to any multi-day cycling extravaganza really.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mabouya
Over how many sessions?
I have the same Gränsfors Bruk splitting maul as above and split about 3 cords this year. I did so over many afternoon sessions, usually 1/4-1/3 cord at a time when I found the time (or had some other reason to go smack wood). A 2 hour session would equal about 1/3 cord in my book, depending on how many knotty pieces I was wrestling that day.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
I used a Tractor Supply model for 14 yrs and sold it to the farm buyer and its continued to run. 22 ton version with a Briggs Stratton 6.5 hp changed oil every year and hyd fluid /filter about every 4 yrs. Good machine. I’d buy this if I needed one.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...r-126151799--1
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Well, I guess I'm feeling the twenty years between now and when I turned our putting green lawn into a desert landscape at our house in Phoenix. I split plenty of wood last winter, but it was preceded by a session with my pal the cabinetmaker's family heirloom splitter - a Didier - that is basically an I-beam, a motor and a piston and just keeps running and running. Now - spring & summer - there are always three things to do every day, and I need to make one or two of those things easier. I want to go cycling more often! And not take 45 minutes to stand up straight in the morning. The weeding is the worst! String trimming. Storm damaged trees, either broken or fallen down. Driveway repair. Stone wall repair. Etc.!
I bribed my pal with black cherry wood to get him to bring his Didier over from Woodstock, but now he has plenty so I am not sure that's going to work any longer. I probably just need to find a local version of Tim with a 14 year old splitter that still runs.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
Now - spring & summer - there are always three things to do every day, and I need to make one or two of those things easier. I want to go cycling more often! And not take 45 minutes to stand up straight in the morning. The weeding is the worst! String trimming. Storm damaged trees, either broken or fallen down. Driveway repair. Stone wall repair. Etc.!
This raises a serious issue that I'm about to confront in the next few years:
1) I'll be turning 60 soon, and will be retiring in the near future.
2) I will almost certainly be moving from St Louis to somewhere with better weather.
3) I currently live in a house on a wooded lot, with some landscaping / garden, and if I'm so inclined, there's enough house and yard work to keep me busy 80 hours a week. Lately I've let the weeds run riot, and it will take A LOT of work to get things back to decent-looking.
4) It would be nice if upon retiring that I had more "free" time instead of less. Otherwise, what's the point?
So, do I really want to buy another house? If I don't, then my lower-effort options (apartment, condo, etc) dramatically limit the possibilities of "awesome rides right out my front door" which was the #1 criterion I used to pick my current home. And living out in the woods with no neighbors right on top of me is pretty nice.
Do I really want to beat up my body with four hours of yard work every day? As I look back over the last 15 years, all of my most serious and painful "injuries" were due to overexerting myself in the garden, doing something that I typically didn't do: hauling too much gravel, digging ditches in clay soil, etc. etc.
Yeah, I could hire people to do the work, but for a number of reasons I just don't like the idea of doing that.
So, we'll see.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...686009e4_h.jpgIMG_0412 by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr
Found an old pic. That think kicked arse. Only need a little bit of throttle not full. Miss stepping out on the porch and banging away at those steel targets the most.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mabouya
This raises a serious issue that I'm about to confront in the next few years:
1) I'll be turning 60 soon, and will be retiring in the near future.
2) I will almost certainly be moving from St Louis to somewhere with better weather.
3) I currently live in a house on a wooded lot, with some landscaping / garden, and if I'm so inclined, there's enough house and yard work to keep me busy 80 hours a week. Lately I've let the weeds run riot, and it will take A LOT of work to get things back to decent-looking.
4) It would be nice if upon retiring that I had more "free" time instead of less. Otherwise, what's the point?
So, do I really want to buy another house? If I don't, then my lower-effort options (apartment, condo, etc) dramatically limit the possibilities of "awesome rides right out my front door" which was the
#1 criterion I used to pick my current home. And living out in the woods with no neighbors right on top of me is pretty nice.
Do I really want to beat up my body with four hours of yard work every day? As I look back over the last 15 years, all of my most serious and painful "injuries" were due to overexerting myself in the garden, doing something that I typically didn't do: hauling too much gravel, digging ditches in clay soil, etc. etc.
Yeah, I could hire people to do the work, but for a number of reasons I just don't like the idea of doing that.
So, we'll see.
This exactly.
I love working with my hands, even when I bust the heck out of myself doing it. Not sure why, but it has always been the case. Part of why I became a bike mechanic.
But I'm riding less not more, which admittedly doesn't make me unhappy but does feel like the wrong direction. And nagging injuries take longer to recover from, which sort of compounds itself.
I am stronger though! Even off the bike for a while, I can still get back on and go up the hill. I am never not doing something, and I suspect that will pay off in the long run.
We have landscapers, but their work is based on the season to season plan from the landscape architect for the immediate area around the house, which is about 10 acres. But trail maintenance is my job. I am sure there is a seasonal way to do that. Right now, I've been re-clearing the trails before visitors, which is NOT the way to do it. I need a pattern based on seasonal growth so I knock things back at moments when that will make the biggest difference for retarding growth over time. Seems like maybe three times? On big clearing in late spring, mid-end of July and then one in the fall where I build trail structures. Work in progress then.
We have a snow plow guy who is actually very good, but any snow plow redistributes gravel on the drive and with 700 plus feet of drive, that's a task. So I have an excavator guy lined up for next spring to do some maintenance work and reconfigure some of the drainage patterns to offset erosion. That will be work done then to reduce work required later.
In October, I am bringing my nephew up here from NJ. College chewed him up and spit him out, so he is back living at home. He needs to get out of there, and I need someone to help. Maybe I'll let him build a cabin somewhere and learn by doing. I'll buy the lumber, he builds his bedroom. I'll even kick in a wood stove. He's doer not a thinker, and if he stayed here, I wouldn't need a wood splitter. ;-)
And I've already begun crossing off sections of the property from human intervention. I don't need to manage all of the property. Most of it does just fine on its own thank you. So put a path through it so we can enjoy it, but otherwise let it be. Paths I think are a great invention. Visitors like them, the deer like them, even the bear uses them periodically to take a dump. And they make it easier to enjoy the woods without bathing in DEET and burning your clothes afterwards.
Learn the seasons, learn what I can control, and hire people for the heavier lifting. And make my nephew my personal woodland assistant.
But if my nephew doesn't get with the program, I'll need a wood splitter.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
Maybe I'll let him build a cabin somewhere and learn by doing. I'll buy the lumber, he builds his bedroom.
He can build it near a pond, if you have one:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...en_Thoreau.jpg
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
@j44ke You're a good uncle. Is this the kid that was thinking about a farming apprenticeship? Your area always struck me as a great spot to start a grass fed artisanal sheep and goat farm supplying the city.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
caleb
@
j44ke You're a good uncle. Is this the kid that was thinking about a farming apprenticeship? Your area always struck me as a great spot to start a grass fed artisanal sheep and goat farm supplying the city.
Hah! Thanks. Yes, among other things. When he graduated from high school, he was about 4 years away from being ready for college. As a result, his freshman year was not a boost to his self-confidence. But he's been working with his dad who has a house repair business (booming evidently - everyone is at home looking at that crack in their ceiling,) and that's put some age on him(!) So I've invited him up in October and we'll see what happens.
I've actually thought about goats.. But so has every other transplant and entirely likely there is now a glut of goat milk.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
I used to look out on the upper Susquehanna Valley every day.
Today, it's all wooded.
https://i.imgur.com/WzWyjot.png
But after the Second World War, it was nothing but pastures for dairy cows. I don't have any pictures handy, but it was entirely deforested.
Big Dairy came along and put an end to small scale dairies. Now, most of it isn't used for much. It's too steep to till, or even to timber.
Grazing hearty animals on it seems like a great use for it, especially since it's in such close proximity to prime markets.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Jorn,
Did you ever wind up getting a UTV or some such thing? A tractor? I'm asking because I'm curious how the wood gets from the place you gather it to where you split. That too is a job.
I hear you on the seasonal rhythms of path maintenance. A lot of that comes down to use. I've got an MTB trail now that's a 10-12 minute loop if I ride the whole thing. If I build what I'd like to this winter, that will at least double. Then it becomes a balance of what I/close friends can ride frequently enough to keep it clear. I don't need to add "riding often enough to keep the trail from growing closed" to my list of chores. It can't become a source of stress.
Anyway, back to wood. Why not just gather it into one place throughout the year, then rent a splitter for a weekend, and knock it all out at once?
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
caleb
I used to look out on the upper Susquehanna Valley every day.
Today, it's all wooded.
https://i.imgur.com/WzWyjot.png
But after the Second World War, it was nothing but pastures for dairy cows. I don't have any pictures handy, but it was entirely deforested.
Big Dairy came along and put an end to small scale dairies. Now, most of it isn't used for much. It's too steep to till, or even to timber.
Grazing hearty animals on it seems like a great use for it, especially since it's in such close proximity to prime markets.
Our land had no trees except for a few boundary marker pines (most still standing,) a small apple orchard and a stand of sugar maples. And a couple gravel pits. The rest was sheep. And then cows. And then two ladies from Boston bought it in the 1920's and that was the end of farming, except for hay.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
nahtnoj
Jorn,
Did you ever wind up getting a UTV or some such thing? A tractor? I'm asking because I'm curious how the wood gets from the place you gather it to where you split. That too is a job.
I hear you on the seasonal rhythms of path maintenance. A lot of that comes down to use. I've got an MTB trail now that's a 10-12 minute loop if I ride the whole thing. If I build what I'd like to this winter, that will at least double. Then it becomes a balance of what I/close friends can ride frequently enough to keep it clear. I don't need to add "riding often enough to keep the trail from growing closed" to my list of chores. It can't become a source of stress.
Anyway, back to wood. Why not just gather it into one place throughout the year, then rent a splitter for a weekend, and knock it all out at once?
Still thinking on that one. And the pickup truck. And the wood splitter. I am not running out of firewood either. So if wood rots on the ground, well that's okay. We have asian jumping worms in this part of the county, and the nutrients are needed to replenish the soil. The quad would be a help though. We'd have to connect the two halves of the property with a better road. Most of our paths are not wide enough, and for 1-2 months in spring water flows through the middle section of the woods. These year was kind of epic in that regard.
I've been doing what you describe - sort of. Choice wood gets cut and stacked where it falls. Then later I go back and cut it into shorter rounds. And then I drag it to the wood pile. Actually I drag it near the town road and then load it into our Volvo and drive it to the wood pile. So our Volvo is my quad. Then it waits there until my pal in Woodstock comes over with his splitter for a day of splinters and pasta.
But I get that self-reliance, do-it-myself itch, you know? The same one that's probably wrecking my hands, elbows and back. I have gotten good at slinging wood with a hookaroon though.
I've have seen the bear and the bear is me.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...affac399_h.jpg
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
Most of our paths are not wide enough
How about a pair of these? I bet they could drag your wood back to the house.
https://horsespirit.site/wp-content/.../04/perch1.jpg
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
And you could ride the horse.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
I think maintenance on a quad is cheaper but I love horses.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
I think maintenance on a quad is cheaper
Prepare for the future:
https://youtu.be/vRHATZzMh-g
Heavy Horses - Jethro Tull
Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust,
An October's day, towards evening,
Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough,
Salt on a deep chest seasoning.
Last of the line at an honest day's toil,
Turning the deep sod under,
Flint at the fetlock, chasing the bone,
Flies at the nostrils plunder.
The Suffolk, the Clydesdale, the Percheron Vie
with the Shire on his feathers floating.
Hauling soft timber into the dusk
to bed on a warm straw coating.
Heavy Horses, move the land under me.
Behind the plough gliding slipping and sliding free.
Now you're down to the few
And there's no work to do:
The tractor's on its way.
Let me find you a filly for your proud stallion seed
to keep the old line going.
And we'll stand you abreast at the back of the wood
behind the young trees growing.
To hide you from eyes that mock at your girth,
and your eighteen hands at the shoulder.
And one day when the oil barrels have all dripped dry
and the nights are seen to draw colder
they'll beg for your strength, your gentle power
your noble grace and your bearing.
And you'll strain once again to the sound of the gulls
in the wake of the deep plough, sharing.
Standing like tanks on the brow of the hill
Up into the cold wind facing
In stiff battle harness, chained to the world
Against the low sun racing.
Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky
Brewing heavy weather.
Bring a song for the evening
Clean brass to flash the dawn
across these acres glistening
like dew on a carpet lawn.
In these dark towns folk lie sleeping
as the heavy horses thunder by
to wake the dying city
with the living horseman's cry.
At once the old hands quicken,
bring pick and wisp and curry comb,
thrill to the sound of all
the heavy horses coming home.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
j44ke
Still thinking on that one. And the pickup truck. And the wood splitter. I am not running out of firewood either. So if wood rots on the ground, well that's okay. We have
asian jumping worms in this part of the county, and the nutrients are needed to replenish the soil. The quad would be a help though. We'd have to connect the two halves of the property with a better road. Most of our paths are not wide enough, and for 1-2 months in spring water flows through the middle section of the woods. These year was kind of epic in that regard.
I've been doing what you describe - sort of. Choice wood gets cut and stacked where it falls. Then later I go back and cut it into shorter rounds. And then I drag it to the wood pile. Actually I drag it near the town road and then load it into our Volvo and drive it to the wood pile. So our Volvo is my quad. Then it waits there until my pal in Woodstock comes over with his splitter for a day of splinters and pasta.
But I get that self-reliance, do-it-myself itch, you know? The same one that's probably wrecking my hands, elbows and back. I have gotten good at slinging wood with a hookaroon though.
I've have seen the bear and the bear is me.
I have ash trees, or pieces thereof, that are coming down all the time. If they fall into the woods, great. But I gotta keep the fields and fence lines clear to facilitate haymaking.
The tractor is good for moving poles (6-16" in diameter, on the 3 point carryall) and rounds (bigger, heavier, in the bucket) to the area where I stack everything to dry.
Its also good for taking care of 1-4" branches via the PTO driven wood chipper - soooo many wood chips for flower beds and paths.
Despite my best intentions, I do wind up with piles of wood chips and stacks of rounds scattered to and fro. I think I could remove a transport step or two from the process by splitting the wood where it falls, but I probably wouldn't save as much time as I think. The wood chips in particular would be a lot more convenient to move with a UTV working in tandem with the tractor.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mabouya
Or get two more and drag the house closer to the wood pile.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Get one of these and solve all your wood splitting problems and concerns.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSsPwrqgjKx/
SPP
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SlowPokePete
You can also rent Dynas.
https://youtu.be/euy8BX3fGlM
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
caleb
@
j44ke and @
Too Tall , thanks, that's helpful feedback. I think I've found a contractor supply place in town that stocks both the Jacksons and the Millers, so I'll likely go and touch and feel.
Quick follow-up on a snowy afternoon sitting in front of the woodstove.
Last summer nicer wheelbarrows were more or less unobtainium locally. Nowhere had the Jacksons or Millers in stock.
I ended up finding a place online (I forget where) that offered free shipping on Brentwoods, and so that's what I bought sight unseen.
I got the poly tub and big wide turf tire. It rolls and generally carries a load much better than the old Ace Hardware consumer wheelbarrow I had.
I would guess the options everyone here suggested would have been great (and thanks for them), but I think I've reached the end of my wheelbarrow journey with the Brentwood.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
caleb
Quick follow-up on a snowy afternoon sitting in front of the woodstove.
Last summer nicer wheelbarrows were more or less unobtainium locally. Nowhere had the Jacksons or Millers in stock.
I ended up finding a place online (I forget where) that offered free shipping on Brentwoods, and so that's what I bought sight unseen.
I got the poly tub and big wide turf tire. It rolls and generally carries a load much better than the old Ace Hardware consumer wheelbarrow I had.
I would guess the options everyone here suggested would have been great (and thanks for them), but I think I've reached the end of my wheelbarrow journey with the Brentwood.
Dang, that's a good finish to the story. Thanks.
This makes me want my old Gardenway cart back. Darn thing literally melted away with time and use. It was probably the best garden tool I ever owned.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
That looks like a good one. There is something to be said for a double-wheeled barrow also, especially when wrestling with stones.
Need to clean up some fallen wood this week. A bunch of cherry, a poplar (always a poplar down somewhere) and some damaged trees that need surgery so they don't spend energy trying to grow leaves at the end of shattered limbs this spring. Plus a couple big white pines brought down by ants and wind. So far the Stihl battery saw I got has handled everything with absolutely no problem (knock on wood.)
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
So you guys who have some of the newer battery operated chainsaws - what about battery performance in cold weather? I need a new chainsaw for pretty light duty homeowner firewood gathering, but just the other day i went to use my cordless drill outside for a few hours and the battery was flanked quickly in the 15 or so degree weather. is frigid cold OK for these higher volts systems? many times you need to use a chainsaw, it's damned cold out...
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AngryScientist
So you guys who have some of the newer battery operated chainsaws - what about battery performance in cold weather? I need a new chainsaw for pretty light duty homeowner firewood gathering, but just the other day i went to use my cordless drill outside for a few hours and the battery was flanked quickly in the 15 or so degree weather. is frigid cold OK for these higher volts systems? many times you need to use a chainsaw, it's damned cold out...
I've used my Stihl MSA-220 C-B (uses the AP battery system) in some pretty cold weather - in the low thirties at least - and haven't noticed too much difference in battery life. Some but not enough I could get done what was needed. I think you'd probably see more shortening of battery life if you take the saw out to where you are working and then did a bunch of prep work before using it. Meanwhile the battery would sit in the saw on the ground getting cold. What our landscapers do with their battery tree pruners is put the batteries in a small plastic cooler with a couple of those chemical hand warmers thrown in. The cooler holds the warmth and keep the batteries warm enough.
The other thing to keep after is the sharpness of the chain. With any saw keeping the chain sharp is best practice but it pays dividends on a battery saw in battery life per charge. My saw does pretty well though. I use the AP300S batteries. Recharge time is in the 30 minute or so range.
This is 2 full batteries worth of cutting, plus a bit on a third battery for the large maple rounds in the middle. The right side is two rounds deep, so the batteries are pretty amazing really.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6f24c064_h.jpg
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
I'll add here that along with the chainsaw, I purchased a leafblower and two string trimmers from Stihl, all of which run on the same batteries. And I now have three of the 300S batteries, which easily gives me a pretty full day of work. Last summer I was doing about 3 hours of clearing with the string trimmer in the morning, break for lunch and then three hours in the afternoon. With three batteries, I could use up two batteries in the morning, then charge one during lunch and have two batteries to use in the afternoon. I could leave the tools in the woods while I went in for lunch and just carry the batteries back to the house for recharging. I may end up selling one of the string trimmers as it has a bit more power than I need and runs best with a backpack battery that I don't plan to get. Originally I planned to use that trimmer with a blade and then the other trimmer with a string head, but the string heads have changed since the last time I used one and they cut everything I really need cut.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
Good data. I bought an EGO leaf blower this fall and will probably add the string trimmer in the Spring. The leaf blower is a beast. The chain saw is the next natural piece to add and agree that three batteries should make any job doable.
-
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
I have the Milwaukee saw with two batteries. Although I've never used it below 30 degrees F, I can say that I've been consistently impressed with the battery life- much longer than I would have thought, and as all of my cutting is done within eyesight of my home it's never been an issue to charge one battery as the other is used. By the time battery 1 is discharged (longer than you would expect!), formerly drained battery 2 is ready to be used and at 100% capacity.
I now use the electric saw for 95% of my sawing needs. It's amazing.
-
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living
While we're at it, I recently purchased this little guy, and I'm pleased as punch with it. It's pretty small, not a leaf blower, but PERFECT for blowing out my garage, blowing sawdust out of saws, so many other uses. Pretty cheap, too.
So many battery-powered doohickies these days it's enough to make one giddy.
Attachment 120377