Tractors and wood! Show your pics

chas0218 · Oct 18, 2019

4570Man said:
It would probably be a lot cheaper and more practical to supplement a firewood burner with waste oil. I could get at least 500 gallons of that for free. I知 gonna disagree with more uniform drying before chipping. The first problem is wood left in the woods never really drys. It starts rotting from day one. The part of the top held off the ground will dry more than the parts on the ground. And the big parts will dry slower than the smaller parts. After it痴 chipped drying time could be reduced to only a couple days on a hot day in the sun and everything is uniform size.

My father in law drives me up the wall in the winter. He "burned wood for 30 years" and just dropped the red oak the year before and let it lay on the ground then bucked and stacked as needed so like 8 rounds bucked and stacked then split just before he threw it in the stove. He would then let it smolder for a while until it took off then shut it down. I can't believe he didn't have more chimney fires. He had the nice sticky goo drip down the back of the wall thimble at one point. I told him it wasn't dry and he insisted it was. He makes fun of me for the CSS 6 cords I do every year around June to get 1 year ahead. It only takes a 3 days with my dad and I also being a school teacher my summers aren't usually that busy.

I burn almost all ash with some red maple and cherry mixed in, but with my EPA wood stove I can heat a 3100 sq.ft. house with 3 loads of wood in the dead of winter 10*-20* outside temps. I'm not complaining and it wouldn't do that with wet wood. I tried burning some 1 year seasoned cherry at the end of the winter when I ran out of seasoned wood. After 1 week of fighting it I just turned on the furnace.

I've thought about building a gasification furnace using chips but the time, effort, and money I figure could be put into cutting wood and be about the same.

John_Mc · Oct 18, 2019

4570Man said:
My dream stove would burn wood chipper chips easily obtainable for free and no work that’s auger fed from a hopper. Free heat and little work seems like a win win.

There are residential sized wood chip boilers already available. They are a bit particular about the size of chips they use, so they don't run well off of chips from the typical back yard chipper. The large commercial-sized wood chip boilers are designed to run off of green chips, so no drying is necessary. The green chips do require inside, heated storage (above freezing, so they don't freeze together into one large block).

I used to work with a guy who was a wood combustion guru. He was designing a residential wood-chip boiler which would use what he called an "energy chip". Those wood chips needed to be dried below the fiber saturation point (generally around 30%, depending on species). Getting to that point is relatively easy when drying. It's getting below that point that takes more time and energy. The advantage was that all they needed was covered storage, not heated: they will not stick together in freezing temps if below fiber saturation point. He ran into financial difficulties and it never made it into production.

aeblank · Oct 18, 2019

fruitcakesa said:
We got the Tarm specifically because of its gasification ability, which when in operation produces literally zero smoke from the stack.
It is solid cast iron and weighs in at 1500 lbs.
The older outdoor boilers are smoky rigs although I have heard that they are now available with gasification.

I like my tarm. Doesn't like wet wood, that's for sure. With the heat storage tank....it's extra nice.

Loaderman22 · Oct 18, 2019

John_Mc said:
Not really a tractor, but it will be used like one on occasion:

I bought this 1952 M37 Truck a couple of weeks ago - mostly to have a vehicle with some character to drive around on local trips and occasionally take in the woods to grab firewood.

I'll be fixing up or replacing a few things on it, but the intent is to keep that "it's been around the block a few times" look, not to have a showpiece. Still need to figure out how I'm going to address the fact that it has a pintle hitch, and all of my trailers are set up for a 2" ball.

I like that it still has the fold-up troop transport seats in the back. I may look in to adding the hoops and canvas top over the back. The current tires are 11.00x16 which are a few inches oversized for this vehicle. I'll probably eventually switch them back to 9.00x16 which was the stock size,

Nice Purchase!! I've always wanted a Kaiser m715, but this was a close second.

fruitcakesa · Oct 18, 2019

aeblank said:
I like my tarm. Doesn't like wet wood, that's for sure. With the heat storage tank....it's extra nice.

It definitely needs very dry wood, thus the small size of the wood I split and the heat storage tank takes it above and beyond any conventional wood burning appliance.
This time of year I can go 3 days between firings.

aeblank · Oct 18, 2019

fruitcakesa said:
It definitely needs very dry wood, thus the small size of the wood I split and the heat storage tank takes it above and beyond any conventional wood burning appliance.
This time of year I can go 3 days between firings.

Or more, at least for me.
Mine's 1600gal. An old fuel tank, and it's buried outside the basement wall. I lose heat for sure vs it being in my basement (good in summer, bad in winter).

fruitcakesa · Oct 18, 2019

aeblank said:
Or more, at least for me.
Mine's 1600gal. An old fuel tank, and it's buried outside the basement wall. I lose heat for sure vs it being in my basement (good in summer, bad in winter).

Mine is a 650 gal stainless steel maple sap tank fully insulated in my basement; what little heat is lost ends up in my living room which is directly above the basement.

Jstpssng · Oct 18, 2019

chas0218 said:
My father in law drives me up the wall in the winter. He "burned wood for 30 years" and just dropped the red oak the year before and let it lay on the ground then bucked and stacked as needed so like 8 rounds bucked and stacked then split just before he threw it in the stove. He would then let it smolder for a while until it took off then shut it down. I can't believe he didn't have more chimney fires. He had the nice sticky goo drip down the back of the wall thimble at one point. I told him it wasn't dry and he insisted it was. He makes fun of me for the CSS 6 cords I do every year around June to get 1 year ahead. It only takes a 3 days with my dad and I also being a school teacher my summers aren't usually that busy.

I burn almost all ash with some red maple and cherry mixed in, but with my EPA wood stove I can heat a 3100 sq.ft. house with 3 loads of wood in the dead of winter 10*-20* outside temps. I'm not complaining and it wouldn't do that with wet wood. I tried burning some 1 year seasoned cherry at the end of the winter when I ran out of seasoned wood. After 1 week of fighting it I just turned on the furnace.

I've thought about building a gasification furnace using chips but the time, effort, and money I figure could be put into cutting wood and be about the same.

Trees dry surprisingly well if you cut them in June and let the leaves suck the moisture out. Standing trees which die deteriorate much faster than a tree which loses it's top and just stands there. As you point out however, they still need to be opened up to let air in, and get the wood fully dry. Oak takes two years to dry anyways, while common lore has it that ash can be burned the day which it was felled. That may be the case, yet it still burns better when seasoned.

wheelbuilder · Oct 18, 2019

Oldpath05 said:
Yes them 50 year old McCulloch chainsaws will do that to ya...................

I haven't run a 50 year old McCulloch, but a 40 year old one was one of the first I ever ran. Mom would have clobbered Dad if she knew I was running one at 13-14.
I saw one just like it pop up on Craigslist last week that needed a clutch. Almost jumped at it for nostalgia, but I don't know that I need a 3rd saw and wasn't sure I could find a clutch.