It's tree removal time!

[stevenf]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

Eddie,
I got what seems to me a much larger problem in the Texas hill country with 347 acres of cedar (junipers). I did a little horse trading and had a crew rangeing from 12 to 20 men working 7 days a week for 2 years and they still only got about half of it cut. In the process I've learned a lot about starting fires with diesel and before anyone mentions it I've heard all the stories of tires and gas and untold other ways but this is easy and cheap and after the diesel burns out you just have wood burning and not a bunch of black smoke all over the place for days and the EPA looking for your head on a spit. I've got hundreds of piles as big as a house and systematicaly moving farther and farther from the house site I take my little cheapy garden sprayer filled with diesel, pump it up which atomizes the fuel and spray a portion on the down wind side so that it burns towards the wind which keeps the fire in better check so I don't have infernos blazing, after I've soaked it a bit say a couple of ounces I light it and then (here comes the safety police) spray the pumped up fuel at the lit portions it works like a torch with absolutely no burn back towards you as it would seem as diesel doesn't burn that well. You'll have your pine burning in no time I'd suggest starting on the thinner ends just to clarify you'd never get the stump ends to start burning this way.
Steve

 

[btolle]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( do you really need to take them all down? seems like a lot of trees )</font>

Come to East Texas and you will understand /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Trees are almost considered pests here. And vines and privet hedge are definitely considered to be nuisances.

Eddie: You might try a 'pear burner' Harbor Freight Propane Torch to light the fire.

I have used one of those and they work well and are less dangerous than pouring fuel and trying to light it. Hooks straighti into a 5 gal propane tank and sounds like a jet airplane when you turn it up.

The other thing that is great is a gas powered blower. It will really feed the air to the fire and get it going in a hurry.

One of these days I'm going up Eddie's way and find out what he is really doing up there!

Bill Tolle

 

[SCB]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

Stevenf,
I burned my stumps with deisel and a garden sprayer also. but with the fan going I would spray into the stream of air creating a blast furnace effect. Sounds like you have done your share of burning. Like you, I am not a fan of sending big black clouds into the air for the EPA to see. I also think that it just isn't good for the environment.

 

[stevenf]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

Listen to Btolle on the pear burner and get the big one if you try that route. I got one that screws onto the little disposable bottles and it just doesn't have the poop to get a good blaze going very quick.
Steve

 

[stevenf]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

SCB I wish I had a fan it seems like I read a post a while back where you were describing it and you had rented a big fan of some sort. With as much as I still have to burn it would probably be a good investment except then I'd need electric within reach a big inverter or generator. Course that might be just the reason I'd need to convince my honey that I should get a big portable welder/generator. What a great idea I'll run it by her tonight while shes sleeping and see if I can get a uhuh or yes dear out of her /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Steve

 

[Tom4310]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

I have had to burn some large green slash piles (15' tall) from logging and what works best for me is diesel fuel/used motor oil mix. I know I will probably get slammed for polluting the air, alleged global warming, etc. but hey, it works great. Mix about 1/2 motor oil/ 1/2 diesel fuel. Diesel burns hot and the oil will stick to the bark and leaves. It gets rid of the used motor oil as well as the slash.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

Where I live we are allowed to use (if I remember correctly) 1-2 tires to start a brush pile on fire. However, if you have 40 tires in the pile the DEC here can tell the difference.

When we cleared a lot of our land we had 7 different brush piles burning all at once. We had a sheriff and a state trooper come down and visit us as someone called thinking our land was on fire. They sat down there with us talking deer for a little while before we said goodbye and they went back to work. Another time someone on the thruway called the fire department thinking our land was on fire. Fire company could not figure out how to get down there so we met them at the road and told them it to head home. Of course our piles burned and smoldered for weeks though /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Varmintmist]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

The only way to burn stumps and green trees is by getting a bed of coals. You can put fuel, tires and oil on green stuff till you get the coals or find some dead dryer stuff and use a lot less fuel or oil.

I use paper and used motor oil, a little dab will do ya. Start the fire small, get it going good and add the green stuff once its hot. Or push the coals into the green stuff. Motor oil doesnt even go on till the fire is going.

I have never used a tire, fan, torch, blower to start a fire. Though the gas powered leaf blower has a lot of merit, AFTER you get the fire going, wouldnt need the oil then.

Only pile I had to walk away from unburnt was last year. I tried to burn it during a sleet storm with 12 in snow on it. I burnt it the next day after tightining up the stack.

I'm not faulting your method's, just saying you dont need to torch a tire every time you want to burn something. Going through all these hysterics to get something to burn means you need to get back to basics. Tinder+heat, +kindling, +fuel = FIRE. Works every time.

 

[stevenf]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

Varmintist, Its not the problem of knowing how to start a fire we heat exclusively with wood stoves so the tinder lessons are well learned. The problem is there are 10 to 12 good light hours in the day and so the more piles I can get burning the more I get burnt and since I have hundreds of house size piles it helps to speed up the lighting process. Actually a cedar(juniper) pile burns best or at least lights best when it is green because of all the oil but once its lit it quickly becomes an unmanageable inferno so down here we wait a year or two after its cut to burn it which dries it out and all of the green foliage releases so you have regular wood fires burning instead of fires burning hundreds of feet in the air. I allow the Boy Scouts to camp on our property several times a year and their favorite bonfires are the ones with a bit of greenery in them as for them size counts.
Steve

 

[RHughes]

Re: It\'s tree removal time!

It has always been a wonder to me that we have a hard time starting a burn pile with 5 gallons of diesel and a blow torch but one guy can flick a soggy cigarette butt out a car window and a whole plantation will burn to a cinder.