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Post by Bullshop on May 20, 2021 12:11:22 GMT -7
All the regulars here know that one of my summer chores is getting in a years supply of fire wood. Since last fall until now we have burned ten full chord and are still burning in leu of our fresh snow fall this AM. Last year we used a 70's vintage Dodge 1 1/2 ton truck with 14' bed 8' wide with 4' sides to haul our wood. That Dodge hauls nearly 2.5 chord when loaded so that another piece will fall off. That is great since we are going 60 miles one way to get out wood. The down side to that truck is that it is quite high off the ground so we cant load logs only cut wood. Add the driving time , the cutting time, and the loading time and it makes quite a work day. This spring I started building a log trailer that is low enough to load logs and light enough to pull with a smaller PU . I got it as a really long camp trailer and stripped it down to the frame. The frame was way too long but had a really heavy duty axel. I ended up cutting the rear off past the spring hanger to shorten it but since that put the axel at the very rear of the frame and the frame still being too long I cut it off again just in front of the front spring hanger. That left about the amount of frame length I wanted so I flipped it over to be upside down then stacked the spring hanger section on the frame and welded that together for a double frame . Not being satisfied with the strength of the original cross members I welded several heavy channel iron cross members to stiffen the frame to prevent twisting. After that added some log bunks and ready to go. Have now made four trips and everything is good. It tracks well and is stable on the road. Guess I lucked out and got the geometry about right. Now we are only hauling maybe half of what the yellow Dodge hauls but it is an ever so muck easier work day for an old guy. It takes about three hours driving time round trip but if I can fell the trees in one pile only about 2 - 2 1/2 hours to make a load. I gotta admit that it was nice last winter having 10 chord of cut wood in a pile but the trade off is worth it. This system may help extend my ability to get my own where as I was having doubts about how long I would be able to fill the yellow Dodge in one day. I have made two loads a week since finishing the trailer so four of ten are in. I like to get it done early because hot dry weather in late summer can cause the forest service to shut down the woods to firewood cutting . I like being confident I have what I need for another year before that happens. Attachments:
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Post by todddoyka on May 20, 2021 19:01:44 GMT -7
i loathe chopping wood. i was about 11yo when my dad and me were cutting trees to keep warm with in the fall, winter and spring.then it was coal. now it is propane. just call up and he delivers.
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Post by Bullshop on May 21, 2021 7:49:08 GMT -7
We are only set up to heat with wood. Our main heat stove in the living room plus a cook stove in the kitchen, and a stove in the basement for when its really cold to stave off frozen pipes. With all the coal in MT we cant get any here or I likely would. Oil and propane are out because the annual cost is prohibitive. Wood is our heat source because praise God I can still do it and having timber felling experience I am well versed in the intricacies involved from maintenance of the saws to directional felling. What is dangerous and difficult or impossible for some is just second nature for me. In my younger life God was grooming me for my final chapters. I also can not deny a certain gratification in not only still being able but still being good at it. I spent many years at timber felling in the most difficult conditions and locations and the fact that I survived where many did not is testimony to the developed skill. That skill becomes a part of you and occasionally you have to exercise it and just like stretching a sore tired muscle it feels good when you do.
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Post by todddoyka on May 21, 2021 12:10:02 GMT -7
i remember them days when we only had wood. we had a wood/coal stove in our living room. it would heat up our living room, but nothing else. it was quite a feat whenever we took a bath, which is everyday. a shower would be nice, but that is 2 or 3 later. we(or rather my dad) had an oil furnace, but my dad had paid $1500 for 3 months of oil(1983 dollars). wood, however, is free and all you have ask the property owner. the free part is long gone, you have to pay the property owner and sign a document(a lawyer will get involved) that if you get hurt, you can't sue. when my dad got tired of wood(6 or 7 later) every chance he had(spring, summer, fall, winter), then he goes to coal furnace. 10-11 ton of soft coal every year. since he's vice president of a small heavy construction (grandfather, grandmother, dad, aunt) all he has to is take the dump truck home. then two trips of PBS Coal (7-8 miles) and he's done. me on other hand, lets me shovel coal into the house's basement(back then, a small corner was blocked off and made a pantry). when i moved out, my little brothers had the job. about 9 or so years ago, i had a stroke and my dad and mom moved me back in. then a couple of years ago, the coal furnace went kaput. my dad cried a little bit and he went with a propane furnace and a propane tank. over the years he and i did redo the rooms including insulation and drywall. hey, he even bought a a/c and heating unit for downstairs!!!!!! and i and my dog still sit on the porch.
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Post by Bullshop on May 21, 2021 12:35:50 GMT -7
Which one is the dog ! Ha!!!!
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Post by Junior on May 21, 2021 14:05:29 GMT -7
Depending on the age, I would recommend changing the springs on that camper axle. I built a 20’ flat bed out of a camper last year, and although the axles handle weight fine, I broke all 4 springs on it within the first few months. Replaced with new 3500lb springs and it has been good since.
I’m about to change over to a wood stove in our house soon. Going to need to start hauling wood in my off time from work. Planning on trying to haul 4 cords at a time on my trailer.
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Post by Bullshop on May 21, 2021 15:18:49 GMT -7
No apparent problems with springs so far. Actually with the weight it shed from the rear section I removed and the smallish loads I am hauling about a chord the loaded weight is much less than when it was a camper. I am cutting lengths 10 to 12 feet and the inside the bunks width is a little over 4 feet and the bunk height is 3.5 feet. This is dry standing dead lodge pole so not real heavy wood, probably about the same density as the dry spruce you will get. I will be paying attention though and thanks for the heads up !
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Post by shootist---Gary on May 21, 2021 23:33:25 GMT -7
Daniel, how do you lift & load the logs onto the trailer? If you were closer, I have an older single axle box frame boat trailer that you could have. It was made in Washington state, & the name of the company started with either a C or an S. It has 16" light truck tires & a 2" ball hitch. It needs tires. If you would be interested, I'll take a couple pictures & as I can't figure out how to post them here, I would send them to Tina on FB. If I could get a couple used tires cheap enough, it would be able to follow me to Forsyth. A farmer thought about buying it to add crossmembers & a floor to haul round hay bales out to feed his cows, but I still have it.
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Post by Junior on May 21, 2021 23:44:32 GMT -7
Funny story and the timing fits the current subject.
When we built our cabin I installed a pellet stove since I didn’t have time to cut wood that year, and if I have to buy it, I might as well buy a fuel that is easier for the wife to handle while I’m off working. With the current bull crap going on, I’ve decided to get a wood stove put in the house this year, since I can cut wood and feed it myself. Plus I have time now with my last promotion at work.
So I’ve been in the market for a new saw. I have several older saws, only 3 of which run, a older small husky, a newer small husky and a poulan. The newer husky is the best of the three, but still only a 42CC saw with a 20” bar, and it was well used when I got it and has had issues.
I had to run to Fairbanks today and ran into AIH, and decided to just take a look while I was in there. Lo and behold, they had a husky 460 rancher (62CC with 24” bar) that was marked sold as is with a price of 500 bucks on it. Normal price on this saw is just shy of 800. I got to looking at it, and it appeared to be lightly used, so I asked about it and was told that is had been returned because it didn’t work. I looked it over and decided to grab it after I saw a flaw. Got it home, fixed the flaw and the saw runs and cuts perfect.
Care to take a guess what was “wrong” with it? Yep, the chain was on backwards.
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Post by Bullshop on May 22, 2021 8:48:00 GMT -7
Oh thats for cutting from the other side of the log. Da !!! Really for their own safety some people should never be allowed to touch tools. I see a lot of stumps out there and try to figure the logic of the cuts I am seeing but it is beyond me. I also find a lot of leaning trees that are hung up in other green trees due to poor felling technique. Its really fairly simple to get a tree that is leaning down hill to fall up hill but it requires an understanding of how to do so. The danger factor is elevated in such a case as if not done exactly right things can go terribly wrong very quickly. When properly executed by someone that knows how to an ignorant bystander it would appear very simple. There is not one right way to do this because each individual tree offers its own set of circumstances with its shape and various stages of decay at differing points of the stump. As a professional timber faller I learned that the first step to felling any large tree that has questionable stump integrity is to first sound then bore the stump. The sounding is to use the flat end of an ax go completely around the stump tapping and listening for soft unsolid spots. Boring is using the saw with bar held in a vertical position and boring straight in to determine the depth of soft non holding wood . What we are trying to do is to get a mental x-ray picture to determine where the good wood is so we can then determine the best and safest way to accurately control the precise direction of the fall. When falling dead trees failure to follow this basic procedure has gotten many people killed. The very first step is to simply look up the tree to see if there are any parts barely hanging on that will fall with the slightest movement of the tree or even from the vibrations induced by the saw. These dangers we look for as the very first step are called widow makers for very good reason.
Gary my friend I greatly appreciate your kind offer but will pass on it as there is no need on this end so would not want to add burden to your trip that should be for fun only.
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Post by shootist---Gary on May 22, 2021 19:20:22 GMT -7
Daniel, that's OK, it was just a thought, as I don't have any use for it, because I junked the boat that was on it, & the 1966 Starcraft that I bought on Ebay a few years ago, came with it's original trailer. I spent today getting my reloading stand set up, so I can put those nice bullets ahead of some BP in brass cases. I want to be at Forsyth on Monday morning, June 14, to start practicing & learning the Parts Unknown Vernier Sight that is on my Pedersoli "John Bodine" Rolling Block rifle. If I'm there early Monday, the range won't be too crowded yet. By Wednesday & Thursday it starts filling up. I'm loading with 68 gr. of 1 1/2 Swiss, a .030 veggie wad, with a newspaper disc between the wad & the bullet. According to 2 guys that live out there, & shoot regularly, I am doing all of the right things on loading my ammo. Now I just have to learn how to use the sight. Before, I didn't take enough ammo to be able to do a lot of practicing, but with what I have already loaded, & the 150 that you just made, I'll have almost 250 rounds this year. Regardless, I am still going to enjoy the experience 1 more time. Afterwards, I will drive around Montana & Wyoming seeing old historical sights.
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Post by Bullshop on May 23, 2021 10:09:51 GMT -7
Gary I was fantasizing about going to the Quigley just to help you but the truth is I cant go. I want badly for you to do well there but without a spotter it is difficult even when everything with your rifle, load, and sights is perfected. I am going to try from here to help you understand how to properly use your Parts Unknown Vernier sights but may lack the verbal ability to communicate the intricacies of that particular sight as well as the proper function of a Vernier scale, but I will try. First lets try the basic Vernier scale. In the Vernier system there are two scales etched into the sight one on the staff and one on the slider. The scale on the staff is calibrated in .25" (long lines, and .05" short lines. There are 5 short lines to every long line equaling 5/100" per short line. The lines are called points not minutes because they can only equal minutes if you have a specific sight spacing of somewhere around 35" so all other sight spacing will be either greater than or less than minute of angle depending the the sight spacing barrel length being inconsequential. Now the slider. It will have a scale with either 5 or 6 lines. The slider on your sight will have 6 lines but either way they work the same. Your sight slider has a zero line at the bottom and the top line is marked with a 5. These two scales one on the slider and one on the staff work together to dissect the .05" calibrations on the staff into .01 calibrations (points) read off the slider. In function the slider is set to zero at the nearest .05 less than the number being targeted. For instance if the targeted number of points if 77 then you would first set the slider to zero at .75 on the staff. Then as you turn the slider up to gain points closely watch the scale on the slider. When the first line above zero on the slider lines up with the nearest line on the staff you have added one point so are at 76. Going further up when the second line on the slider aligns with the next line on the staff you have added a total of two points fron the 75 you started at so are now at 77 points. Going to the next line alignment adds 3 total from 75 and so on until you have added 5 and the zero line on the slider will then align with the 80 mark on the staff and at the same time the line on the slider marked with a 5 will be aligned with the 85 mark on the staff exactly 5 points greater than the zero mark. This is the function of a Vernier scale to accurately, precisely, and repeat ably divide each one inch division on the staff into 100 parts or 1/100 of an inch. Now we can look at the uniqueness of your particular sight. First off it has the full Vernier scale etched on both sides so can be clearly read from either side of the rifle. A very convenient condition accommodating right or left handedness. Also unique to your sight is the the slider adjuster in the staff is calibrated from zero to 25 on the knurled adjuster. Each 10 points on that dial will equal one point on the staff. This allows a 1/10th point adjustment on the staff essentially dividing each inch on the staff into 1000 divisions for 1/10000 " adjustments. I could add several more reasons on why I think the Parts Unknown sight now called the Red River sight is superior to all others but since this is an attempt to help you understand how to use a Vernier sight I will for the sake of keeping this post less complicated leave that for another time.
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Post by Bullshop on May 23, 2021 16:26:14 GMT -7
Gary I forgot to mention that in the Lyman third edition of the Cast Bullet Handbook on the second to last page in the book there is a chart with some ballistic data for the Lyman Postell bullet. There are charts that give bullet drop in inches in 50 yard increments out to 600 yards. The charts include muzzle velocities from 1200 to 2000 fps . They also assign that bullet a ballistic coefficient number of 384. With those charts and if you have a ballistic program you can develop some range cards to take with you so you will have some idea of how much sight adjustment you will need as your ranges change. You will have to start with your rifle zeroed at some specific range then make adjustments for required range changes. It helps to have a calculator with you so you can quickly decipher from the charts. Say for instance your range is changing from 400 yards to 580 yards. You would look at the chart to get a rough idea of the added drop in inches then divide that by the moa value in this case 5.8 and you will get the number of minutes correction. I earlier said that Vernier sights are calibrated in points not minutes but when just starting out to acquire your sight settings treating them as minutes is far better than a wild guess. Initially adjust the sight using points as minutes to get you close then fine tune by adjusting and shooting until you have the right sight setting for that range, then CHART IT !!!!! If you dont have or cant find the Lyman book but if you do have a cell phone you still golden. There are free ballistic apps that you can use with the 384 ballistic coefficient to develop your own charts. I have never used them because I do not have a cell phone but I know that Jr. has and many other people I have chatted with on line. I really hope this information is helping you feel better equipped for your task at hand and I wish you all the best at your endevor.
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Post by shootist---Gary on May 23, 2021 18:40:25 GMT -7
Daniel, thank you very much for the help. I do have a cell "smart" phone, but only know how to call & answer it. I found a site that had pictures of the Vernier Sight numbering system, last year, copied the charts, so now with what you have told me, I am going to sit down with the rifle & randomly pick a number, then learn to match the lines on the sight to the number. Dave Gullo, from Buffalo Arms took a few minutes to explain the same thing that you told me. He then randomly picked avalue, & had me adjust the sight to it. I really didn't have enough ammo to practice with, so I ended up using the Trapdoor. I am going to make a copy of your helpful post, so, with the pictures that I copied, & your detailed description, maybe I can learn to shoot this rifle. After I bought it in 2017, I took it to my ex son in law's home where we set up a 100 yd. target with me shooting off a folding table, using your 500 grn. bullets over 70 grns. of 2F Goex. After 5 or 6 shots, I had a good group at 9 o'clock, so moved windage, & after getting it right, put 4 shots in a ragged hole, before we got rained out. I ran a dry patch thru the barrel after each shot. So, I learned that the rifle will shoot accurately if I do my part. As for having a spotter for calling my shots, I have had others graciously volunteer to do that for me. I was also told that as soon as I pulled the trigger, I was trying to see where the bullet was hitting. He told me not to do that, but to keep my eyes on the sight picture as part of the followup. That made a difference. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with me. I never have been a real proficient shooter, but more of a "plinker" with my older firearms. When I read about the Quigley shoot, I told Jeanne that I just wanted to go & have an enjoyable time. I hit 7 targets the first year, 2 or 3 on the buffalo at 805 yards, after hitting it 5 times while practicing. That made it all worthwhile, along with the many wonderful men & women that I have met in the 3 times I have been there. In 2018, Saturday was rained out, so Sunday, we only fired 4 shots per target, instead of 8 shots. I hit the 350 yard offhand "bucket" 1 time, using my Trapdoor with your 500 grn. bullets. I couldn't have been any happier if I had won the match. I think I only hit 5 targets, but placed in the mid 450's out of nearly 600 shooters.
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Post by Junior on May 24, 2021 21:54:36 GMT -7
Hmmmmm. I must warn you Gary, I’m not sure Dad is the best source for sight advice 😉
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Post by Bullshop on May 25, 2021 5:49:19 GMT -7
Hmmmmm. I must warn you Gary, I’m not sure Dad is the best source for sight advice 😉 Private joke !
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Post by Bullshop on May 26, 2021 12:30:25 GMT -7
For anyone interested in the formerly Parts Unknown now Red River sights I have recently been in contact with the proprietor to inquire about the purchase of an addition mid range staff for my long range sight. I was successful in contacting him and he has informed me that he still has sights and parts available. I have as of yesterday ordered a hunting staff for my sight. For anyone unfamiliar with these sights I will say in my opinion they offer more desirable features at a lower price with a precision quality second to none. I have had one now for about 25 years and that opinion has not changed but has solidified to be closer to fact than opinion. These sights are made in Ukraine and entered the market when BPC competition was at its peak and so the wheat was quickly separated from the chaff as for guns and equipment for the sport. That is when the makers of the imported guns realized that they had to up their quality or loose market share. They did and now their quality is top notch as their prices can attest. As for the Parts Unknown sights they knew they had stiff competition and to have a chance at breaking into the market they had to produce a better sight at a better price which they did. Unfortunately the political madness in the region has curtailed the production of these fine sights so the existing complete sights and parts are all there is. Anyone interested can contact the man that was importing these sights can do so at,
Sergio Pustogorodsky 206 Oxford St. Winnipeg, MB R3M3J6 Canada
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