The Husqvarna 346XP...and My Sore Back

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Here is a picture of my new saw. It may be recognizable for some...for others you may want to remove your hat in reverence to the one of the most righteous of all chainsaws...the Husqvarna 346XP. I snapped this picture in front of my fireplace the day I brought the saw home. You can still see the dealer tag on the handle. The tag reads "Bad Dude!"

I love chainsaws...and there is so much that I want to write about them that the writing is difficult for me. I don't know where to begin. I figure this new saw, the 346XP, would be a good place to start. Let me tell you something...this saw absolutely screams. I still struggle in fully understanding how fast this saw runs. It is a professional grade saw and I had the dealer set me up with a 16 inch Oregon Micro Lite bar and a .325 Oregon VP chain. I honestly don't know what I am going to do with my 455 Rancher now that I am running this. This saw puts my Rancher to shame. After running two tanks of gas thru this saw I decided to run my Rancher some and I thought I was cutting with a dull chain. I wasn't...the Rancher was just that much slower than the 346XP. If I can offer you some advice...if you are in the market for a new saw and are considering a 455 or 460 Rancher...or the Stihl 290 Farmboss...spend an extra $60 dollars and buy the 346XP. You will thank me when you do. Good gravy is this thing wicked!!

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I cut up a heaping truckload of wood today. A huge silver maple had fallen a couple weeks back and landed on a two-lane state road out here in farmland. ODOT had pushed it into the ditch and there it lay. It turned out that I knew the owner of the tree and he told me I could have it. I used the 346XP for the limbing and tops and I used the 455 Rancher for the big wood. I had to deal with the ditch on the side of the road and that made lugging the wood into my truck a challenge. I had my truck heaped with wood...probably the largest single load I hauled this year. Boy, let me tell you...I am feeling it now. I am really sore and drained from today and I have been laying on an ice pack during the Buckeye's game. Tomorrow I plan to cut again and it may be my last load of the year. I have a surprisingly big apple tree to cut up and some huge ash trunks that will need split before I can lug them into the truck. They are 24 inches round. Ash, as they say, is the firewood for kings. Right now I don't feel like a king...I feel like a beat down king.

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I still haven't fired up the Hardy. The weather this weekend is in the 60's (f) and we are going to stay warm until Wednesday. I am waiting until Wednesday when I can light it around 3 pm and have it up to temp by nightfall. Night comes real early here since the time change. It is totally dark at 6 pm. Tomorrow I will take some pictures of the woodshed. I am real proud of my work this year.

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Smokin

Web Sites and Other Ramblings

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It is getting cold again tonight...25 (f) degrees. The chickens' water had ice on it this morning. I have still put off the initial firing of the Hardy for the season. The weather man is predicting 70's this week so I am electing to save my wood and get as close to November as possible.
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Here is a site I frequent and I want to share with you. It is Arboristsite.com

I am on it daily and I have really learned a lot and further developed my interests with my hobbies of OWB's, chainsaws, and firewood. Check it out. I am usually in the Firewood forum and the Chainsaw forum. I have also purchased things from the site sponsors and I have had only good experiences with them. Give it a visit.
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I caught a little bit of the sniffles this weekend and that, along with the rain kept me from cutting any wood. I have at least three more ash trees to get before I mothball the truck for the winter. I also have a small pile of logs by my wood shed that need cut. I am saving those for last so I can run all the gas out of my saws before I mothball them. I don't cut wood in the winter as my truck is not one to take into the woods on anything but dry ground. With the supercab and the 8 ft. bed, it is notorious for poor traction.
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I promise to start posting more pics in my future postings. I have to take a bunch of pictures of my wood shed and of "Woodpile 2009." Have a great week. I also want to share with you some product reviews of my new saw and personal protection equipment (PPE).
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Smokin

Not Yet

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The weather in Northeast Ohio has been awful. Cold, wet, rainy, cloudy...with a little snow mixed in. I still have yet to fire up my Hardy H2 for the first time this season. Last night and tonight the temps are dipping into the mid-30's and I normally would have fired my Hardy up but the weatherman is predicting 60's this week and...if this is true...I would probably let my fire go out and save my wood anyway. So I wait, and wait for the perfect time to start the Burning Season.
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One thing you must consider when you buy an OWB is that if you are the type of family that goes on a lot of vacations during the winter an OWB may not be for you. If it is the middle of winter, you just can't pack up and leave the home for a few days R&R without considering the OWB and keeping the fire going. Of course if the temperature outside is really cold, and you're gone for a long time, the furnace could freeze up and start breaking pipes but this probably is a worst case scenario. If you let the fire go out in winter for a couple days the OWB may be able to hold in enough heat to avoid freezing...they are insulated pretty good but I don't see how you could do this without worrying while away. We don't go on vacation in the winter so this is not a problem for us. Both my wife and I do our fair share to make sure the Hardy is well cared for. I fill it in the mornings and evenings and my wife checks it during the day. If you have a job that keeps you away from home for the majority of the day this could also be a problem as it is helpful to have a spouse or friend to throw a couple logs on and check the thing out during the day. Your OWB needs attention and if you don't give it...your OWB will let you down.
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Smokin

Getting Ready

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The weather here in Northeast Ohio has been cold and wet since the last week in September. We have yet to get a frost but we have been flirting with the 30's at night for about two weeks. I have yet to fire up the Hardy for the season but I have started to take steps today. My wood pile is good to go. No issues there. I can do a little more stacking to make things neat but I don't have to ration my wood this year. I took the rear panel off and checked the wiring and insulation to ensure the mice haven't messed anything up. I checked the water level and it seems fine. The grates are set up how I want them. and my ash is about 4 inches from the grates.
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As of now I am heating my house with propane. My propane company will charge me $300 to keep their 500 gallon tank in my yard if I don't burn at least $300 in gas each year. I thought of going solo and have them take the tank away but after breaking my ankle last year I kinda woke up to the prudence of having a backup system in case I cannot fulfill my duties of furnace feeder this winter. So...I burn propane in the fall and the spring just enough to keep the "man" happy with me. I don't like spending that much money since I could spend it on something better...like a chainsaw...but I look at it as insurance and quit stressing over it.
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I was hoping to fire up Smoky (my daughters named the Hardy that) once November hits but the way the weather has been I may have to start earlier this year. One problem I have noticed when I heat with propane when the Hardy is cold is that condensation tends to form on the heat exchanger sitting inside my duct work and the water sometimes drips down inside my forced air furnace. The water in my Hardy right now is as 50 (f) degrees so the temperature difference, when the propane is burning, causes the condensation problems. If I could do my installation over again I would add a valve on both the supply and return lines going to the heat exchanger to keep the cold water from carrying away my heat when I am burning propane.
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Smokin

The Wood Game

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I have been slowly amassing a VERY large pile of firewood for this season. I estimate that what I had left over from last winter, combined with what I have added this year, that I have about a 2 year stash of firewood. If you look at the old pictures of my wood shed from a previous post, all the wood to the right of the picture was burned up last year. What is in the shed and the logs to the left are all still there...so I have started off the year in the "black" so to speak.
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I really paced myself this year with acquiring wood. I never once got burned out or over worked. I also came across a lot of wood that was already cut...the owner called me up and asked if I would take it off his hands. I got seven full pickup loads of wood this year that was already cut. Funny to me about wood that is already cut...is I still have to lug it, haul it, and stack it...which is all work. All the fun...the cutting...was done by somebody else!
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Most of the wood I cut came from local farmers who bulldozed down trees. They know I am always looking...and pretty efficient...so they call me and I go cut it up and haul it off. The farmers around here just seem to despise trees. Trees do nothing good for them. Trees shade their fields and take up valuable space that could otherwise be used for corn or soy beans. Also, the farmers around here have no use for firewood as most of them have gas wells on their land and get free gas at their house. It is nothing for a farmer to bulldoze all the trees into a city sized pile and torch it. So when they call me about a row of trees just knocked down, I am on it like a hobo on a hotdog. I get it while its gettable. Another benefit from getting trees from farmers is that I can usually drive my truck across their field and back right up to the tree I am cutting to load. That saves my back and saves me time.
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If you are considering purchasing an OWB...I hope a Hardy H2...you have to be ready for the work in finding wood. It is a never ending game. To me, the "Wood Game" was the most pleasant surprise...other than the warm house...in buying the OWB. The Wood Game was the one thing I failed to recognize when deciding to go with an OWB for heating my house. It is A LOT of work. Don't be fooled. Even if you buy your wood...which I would tell you to NEVER buy wood...you still have work to do. It will never go away. To some, The Wood Game is the reason they hate their OWB or have given up on it. At least for me, I get a lot of satisfaction looking out at the enormous pile of wood by my Hardy and know that my hands have touched EVERY single log out there. The Wood Game is my favorite hobby now. To find people who have the wood I need...then working out a deal for me to get it...then me working my schedule to cut, haul and stack is a great sense of pride.
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Smokin

Ash Time

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I made a major score this week with wood. A farmer...less than 1 mile from my house just bulldozed down about 40 trees that separated his two fields. The majority of them are ash...some cherry, some oak...but mostly ash. The are laid out in a hay field, no mud, no rocks. All the trees are lined up in a row...all waiting for me to cut them up. I have been hauling out load after load for the entire week. This has been the most fun I have had since I can remember.
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I have been cutting the tops and the big wood. I probably won't have to split much but I am sure I will have some that will need split. Ash, I hear, is an excellent firewood...it burns hot and splits easy. Honestly, from all the wood I have ever burned up in my Hardy, I have never dealt with Ash. My wood pile is getting pretty big these days. I haven't stacked it yet...its just a big unmanaged pile in and around my shed. I won't organize it until the weather cools. I don't see the need to overheat myself...I did that enough this summer cutting and hauling logs.
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Smokin