Homesteading

[DeepseekerADS]

I was dog tired this morning. About 11:30 last night on my last run, the snow had lessened to just spitting. I went to bed, couldn't sleep, got up at 0230 and just kept the fire going. Laid down for about an hour after daylight, slept a little, then Mom woke me up for breakfast. Dragging butt. After food, I shoveled the snow off the porch steps and a path to my truck to driver and passenger doors. Then I drove down to the highway and back. I think it was about 15 degrees then, but the sun was out, and still is. It's up to 28 degrees now, with tonight's low predicted at 9 degrees. Apparently the storm is over for us, and I can get out if need be. Because of the sunshine the snow level is dropping fairly quickly. This morning I measured 8".

You guys are giving me GREAT advice on the chainsaws. The Poulan really is a baby saw compared to the Stihl. I just got PO'd at the Stihl when I wore blisters on my hands trying to crank it, so I picked up the Poulan as a back-up. Read the Stihl instructions over and over, each time I tried to crank it. When it finally did start cranking, now it is utterly dependable. I've been through several chains for both saws. The Stihl with a new chain, and the Poulan with a new chain, there still is zero comparison to the way the Stihl cuts.

My Stihl uses a Rollomatic E bar. The original bar was destroyed in sudden tree kick back. Replacement bars for this are expensive. My model is an MS251 with an 18" bar. I'm thinking I need to do more studying on this Rollomatic bar, it's actually pretty complex. I've been using this new bar, with a new chain for about a month now, still cuts smoothly and easily without me having to force it.

When I bought the Stihl, the salesman told me to run real gas in it, not the alcohol blend. So I do, a little more expensive, but he did say straight gas. Bullet, you mentioned Sea Foam, and the oil company mixing the alcohol too high. I note that the Stihl manual mentions using the blended gasoline. I'm thinking the salesman was giving me the straight truth. Is that perhaps incorrect?

Also, the Poulan uses a 40:1 mix, where the Stihl takes a 50:1 mix. I have separate gas cans for the two saws.

And, MM, our Thursday low is projected at -10.....

 

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[releventchair]

Have made one hack knife from a worn out saw bar.
Seen another, a jumbo bowie, that turned out real nice.
Having a smaller saw for back up is great. For limbing too.

I,m not promoting any brand of fuel treatment, but one that combats ethanol is required in small engines.

Here's some corrosion info. Fuel lines turning gummy and clogging orifices is common as is lines deteriorating and breaking.
While we can try to run them dry, some engines don,t benefit from near dry, two strokes need the oil from fuel/oil mix to lubricate, and some are a pain to prime when dry.
Too that drop or several in carb bowls and low spots in lines can have a cumulative effect of corrosion over time.

Protect Yourself: Ethanol Is Killing Your Carburetor - Driven Racing Oil

 

[rockhound]

About 8 inches of snow here. Shoveled the sidewalk and driveway. Talked to my neighbor today and he said that his girlfriend has a 70x32 greenhouse full of vegetables growing and that she had to clear the snow off every hour to keep from the plastic covering from collapsing while it was snowing. He said she was heating with a diesel heater and it was costing her to keep it warm, with diesel running $3.99 a gallon. Kerosene is $4.69 a gallon here, some places $4.99 a gallon. She has many plants almost ready for the garden, while some will remain in the greenhouse and will keep reproducing. She sells at the local farmers market year round and also makes jams and jellies to sell. It is pretty much a full time job for her, but she still manages to work part time for a local grocery store chain. Good Luck. rockhound

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

I have a Stihl model 250 with a 18 in bar and a Poulan with a 16 in bar that I use for back up. I use 50:1 in both saws and 89 octane gas and I cut with the end of my bar when ever it is needed and that is a lot. When you use a drop of Sea Foam you don't have to worry about any of your gas parts gumming up and I never run my saws completely out of gas because they don't only start hard it will burn the side out of your piston from no lubrication. You never put your stihl saw on full choke when trying to start it unless you run it out of gas or the saw is completely cold, you start it one notch up from full choke. Does your saw have a compression release? my don't and I am 74 yrs old and I never have to pull mine over 3 times even when it is clear cold. It sounds like your carb is already starting to cum up. You need to hitch your horse to your buggy, take your wheels off and put on your snow runners and go get some sea foam.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Good morning, it's not bad out there this morning, 22 degrees right now. Up at 0300 again, it's wearing me out! Bed at midnight and up at 0300 day after day here the past week.

Tomorrow..... Projected high of 10 degrees, and low of -10 degrees.... My wood pile hurts

When I first bought the Stihl was when I couldn't crank it and raised blisters, over and over again. So then I bought the Poulan. My brother came up, and I told him "You try to crank the S.O.B.! Cranked first pull - ain't that about right.... Ever since it cranks beautifully. A lot of times I shut it off while moving the stuff I cut or blazing a path for another tree. No choke, cranks first pull.

I'd loaded the basement with wood for the snow storm, and with tomorrow's weather projection, to be safe I'll clear the snow off the pile of logs I dragged up to the house and cut some more.

I have to go to town today. Sea Foam will be one stop. Ya'll made a pretty darned good case for that!

I've only run the Stihl out of gas one time, and that was the eve of the storm. I have it upstairs for maintenance right now, cleaning, bar maintenance - and this time I'm going to flip the bar over when I put it back together - based on good advice from here

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

This morning is the first it has been above 0 in quite a while. You can get sea foam in most stores that sell carb cleaner, you can use it for many things not just in your saw. It comes in a white can. Sounds like you need to lay down for a short nap before your body lets you down health wise.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Just got back from town. Went to the hardware store and picked up a new handle for the maul, and of course a can of Sea Foam. I'd used it before when I'd filled my SUV with bad gas.

It's about 30 degrees and sunny here right now, a lot of the snow has melted, so I'm going to put that Stihl back together and cut me some warmth. There'll be time to rest when the weather ordeal is over. I'm one of those "driven" kind of people. It warms up Saturday (so far), and my son is flying down from Detroit on Saturday evening. My daughter who lives in Greensboro and I will pick him up at the airport.

I'll NEVER forget Michigan winters! I was working a project for UofM, on-site. I had to park about a mile away and walk to the construction trailer every day. One morning it was 15 below with 35 mph winds. I bought me a heavier coat after that. I call that coat "Nanook of the North".

The worst I experienced was in '91 or '92, working backshift outside of Cleveland at the Perry Nuclear Plant. When I got off work, it was 39 degrees below zero, and my Bronco (the rusted out piece of crap it was) was the only vehicle in the lot that cranked. I played taxi service for others. That year we had over 200" of snow. I had to shovel my roof that year.

Southwest Virginia is supposed to be warmer!

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Does your saw have a compression release?

I don't know! Haven't seen it so far in the manual, but I'll check and see.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Kerosene is $4.69 a gallon here, some places $4.99 a gallon.

Rockhound, where you at? Kerosene is $3.99 a gallon down here in Virginia - STILL too darned much!

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Thank you to everyone contributing to this thread. Guys, you're educating the living survival outta me

 

[joncutt87]

The compression release looks almost like a push button on the top of the air cover. I think that's stihl uses black and I know that huqsvarna uses gray.
here's a pic of one

 

[DeepseekerADS]

here's a pic of one

Thanks! I'm fixing to head to the basement and put the bar back on the saw, and my manual is down there. So, I WILL take a look!

How's the Charlotte weather my friend? Tomorrow is predicted as a very bad day here.

I'm off and turning logs into chunks, and of course sawdust...

 

[joncutt87]

Ice has melted for the most part, roads are clear, down to 8°f tonight. I'm burning fresh cut cherry this week. Trying to get everything ready for vacation on Monday.

 

[Mad Machinist]

-10? HELL NO!!!!

That MS251 should have a compression release. Top of saw near the handle, the little black button.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

The forecast today was for a high of 10 degrees, and it made it to 11. It's now 5 degrees here, with the low projected at -4.

There must be a number of different versions of the MS251. I just looked mine over, all around, and found no compression release. Even the MS251 manual is different from my saw, but still essentially suitable for use.

She cut very well yesterday, turned that pile of logs into chunks with no hiccups I'll be going through a lot of chunks over the next 24 hours.

 

[rockhound]

I'm in Virginia ,too. Not far from the line., about a mile or so. So far I haven't bought an kerosene but my neighbor said it was $4.69, and this was as cheap as he could find it. He claimed some stations had jacked to up to $4.99. Everyone trying to make more money off the weather, I guess. When the spring and summer races comes to town they jack the price up on gasoline and diesel in all the surrounding cities. AH, capitalism at it best or worst. It's always the consumer that gets the shaft. Good Luck. rockhound

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

Its -20 right now with chill factor -40, schools all shut down. It wasn't real nice outside this morning doing chores. I was glad to get back inside and throw another log in the stove.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Its -20 right now with chill factor -40, schools all shut down. It wasn't real nice outside this morning doing chores. I was glad to get back inside and throw another log in the stove.

You have it far worse than we do here, but it's been a rough, sleep damaging few days. I moved my alarm setting back an hour and checked the fire every two hours during the night, and still hourly during the day. We do have 5 degrees out there right now, supposed to move up to 23 today. Tomorrow is supposed to be warming up a bit.

Barring flight delays and cancellations, my son will be down for a week tomorrow. So my Tnet time will be almost non-existent for the coming week. And fortunately the 10 day weather forecast is warming finally!

 

[releventchair]

-15 Easy here. Dog to vet early for work on teeth. Cold makes bad ones hurt more for sure.


Deepseeker: Run time on your stove seems too short. Been so long I don't remember my fuel rates but by having a bed of coals, loading the stove with one large round of green hardwood on top of three or so rounds of dry below it and throttling the stove down to a crawl I would have enough coals in the morning to get a fire going again.
Stove size in relation to space being heated, air to feed it, airtight design or not, ect. all factor.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Deepseeker: Run time on your stove seems too short.

IT SURE DOES !!!

I still have 4 other wood stoves. Two are cook stoves, one from 1912, and Granny's 1940's which she used when I was a kid. I have two other, one not really acceptable - don't trust, and one I picked up cheap back during the Summer when my plans to move back here finalized.

My cousin gave me the Englander around the first of November, and that stove was a beast with fan mounting to blow the heat up through a floor grating in the hallway of the house.

Now I know why he upgraded! But then, to give the stove credit, I'm burning it hot and keeping it hot - as it is the best way to heat the house during this polar blitz.

And, Mom is 89, and I need to keep her warm.....

Edit add:
Also, I'm using that same method as you described in feeding the stove, just doing it more intensely....