Hi Deas, This question isn't just for you but I just wondered what your thoughts were. When you take down timber there's a "Magic" number of days that it will Burn Green. Some people say 3 days some say 7 to 10 days. What is your experence? For those that have never heard of this, the waiting days give the Tree time to produce a gas but you need to burn before the gas escapes. I thought this would be a fun thread for everyone.
I'm a professional forester in my day job, and I've never hear of this idear. I use a mix of 85% diesel, 15% gas, apply liberally and catch the finer fuels first. The technique isn't as sensitive to when the timber is cut as to how low the pressure system is that is pouring rain all over everything. I will watch this one - I may just learn something else here.
I always heard 21 days. Not sure if that is right. Looks like it would depend on the temperature.
A Question for Deas on Burning Timber: Same here... It can also depend on what is referred to as the "live fuel moisture" ... I would think, anyway... Of course, we'll wait for the... "final authority" ... :waving OCR....
I don't know that one could depend on a "number of days" before a burn. The wood moisture content and heat of the fire really determine things. Some wood is denser or "wetter" than others too. High moisture content will make starting the burn difficult without helper fuel (tires, diesel fuel, waste oil, etc). Having a big blower like an orchard sprayer helps, or nosing your Cat in with a blower fan. Once the fire gets going, it will boil the moisture out pretty quick and the faster it does, the hotter and quicker it will burn. Not many timber removal jobs have the luxury of waiting very long, but I see AG people waiting a year or more sometimes. Of course, dry wood doesn't smoke as bad, which may account for something in states with rigid environmental rules. There are all kinds of other factors too, ambient temperature, amount of dirt or other debris in the pile, other weather conditions like wind and rain. Generally speaking though, the dryer wood is (not punky), the better it will burn.
Putting Yourself Out There That's why I thought this thread might be a lot of fun for everyone. I think some people will swear by this and some people will say it's a "Old Wives Tale". For everyone else I hope you find it intresting. I guess I could clarify my position here. I think it's best to let a pile sit a year to Season and burn it after a COUPLE of Low Humidity Days. I also think there is something to the "Magic Days" theory. I think the number of days depends on the species of the wood. For the people that have never heard of this it has more to do with the completeness of the burn than the ease of starting the fire. Think about it, have you ever lite a pile of Green Timber and it burned like it had been sitting for a year?
well here in aus we used to light it up after a couple of days and it will burn completely, smokes a bit till she gets going and thats why many get a chipper/grinder in now with the complaints the way they are.
The final authority??????????????????????????? Hi, Roddyo. An interesting question but man, does it have some variables. In the drier inland areas of the wheatbelt in Western Australia, where I did a lot of my chaining, it was not uncommon to burn 7 to 10 days after chaining, especially in thick mallee country or sand plain country that had a lot of she-oak, bull-oak and fairly dense wattle scrub. I have even seen areas burned quite effectively the day after they were chained. Another common method of flattening larger areas of scrub and light timber that saw a lot of use DownUnder was the drag a solid log crosswise behind a dozer and use its weight to flatten the vegetation. This method usually did every bit as good a job as chaining and it was quite common to burn off in the first few days after the 'logging'. Heavier timbered areas and areas of higher rainfall, which often seem to go together, tend to need longer to 'cure' due the greater proportion of heavier fuel to lighter fuel and/or the damper conditions. In pretty much any running fire situation, it is the lighter fuel, the leaves and sticks and twigs to about 1/4" diameter that provide the heat to get the heavier stuff burning. The more of this lighter fuel there is, the drier it is and the hotter, drier and windier the conditions, the hotter this lighter part of the fuel load will burn and thus the better job it will do of getting the heavier fuel burning. Whether the fire is travelling downhill or uphill can also play a huge part in this 'equation'. There is also quite often an added factor of combustible oils, gums and pitches in various types of timbers that can make a substantial difference to how soon you can burn or how long you need to leave it to cure. The wood itself doesn't actually burn as such. The heat of the fire converts the wood, and any leaves, etc., to a combustible gas and it is this gas that is burnt. If you look closely at a wood fire while it is burning, you might notice that the actual flames are not starting right at the wood but a short distance away from the wood - around 1/8" to 1/4" is quite common. The finer the fuel, the easier it is to convert to it a combustible gas, which is why grain dusts such as wheat dust and oat dust are so dangerous in dry conditions. Because they are so fine, it takes little heat to convert them to gas and the process is almost instantaneous, virtually an explosion. For mine, there is no hard-and-fast rule for when to burn or not. Common sense, observation and experience are all handy to have on your side when making such decisions. So is a mixture of 4 parts of distillate to 1 part of gasoline. Or an air strike with napalm. LOL. Now where's this 'final authority' and when can we expect him/her to give his answer?
The final authority!!!!!!! The "final authority" just answered... and how magnificent it was... :notworthy OCR PS: Magnificent according to Merriam Webster....edited some... 1: great in deed or exalted in place —used only of former famous rulers 2: marked by stately grandeur and lavishness 3: sumptuous in structure and adornment: strikingly beautiful or impressive 4: impressive to the mind or spirit : sublime 5: exceptionally fine Why... it just don't get any better than that.
Final Authority???????????Magnificent??????? Hi, OCR. May I ask what you have been smokin' recently? You haven't by some chance been burning off large quantities of Cannabis Sativa, have you? And standing on the downwind side in the smoke? LOL.
The final authority!!!!!!! Of course not... I need to have a drug test for MDT... tomorrow or the next day... for my snow plowing job... Besides... I don't light them... I put them out... :cool2 Ingrate .... OCR......
lol deas ur a legend, very informative post that made mine seem pointless lol
Hardly Pointless. Hi, Redline. I wouldn't have said that your post was pointless, just basic. You DID answer the question quoting past experience and also explaining why those practices from days gone by are now passing into history, which I didn't mention. All the people getting on the carbon emissions/clean air bandwagons have pretty much put a stop to burning off in 'more civilised' areas these days and the environmentalists and tree huggers have pretty much killed off chaining as a legitimate 'sport' too.
Putting them out. Hi, OCR. I believe I have seen mention somewhere before that you 'put them out'. Guess where I got most of the above information in the last 5 paragraphs? From my training while I was a volunteer fire fighter. Do they give you people similar training and information on fire behaviour and fuel types/sizes over your way?
With trees like cottonwood,willow here it takes a few years to burn and sometimes they just keep soaking up the moist from year to year .If left for a long time they will come closer to rotting faster then burning. Also how you pile the timber,brush and so fore helps.Mixing the small brush in between the large trees.Ending with the smaller stuff to the outside.Not always possible do to other reasons. I usual like a little, to good breeze,but need to be careful it doesn't get away.Start where the wind will carry the flames across the pile to get a better burn.The more and hotter coals that you have will make a big difference.This will help in having a successful burn or just a partial. Need to use a dozer or excavator to keep feeding the fire at times especially if it is a huge pile.Also have you ever noticed that at evening,after a day start that the fire seems to burn calmer and hotter when the wind dies down. Might want to send this question in to the "mypth buster" guys :usa
Are you referring to pine trees bleeding pitch ?
The final authority I think a big part of this question is being overlooked. The reason this is supposed to work is the tree makes a natural gas as it decompses. This is where the number of days come in, you give the tree time to produce this gas but the bark is still tight enough to hold the gas in "I Guess". What does everyone think of this idea, True or False. If you have a curtain burner and diesel and the job is cost plus or you are working be the hour it doesn't matter but if you bid work this has the potential to put some money in your pocket. Think of it this way as an example. You have a pile of timber, on day whatever it has 50 gallons of this "Natural Gas" in the pile, at $3.50 a gallon that's $175.00 if you have 10 piles that's $1,750.00 worth of free fuel. I'm not saying you get $1,750.00 to burn on Day X, but this "Natural Gas" would have some value to you. Any ideas? As far as a Final Authority goes, with this thread I don't think there is one. What works in my small part of the world doesn't translate to the Pacific Northwest and vice/versa. So let's hear what you think, there is no wrong answers in a discussion among friends.:usa
On chinese elms its either 6 days or 13 days (cant remember which). I was told that they will burn green and didnt believe it until we tried it. Man that was a hot fire. Peg
Very interesting as to how and why it burns and the different methods we go to to make it burn. I've always been taught(and had my rear chewed out if i did it wrong) to keep my trees all going the same way, trying to get the tops going both ways(some to the left side, some to the right) to keep a nice tight and good looking pile. As soon as we have got enough trees piled up get the 20lbs of LP and the torch and just set it in a good dense spot and let it go. Then throughout the day or week keep pushing your pile up and making it tight and keep your coal bed hot and you will get fresh green trees to burn right up. Trbo
Final Authority: Hello roddyo, You're absolutely right... there really is no "final authority". Just some friendly banter between Deas and myself... and I know, I have a tendency to get a little carried away at times... And... it does tend to junk up the thread a bit... I think... for the future... a modicum of restraint, on my part, might be in order... :cool2 It is all in fun though....really. Best regards, OCR....
wood gas Since Deas brought up wood gas I though I'd show you all some pics. The flame you see out of the small pipe comming out of the stove door is a wood gas flame. In the fire there is a canister made of steel pipe with threaded connections. One end is capped, the other is reduced to the size you see in the pic. A flame like that would last for 15 to 20 minutes then we had to refill the canister. The techinical term for what I was doing is called wood gassification. Basically I'm boiling the gas out of the wood with a very limited ammount of oxygen. The first stuff to come out of the pipe is steam as the wood is drying out. Then after the wood crosses the 400 degree point, wood gas starts comming, and with contiue up past at least 1200 degrees, but more than 800 is a waste of fuel, cause it doesnt produce any more gas or produce gas any faster. In the second pic, whats in my hand is everything that was in the canister to provide the flame shot. That stuff is not wood ash, but 100% wood charcoal. Acording to my brother the engineer... The chemical reaction produces enough energy for the charcoal produced by making wood gas to provide enough heat to gasify more wood. In other words its a continuing reaction producing wood gas and ash. What you get when you open air burn is all of this happening rather uncontrollably. Because it isnt being controlled, you get much more smoke, and more varried results. With gassification it is possible to burn sawdust in a safe and controlled manner. You can also burn straw, coconut shells, corn, hay, and much more. Wood gas is hydrogen based making it very difficult to bottle, due to pressure and heat buildup. Power wise its very simular to natural gas. You can even run a gas engine on the stuff if you get the fuel cleaned up right. Back in WWII sweedes used this fuel as a means of running trucks and tractors. They claimed about 80% power compared to gasoline. And thats about all I know. I'll know more if I can hook my ih c-200 power unit up to wood gas, but first I have to have enough parts to get my ih 2400a runnin again.
Read the question??????????? Hi, Roddyo. May I suggest that you go back and read my original post in answer to your query, especially paragraph 6. If you can get enough heat into a situation, pretty much anything will burn. Even steel will burn if you get enough heat into it and then apply a jet of oxygen to the site. (The principle behind the oxy-acetylene torch.) There are THREE requirements for combustion in most situations, fuel, oxygen and heat. The heat converts the fuel to a gas (if it is not already a gas) in a form that will burn and the oxygen aids the chemical reaction that we call burning. To extinguish most fires, you simply need to remove any one of the three from the equation. There may be a 'critical' period when decomposing vegetation has an 'optimum' quantity of gas contained within the fuel but I have never heard of this theory until you mentioned it. What I do know is that if you get enough heat applied to even quite green vegetation, most of it will convert to a gas and burn. I also know that this is true of even freshly flattened vegetation. It works far better when the vegetation is flattened simply because there is less space between the various parts of the fuel supply, making it easier for the heat to reach the next item, convert it to a combustible gas and ignite that gas. Hope this answers your question.
Gas producers. Hi, Stumpjumper83. Thanks for sharing. We had charcoal gas producers fitted to cars, trucks and tractors DownUnder during the PETROL shortages of WW2. I don't remember them but I have been told that they had similar efficiency to the Swedish rigs that you quoted, around 80% of running on PETROL. (PETROL = gasoline. LOL.)
Here, I mostly burn pines, oaks and sweetgums. The oaks and sweetbus burn pretty easy after a month or so, unless I already have a fire going, then they will burn right away. Pines are just about impossible to catch on fire. I've let them sit for months, and still couldn't get a good sized fire to get them to burn. The fire will just slowly die out and the pines turn black, or burn just a little on the surface. If I cut the pines into quarters, they will burn great after just a week. Exposing the grain is the secret, and the results are amazing. Eddie
I Guess the Server was Down Last Night Hi Deas, I agree completly with everything you said. I think burning Root Wads, Large Green Trees and Other Twisted Wood is more like melting a Chunck of Ice than a Rip Roaring Fire. The best thing you can do with this stuff is get it on a HOT Bed of Coals and hope it melts. I hoped this thread would turn into a how to manual of sorts. Such as I live here, this is what we have and this is how we Handle it. I currently have a large pile of Pine that come out of a yard that I'm going to have to deal with. We have Very little pine in County where I live, MAYBE 300 acres in the whole county which was planted by the CCC BEFORE WWII. This is a wood that I had no idea how to handle till the last post. I learned something from this thread, I hope everyone else does too. I got another question for you Deas, What do you think about starting a fire at sundown and burning at night? Do you think there is more Oxygen in the air at night than during the day? As always this question isn't just for Deas, what does everyone think?:usa
Quarting Pine Thanks for the reply Eddie, how do you quarter the pine?
Charcoal making That's a nice Charcoal maker there Stumpjumper, you wouldn't happen to be a moonshiner would you? :drinkup If so theres a Really Good Forum out of New Zealand you should read. :drinkup Have you ever made Charcoal using a cookie tin by punching a hole in the top using a nail?
Fires at night. Hi, Roddyo. This is another question that can have no definitive answer 'cos it varies so much from one area to another. A reasonable breeze is pretty much a must to get a fire going well and keep it going. In a lot areas in Australia, and I guess around the world, there may be a fair breeze during the day but it can often drop right away at sundown, leaving no wind at all to fan your fire. Other places can be the exact opposite. This can also vary within any given area from season to season and even from day to day. As to oxygen content being higher at night, I have no evidence one way or the other but, as I understnad it, it IS still the same atmosphere with pretty much the same percentages of the two main gases, nitrogen and oxygen, day or night. It is common knowledge that many plants 'breathe' in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen during the day and reverse the procedure at night. Just my 0.02.
Hi Deas Its nice to be on here at the same time, I really enjoy your post and try to read them all. I didn't know if you had much experence burning at night, I was just wondering what you thought about the idea. Thanks, Rod
Burning at night. Hi, Roddyo. When I am clearing - in areas where burning is still allowed - I usually try to light some piles early enough in the day to be able to stoke them up again before I knock off the day. That way, they will usually burn all night and often burn out to the point where I can marry 2, 3 or 4 piles into one. Also, getting them going during the day and having the chance to stoke them before knocking off quite often takes much of the timber out of the middle of the heap which gives me the chance to push the butts up onto the coals heap, thus getting more heat into them and helping them to burn out too. If the trees have been pushed into windrows rather than heaps, as is/was common DownUnder in heavy timber areas, the common wisdom was to drop all the trees the same way and push them into the windrow with the tops all facing the same way too. This left a great majority of the butts surrounded by a range of lighter pieces of timber which helped to both get the heat into them and keep it there. The more heat you can get into the butts, the sooner the dirt is likely to fall off them, giving you a better chance of getting them to burn out too. The snag with windrows, depending on how long they are and how far apart they are, is when they are burnt out to the point where there isn't enough timber left in them to sustain burning as a windrow. You then have to either break them into smaller heaps or marry two adjacent windrows. Neither task is a lot of fun, what with heat, dust, ash, smoke, etc., flying around. This is one of those tasks where air conditioning REALLY comes into its own. Bean thair, Dun thatt, got the T-shirt to prove it.
put them out: Hello Deas, I should have used the word "help"... right before, "put them out"... such is the case.... I don't have to. Believe me, I could tell that you had some type of experience/training... from the tenor of your post... :thumbsup Yes Deas, every year we have to take a refresher course called RT 130...RT stands for Recurrent Training ...LOL And we have to walk a mile , in a mandated amount of time... LOL Also, before you first sign up under an EERA... there's a two day course, that you must take, called... Basics of Wildland Fire Fighting-Standards for Survival. I think I posted a link some where, that goes a little more in depth. That's about all... other than don't roll rocks on other FF's, or run over your dozer boss (which has happened).... Of course!!!!... don't get burnt up.... Here's another link for you. http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/2008/lessons-learn/briefing-paper08-serious-accidents.doc OCR
Training. Hi, OCR. There was a fair bit of 'rebellion' in the volunteer fire service in New South Wales, Australia, around 1987-8 when they introduced new training guidelines. They 'hatched' a set of 8 basic training modules and 'everybody' was supposed to complete at least the first four before being allowed on a fire ground. There were people in the service who had been fighting fires for 20 and 30 years and probably knew way more about the game than the people giving the training. These people were, somewhat understandably, a little annoyed about being asked to do the training and eventually it was decided that a sort of grandfather clause would be inserted into the training requirement to cover these people. I was not one of the 'rebels' 'cos I had only been in the game for around 12 months at the time. Despite that, I was elected a deputy brigade captain, one of four in the brigade, at the second brigade AGM after I signed up. This entitled me to take charge of a fire in the absence of the brigade captain or any higher authority. God forbid??????????????????????????
Rt..... Deas, maybe roddyo would like RT to mean.... Return to Topic ??? LOL OCR....
roddyo, to answer the question of being an owner operator of a still used in the production of white lightening, moonshine, or any other illegial liquor, the answer is no. However, due to the location of were I was born and raised, I still know which tree to to leave a empty quart jar with a 10 bill in.... The purpose of my mini gassifier was to see if it actually worked. And I'm happay to say that the answer is yes. My overall goal is to make a wood powered electrial generator.
Topic???????????? Wottzzatt?????????? Hi, OCR. I would consider the disclosure of sources of information pertaining to the topic to be pertinent to the discussion. As you may be aware, there is another discussion going on at the moment in another section of these forums where blunt, unexplained statements have become something of an issue. I think it is good to see sources of information being disclosed here as it gives others the opportunity to check out those sources for themselves and maybe learn more in the process. Ist na goot???????????????????
There's no topic here Don't worry about me Guys, I'm all for friendly banter among friends. I'm not a firefighter so I don't have much to add on that topic. A few years ago a small town about 15 miles from me let their fire station burn down!
Fire station fire?????????????????? Hi, Roddyo. Was there anybody there at the time? If so, what were they on? LOL. Was it day or night? Was the fire station green or well-seasoned? Temperature at the time? Wind speed and direction? Any other relevant information? LOL.
burning at night It's usually cooler ,less wind and maybe a bit damp so there is less chance of the fire spreading if that is a problem ,as long as the fire is hot enough anything will burn. Years ago a bloke told me it was better to plough at night as the cooler air is denser than the warmer/hotter daytime air so for say a cubic meter of cold air there will be more oxygen than a cubic meter of hot air which makes the motor run better . Also (next question?) he mentioned the moon and its gravitational pull making the equipment lighter and the ground less dense!!!!????
I know that if the tree still has leaves on it, if you can leave it lay for just a day or so, the leaves will still draw moisture from the trunk. It works best if you can clear and grub in the winter when the trees are dormant, less moisture in them and they burn better.
Fire Station Burning Down Actually Deas it had been built 3 to 10 days before and there was still excess gas in the lumber.
Nice Tip Nice tip Pushcat, do you have anymore?
Fire Station Burning Down: Was the fire at night, and did the moon help pull the gas out??? OCR
Moonlite fire Now that you mention it I think it wasn't until Low Tide that they finally got it under control. I wonder if Deas feels another question coming on. :bash Hi Deas have you ever burned at High/Low Tide and if so could you tell any difference in the quality of the burn? LOL
Nice Tip# 2: Well, just another tip.... OCR
Sorry Digger I overlooked you post earlier. "Years ago a bloke told me it was better to plough at night as the cooler air is denser than the warmer/hotter daytime air so for say a cubic meter of cold air there will be more oxygen than a cubic meter of hot air which makes the motor run better ." I agree with this 100%, as a matter fact this is excatly why I asked about burning at night. Back in my farming days I used to run THE FIRST 7140 Magnum Tractor sold in this county. It had been turned up to 210 H.P. and was a Hoss. On a long day I would drive this tractor 15 or 16 hours. As the sun went down this thing would start gaining RPM, after about 2 or 3 hours of darkness in would have gained a tenth of a mile per hour.
Density Altitude: Take a gander a this... it's more or less what we're discussing. Most living pilots know about about density altitude. Don't worry about the equations... their only useful if the moon is involved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Density_altitude OCR
Lot's of good basic information so far. Here's a few more things I've stumbled upon over the years. The first thing I do in the morning is check the weather forcast for the day. I look at the hourly weather graph to see how much wind I'm going to get that day and what direction it's from. It will also show the approximate time when the wind will shift direction, like when a front passes or a pressure system moves. I'll start the fire on the upwind side so it blows into the pile. When the wind shifts I'll either start a fire on the other side or start piling it accordingly. Start the fire before you get a huge pile, easier to keep it pushed together to get yourself a good bed of coals. Once you get a good hot core going then you can pretty much add trees as fast as you rip them out. You may have to stop every once and a while to let the fire catch up a little, but that's a good time to clean up brush, fill stump holes, or eat lunch. Push her up tight at night, but leave some tops hanging out of the fire. In the morning, fold the tops around and back into the fire to get her going again. Like I said, I like to grub and burn in the winter. If you can keep the loader cat from dumping buckets of snow on the fire, it usually works really nice. Just remember that burning green trees you're not going to have a huge raging fire. In fact, it will probably look like the fire is about dead. But if you hear it popping and see the heat rolling off of it, it should still be hot enough to bake the moisture out burn pretty good.
Hot air Vs Cold air. Hi, Folks. There is something to this idea of an engine having more power at night than during the day but it doesn't have much if anything to with oxygen content, which remains pretty constant, day or night. The answer lies in the fact that the cooler, DENSER air at night allows the engine to pack more air into the cylinder for each firing stroke, thus allowing better combustion of the fuel, resulting in more power per stroke - not unlike the effect of having a turbocharger or supercharger on an engine. A slight increase in moisture content in the night-time air may also contribute to this effect as it also helps to slow down combustion and make the process more complete. In fact, there is a process called water injection that aims to achieve this exact same effect, although I can't recollect seeing any mention of that process for around 30 - 35 years.
I have seen stuff grubbed and piled for a year and still have a tough time getting it to burn. Oh ya, tree stumps can burn for days and days and days and need to be restarted time and again.
I've burnt a few brush piles during the last few years and have another one that needs burning. The one I burnt last winter was about 100 feet long by 50 feet wide and 15 feet high. Around here, it's mainly aspen, black poplar, and spruce trees. Since we live in the forest, the only time one is allowed to burn is in the winter when the snow is on the ground. Otherwise, one might burn down the forest and everything in it, which would cause big problems with the neighbors. I try to light the fires after the first snowfall but before there is too much snow on the pile. I don't know about burning a few days after dropping the trees and have never tried that. It may work well. From my experience, the drier the wood the better it will burn. Even rotten wood burns fairly well, at least better than green wood. Dirt in the piles causes a lot of problems with keeping the fire going. A lot of dirt sticks to the stumps and gets pushed in along with the trees. It usually takes a number of days to burn a large pile, and it requires a lot of pushing and repiling to keep the fire going. Wind does help, but there is not usually much wind around here. If diesel were not so expensive, I might pump a few hundred gallons on the pile before lighting it. But with my budget, that's not going to happen.
Water Injection: Of course, here's another link, Deas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engines) Water injection was very important for some of those big radials... rofessor OCR
SwapDog, Living in the Northwest, I can feel your pain! I too don't start burning until snow is on the ground. For one thing, DNR lifts alot of the burning restictions so that you can have as big, as many fires as you want and they don't have to be watched all the time. As far as getting them started, I take an old milk jug and cut a good sized whole (oppisite the handle) fill it with diesel, put it in the pile as far in as I can get it and as low as I cand get it, put some dry material around it, put a piece of paper in the whole and let it rip. After a few minutes I use a gas powered leaf blower to feed the fire and push the flames in the direction I want them to go. You might use a couple of tanks of gas in the blower but it will just desinigrate your pile. I usually have a hard time keeeping up feeding the pile with the dozer. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the tip, Axman. I'll have to look into getting a leaf blower!
Leaf blowers: Good thinking Axman,...... :thumbsup Of course... living in the Northwest... it comes kinda natural.... ... I know that in the southern part of the country... they use leaf blowers to make fire lines/breaks. More hardwoods there, and when the leaves come off in the late fall; if they get a fire, and it's just a creeper... they use blowers to clear a line by blowing the leaves back on the fire. I do believe it's one of there "necessary" tools. OCR
On fanning the flames. Hi, Axman. Interesting. It reminds me of the time I was clearing a 165-acre block of virgin bush with a Cat 941B track loader. If a heap was a little slow to get started after I had lit it, I would leave the loader parked facing the fir I had started in the heap with the bucket right up and the engine at about half revs or a bit better for 5 - 10 minutes. Blower fan.
Damn... ieSpell!!!! Their ... :bash... :duh.... OCR I know... it's the proof readers fault.... LOL
Build a gooooood fire!!! Now take your leaf blower, Axman.... and about 5 to 8 feet of plastic tube. 3/16 or 1/4 id... might have to experiment. Tape one end on the blower... with about an inch extending past the end, so it's in the air stream. Splice in a little valve of some kind, so you can turn it of and on. After you have the fire going... and have blown for a while... stick the other end of the tube in a can of diese....... I'll ponder this a while, I think... :cool2 OCR
Nice Tip. Have you ever Misted Diesel? Have you ever used a Pump Up Sprayer to mist Diesel into the Pile? I've thought about mounting a Aux. Fuel Tank on my Dozer and hooking up a Battery Powered Pump to some Spray Nozzles in front of my Radiator. Just nose your dozer into the pile and flip a switch. In theory it would be nice, in reality it might just be a more efficient way to burn a dozer. :beatsme I haven't been on here for a few days, I've been burning Piles. I did get a picture of my dozer nosed into the pile getting the fire started, The D6 works a lot better for this though. I haven't figured out how to post pictures on here yet so if you want to see it you will have to go to my Web Site. It will be a text link at the bottom of the jobs page. I think it's called "Burning Brush":drinkup
Nice pictures! I think the sprayer on the front of the dozer might be fun...risky but fun. As old as my dozer is it might be better to try it and collect on the insurance :drinkup
Just go to your local fire brigade and borrow a drip torch, then walk the entire perimeter of your stack and watch it go.
I'm a Little Slow Sorry guys, I'm a little slow. I got some pictures using the D4H to start a brushpile fire and punching them up at night. If I was smarter than I am I would have put a link directly to the pictures, but I'm not.:Banghead I thought about this a few days after I posted. ointhead So heres the link http://rodneyobrien.com/burning.htm I'm So Smark!!!!
Water-injected engines, and others. Hi, OCR. While checking out your link on water-injected engines, did you see this one? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crower_six_stroke
Roddyo, do you do food plot seedings as well?
Food Plots No Stumpjumper I'm not doing Food Plot Seedings at this time, just clearing them out. This food plot work is something I'm going to try to do a lot more of in the future. It will work good in my slow time 1st. June-1st. October. This summer I'm going to try to get into food Plot maintance. I'm going to try to by a skid steer with a bushhog for this, I can get a couple of attachments and use it in the clearing as well. These Deer hunters will spend from $1,000.00 to $5,000.00 a year on these places and there money is good.
I have found building the fire during low tide is much eraser then at high tide if you are on a beach. The brush floats away so there is no fuel to burn. Adding diesel does not seem to help much ether it just makes rainbows. You do get the same results by morning, the brush pile is gone, and so are the ashes. This can be used to your advantage if one is unable to attend the fire till it is out. Timing is the critical part though. If you have a large pile to burn use a piece of steel culvert or pipe as an extension for your leaf blower, and let it run that way you don't melt the plastic. Pipe can be much larger in dia. then the blower tube. I would use caution using a sprayer to apply diesel directly to a flame as it fuel is atomized and can burn much faster. possibly exploding in your face if applied to a hot spot.