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#21
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 09:35:40 -0800, sms
wrote: On 1/21/2021 9:28 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Thu, 21 Jan 2021 14:39:37 -0800, sms wrote: Supposedly there's one place, about 200 miles from Jeff, that sells it. https://www.pure-gas.org/station?station_id=16121. The map shows more and closer stations in northern California: https://www.pure-gas.org/extensions/maps.jsp?statecode=CA There's one in San Ramon CA. I'll give them a call after I'm done with my deforestation project. Click on the details, it says that the San Ramon station no longer sells it. West Sacramento appears to have it. Thanks. Both the PC web page and the Android app both have a listing for San Ramon. Both suggest that anyone can remove a listing if non-ethenol gas is no longer available. I guess(tm) that nobody has bothered, which makes me wonder about the accuracy of the other listings. -- Jeff Liebermann PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 08:53:18 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote: On Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 9:21:26 PM UTC-8, wrote: On Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:47:29 -0600, AMuzi wrote: in re fuel- Yes I hear that complaint (& more) from small-engine owners regularly. Others just buy no-ethanol premium actual gasoline. I just bought a 1/2 gallon of Stihl pre-mix fuel for my best chain saw (Stihl MS180) for $16. That's 8 times the cost of automotive gas. Ouch: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/automotive-rv-and-marine/fluids-and-lubrication/lubricants/4000289 I'm getting tired of rebuilding carburetors every 2 years, even if I drain the tank and carb when storing the saws. Do you know any classic car or motorcycle gearheads/ They'll know where to buy gasoline. AVGAS is harder in that you both have to know someone and there's a security problem as well. Thanks. I know one of each type. I didn't think of asking and I'll give it a try. What I did exactly once was to remove the ethanol from the gas by adding an exact amount of water, shake well, let the water/alcohol mix settle to the bottom, and drain water/alcohol mix from the bottom of the bottle. I made about 3 gallons at a time. It was way too much work for just my saws. Instructional videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=remove+ethanol+from+gasoline I initially made a few mistakes which made the ethanol free gas run badly and still gum up the carburetor. However, the ethanol wasn't the problem. The additives in todays gas are just as bad or worse for the carb than ethanol. This video covers most of the problems with benzene and olefins: "The Truth About Why Gas Station Fuel Is Bad For Small Engines" (10:14) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvps2gF0Sdo At this point, I've given up and am buying expensive pre-mixed fuel. It is possible to make a carb diaphragms and gaskets that don't get hardened by ethanol. Maybe my next chain saw will be fuel injected or run on propane. You do understand that buy gas over the lifetime of that chainsaw at prices like that far offsets using regular gasoline and buying a new saw as yours wears out don't you? No, I don't understand because you didn't bother to provide any proof, references, or calculations to demonstrate your opinion. I typically buy used chainsaws and rebuild them, but we'll use new prices. My Stihl MS280 cost me about $200. Depending on the saw, I might burn through about 3 gallons of gasoline per year per saw or about $12/year in regular gas. Cost of the equivalent Stihl Motomix would be $96 in 1/2 gallon cans (because the shelf life of Motomix is only 2 years). Therefore, the difference in fuel costs would be: $32/year - $12/year = $20/year added cost for fuel. If I ran on automobile fuel and saved the $20 to buy a new saw, it would take me: $200 / $20 = 10 years to collect enough money for a new saw. If I throw in the $15 cost of a carb rebuild kit (including gas filter, air filter, gas line, etc) every 2 years with automotive gas, the break even time would be even later. Spending a little extra on Motomix to avoid downtime and carb rebuilds is well worth it. As for wearing out my saws, most of them are quite old: http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/chainsaw/ I've added more saws since the photos were taken. I've donated all the Homelite EZ saws in the photos. Two were running. I recall buying both new in about 1975 making them about 45 years old. Except for the lack of safety brakes, they would still be in use today. Ethanol became mandatory in gasoline around 2010. Neither of the two old saws required carburetor rebuilds until somewhat after 2010. Since 2010, I've rebuilt both carbs twice. I didn't want to do it again, so I donated the saws. Please don't tell me that old chainsaws wear out. I take good care of mine and they last for a long time. It's raining, so no chain sawing today. -- Jeff Liebermann PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Friday, January 22, 2021 at 12:39:55 PM UTC-8, wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 08:53:18 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich wrote: On Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 9:21:26 PM UTC-8, wrote: On Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:47:29 -0600, AMuzi wrote: in re fuel- Yes I hear that complaint (& more) from small-engine owners regularly. Others just buy no-ethanol premium actual gasoline. I just bought a 1/2 gallon of Stihl pre-mix fuel for my best chain saw (Stihl MS180) for $16. That's 8 times the cost of automotive gas. Ouch: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/automotive-rv-and-marine/fluids-and-lubrication/lubricants/4000289 I'm getting tired of rebuilding carburetors every 2 years, even if I drain the tank and carb when storing the saws. Do you know any classic car or motorcycle gearheads/ They'll know where to buy gasoline. AVGAS is harder in that you both have to know someone and there's a security problem as well. Thanks. I know one of each type. I didn't think of asking and I'll give it a try. What I did exactly once was to remove the ethanol from the gas by adding an exact amount of water, shake well, let the water/alcohol mix settle to the bottom, and drain water/alcohol mix from the bottom of the bottle. I made about 3 gallons at a time. It was way too much work for just my saws. Instructional videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=remove+ethanol+from+gasoline I initially made a few mistakes which made the ethanol free gas run badly and still gum up the carburetor. However, the ethanol wasn't the problem. The additives in todays gas are just as bad or worse for the carb than ethanol. This video covers most of the problems with benzene and olefins: "The Truth About Why Gas Station Fuel Is Bad For Small Engines" (10:14) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvps2gF0Sdo At this point, I've given up and am buying expensive pre-mixed fuel. It is possible to make a carb diaphragms and gaskets that don't get hardened by ethanol. Maybe my next chain saw will be fuel injected or run on propane. You do understand that buy gas over the lifetime of that chainsaw at prices like that far offsets using regular gasoline and buying a new saw as yours wears out don't you? No, I don't understand because you didn't bother to provide any proof, references, or calculations to demonstrate your opinion. I typically buy used chainsaws and rebuild them, but we'll use new prices. My Stihl MS280 cost me about $200. Depending on the saw, I might burn through about 3 gallons of gasoline per year per saw or about $12/year in regular gas. Cost of the equivalent Stihl Motomix would be $96 in 1/2 gallon cans (because the shelf life of Motomix is only 2 years). Therefore, the difference in fuel costs would be: $32/year - $12/year = $20/year added cost for fuel. If I ran on automobile fuel and saved the $20 to buy a new saw, it would take me: $200 / $20 = 10 years to collect enough money for a new saw. If I throw in the $15 cost of a carb rebuild kit (including gas filter, air filter, gas line, etc) every 2 years with automotive gas, the break even time would be even later. Spending a little extra on Motomix to avoid downtime and carb rebuilds is well worth it. As for wearing out my saws, most of them are quite old: http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/chainsaw/ I've added more saws since the photos were taken. I've donated all the Homelite EZ saws in the photos. Two were running. I recall buying both new in about 1975 making them about 45 years old. Except for the lack of safety brakes, they would still be in use today. Ethanol became mandatory in gasoline around 2010. Neither of the two old saws required carburetor rebuilds until somewhat after 2010. Since 2010, I've rebuilt both carbs twice. I didn't want to do it again, so I donated the saws. Please don't tell me that old chainsaws wear out. I take good care of mine and they last for a long time. It's raining, so no chain sawing today. Jeff, seriously now, do you go through chainsaws more than once every 10 years? Do you think that top grade gas has alcohol in it? Top grade Shell only has 5% ethanol. Do you really think that makes a measurable difference in the lifespan of a chainsaw motor? I think that you just made my point for me. The fact that you buy used and rebuild only makes the difference in cost of gas vs. cost of saw that much less. I have to say, I really don't know where you're coming from. The world operates in reality and not best wishes. Stumblebum Slocomb hasn't ever added one single thing to this group. Frank used to but long ago decided that he would give that up to attack me because I was self educated and was successful whereas he put a great deal of effort into his own education and was not. At least Jobst had the decency to be ashamed of the things he did because I corrected his actions riding with beginners and his coarse attempts at telling us how electronics worked. (Geez, like how difficult was it to understand adding the number of wheel circumferences and converting to miles?) Concerning FARMS - Looking at the national numbers of farms shows that most people have farms of 40 acres or less. In California when you registered land for a farm it was in 40 acre plots until the farm land started being used up and politics came into play. Also there was the case such as my cousin in Tracy who rents out her land to the neighbor farmer who has bought all of the automation to allow him to plant and harvest tomatoes. Then farmers resorted to buying up adjoining farms as people wanted less work which they could achieve in cities. Also there was the case such as my cousin in Tracy who rents out her land to the neighbor farmer who has bought all of the automation to allow him to plant and harvest tomatoes. Since you cannot plant tomatoes two years in a row, he plants and harvests other crops in between. In the old days that was hay (alfalfa) for the horses and cows - horses for pulling the farm implements and cows for milk and meat. Now it is usually other sorts of vegetable crops. And there isn't a large variety because to farm a crop you have to know how to do that. You don't see a 10 acre farmer growing Ginger because it isn't a crop that American farmers are familiar with. But winter and summer squash, nowadays peppers and bell peppers are very common as are cucumbers and lettuce which is an early season harvest. Meat cattle are ranched in the bay area still on 10 acre plots. Meat USED to be cleaned and skinned and sold to butcher shops but that has become mostly a large scale industry now but small local butchers are still in business. There is one I go to in Castro Valley. Another a mile away but he has too much competition with the supermarkets and now seals everything into plastic one-portion airproof heavy plastic casing. Farmers markets are, despite the morons around here, USUALLY farmers or their hands who are allowed to take a portion of the harvest to sell to augment their income. Yes, the prices are pretty similar to those of supermarkets and yes, the produce is generally the stuff that the supermarkets wouldn't buy because of irregularities but it is FRESH off of the farm and not something that has sat on the shelves for two weeks after the week it took to be trucked in and unpacked from the loading dock. They still have the old bar in Castro Valley that used to have a hitching post out in front of where the cowboys used to come into town on Saturday night to carouse. Now the hitching post is gone. And the lockdown probably put them out of business. There are not many large farms in California but there are a few. It used to be that the large one's farmed rice because the land doesn't farm potatoes well but that takes a lot of water and the cities now steal all of the California water. In the Great Plains coops and corporate farming over 100's of thousands of acres are common to grow vast amounts of corn and soybeans for the rest of the world and that VASTLY offsets so-called "average farm size". Corn is strictly a new world plant and yet corn such as polenta and tortilla flour are used ALL over the world. Are you people going to grow up some time? When I say that I came from a family that was dirt poor I'm serious. The farmers had dirt floors in their homes because they didn't have the money to raise them off of the ground. It was a ****ing luxury to have linoleum on the floor to keep your feet from getting dirty and keep clean sheets to sleep in and before you got your shoes on. |
#24
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 12:39:46 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote: On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 08:53:18 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich wrote: On Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 9:21:26 PM UTC-8, wrote: On Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:47:29 -0600, AMuzi wrote: in re fuel- Yes I hear that complaint (& more) from small-engine owners regularly. Others just buy no-ethanol premium actual gasoline. I just bought a 1/2 gallon of Stihl pre-mix fuel for my best chain saw (Stihl MS180) for $16. That's 8 times the cost of automotive gas. Ouch: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/automotive-rv-and-marine/fluids-and-lubrication/lubricants/4000289 I'm getting tired of rebuilding carburetors every 2 years, even if I drain the tank and carb when storing the saws. Do you know any classic car or motorcycle gearheads/ They'll know where to buy gasoline. AVGAS is harder in that you both have to know someone and there's a security problem as well. Thanks. I know one of each type. I didn't think of asking and I'll give it a try. What I did exactly once was to remove the ethanol from the gas by adding an exact amount of water, shake well, let the water/alcohol mix settle to the bottom, and drain water/alcohol mix from the bottom of the bottle. I made about 3 gallons at a time. It was way too much work for just my saws. Instructional videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=remove+ethanol+from+gasoline I initially made a few mistakes which made the ethanol free gas run badly and still gum up the carburetor. However, the ethanol wasn't the problem. The additives in todays gas are just as bad or worse for the carb than ethanol. This video covers most of the problems with benzene and olefins: "The Truth About Why Gas Station Fuel Is Bad For Small Engines" (10:14) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvps2gF0Sdo At this point, I've given up and am buying expensive pre-mixed fuel. It is possible to make a carb diaphragms and gaskets that don't get hardened by ethanol. Maybe my next chain saw will be fuel injected or run on propane. You do understand that buy gas over the lifetime of that chainsaw at prices like that far offsets using regular gasoline and buying a new saw as yours wears out don't you? No, I don't understand because you didn't bother to provide any proof, references, or calculations to demonstrate your opinion. I typically buy used chainsaws and rebuild them, but we'll use new prices. My Stihl MS280 cost me about $200. Depending on the saw, I might burn through about 3 gallons of gasoline per year per saw or about $12/year in regular gas. Cost of the equivalent Stihl Motomix would be $96 in 1/2 gallon cans (because the shelf life of Motomix is only 2 years). Therefore, the difference in fuel costs would be: $32/year - $12/year = $20/year added cost for fuel. If I ran on automobile fuel and saved the $20 to buy a new saw, it would take me: $200 / $20 = 10 years to collect enough money for a new saw. If I throw in the $15 cost of a carb rebuild kit (including gas filter, air filter, gas line, etc) every 2 years with automotive gas, the break even time would be even later. Spending a little extra on Motomix to avoid downtime and carb rebuilds is well worth it. As for wearing out my saws, most of them are quite old: http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/chainsaw/ I've added more saws since the photos were taken. I've donated all the Homelite EZ saws in the photos. Two were running. I recall buying both new in about 1975 making them about 45 years old. Except for the lack of safety brakes, they would still be in use today. Ethanol became mandatory in gasoline around 2010. Neither of the two old saws required carburetor rebuilds until somewhat after 2010. Since 2010, I've rebuilt both carbs twice. I didn't want to do it again, so I donated the saws. Please don't tell me that old chainsaws wear out. I take good care of mine and they last for a long time. It's raining, so no chain sawing today. But, one might ask, does one have to have a chain saw? My grandfather cut all the wood necessary to heat his house through a New England winter by hand... Average low temperature December - February = 10 degrees(F) It only takes time. And think of the exercise that one gets and everybody knows that exercise is good for you :-) -- Cheers, John B. |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 15:35:31 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote: Jeff, seriously now, do you go through chainsaws more than once every 10 years? What does "go through" mean to you? If we limit the replacements to engine related failures, my guess is that I've replaced two saws in about 50 years due to engine failure. Homelite XL12 and a Stihl 010AV. Both failed when I loaned a saw to a friend, who somehow managed to either forget to put oil in the gas, or didn't add enough. In one case, I didn't bother fixing the saw and just sold it for parts. In the 2nd case, I tore it apart, cleaned off the piston, replaced the rings, and polished the cylinder to remove the scoring marks. Compression was on the low end of acceptable (120 psi) but it ran ok. Does this fit your description of "go through" or would you prefer that I add various mechanical failures, like dropping the saw from a tree? Do you think that top grade gas has alcohol in it? Top grade Shell only has 5% ethanol. Did you think that there's only one top grade of Shell "premium" gas? Try to be specific. Shell sells several top grade fuels in US. There's V-Power, V-Power 93, and Shell 91. In Canada, there's V-Power Nitro+ and Clearflex, each with radically varying amounts of ethanol. https://askinglot.com/is-there-ethanol-in-shell-premium-gas Kindly pick out the one where you found 5% ethanol. You might find this handy for calculating the minimum percentage of ethanol required in California gasoline: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/fact-sheets/gasoline-frequently-asked-questions How much ethanol is in the gasoline I buy in California? Currently most gasoline contains 10 percent ethanol by volume. I can't decode the minimum percent ethanol required with the information given. However, you should have no problem grinding the numbers to substantiate your claims. Do you really think that makes a measurable difference in the lifespan of a chainsaw motor? That's odd. You previously mumbled: You do understand that buy gas over the lifetime of that chainsaw at prices like that far offsets using regular gasoline and buying a new saw as yours wears out don't you? If you now claim that using ethanol in has no effect on the life span of the chainsaw motor, then I could use some help. Could you translate your assertion into something that I can understand? Do you include carburetor failure as part of motor life span? Does detuning the carburetor with "gum" deposits constitute a motor life span failure? I again suggest that you watch this video: "The Truth About Why Gas Station Fuel Is Bad For Small Engines" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvps2gF0Sdo (10:14) It explains a few things about how various additives (not just ethanol) in your fuel can damage your chainsaw. I think that you just made my point for me. Umm... what was your point? I think we were discussing L&M Urban headlights. Oh wait... Jay mentioned he had to fix the carburetor on his leaf blower. Andrew suggest I try to buy ethanol free fuel from classic car and motorcycle enthusiasts. I replied that I've tried removing the ethanol. You jumped in and declared "You do understand that buy gas over the lifetime... etc", without any substantiation. You then went on to announce several "facts". Now, please tell me, which point did I make for you? The fact that you buy used and rebuild only makes the difference in cost of gas vs. cost of saw that much less. You didn't read my calculations. I indicated that I was using the new price of my Stihl MS180 as an example. To be more specific, I did buy this saw used if you consider having about 1 hr of operation sufficient to be considered used. A customer returned the saw to the dealer in obviously used condition after mangling the bar and chain. The dealer gave me a substantial discount. I replaced the 0.043 narrow bar and chain with a more standard 0.050 gauge. Good as new methinks. Total cost was about $175 vs $200 for new. Feel free to recalculate using whichever number you might less offensive. (Note: I screwed up in my previous posting. My saw is an MS180, not an MS280). I have to say, I really don't know where you're coming from. The world operates in reality and not best wishes. True. Best wishes living in the reality of your own creation. The rest deleted because it had nothing to do with whatever topic we're currently discussing. Please start a new thread and refrain from using my postings as a launching pad for your attacks on others. Incidentally, I visited the local hardware store today: http://www.scarboroughlumber.com They usually have about 12 Stihl chainsaws on display and about 10 more in the back room. Almost all of them had been sold including the back room stock. The only Stihl chainsaws left were two arborist saws, which were not really suitable for clearing large trees. Oddly, the nearby Husqvarna display still had all 12 saws on display. Apparently none had been sold. Methinks there's a lesson here. Also incidentally, I overhead a customer ask the clerk if they had any MERV 13 furnace filters. They didn't and probably won't for a very long time. It seems that MERV 13 furnace filters use the same polypropylene filter material as N95 masks. https://www.airfilterusa.com/commercial-industrial/air-filter-media/face-mask-filter-media https://www.homedepot.com/s/merv%252013%2520air%2520filter?NCNI-5 Notice that Home Depot is out all MERV 13 filters. -- Jeff Liebermann PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 08:53:25 +0700, John B.
wrote: But, one might ask, does one have to have a chain saw? I still have 3 or more bow saws, somewhere. I also have 2 axes, 2 splitting mauls, and a several wedges. I used them for a while when I moved into my house in the woods in 1973. I was 48 years younger, in far better condition, and more than willing to do stupid things. My first year was a disaster. I was barely able to collect about a 1/4 cord of soaking wet or green dead fall. I couldn't drop even a small tree with axe, rope, wedge, sledge, and sweat. Even the pot belly wood burner that came with the house was useless and leaked. I ended up buying a cord of "seasoned oak", which turned out to have been cut and split a few days before, from the biggest firewood crook in the valley. Fast forward about 4 years, and I bought a proper wood burner: http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/wood-burner.jpg bought a not so proper used chain saw (Homelite XL12), got some friendly instruction on how to use it, but didn't quite live happily ever after. Since I was gone to work for 5 days per week, the heating requirements were only for evenings and weekends. Two cords per year were sufficient. The problem was I couldn't produce 2 cords on my limited time of only weekends. That was compounded by owning a series of automotive maintenance headaches, that required that I spend some time under the car every weekend. I could barely do a cord. So, I cut some, and bought some firewood. I could not have done it without a proper chain saw. I'll just briefly mention that I was more interested in fixing and rebuilding chain saws than using them. This worked out nicely since the local tree butchers would leave their saws with me in Jan-Feb (the wettest time of the year here) and leave for Hawaii, while I took some time off from work to rebuild their chainsaws. Of course, they paid me with seasoned dry firewood. I'll confess to making a few big mistakes, but survived. Incidentally, most of my neighbors followed in my initial footsteps. The first thing almost everyone does when they move into the neighborhood is buy a chainsaw. They then attempt to cut, split, and stack a cord or more of firewood. The next year, they buy their firewood from a dealer and the chainsaw gets stored in the garage. After about 4 years, they try to start the saw, which invariably refuses to start. If it's not crud in the carb, or sawdust in the air filter, it's 3 year old gas in the tank, which is mostly water. So, guess who buys their almost new saw for peanuts? My grandfather cut all the wood necessary to heat his house through a New England winter by hand... Average low temperature December - February = 10 degrees(F) Yeah, I know. He probably also walked 5 miles to school in a blizzard. In my area, it used to drop below freezing about 10 days per year. This year, it hasn't gone below about 45F (7.2C). Welcome to climate change. The only good part is I don't burn as much firewood. It only takes time. I retired at the end of 2020. Before that, it was mostly work full time during the week and recover on weekends. When I worked for wages, spare time had to be stolen. When I worked for myself, spare time had to be stolen from myself. So much for the benefits of self-employment. Firewood (delivered but not stacked) is currently $450/cord. After this weeks storm, my guess is I have about a cord or more on the ground. It was much easier to work a few extra days for money, and buy my firewood, than to spend the same amount of time sawing firewood. And think of the exercise that one gets and everybody knows that exercise is good for you :-) That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. Exercise is for the fit. With several major medical conditions, I'm not even close to fit. However, I do try, which is why I was dead tired yesterday. -- Jeff Liebermann PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On 1/23/2021 3:13 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 08:53:25 +0700, John B. wrote: And think of the exercise that one gets and everybody knows that exercise is good for you :-) That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. Exercise is for the fit. With several major medical conditions, I'm not even close to fit. However, I do try, which is why I was dead tired yesterday. Sadly, I'm aware of an increasingly delicate balance. Exercise is necessary but it's now easy to overdo it. And the limits on "overdo" grow tighter every year. :-/ Keep moving! -- - Frank Krygowski |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:13:48 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote: On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 08:53:25 +0700, John B. wrote: But, one might ask, does one have to have a chain saw? I still have 3 or more bow saws, somewhere. I also have 2 axes, 2 splitting mauls, and a several wedges. I used them for a while when I moved into my house in the woods in 1973. I was 48 years younger, in far better condition, and more than willing to do stupid things. My first year was a disaster. I was barely able to collect about a 1/4 cord of soaking wet or green dead fall. I couldn't drop even a small tree with axe, rope, wedge, sledge, and sweat. Even the pot belly wood burner that came with the house was useless and leaked. I ended up buying a cord of "seasoned oak", which turned out to have been cut and split a few days before, from the biggest firewood crook in the valley. Fast forward about 4 years, and I bought a proper wood burner: http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/wood-burner.jpg bought a not so proper used chain saw (Homelite XL12), got some friendly instruction on how to use it, but didn't quite live happily ever after. Since I was gone to work for 5 days per week, the heating requirements were only for evenings and weekends. Two cords per year were sufficient. The problem was I couldn't produce 2 cords on my limited time of only weekends. That was compounded by owning a series of automotive maintenance headaches, that required that I spend some time under the car every weekend. I could barely do a cord. So, I cut some, and bought some firewood. I could not have done it without a proper chain saw. I'll just briefly mention that I was more interested in fixing and rebuilding chain saws than using them. This worked out nicely since the local tree butchers would leave their saws with me in Jan-Feb (the wettest time of the year here) and leave for Hawaii, while I took some time off from work to rebuild their chainsaws. Of course, they paid me with seasoned dry firewood. I'll confess to making a few big mistakes, but survived. Incidentally, most of my neighbors followed in my initial footsteps. The first thing almost everyone does when they move into the neighborhood is buy a chainsaw. They then attempt to cut, split, and stack a cord or more of firewood. The next year, they buy their firewood from a dealer and the chainsaw gets stored in the garage. After about 4 years, they try to start the saw, which invariably refuses to start. If it's not crud in the carb, or sawdust in the air filter, it's 3 year old gas in the tank, which is mostly water. So, guess who buys their almost new saw for peanuts? My grandfather cut all the wood necessary to heat his house through a New England winter by hand... Average low temperature December - February = 10 degrees(F) Yeah, I know. He probably also walked 5 miles to school in a blizzard. In my area, it used to drop below freezing about 10 days per year. This year, it hasn't gone below about 45F (7.2C). Welcome to climate change. The only good part is I don't burn as much firewood. Nope, I only 1 mile :-) My father attended the only school in that part of the village and it was only about 1 mile from the old homestead :-) I've seen the foundation of the school, all that's left and it was a 1 room school with 1 teacher. But he actually did cut all the wood necessary to heat a two story, two family house all by himself. He owned what was called a "wood lot" up on the hill near the old family properties and cut and split the wood and trucked it down to the house with a Model A pickup. It took on the average about a month but as the season's chickens had been sold, snow was on the ground, and nothing happening until spring, what else was there to do? It only takes time. I retired at the end of 2020. Before that, it was mostly work full time during the week and recover on weekends. When I worked for wages, spare time had to be stolen. When I worked for myself, spare time had to be stolen from myself. So much for the benefits of self-employment. Not to disparage your efforts but my father worked in the Post Office 6 days a week and still had time to "farm", well with the help of two pre-teen kids and a wife. We always had a cow and two pigs as well as enough chickens to supply eggs and an occasional Sunday dinner. Firewood (delivered but not stacked) is currently $450/cord. After this weeks storm, my guess is I have about a cord or more on the ground. It was much easier to work a few extra days for money, and buy my firewood, than to spend the same amount of time sawing firewood. And think of the exercise that one gets and everybody knows that exercise is good for you :-) That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. Exercise is for the fit. With several major medical conditions, I'm not even close to fit. However, I do try, which is why I was dead tired yesterday. -- Cheers, John B. |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On 1/23/2021 5:22 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:13:48 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 08:53:25 +0700, John B. wrote: But, one might ask, does one have to have a chain saw? I still have 3 or more bow saws, somewhere. I also have 2 axes, 2 splitting mauls, and a several wedges. I used them for a while when I moved into my house in the woods in 1973. I was 48 years younger, in far better condition, and more than willing to do stupid things. My first year was a disaster. I was barely able to collect about a 1/4 cord of soaking wet or green dead fall. I couldn't drop even a small tree with axe, rope, wedge, sledge, and sweat. Even the pot belly wood burner that came with the house was useless and leaked. I ended up buying a cord of "seasoned oak", which turned out to have been cut and split a few days before, from the biggest firewood crook in the valley. Fast forward about 4 years, and I bought a proper wood burner: http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/wood-burner.jpg bought a not so proper used chain saw (Homelite XL12), got some friendly instruction on how to use it, but didn't quite live happily ever after. Since I was gone to work for 5 days per week, the heating requirements were only for evenings and weekends. Two cords per year were sufficient. The problem was I couldn't produce 2 cords on my limited time of only weekends. That was compounded by owning a series of automotive maintenance headaches, that required that I spend some time under the car every weekend. I could barely do a cord. So, I cut some, and bought some firewood. I could not have done it without a proper chain saw. I'll just briefly mention that I was more interested in fixing and rebuilding chain saws than using them. This worked out nicely since the local tree butchers would leave their saws with me in Jan-Feb (the wettest time of the year here) and leave for Hawaii, while I took some time off from work to rebuild their chainsaws. Of course, they paid me with seasoned dry firewood. I'll confess to making a few big mistakes, but survived. Incidentally, most of my neighbors followed in my initial footsteps. The first thing almost everyone does when they move into the neighborhood is buy a chainsaw. They then attempt to cut, split, and stack a cord or more of firewood. The next year, they buy their firewood from a dealer and the chainsaw gets stored in the garage. After about 4 years, they try to start the saw, which invariably refuses to start. If it's not crud in the carb, or sawdust in the air filter, it's 3 year old gas in the tank, which is mostly water. So, guess who buys their almost new saw for peanuts? My grandfather cut all the wood necessary to heat his house through a New England winter by hand... Average low temperature December - February = 10 degrees(F) Yeah, I know. He probably also walked 5 miles to school in a blizzard. In my area, it used to drop below freezing about 10 days per year. This year, it hasn't gone below about 45F (7.2C). Welcome to climate change. The only good part is I don't burn as much firewood. Nope, I only 1 mile :-) My father attended the only school in that part of the village and it was only about 1 mile from the old homestead :-) I've seen the foundation of the school, all that's left and it was a 1 room school with 1 teacher. But he actually did cut all the wood necessary to heat a two story, two family house all by himself. He owned what was called a "wood lot" up on the hill near the old family properties and cut and split the wood and trucked it down to the house with a Model A pickup. It took on the average about a month but as the season's chickens had been sold, snow was on the ground, and nothing happening until spring, what else was there to do? It only takes time. I retired at the end of 2020. Before that, it was mostly work full time during the week and recover on weekends. When I worked for wages, spare time had to be stolen. When I worked for myself, spare time had to be stolen from myself. So much for the benefits of self-employment. Not to disparage your efforts but my father worked in the Post Office 6 days a week and still had time to "farm", well with the help of two pre-teen kids and a wife. We always had a cow and two pigs as well as enough chickens to supply eggs and an occasional Sunday dinner. Firewood (delivered but not stacked) is currently $450/cord. After this weeks storm, my guess is I have about a cord or more on the ground. It was much easier to work a few extra days for money, and buy my firewood, than to spend the same amount of time sawing firewood. And think of the exercise that one gets and everybody knows that exercise is good for you :-) That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. Exercise is for the fit. With several major medical conditions, I'm not even close to fit. However, I do try, which is why I was dead tired yesterday. And through the 1960s farmers felled trees for sale off the ridges with horses & chain once the snow was deep enough for that work. Except for a break in January when tobacco is cased, there weren't big time demands in winter. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
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Attention Electronics Experts: L&M Urban
On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 10:54:01 -0600, AMuzi wrote:
On 1/23/2021 5:22 PM, John B. wrote: On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:13:48 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 08:53:25 +0700, John B. wrote: But, one might ask, does one have to have a chain saw? I still have 3 or more bow saws, somewhere. I also have 2 axes, 2 splitting mauls, and a several wedges. I used them for a while when I moved into my house in the woods in 1973. I was 48 years younger, in far better condition, and more than willing to do stupid things. My first year was a disaster. I was barely able to collect about a 1/4 cord of soaking wet or green dead fall. I couldn't drop even a small tree with axe, rope, wedge, sledge, and sweat. Even the pot belly wood burner that came with the house was useless and leaked. I ended up buying a cord of "seasoned oak", which turned out to have been cut and split a few days before, from the biggest firewood crook in the valley. Fast forward about 4 years, and I bought a proper wood burner: http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/home/wood-burner.jpg bought a not so proper used chain saw (Homelite XL12), got some friendly instruction on how to use it, but didn't quite live happily ever after. Since I was gone to work for 5 days per week, the heating requirements were only for evenings and weekends. Two cords per year were sufficient. The problem was I couldn't produce 2 cords on my limited time of only weekends. That was compounded by owning a series of automotive maintenance headaches, that required that I spend some time under the car every weekend. I could barely do a cord. So, I cut some, and bought some firewood. I could not have done it without a proper chain saw. I'll just briefly mention that I was more interested in fixing and rebuilding chain saws than using them. This worked out nicely since the local tree butchers would leave their saws with me in Jan-Feb (the wettest time of the year here) and leave for Hawaii, while I took some time off from work to rebuild their chainsaws. Of course, they paid me with seasoned dry firewood. I'll confess to making a few big mistakes, but survived. Incidentally, most of my neighbors followed in my initial footsteps. The first thing almost everyone does when they move into the neighborhood is buy a chainsaw. They then attempt to cut, split, and stack a cord or more of firewood. The next year, they buy their firewood from a dealer and the chainsaw gets stored in the garage. After about 4 years, they try to start the saw, which invariably refuses to start. If it's not crud in the carb, or sawdust in the air filter, it's 3 year old gas in the tank, which is mostly water. So, guess who buys their almost new saw for peanuts? My grandfather cut all the wood necessary to heat his house through a New England winter by hand... Average low temperature December - February = 10 degrees(F) Yeah, I know. He probably also walked 5 miles to school in a blizzard. In my area, it used to drop below freezing about 10 days per year. This year, it hasn't gone below about 45F (7.2C). Welcome to climate change. The only good part is I don't burn as much firewood. Nope, I only 1 mile :-) My father attended the only school in that part of the village and it was only about 1 mile from the old homestead :-) I've seen the foundation of the school, all that's left and it was a 1 room school with 1 teacher. But he actually did cut all the wood necessary to heat a two story, two family house all by himself. He owned what was called a "wood lot" up on the hill near the old family properties and cut and split the wood and trucked it down to the house with a Model A pickup. It took on the average about a month but as the season's chickens had been sold, snow was on the ground, and nothing happening until spring, what else was there to do? It only takes time. I retired at the end of 2020. Before that, it was mostly work full time during the week and recover on weekends. When I worked for wages, spare time had to be stolen. When I worked for myself, spare time had to be stolen from myself. So much for the benefits of self-employment. Not to disparage your efforts but my father worked in the Post Office 6 days a week and still had time to "farm", well with the help of two pre-teen kids and a wife. We always had a cow and two pigs as well as enough chickens to supply eggs and an occasional Sunday dinner. Firewood (delivered but not stacked) is currently $450/cord. After this weeks storm, my guess is I have about a cord or more on the ground. It was much easier to work a few extra days for money, and buy my firewood, than to spend the same amount of time sawing firewood. And think of the exercise that one gets and everybody knows that exercise is good for you :-) That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. Exercise is for the fit. With several major medical conditions, I'm not even close to fit. However, I do try, which is why I was dead tired yesterday. And through the 1960s farmers felled trees for sale off the ridges with horses & chain once the snow was deep enough for that work. Except for a break in January when tobacco is cased, there weren't big time demands in winter. Not too much tobacco north of Massachusetts, but you are right, not much to do in the winter except feed the chickens and milk the cow(s). The state fairs all used to have a section for "winter farm work" although I don't remember that they called it that. I remember watching "nail making" and cedar shake splitting, all gone today and probably nobody was actually doing it as "work" even in those days but it was sort of interesting to see just how self relent the "old folks" really were. -- Cheers, John B. |
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