[St. Phatty]

About 2 months ago I used my truck to remove some blackberry plants near my house.

One thing led to another and I acquired more conventional tools.
Living on the edge of wild forest, I had a lot of combustible material to remove.

Sticks, tree branches, blackberry 'bouquets' (measuring 10 feet in diameter, 30 feet around) ... growth that had 5 to 20+ years to do its thing.

3 acres worth.

500 to 800 pounds of dry material - every 100 square feet.

1 to 10 burn piles a day - for 2 months.

Now I'm almost done. One pile of debris in the forest was right on the border. I cleaned half ... then got permission from that neighbor to do the whole pile.

Then the neighbor on the other side gave me permission to clear some of his land, e.g. highly flammable brush right next to a large redwood deck ... where I grow pot. Don't want that to burn until the right moment !


That big fire up in Canada is perhaps giving me some incentive.

If we ever have an event like that in my neck of the woods, I want the fire to get to the edge of our cleared out section (right now spans 4 rural properties) and sort of say, "oh, nothing to burn ... could be boring".

At first I was moving like a Yuppie who uses his truck to remove blackberries.

Today I will be using a weed eater with a string attachment to cut long grass. I realized that I need to cut the grass before it gets dry, so that I have some time to burn part of it ... and I don't know how many days are left before we can't burn any more.

I was actually hoping to compost a lot of the grass, but that means being realistic about my ability to keep the pile moist during the summer months. Will probably burn 2/3 of it and compost 1/3 of it.


I hear about the Indians. Some tribes really focussed on controlled burns. Heard about a tribe in Montana that would spend all winter long doing controlled burns, with no modern tools.

I hear about the American approach to fire-fighting. In some cases, that means first county and then state employees sitting there and watching the fire, till it grows to 100 acres, so they can get federal funding.

That has me seriously concerned and I am trying to get more info.


I was a witness to the Oakland Hills fire, in the early 90's. I used to do 'ghetto-walking' as a sport ... would take BART to West Oakland, and walk to Berkeley, as an example.

Just happened to be walking that route that day. In the morning, the fire was a tiny dot and smoke plume in the distance, 5 to 10 miles away.

I kept walking. The sky grew black. By the time I got to Telegraph, the fire was burning dormitories at Berkeley, 2 blocks up, with flames averaging about 20 feet high.


OK got to go start today's outdoor work.

[_tessarecting]

One time I paid a guy to install a gate. The property was right next to a huge dry field with a park nearby..He was cutting some metal. Sparks lit the grass. I heard the man scream FIRE! I ran out and saw a patch burning away...I was able to stop it with a hose. I'll never forget it. I would have gone down hard.

Good work you're doing

[PoweredByLove]

Lol ghetto walking... Were you ever accosted?

[St. Phatty]

Originally Posted by PoweredByHaters

Lol ghetto walking... Were you ever accosted?

Only time I was mugged, I was walking on Geary, near Masonic, in SF.


Right now I am inside waiting for something to correct itself on the weed-whacker.

"Got to let it drain because it's flooded".

Not sure that is the diagnosis, but you can only pull the handle so many times.

On a 2 cycle engine that uses oil mixed in with the gasoline ... that's what I'm using.

[PoweredByLove]

did you flip the choke handle to cold start>?

[St. Phatty]

Originally Posted by PoweredByHaters

did you flip the choke handle to cold start>?

I have 2 settings for Choke, on and off.

I normally start it with Choke on.

"Choke valves are generally used in naturally aspirated engines with carburetors to supply a richer fuel mixture when starting the engine."

More fuel Less air when starting .... hmmm.


Then, there is a little button that you press, to load fuel - I think into the carburetor.


In any case, the most scientific answer I've been able to get is ...
* a neighbor with a Stihl 85 is like a grown up version of Baby Touch & Go on that show Heroes.

He can touch it, pull the chain, push the fuel loading button, toggle the choke ... but can't explain how he just made it run.


* "it needs to rest" (like a person).

This is my own observation. Besides setting it to choke off and pulling the chain to burn off fuel to get it to an un-flooded condition, the only common element among the times when people have gotten it to work was ... it sat for 15 minutes because I wasn't getting it started.


I can go with that. It's sort of like Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance.

[mayorofthdesert]

A cold start needs a more fuel-rich mixture, that's what a choke does,restricts oxygen & allows more gasoline. You're flooded (the spark plug is wet, the elctricity travels through the moisture instead of across the gap and will not spark until it's dry) Turn the choke off & pull until it fires once (this way you're pulling in more air, less fuel & will dry it off) when it fires it's dry, turn the choke back on & it should start up. You could pull the plug & dry it off yourself but it shouldn't be necessary. Letting it sit will allow the fuel to drain/evaporate off the plug as well.

[noyd666]

ha, like my older lawn mower.