True Blue Sam the Travelin' Man: February 2023

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan, Zeke and I visited the B & O Museum in 1999. Somehow, we missed this catastrophe when it happened. The restoration is remarkable.

David aka True Blue Sam

Simons Museum is a great place that Merle found. Some of their videos are on Instagram, some are on Facebook, and some are on YouTube. Trying to get an embed code that works from Facebook or Instagram is an exercise in futility, but here is a good one from YouTube! Thank You, Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

Look Quick! Something is always waiting to get you. Wear your personal protective equipment when you are running a chainsaw. Even for little stuff! Watch how it knocks the chain off the bar.

Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

NYMR SR S15 Number 825 Greene King in the Snow Many Thanks, Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

Thank You, Merle! Idle for nearly fifty years. Click the YouTube logo to read the writeup.

David aka True Blue Sam

You don't find many Barn Fresh engines nowadays, but this is a good one. Always undercover, and he has it running in short order.

David aka True Blue Sam

There is some dramatic video here! These very likely are due to failure of seals in turbo or superchargers, allowing lubricating oil to be blown into the combustion chambers.

David aka True Blue Sam

We have been getting nighttime photos of a canine for many months, and at first I thought it might be a coyote, but it's a dog. A coyote would not be so predictable. We finally got a daytime photo, courtesy of one of our hunters. It's a happy little fellow. Now we need to find the owner. He isn't causing any problems other than marking on the dog yard fence, which really sets of our dogs when they go out.

David aka True Blue Sam

Thank You, Merle! This is a great look at a show that I have not been to!

David aka True Blue Sam

Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

Great stack talk, and plenty of smoke. Thank You, Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

Cumbres and Toltec 484! Thank You Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

Tap your file down frequently and brush it to knock chips out, and replace it when it no longer cuts well. File straight, so your top edge is correct. Watch your side angle. You should be pressing straight into the gullet as you stroke. Run your file too high and your chain won't cut well. Run it too low and the teeth will be grabby. Check your depth gauges so you get a good bite.

David aka True Blue Sam

That wonky wood between the forks is a tough nut to crack if you split by hand. Work your way around it to save your breath and frustration. Better yet, get a hydraulic splitter before you wreck your elbows!

David aka True Blue Sam

I am really shocked by the moisture content of these trees. We have been checking them after splitting and they are running 15%. We can put them right into the stove and they light and burn. We are hoping to store a bunch of this wood in the barn as a hedge against emergency wood cutting!

I am glad to have good weather for a few days. I was back in the woods to drop more ash trees. We got a load home, split it and stacked it, and checked the moisture. These trees are running 15% moisture right off the stump, so we are stacking at the house and saving the dry wood in the barn. The 359 began misbehaving, not wanting to idle down, and I found that a bunch of dust from these dry trees was under the cover. I blew it out and then the throttle would click back to idle.

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

The Rio Grande Southern built these in the 1930s. Thanks for spotting, Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

This morning we had a vet appointment, then we stacked wood. I went back to the woods, cut another load, brought it home, and we split and stacked it. We checked the moisture content of the ash trees we are cutting, and they are right at 15% from the stump. Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

I hope all of our Internet friends have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Thank You for visiting!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Dramatic! Many Thanks, Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Today we took Toby to Lambert Field in St. Louis to meet his new papa. Toby was a quick turnaround, with just two weeks in our home. Midwest Schipperke Rescue made Toby a Lifer because of his age; there was no adoption fee. The kind people who adopt rescued dogs are special, and become like family to the foster parents. We have adopters as far away as Denver, Houston, Detroit, Chesapeake Bay, Chattanooga, and now Florida. Good People!

David aka True Blue Sam

Steam Wins, Steam Wins! Thank You, Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan and I are both hoping that she is done with surgeries for a while. She had her eight week checkup at the Bonutti Clinic in Effingham, and her knee checked out just fine.

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

When I was working in Kentucky, many of the loggers had an odd method of match cutting the trees they felled, and they usually called it stump-jumping. Match cutting is used in bucking logs and making pruning cuts. You make a cut on the compressed side until the kerf begins to close, and then you cut on the tensioned side, causing the two sides to part. It is not a good idea for falling a tree, though many do it. A match cut gives the tree no guidance and it will fall where gravity and wind take it. The idea of the method they called stump jumping was to create a V match cut on the stump. The V is supposed to act like a knee joint and let the tree fall with a bit of guidance.

I have watched this cut being made and there is little that is predictable about the path the tree takes. It can pop sideways, spin, or jump back. A hinge is a darn important safety device when you cut a tree. It guides the tree in the direction you want it to fall and it keeps the butt of the log anchored to the stump until hinge failure when the face cut closes.

I was surprised to see this reminder of a bad idea in McLeansboro the other day. Maybe this ash tree was taken down from the top and this was just part of the final cleanup. I hope so, but I have seen that many of the bucket truck tree trimmers do not understand the safest ways of falling a tree.

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

This looks to be a 2-stroke engine with a crosshead, and the displacement cylinder is the tail end of the power cylinder, much like the Bessemer oilfield engines. This guy is seriously in need of blocking, but I bet he has that figured out! Many Thanks, Merle, for spotting this one!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Toby came to us just a couple weeks ago and he will be moving on to a new home in a few days. He's an old boy at 14, and his people had to go to assisted living, and he came into Midwest Schipperke Rescue. He might be a Schip mix, or a Pom; we are not sure. He is a good little boy and will adjust well to a new home.

Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Courtesy of our spotter, Merle. Many Thanks, Merle!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Merle found a really good channel with engines we have never seen. Is it in Russia? I don't know, but I am sure someone will know. The channel has fewer than 100 subscribers, so click over there and help them by subscribing. Many Thanks, Merle!