This isn't machine related but I thought yall would find it interesting....
This summer I was trying out my weed burner for the first time as a weed burner and not just as a flame thrower. I went along my covered parking area and quickly whipped the fire over a weed that was at the base of one of the columns. The columns are wood 1x10s wrapped in aluminum. I only had the fire on the base of the column for a second, and then it was really about 8" out in front of the column not even that close.
Anyway I went on around the house burning weeds, when I came back around the corner the whole column was smoking. I went running grabbing the water hose and yelling at my wife, I ripped the aluminum off the column and tore off the wood. What I found was interesting and explained how I managed to catch it on fire so easily.
This photo shows lots of dead bird skeletons and skulls. The columns apparently had a hole in the top and the baby birds were falling into the column and dying. I had been constantly fighting the bird nests on the columns. There were a couple adult birds in there too. I ripped the other columns aluminum and wood off also, one was empty, one had birds like the first one, and the last one had two live birds in the top of the column, and two bats, the bottom had 3" of bat poop...wasn't expecting that.
My wife said that she wanted the columns wrapped in cedar instead of the aluminum. I am not a wood worker by any means but I am also cheap so I am going to try to wrap them. I was able to get a good deal on some cedar 1x8s. I have 50 of them, there are 16 posts around the house, only four on the garage though.
Tonight I planed 50 1x8x10' boards and she also wants an eave entrance built over the house main door. I have some 4x4s for this I planed these also.
I got a Dewalt 435 planer on marketplace for the price of a 434, it was new in the box but had a hole in the box, I think it was a lowes reject due to the hole in the box. I had never used a planer before. Here are the before and after pics of the pile of wood.
It was definitely a good workout for the first use of the planer.