Call your local tree service

WellSeasoned said:

I decided today to call 2 local tree services. The first one, I left a message, who I am, explaining that I am a wood burner, and if they got to busy, I would gladly swing over to the job and pickup any hardwoods. The second, no answer at all. A few hours later, the second place called me... caller I.D. I guess. Anyway, he was an elderly man, owner, and asked for my address and explained that when he is in my area, he will call, and then drop off any wood he gets. He even warned me that it could cause driveway damage when it is dumped and he didn't want to be liable. So any of you wood burners here, this its an option, just call your local tree service! Be well

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Yes, I have started doing that as well. I have talked to several tree service owners this year. I got two deliveries of oak from one of them, and the others promised to bring me some truck loads next year. I think its a great idea. Fortunately in my area, there are not too many woodburners (but a lot of trees), so most folks pay the tree companies to take the wood away and then they have to pay a landfill to take the wood. This is truly a win-win situation.

Im with Nate, most of the services near me sell any of the decent wood themselves, so its hard to get them to just drop it by for free.

The work-around for that is to talk with any of the crews that are working on clearing trees for the utility companies. Those tend to be from out of town, and they dont have time to work up the wood, so its easier for them to have a local spot to drop it for home owners that dont want the wood for themselves. Ensure that you get your wood by stopping by with a foam cooler full of gatorades, and you can be almost sure that you will end up with some stuff that you want, not just punky pine or limb wood.

I have never called . . . but with so many folks in this area burning wood . . . and the fact that I live in a rural area . . . and folks are cheap . . . I highly doubt the tree services in this area are hauling much wood . . . much less itching to give it away.

The one time a tree service came through trimming lines I mentioned that I burn wood . . . and the person who was working (also the owner) said that with the bigger stuff they always just leave it on the property since the majority of folks want the wood for themselves, family or friends.

WellSeasoned said:

and asked for my address and explained that when he is in my area, he will call, and then drop off any wood he gets. He even warned me that it could cause driveway damage when it is dumped and he didn't want to be liable. So any of you wood burners here, this its an option, just call your local tree service! Be well

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If this were me i would never get any. HAHA I live in a town of like 50 people, not sure i have ever seen a tree trimming truck for anything other than ROW trimming, one removal was at a church and it was a huge pine.

Im glad for you, i think this would be a great option for a surburban or urban burner as there are so many trees being cut and trimmed and they have to usually run outside of town to dump the stuff either at a dump, their shop, mulch site etc.

Clarkbug said:

Im with Nate, most of the services near me sell any of the decent wood themselves, so its hard to get them to just drop it by for free.

The work-around for that is to talk with any of the crews that are working on clearing trees for the utility companies.

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I don't know for sure but I think tree services here would have more than they want to deal with...there are some burners here but not a big percentage.
I talked to the County workers that were dealing with the big Pin Oak and they said to call their boss about getting wood dropped off. I may do that and tell him that if they're cutting in the 'hood, I'll take prime BTU wood like White Oak, Hickory, Mulberry, BL and Hedge. I have plenty of Red Oak types on the property, and we'll be knee-deep in White Ash when the borer gets here.

Most of them sell firewood here too but the current score I'm working on is a leftover from the tree guys and they said they should be in touch for more. Having it delivered is icing on the cake but no such luck for me.

Hi- I have had pretty fair results with tree service 'scores'. When the EAB was rampant here the tree many tree service types just couldn't afford the time, fuel, disposal fees, and gabling with being overweight to haul trees. It was simpler to dump them if they could do it without liability. It is a suburban area.

My nieghbor is older and has trouble foraging for wood, but he's home most of the time. He receives most of his wood this way. I get maybe 25% of mine this way.

Enjoy,
Mike

the one advantage to living in areas that have tree services....very rarely do we have crews come through our small town.

Don't know what it would be like here. Perhaps if they were working very local. All the dumps take yard waste for free. So these guys don't have to pay to dump, just the gas.

Another advantage of being an urban wood burner, not many burners in the city. I have two tree service guys that drop off when near and it is usually primo stuff. YMMV

Around here there are lots of trees and tree services, and many tree services sell firewood. Nevertheless many of them have more wood than they want to deal with at times. When they have a lot to remove from a site - more than a truck load - they don't want to drive back to their equipment yard, dump the wood, and return to the job. It may be easier for them just to dump the wood at a nearby woodburners house and get back to work. i think most of the money is in cutting trees, not in the firewood, so the more trees they can remove the better.

Some of the services here take the low quality stuff, if they have the yard room, and just pile it up. Then bring in a tub grinder and sell it as mulch.

WellSeasoned said:

...I would gladly swing over to the job and pickup any hardwoods.

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Because of liability issues, tree services are reluctant to give permission for others onto the job site. They'd much rather drop it off at your place.

its simple to get a tree service to drop you off all the wood you want.....have a future son-inlaw work for one !

Just look at my signature. Thats how I get all my wood. There are so many tree service guys here it ridiculous. Not all of them process wood so they have to pay to dump it.

I put a few sheets of plywood down when they dump or its even better when I get a boom truck.

This load was ALL oak. It did cost me a $100 since I didn't know them. I just stopped them on the road and paid them to follow me home!

I had a great Locust score this past Summer. Our local electric utility has been doing a whole bunch of trimming around their lines, using a major local contractor. Those folks doing the actual trimming were very nice. One crew member even stopped by my house around mid-day to let me know they had finished up early, about a mile up the road from me. They had tipped me off that morning about the wood, while doing a smaller job near my house, and I had stopped by late morning while they were still running their main operation as a 'hard hat area' (keep away while we're cutting). The result- about a cord and a half of very nice Locust, which I just got around to splitting about two weeks ago. Took me two trips with my 1 ton van to get it all. Seems a lot of these guys have zero interest in the wood, unlike some of the smaller wood cutting companies. They are perfectly happy to see it go to appreciative local wood burners. So it never hurts to ask.

I called two in the area with no response maybe ill call again

I had some trees cut down in April and asked the owner of the company about firewood. He said to let him know if I want some. He goes down his list of phone numbers when he has wood to get rid of and the first person who answers the phone gets it. He also said he doesn't give away anything he wouldn't burn in his own stove.