What to do with to much wood?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Gboutdoors said:
gzecc you are some what right I don't want to pay someone to give them wood. I do have a friend that has a tree service and have used him in the past to take down some trees my wife and I felt were to close to the house after we built it so don't mind paying for that service. He came in dropped the trees and left them for me to clean up and burn. The trees I am talking about are in the woods and are way more than we can use up before they start to rot.

I have had offers by the processor that cleared our lot for us to pay us for the wood and lumber ( this is the same one that cut next door to us) but I am not out to sell it or have the mess that they leave. I was thinking along the lines of helping someone out that needed wood as I said I will pull it out with my equipment. I did not think that letting someone get all the wood they could need for personal use with me doing the hauling and the cleanup would be a bad deal but I guess I am from an older school.

That being said I think I will go the giving it away to needy families in the area route. But if there is anyone on the site here that might want to contact me about cutting some in the S.E.Mass area contact me. And Happy holidays to everyone.
Click to expand...

How are you doing all the work? If you were doing all the work you wouldn't need help. Funny, you think the wood is so valuable, but not valuable enough for you to do all the work, but should be for some one else and only get half of their labor.
Free firewood is usually not free. Trailers, saws, splitters, injuries, equipment breakdowns etc. If its rounds available for easy pick up, scroungers will take it. If they have to cut and carry it becomes too much work and no longer worth it for most. Remember, your oak needs at least a year to season. After its split and stacked.
 
Wow gzecc did I pee in your cherrieos or some thing :) I have had two people contact me about getting some of the fire wood so some are not looking for free wood but willing to work for it. And if you can read you must have seen that I did NOT ask for someone to come in and do ALL the work but 50/50 and using all my equipment and my land. Is it valuable to me yes but I guess not to you so be it. In your own statement I have lots of money in the tractor, splitter, chipper. Happy Holidays to all
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applesister and milleo
I missed the part about you also cutting and splitting. Then I can see a 50/50 split. A friend of ours keeps talking about heating with wood but he doesn't have the space to process, nor ANY of the tools, so we were thinking of offering to have him scrounge as well and bring it here and we'd help cut and split if he left some.

In our (failed) deal that I mentioned that was kind of like what you're proposing, he was to skid it out so he could minimize possible liability and we'd have to buck, haul and split. He uses pallet pieces for his stove, and didn't want any of the pine, go figure. If you pull decent stuff you should be able to find someone that wants in no problem, if you're skidding it out then helping buck and split. Just as long as whomever you're working with is safe with their saw, sounds like a good deal to me.
 
gzecc said:
How are you doing all the work? If you were doing all the work you wouldn't need help. Funny, you think the wood is so valuable, but not valuable enough for you to do all the work, but should be for some one else and only get half of their labor.
Free firewood is usually not free. Trailers, saws, splitters, injuries, equipment breakdowns etc. If its rounds available for easy pick up, scroungers will take it. If they have to cut and carry it becomes too much work and no longer worth it for most. Remember, your oak needs at least a year to season. After its split and stacked.
Click to expand...
He said he didn't want to see it go to waste so he's offering a great deal, if I lived a bit closer I'd happily take you up on it.
 
Gboutdoors said:
Wow gzecc did I pee in your cherrieos or some thing :) I have had two people contact me about getting some of the fire wood so some are not looking for free wood but willing to work for it. And if you can read you must have seen that I did NOT ask for someone to come in and do ALL the work but 50/50 and using all my equipment and my land. Is it valuable to me yes but I guess not to you so be it. In your own statement I have lots of money in the tractor, splitter, chipper. Happy Holidays to all
Click to expand...
I apologize, I guess I am just sensitive, always reading CL ads for free firewood that's still in tree form. So many people think their wood is so valuable. Its probably worth <$50 a cord in tree form.
 
Oak is going to need much more than 1 year to dry after split & stacked. Closer to 3 to be optimal
 
I am burning oak in my very finicky TL 300 right now that I cut down in July and split and stacked. These trees have no bark on them and have been dead for 4-5 years standing. I will have to get a moisture meter and check them out but I tell you they are DRY.
 
I thought there may be some labor involved, but there are some long posts on this thread.

I don't mind bringing my saw to buck, but taking down a tree on someone else's properly is risky.
 
I'm interested PM sent.
 
I have had oaks stand for 10-15 years dead and when they came down that wood was as good as the day it died for burning after being seasoned.
If you want it out without the mess you can get them out in 8' sections with you tractor and then just bid it out to a forestry company for the $$ and all they have to do is pick it up in your determined location without them going in and messing up your woods.
 
Forgot, check your state laws, here in WI if money or the value is less than $2,000 in exchanged goods/services state law protects you from law-suites of allowing people to recreate on your property. .
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applesister
If it was my problem to solve, I would get the downed trees to a landing. And pay someone to come in with a processor and have a machine buck and split the pile all at once.
Then I would sell the wood. Oak sells for $300.00 a cord here. If it seems daunting I would find another person who was interested in partnering the labor and costs of renting a processor.
Go backwards and contact the machinery sales or manufactureres and find who they have sold equipment to.
These machines are designed to be portable. Find out what an operator and rent costs for 2-3 Days.
 
Most people are lazy and only want the finished commodity. So....SELL it to them.
I would go into the firewood business for a year if all my trees came down at once.
 
I not sure where this thread is going. But, if you are giving away free wood I want in on it. Just cut and split 3 cords and USPS it to me. It can be mailed by the split of in a lump sum. It doesn't matter to me.
 
Ive found it hard to give wood away unless its cut evenly to size split dry delivered and stacked…..well almost that bad. Some people assume if the tree is available and I don't want it it has zero value and they expect me to have tractor loader and likely a saw big enough since they bring a homeowner poulan with a bad chain and old gas. The other issue is the non firewood part of the job…limbing and stacking limbs so it can be moved or burned. Plus cutting in the timber requires some skills around felling the tree, in the right place and knowing how to drop those tough ones plus having the tools like 4-6 good felling wedges, an axe to drive them and personal protection equipment. That is the most difficult thing because you as the landowner don't want to sees someone hurt or tear up their equipment. Some species are inherently difficult and down right dangerous…hedge is a bad boy with odd growth, lots of small branches intertwined and thorns top to bottom

Lots to consider before you offer it up with no good intel on the other folks ability and skills.
 
I know that I would be more than happy to help out a land owner if he pulled log length wood out of his woods to and easy to reach landing for me. I might even be willing pay him a few bucks or do some cutting for him if he could load my truck. I sooner give money than do splitting for him though. Its already almost too much work for me to split my own wood.
A few years ago I hooked up with a guy who used his excavator to load my old flatbed with Oak that he cut on his property. He was just happy to have somebody take it away for him.
 
mass_burner said:
I don't mind bringing my saw to buck, but taking down a tree on someone else's properly is risky.
Click to expand...

I agree. We've dropped trees on other people's property on occasion, but it was usually to help them out. We have helped out neighbors a few times, once even before we bought this place so we ended up hauling the wood/brush to the road for him too (our old neighbor, rest his soul, was trying to cut a storm damaged tree with a handsaw...and it was a big maple, not some sapling). Another was all boxelder, but it was an older couple that had their son there trying to help with a pole saw. We did leave them one tree we wouldn't touch, it was between two houses and some electric wires. He ended up paying a guy from the electric co to do it as a side job and he had to climb it and drop it piece by piece.

In fact, we have the tools to do it, but we'll be paying a service to drop a big ole maple at our Old House because it's close to the house, street and wires. We'll keep the wood, but it's just better left to the pros with bucket trucks and guys that'll climb it!!
 
eclecticcottage said:
I agree. We've dropped trees on other people's property on occasion, but it was usually to help them out.
Click to expand...
+1 that, I will help out friends and family to remove wood from the property after it has been cut down or blown over. I will take the wood and they get a clean yard.
 
Gboutdoors said:
I know no such thing but hear me out. We bought 22 acres of pine,oak,and maple forest land to build our new home 4 years ago. We have a Harmand TL300 stove heating the house nicely and have used 3-4 cord per year.

Just before we bought the land there was a bad winter mouth infestation then some other beetle the next spring, this killed and or weakened 200+ of the oaks. The dead oaks are standing most with no bark and very dry. These are what I have been cutting and stacking but also have many oaks and pines that have been blown over in the past 2 years with all the wind storms we have been having.

I find that I could not cut or use all these trees before they start to rot. So how do I go about getting someone into cut the trees and maybe split the wood fifty /fifty with me hauling it out after it is cut. I don't think I want a wood processor in here with a skidder trashing the woods.

Would I be opening my self up to trouble if someone came in and got hurt cutting wood? Looking for some direction as I hate to see the wood I can't use go to waste
Click to expand...

Here are some options

1) Cut what you can and let nature take it's course on the rest

2) Ask around. Maybe you actually know someone who burns wood and they'd help clear your detritus for free.

3) I have no further suggestions

4) See #1 and #2
 
Thanks all for the replies. I now have 4 people that need wood or would like some so I think we can get most of what may go bad cut up and used before that happens.

I also have had a very lucrative offer to purchase what I can't use but I really am not that intrested in selling at this time. I may even get a small processor for my own use and sell 10+ cords a year to keep up with it. I have looked at the Waleinstine unites and they look very good and I have one of their chipper/ shredders for the tractor and love it. Anyone here have any suggestions as to what to look at.

Now for the next problem we have WAY to many deer on the property anyone want to come and help me thin the heard. Just kidding I can handle the deer just fine.
 
Find some trustworthy people who need the wood and will do a good job. Lots of people burn but don't own woods and would love an opportunity like that. If I was your neighbor I'd be all over it.

That is how I get my wood. People I know like to keep their woods cleaned up. I come in and take care of it. The wood does have to be accessible. My brother in law and I just took out a bunch of ash trees that were dead. All they were doing was holding back other growth. Most were close to the edge of the woods. In a day and a half we felled 50-60 ash trees that the owner had marked. We were able to drag all the tops and branches out and burn them. No mess left. The only way you would know what had happened is the stumps. We stack it all nicely and I'll take my splitter back there and go to town on it and get it hauled out of there.

No sense in letting it rot if there are good, courteous people out there that could use it.
 
But speaking of rot...
One must always be on the lookout for the bad apples.
Craigslist is a great example of the cross section of our current society.
In some cases its better to leave the trees to nature.
And Im speaking of 2 different rots here.
 
Applesister said:
But speaking of rot...
One must always be on the lookout for the bad apples.
Craigslist is a great example of the cross section of our current society.
In some cases its better to leave the trees to nature.
And Im speaking of 2 different rots here.
Click to expand...

For sure. But there are still a lot of good people out there. Especially in small town USA.
 
I've spent 4 days of the last 6 doing exactly what your offering. 2 to 4 hours each day. This is on a farm I hunt on. The farmer brings out a loader tractor with forks on the bucket. We have cleaned up several acres now. The farm gets perfect logs for their wood mizer saw mill, I get all the firewood and we burn the rest. We are cleaning it right up. All debris get burned. We all win. This is predominantly ash thanks to the emerald ash borer. I've hauled out 4 loads like that one and.have a load or 2 stacked there. Imo this is well worth the effort but I can haul more wood in one load than most.
 

Attachments

  • 20131213_155029.jpg
    20131213_155029.jpg
    496.6 KB · Views: 100
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

stoveliker
How much did you burn this year
Replies
44
Views
2K
The Wood Shed
sirlight
S
Dajolu
How much wood will I need?
Replies
13
Views
1K
The Wood Shed
Wildflush
W
D
Anyone know this wood?
Replies
8
Views
688
The Wood Shed
30WCF
30WCF
D
Free scrounge but should I take it?
Replies
16
Views
2K
The Wood Shed
sneefy
sneefy
M
Small woodlot management
Replies
4
Views
738
The Wood Shed
EbS-P
EbS-P
Top Bottom
Back