How far do you drive for wood?

Zero. I am the epitome of the Jersey scrounge.

Most of my scrounge is just down the road. But someone in town is letting me take as many Maple and Ash trees as I want off of his 120acre lot 8 miles from here. BUT! Everything else up here in the sticks is hours away! I'm always driving just to get a prescription (Last Friday... 125 miles RT) Or to grocery shop and go to Menards (this week, 145 miles RT)

Within about 15-20 minutes of home.

10-20 minutes from the house but I would go further if I had to.

Not far at all. Nowadays I mostly get it dropped by a tree guy anyways

I don't like going too far because my trailer is lightweight, and my truck is a 94 bronco. If I had a big dump trailer and a superduty, I might go farther since I could get more in one trip. As it is now, I make lots of smaller trips so I really don't like going more than a few miles from home

I haul everything with a minivan pulling a 1500# max trailer. I can't get much in a load so I don't go far. i've been lucky to get everything within 3-4 miles, and I probably wouldn't go more than 10 miles away.

That would depend on the type of wood and how easy is it to get. Of course how bad you need/want it. I try for no more than a 1/2 hr away.

30 minutes which seems like a long way, but I can be home again in 3 hours with a full cord of wood that I can burn right away, so for me it's worth it. I'll drive further for easier to access wood.

I have driven half an hour a few times, more because I had time to kill and felt like getting exercise than out of any necessity. Most of my current stacks came from one source about 3 miles away, and my last couple of scrounges were on my own street.

As Lumber Jack points out, how far you can economically go depends on your hauling equipment. It takes me five or six trips to move a cord (old station wagon, no trailer) so faraway scrounges make no sense when time and vehicle costs are considered. Fortunately I live in an urban area with lots of trees and few burners; supply is high and demand low. If I wasn't so picky I could probably get tree services to drop the stuff off for free.

Another zero here....unless you mean my tractor.

Best thing to do is ask around. The worst they can say is no

I go maybe 5 miles for good wood that is bucked and accessible. Too many scroungers in these parts. Most times a CL ad of free wood is picked clean in an hour or two. gotta be on your toes to get the good stuff!

Studdlygoof said:

I've heard several people talk about getting tree services to drop off wood at your house. How to go about setting that up?

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I haven't done it, but a month or so ago I heard chainsaws down the block and went to inquire about the wood. The tree service taking down my neighbor's tree was happy to give me that wood, and one of the guys immediately asked how much I burn in a year and offered to drop off more when cutting in the area. It makes a lot of sense here, given how many trees come down and how few people burn them; giving the wood to me would be cheaper than paying to dump it somewhere.

On the other hand, I don't have a hydraulic splitter or space to store oodles of wood. I have to be picky; a big load of poplar or elm could cause me all sorts of headaches. I also don't like doing a lot of cutting at home because my neighbors are so close. So for now I prefer to go out, buck on site and take only what I want.

19 miles right now ( one way )
1/2 cord of dead standing red oak per trip

Guy in town with a processor buys up all the landscapers hardwood cut.
Only wood you'll get free from a landscaper here is pine or stumps.

Studdlygoof said:

I've heard several people talk about getting tree services to drop off wood at your house. How to go about setting that up?

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Yep, you see them working and you ask. I've been getting log loads from a crane guy for years. Hooked up with him when he was taking down some trees on the street behind my house. Another time I had a guy knock on my door asking if I wanted the wood when he was working my neighbors. I still get wood from him too.

Studdlygoof said:

Thanks for the tips fellas. Just called a local tree guy and he said he has a bunch of wood on his property i could have if I come load it from left over jobs. Best part is he is only 5 miles up the road. Score

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Make a friendly offer to let him drop wood at your yard in the future.

Studdlygoof said:

Title pretty much says it all. Having a hard time coming across any wood lately and would like a couple more cords ready to start drying. Everything I am finding is 1+ hr away. Just wanted to see want the consensus was on the limits of your search area.

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Like everything else in life, the gathering of firewood depends. Real life example: I have a place I can cut firewood any time I want that's about 25 minutes away. The problem is that I have to fall/buck/limb once I'm there. It takes a good day to get a cord in the back of my truck. If I can drive an hour, load for an hour, and drive back I'm out only 3 hours and only one of that was work.

I think "How accessible is the wood?" is a better question than "How far do I have to drive for it?"

50 miles each way. My parents live in a wooded area and have a 12 acre property. There are enough downed trees to heat my house for a life time. We have an 80's 1-ton dumptruck that does the hauling/plowing/working. It holds about a cord loosely thrown in.

If I didn't see my parents often it wouldn't be a great idea. But since I'm down there every 2-3 weekends it just makes sense to drive the dumptruck back and forth. Three times a year and I'm set for the season.

Bigg_Redd said:

I think "How accessible is the wood?" is a better question than "How far do I have to drive for it?"

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Good point. I've driven 45 minutes before because I could back my truck right up to the wood. There's dead standing trees in my own woods that would take more time to get because I'd have to hike it out by hand.

I can cut plenty of wood right here in the yard of the house we bought in late 2012. The former owners wanted a woodland experience - but there's too many trees growing too close to the house for safety. Not only that, many of these are hickory and the mice and squirrel populations around here are out of control as a result. I don't even need to drive for that stuff - but it's handy using the truck to load and unload when I'm able to do so without tearing up the lawn.

Here's a couple of recent pics - looking out the sliders in the living room onto the front yard and the side yard.

There's probably 3 cords of hard wood that I can knock down right into the yard. ..too bad there's even more that I can't - unless I want to buck them in our pond :/

That hickory right alongside the deck chair is one that needs to come down - to the left of that picture are 4 more hickories, an oak, a black birch and a maple - all of which are too close to the house. On the other side of the deck is another hickory - even larger and then there's a beech that's really big. They both have to come down.







Other than that we've got 11 acres of woodland about 35 minutes away. I can drive my truck right into the woods on a dirt road that runs through about halfway. But I think I'll concentrate on the wood in my yard for the next couple of years.

I keep it under ten miles but wood is plentiful here. I will go get types of wood I don't have, or don't have much of here, like quick-drying soft Maple, BL, etc. I'm also trying to get several household ahead on their stacks, so close, easy pickins are attractive.