Made friends with a Tree Service man... would you pay $30 for this load of white oak?

I wont pay anything for wood. Thats what scrounging is all about. I get all my wood in the city which i live in. Go to new subdivisions and start cutting dead trees. Never had a problem with anyone asking me what i was doing . People r lazy this day and age. Its must easier to flick a swith. Most people prolly think im crazy. However whos the crazy one who doesnt get a massive gas bill at the end of the month

40.00 is a nice gesture toward a great load of premium oak. Dropped off on your doorstep?
Did he offer to guess what the cordage might be?

I don't like to pay for wood either, but like you say, no muss, no fuss, and it is White Oak, the King of Woods.
Might be like half a cord there....

Yup....

RockyFordOak78 said:

No guess on the cordage. I will get it split and stacked soon, but this weekend I have another scrounge lined up for some maple. I paid the extra $ for goodwill gesture in hopes that he just starts dropping some off every so often even if I am not home. I did ask him to be on the lookout for some Ash or Maple to get me some faster drying wood.

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Totally worth it. You've now got a second set of eyes working for you. No CL calls, getting there too late, and if this guy knows what's good for him, he'll hook you up with the best. Goodwill *does* have a value.

Yes it is nice you paid him something....but as Bart said, the dumps would have charged him at least that to dump it so.......

I'm not going to venture to start estimating what the market price is for unsplit wood in your area, but considering you didn't have to lift a finger, gas up your truck or hook up your trailer, drop a tree and haul it out of the woods, delimb it and clean up the mess, load it on said truck/trailer and haul it back to your place...it was worth the $40.

You paid as a good will gesture ?......that $$ was well spent, there will likely be more, bigger loads coming your way

I think you did great. I had a guy dump off logs at my house from the acreage he was clearing. He dropped me off about 14 cords of red and white oak for $700. That's a lot of scrounging! I too, usually scrounge, and will continue to do so, but it was nice scoring a big load and not having to cut it up, carry to my truck, load my truck, drive home and take it out of the truck. Only then to split and stack. I've got a yard to get ready, painting to do, a roof that needs to be done, a pool to clean, etc. I think you made a good connection RockyFord. Not only that, you saved some scrounging. Nothing wrong there, I'm sure your punch list of things to do is long enough!

Get it split and stacked so you can estimate what you paid per cord then you'll know what you're willing to give next time. If you paid more than you would want you can nicely tell him how much you actually got out of it. He may not be very good at estimating what a log load amounts to once split either but most likely he knows what's fair for a cord and will make it right on the next load.

On a side note I don't assume it's always a total win for the tree service. Even if they have to pay to dump you're asking them to drive into a residential neighborhood, gently leave the good stuff and keep the garbage vs going to a dump that is located and designed to handle large vehicles where they can quickly dump whatever they have and go home, ready for the next day. This after a full day day doing pretty hard work. I would expect to pay a few dollars to make it worth their while.

By the way, I'll guess you have close to a cord there. Maybe not a full cord, but close. For the money, you did fine.

Beer Belly said:

You paid as a good will gesture ?......that $$ was well spent, there will likely be more, bigger loads coming your way

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+1

I don't pay for wood, but if I could get someone to bring me logs of good hardwood dropped in my yard, I would consider it. No loading, no brush, no gas to go get it.

And in the end, it could lead you to bigger scores. That is the real payoff.

Yuuuup!!

My time is worth money too. I'm not out actively seeking wood to pay for, but if there's enough of it, and they don't want much for it, I'm sure we could make something work.

Good score....goodwill toward soneone goes a long way...i see more wood in your future...if you do become friends...more the better...my guess is a little less than 1/2 cord...

After not being able to get out and cut this winter, due mostly to lousy weather, I've started buying wood. Current guy is delivering a truckload of rounds at 18" - 20" lengths for $100, each truckload being something over a cord. I have a lead on something cheaper, but there's nothing wrong with buying wood. If your time is worth nothing, then scrounging might be for you. With my schedule, I figure $100 is a mighty cheap way out of a day's work, so I can spend my time splitting or playing with the kids.

Ugh..time worth nothing?....not hardly....just because we scrounge dosent mean our time means nothing...its fun...just another hobby...just like buying ammo for my rifles...i can do it but id rather make it....no offense

It's great to scrounge, heck, we all do it! But if you re weighed down with lots of other things, or, if you re trying to get a year or two ahead on your wood supplies, it doesn't hurt to have someone drop some logs off for a decent price. I scrounged all of my wood for next year, about 7 cords, but when I ran into this guy with about 14 cords of oak logs, and he wanted $700, I couldn't pass it up. That will get me 3 years ahead on wood. Now when I scrounge, which I always do, it will all be bonus wood!

That sounded differently than I intended it. I felled and/or scrounged at least a dozen cords per year myself, in the previous two winters. This year, schedule and weather prevented it, so I bought. I think the OP did okay for $30.

Bagelboy said:

Maybe not a full cord, but close.

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Yeah, looking at it more, I'm thinking my initial guess of 1/2 is going to be a little low....more like 3/4.

Bagelboy said:

when I ran into this guy with about 14 cords of oak logs, and he wanted $700, I couldn't pass it up.

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That was a deal in my book.

jatoxico said:

vs going to a dump

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Maybe I should hook up the trailer and set up shop at the entrance to the landfill. "Hey you, with the load of Shagbark....over here." The ownership might frown on that, though.

Joful said:

I think the OP did okay for $30.

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What about $40?