First scrounge ever

can't beat free wood. all wood I see, especially at work that is free for the taking (mainly scrap 2x4's).... is dollar signs. free heat. i'll burn anything...

ps - if i had a chain saw and a pick-up, i'd never be home. i know so many people with downed trees .... the addiction would be too great to ignore.

Welcome to the addiction

Cornflakes said:

ps - if i had a chain saw and a pick-up, i'd never be home.

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There both easily attainable. Get a beater truck for like $2k. And a nice saw for like $600. In a couple years, you'll make that money back.

tylorklein said:

So my dad heated with wood growing up but I just recently caught the bug and only yesterday got my bk installed. I have a few acres of trees to thin (mostly boxelder) but nonetheless couldn't resist a cl ad for free word only five miles from work. Had the wife's car since we had a wedding to attend but filled it up pretty good. Dad told me it was worthless since its all pine but I shared the knowledge I've learned here and he was willing to listen albeit skeptically. Hard to see but I filled every square inch of the suv and she humored my excitement the whole way home...

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Looks like someone might need a truck in the near future

Even a 5X8 trailer only costs around $600. Put some walls on the sides and you can haul half cords in it. Much cheaper than a truck. You dont wanna trash yer wife's SUV carrying wood. My father wrecked his car seats doing that.

Pennsyltucky Chris said:

Even a 5X8 trailer only costs around $600. Put some walls on the sides and you can haul half cords in it. Much cheaper than a truck. You dont wanna trash yer wife's SUV carrying wood. My father wrecked his car seats doing that.

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That's alot of weight for a car to be towing though. Might take the tranny out

tylorklein said:

Yeah I actually have a titan for hunting, etc. so that's the better hauler of course but since we were at a wedding we had her car. Not a good habit for sure but I cleaned it all up this morning and now her car smells a bit like Christmas...

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Lol oh I see. That a good smell

tylorklein said:

Yeah I actually have a titan for hunting, etc. so that's the better hauler of course but since we were at a wedding we had her car. Not a good habit for sure but I cleaned it all up this morning and now her car smells a bit like Christmas...

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You definitely have the firewood bug. Not sure I would have loaded up the wife's vehicle, I get enough grief when I get the truck hogged up hauling wood.

It is a good addiction to have. I have a toy truck, frontier and I pull a 8 foot home made trailer. Go to a farm store and get your saws. I got my 2 Husky's for less than 600.00 , a 455 rancher and a 16 inch. Just watch for sales. The trailer I got at a auction for 30.00 and put all new wiring and a new floor. I got less than 150.00 in the trailer. It can be done if you watch for items cheap.

husky345 vermont resolute said:

That's alot of weight for a car to be towing though. Might take the tranny out

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It's an SUV. My lil Ford Ranger can tow a half cord of red oak in a 5X8.

That pine will burn just as good as the box elder and you cannot beat free wood. I burn it all.

Nice looking wood but if I put that in the back of my wife's '02 Z71 Tahoe, I believe she'd actually kill me.

If you build a sawbuck so you can cut them up easier those little guys will do fine as stove wood.

Imagine a rack about 8 feet long. About knee high the rack has a floor in it. Above the floor are vertical stakes like on a stake truck. Lots of them. A row of stakes down each 8 foot side of the rack. The two racks are close enough together you can reach side to side across the rack with the bar on your whichever chainsaw, 16" is plenty.

So you fill the thing up with little sticks like those, start up the saw, buzzzzz- you got 20 16" pieces of stove. Side step 16", come down between another set of uprights buzzzz- you got another 20 pieces.

Split once those things will likely dry out good in one summer.

That sounds like a plan. A pretty good one too.

Couple pics of mine. I have all my logs bucked, so it is just waiting for next year out in the snow. Plain old cheap #2 2x4, plain pine. Whenever I have a paint brush to clean I do paint the end grains on the uprights with whatever paint is left in the brush, otherwise untreated. A slew of 3" drywall screws in there.

Plan view, 8 feet long, with cut slots on 16" centers.

Closeup shows the end to end runner left to right in pic. Above that are the floor pieces to keep my cut rounds from falling down into the bottom. I replaced a couple this year, they look pretty new. The vertical pair (you can see saw marks on the inside edge of one) is a pair of cutting guides.

Quite a few 2x4s, but I ran four cords of small logs through there just this year the other guys didn't want. Got them for nothing, "just take them away" the landowner said. I think this one is four years old, never has spent the winter indoors. I don't drop stuff in it though. If a log is too heavy to lay in there gently Ccut that one on the ground. The sawbuck is for smalls, though a medium on top to keep the load from wriggling during sawing is usually a good idea.

The uprights at the end are the same length as the others. They appear "shorter" because they are installed a little lower and act as feet at each of the four corners when the thing is on a hard surface like a driveway.

Pennsyltucky Chris said:

There both easily attainable. Get a beater truck for like $2k. And a nice saw for like $600. In a couple years, you'll make that money back.

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I picked up a Husqvarna 450E last spring for $347. Now I need the pickup. I frequently see ads listing free rounds of wood. In the past, I've rented Uhaul trailers and picked up some. But that's a hassle. With a truck, I could maybe get all my wood for free, already cut into rounds.