Proper Etiquette?

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C

Cutter

New Member
Feb 20, 2009
135
Tecumseh Kansas
Howdy All. I am new to this site and have been having a blast reading all of the cool and hot stuff here. I have a New Aire full masonry fireplace that takes care of most of our heating requirements. I only burn Hedge/Osage Orange because that is what I have here on our little Prairie Harbor. There is well over a mile of 40 -85 year old tree lines that keeps me in wood. I have a question for you all about cutting and shareing firewood. I have a few friends that come out and cut with me. One guy only burns the smaller stuff. 3" and down Another guy will burn just about anything. I seem to get left with the larger stuff that has to be split. This is OK because that is what works best for us. Yet I do need a percentage of smaller stuff. My question to you all is what share or percentage is proper for myself and others? It is my land and my trees. I really need the help to get some of these snakey monsters down and cleaned up. Is there a rule of thumb for shareing. The fellow that takes the small stuff gets many more BTUs out his load compared to mine. Also I have to split most of mine and handle it at least twice more. Also into the mix is a neighborhood spliter that is available to me. It is a home made job that is well overdesigned. It is an animal. I sometimes go help split for the actual owner of it.
So what do you all think?
Brad
 
I had a freind who used to show up with his ramp truck, wrap a cable aroun the main trunk, drag it on his truck bed, and leave, letting me deal with the branches and brush. I don't call him any more. Some how I manage to do it myself now.
 
The "Proper Etiquette" would be for the people getting the free wood off your land to make sure you (the supplier of free wood), are fully happy with the arrangement, sounds like you are not. Tell them you need more of the small stuff, if they want to keep getting free wood from you I'm sure they will oblige. When they do agree to the new arrangement, celebrate with them by serving a couple rounds of free beer, if they do not agree and leave, celebrate by drinking all the beer yourself. ;-P
 
Carbon_Liberator said:
The "Proper Etiquette" would be for the people getting the free wood off your land to make sure you (the supplier of free wood), are fully happy with the arrangement, sounds like you are not. Tell them you need more of the small stuff, if they want to keep getting free wood from you I'm sure they will oblige. When they do agree to the new arrangement, celebrate with them by serving a couple rounds of free beer, if they do not agree and leave, celebrate by drinking all the beer yourself. ;-P
Click to expand...

I second this approach....sounds like your friends are moochers.
 
Anyone cutting on someone else's property should give a minimum of 1/3 of everything he cuts to the owner.
 
Cutter said:
Howdy All. I am new to this site and have been having a blast reading all of the cool and hot stuff here. I have a New Aire full masonry fireplace that takes care of most of our heating requirements. I only burn Hedge/Osage Orange because that is what I have here on our little Prairie Harbor. There is well over a mile of 40 -85 year old tree lines that keeps me in wood. I have a question for you all about cutting and shareing firewood. I have a few friends that come out and cut with me. One guy only burns the smaller stuff. 3" and down Another guy will burn just about anything. I seem to get left with the larger stuff that has to be split. This is OK because that is what works best for us. Yet I do need a percentage of smaller stuff. My question to you all is what share or percentage is proper for myself and others? It is my land and my trees. I really need the help to get some of these snakey monsters down and cleaned up. Is there a rule of thumb for shareing. The fellow that takes the small stuff gets many more BTUs out his load compared to mine. Also I have to split most of mine and handle it at least twice more. Also into the mix is a neighborhood spliter that is available to me. It is a home made job that is well overdesigned. It is an animal. I sometimes go help split for the actual owner of it.
So what do you all think?
Brad
Click to expand...

If I'm cutting with someone (I've never cut with 3 before but I suppose it'd be the same) we simply alternate truckloads. We do no splitting in the woods so everything is in the round and he splits it as big or small as he wants. I think you've been over generous but I doubt your partners will see it that way and will probably resent any change in the program.
 
There probably should have been an agreement worked out before hand on what and how much wood for the help. That is how I have always worked it out, and I am always the one helping on someone elses land. If the land owner didnt offer that information, I would ask them so there was nothing left to chance. I dont want to work my butt off for barley any wood, and in the same respect, I dont want a landowner feeling that they got ripped off, you know.
 
hookspacken said:
There probably should have been an agreement worked out before hand on what and how much wood for the help. That is how I have always worked it out, and I am always the one helping on someone elses land. If the land owner didnt offer that information, I would ask them so there was nothing left to chance. I dont want to work my butt off for barley any wood, and in the same respect, I dont want a landowner feeling that they got ripped off, you know.
Click to expand...

that's probably the best way.
 
Cutter imo you're getting the best deal cause fireplaces are bottomless pits...at least the the bigger splits will hold a fire longer. Trust me if they left all the smaller stuff you wouldn't be as content as you are now. You may think it's work to split the bigger stuff but at least you have the option to split that as small as you want. With the smaller stuff...your just stuck with it.

Plus you have good help that you're comfortable with too.

OK you have to handle it twice that has always been my complaint too. A couple 3 of us here just pile our wood while splitting it on a bed of gravel...this is a real labor saver. Next time you handle it is when your gonna burn it.
3138780316_c981d6ea8b.jpg

With you're acreage maybe you can stick a pile out of sight somewhere.
 
After reading and considering some of the other posts in this thread I have thought of another, probably fairer, solution to your dilemma.
It seems that you resent the fact that you may be splitting more wood then your comrades. Simply state this to them and suggest that any wood that needs to be split be put in a separate pile, while the remainder of the wood is divided as usual. When all that is left is the wood to be split you again work together as a team splitting and dividing the wood evenly between you. All the work is shared and the wood is divided evenly!
Then everybody has the beers :)
 
I would probably handle it as simple as: "Hey man, I'm thinking of trying some of that smaller stuff in my stove. Let's switch the program up a little. Do you want any of these bigger rounds for splitting?"

Take it from there. If he tosses you a few branches and then continues to load everything else up, he's probably not really your buddy.
 
You choose whatever sounds reasonable to you. If they don't like it they can get their wood elsewhere. If I were one of those guys, I would bend pretty much to give you what you wanted. Come on man, it's osage.
How big are the trunks on your osage trees? Around here they are usually no more than 14" diameter and about maybe 30' tall.
 
Great responses. Thanks everyone. I didn't want to sound like I was down on my help. They are great guys. They help me on many other things that I really am not compentent to handle myself. I thought that maybe Ben Franklin, Tom Jefferson or Joe Cocker had a rule of thumb that would pertain to cutting and shareing wood. Sometimes I handle a piece of wood seven times from when it hits the ground until it goes into the fire. I look for effeciency in all I do. Cause I am lazy. I look at ft./lbs of work and BTUs per load. whether it is a truckload or an armful.
Our older Hedge trees are about 85 years old and will go 55'-60' and have a 30"-32" dia. Most of them have to be cut at least 42" off the ground because of decades of burried barbed wire in them. Boy that sure leaves alot of wood standing there. I am tempted to try a carbide toothed chain. Will they do the trick?
Another thing while I typing here. Someone on this site mentioned that they cut split and stack all in the timber where they are working. Wow what a simple easy idea that I probably would have never thought of. This saves me two movings. Thank You. I'm sure there are plenty of you doing this. I see the light. I have good control of our property so no body will mess with it. And I can leave that huge mess right where we make it.
Thanks again
Brad
 
Savageactor, I really do like that pile of wood. That has to make you smile every time you look at it.
 
savageactor7 said:
With you're acreage maybe you can stick a pile out of sight somewhere.
Click to expand...
It doesn't look very "out of sight" to me and frankly as the previous poster suggests, you probably enjoy looking at it, like a kid with a pocket full of quarters. Me, I covet that FEL.
 
carbon liberator post #2 hit it right in the head. its your land and your wood. these guys are your friends - you can say anything to them. i don't mean to take a hard line i mean to talk to them.
 
^LOL well my advice was for Cutter...he has a whole mile of land. But yeah it is pleasant to look at while sipping an adult beverage.

That's just one of our piles, truthfully if we were still spending time stacking we'd never be this far ahead. Piling saves many, many extra handling steps and things get way easier too. Actually you almost look forward to processing ...I swear it.

LLigetfa that's a small B1750 I bet you could pick up a used one for 5k(American)...it would last you a lifetime.
 
What a generous person I would have expected 1 out of 3 cords taken out would be yours fully processed and fairly distributed evenly without any labor input on your part. With that said I hear you on the hedge bigger pieces just don't really produce a flame very well (at least in my stove). They just glow red like a lump of coal for and you will have trouble achieving secondary combustion.

I would tell them why you want the smaller pieces. Extra labor and poor stove performance with the large pieces. Its only fair because it is really your wood.
 
I have a tree service drop off the wood (in log form) in our field. Its free and they are glad to have a place to dump it. There is a guy that helps me on the thirds. He dosent burn wood but stacks his 1/3 and come fall he sells it for Christmas money. We usually process 20 cords a year.
 
savageactor7 said:
Cutter imo you're getting the best deal cause fireplaces are bottomless pits...at least the the bigger splits will hold a fire longer. Trust me if they left all the smaller stuff you wouldn't be as content as you are now. You may think it's work to split the bigger stuff but at least you have the option to split that as small as you want. With the smaller stuff...your just stuck with it.

Plus you have good help that you're comfortable with too.

OK you have to handle it twice that has always been my complaint too. A couple 3 of us here just pile our wood while splitting it on a bed of gravel...this is a real labor saver. Next time you handle it is when your gonna burn it.
3138780316_c981d6ea8b.jpg

With you're acreage maybe you can stick a pile out of sight somewhere.
Click to expand...
your woodpile is bigger than mine and your grass is much greener! :lol:
 
I live in Lawrence, not far from you. If you are looking for someone to cut with, let me know, I would be glad to work out a deal that works best for you. When I cut on someone else's property, I make sure they are happy.
 
Mike, sent you a PM.
Brad
 
I have had friends over to cut wood at my property before. We fire up the saws and cut atleast enough for 2 pickup loads. Sometimes much more. Then we load both of our trucks before the friend leaves. IF we have more to get that day or weekend, we do the same thing loading both trucks again. Works well for us.
 
I have had friends over to cut wood at my property before. We fire up the saws and cut atleast enough for 2 pickup loads. Sometimes much more. Then we load both of our trucks before the friend leaves. IF we have more to get that day or weekend, we do the same thing loading both trucks again. Works well for us.
 
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