How far would you go for a scrounge?

I'd go 1/2 an hour to scrounge if it was easy to get the wood into the van and trailer. I'd probably go 45 minutes one way. if you don't have other options you take the best option available. Is the drive really just 1/2 hour or is it 1/2 hour between towns and you're forgetting the time actually pulling the van up to the wood? A lot of times going just a few miles can end up being pretty close to half and hour if there is a lot of driving on smaller roads, dirt roads, etc. to actually get near the wood.

Depends on the wood too and how much work involved once you get the wood. I like to keep it within a 10 mile radius, although Ive scrounged wood an hour away when Im out working, hate to come home with an empty truck.

I've gone 50 miles one way, was getting a cord+ each trip.
My free wood cost about $50/cord on those ones.
All birch. So I thought it was worth it.

If I am going somewhere anyway, I'll take the trailer upwards of an hour anyway. Otherwise, I like to keep it within 20 mins, even better if I can time it right and take the trailer to work with me to cut down on the miles. Doesn't always work out that way though.

I've got the family van and a HF folding 4 x 8 trailer. I'm going 15 minutes tops for a good scrounge, taking several trips with light loads.
The van is our interstate/ vacation vehicle. I cant afford to beat it up.

Pickup w/trailer would be a different story.

Last year I had a fellow make 4 or 5 trips from about 80 miles away! Then we always see folks who head north on weekends and come back with full pickup loads and sometimes a pickup load and a big trailer behind it. I've talked to folks who haul wood like that for 150 miles or more! I would not do that for sure but would probably drive 1/2 hour if it were good wood.

it all depends on how easy the wood is to get when i get there. if its easy to get, if i can back up right next to it without a 4x4 , if it takes less time to load my trailer ill travel farther. Ive got a 16x7 trailer and i can haul between 1-1/2 to 2 cords of green wood so if i can get a full load easy ill travel 1 hour each way.

I drove 53 miles each way yesterday for a cord and a half or so. It was an old oak that a tree service had cut down and bucked into smaller pieces. It was in a pile in the pasture, all I had to do was pull up and buck what I wanted it into my lengths and load it. It was worth it to me. I look at it like this, I didn't have anything else to do. I spent an hour each way on the road with my 9 year old and she helped load and stack. So I got quality time with my daughter, got to run my saws and ended up with a healthy stack of wood that was easy to get to.

I've also driven 10 miles and left without loading a stick. Depends on the situation. The folks that advertise free firewood that really want free tree service irritate me.

Furthest I have gone is 1/2 hour one way(only about 20 miles). Only reason is that a friend has some property that he is clearing elm off and already has logs pulled to a landing area. Takes me longer to drive there than for us to buck and load a cord of wood.

Depends . . . on the amount of wood, type of wood and most important of all . . . how much I need the wood.

I've driven 45 minutes one way for a bunch of bucked up and split oak, beech and sugar maple . . . then again I also did the same thing for two free trailer loads of slab wood . . . even though I have access to all the slabs I want at my Uncle's small home lumber mill . . . and access to the family wood lot . . . it's an addiction.

With the storm that rolled through two weeks ago, I don't have to leave town. Damn! I have the tree services dropping it right in my yard.

But, if I had to 20-30 minutes max.



KC

You guys are lucky, I havent come across any free or cheap wood on craigslist that was less than 30 minutes away yet. All the wood I cut is about ~2hrs away, but its on the families farm that we are traveling to anyhow. So I'm not traveling that far for wood, but as long as I am there I'll bring some back. Cost is about a 2-3mpg reduction on the return trip, or 6-7 if we would have taken the suv instead of my truck.

About 5 miles.

normally I dont leave town. I have plenty of wood around here so I dont have to go too far. I do have to get to the farm in the spring (25 miles one way) and start cutting trees. I have around 150 ash trees to cut down

Jeff

Sitting on plenty of wood right now so I try to stay within 10-15 miles. If the scrounging has been quiet/slow and I see something a bit further, I'll jump on it.

Most I've gone is 45 minutes one way. That was for wood at a friend's house that was easy to get, plus he helped me cut and split. Usually I won't go more than 20 minutes if I can help it.

I'd jump out of my seat and race to the car and speed the whole way for free split seasoned Mulbery or Osage 40 minutes away. I'd let someone closer get whole silver maple or white pine trees. There are a whole lot of work per btu "free wood" scenarios and whole lot of other responses inbetween those extremes.

I would drive 45 minutes if I had the ability to haul back a couple cord. I can only haul 1/3 - 1/2 at a time so I have a 15ish minute limit...unless it is already cut up and ready to load.

Backwoods Savage said:

Last year I had a fellow make 4 or 5 trips from about 80 miles away! Then we always see folks who head north on weekends and come back with full pickup loads and sometimes a pickup load and a big trailer behind it. I've talked to folks who haul wood like that for 150 miles or more! I would not do that for sure but would probably drive 1/2 hour if it were good wood.

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Wow - that really amazes me Dennis. Without wanting to sound critical, do these folks cost this out? We all know it's not just the price of gas - hauling a load of wood isn't "easy" miles for a vehicle, so the wear and tear cost factor must be max for these trips. Or is this only happening Dennis because of all that "advertising" on Hearth of your 9 year-old wood :lol:. For the folks who "are going that way anyway", a long trip for wood makes sense. Personally, I generally won't go more than 4 miles - I choose to put in extra time (when necessary), going into the woods a bit to fetch it out, rather than driving further for something that might be easier pickins. But that's just me. However, ever since the big storm, all I have to do now is pull over to the side of the road and watch the stuff just load itself into the van

weatherguy said:

Depends on the wood too and how much work involved once you get the wood. I like to keep it within a 10 mile radius, although Ive scrounged wood an hour away when Im out working, hate to come home with an empty truck.

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This ^^^

I've driven 14 miles to get prime pickings on some hedge and nice straight, tall BL. But I wouldn't go any further than that..

I'm not even sure I would do that again. I just wanted some good hedge and locust, I got it, now I'll just stick to all the close scores that are within a few miles of home...

I've never had to go more than 15 miles one way. But, for really good wood I may go up to 1/2 hour as long as there is a lot of it to load both the truck and trailer.

I'd probably cycle half a mile for free oak...... ;-)

I just finished bringing in roughly 14 pickup truck loads of wood from storm damage. It's a small bed (5ft maybe) so it took a few extra trips. In total, about 100 miles of back and forth or roughly $25 in fuel for the truck. I'm thinking when I buck it all up, roughly 4 cords. Can't complain.

I'll go 20+ miles or so depending on how much I have for the years scrounge. If its my first of the season and I feel like I'm behind I go further. The bigger the pile I have for my spring splitting session the pickier I am. Right now I'm sitting on about 2 cords. By my schedule I only need about 1 1/2 more by March or April. So I may be getting a little picky :coolsmile:

On the other hand I have a new saw to break in, so right now I'm a man with a saw and willing to travel. :lol: