I noticed a few shorty log length pieces of Maple at the foot of a neighbor's driveway- not big stuff, probably just a branch, maybe 6in diameter at most. I called him and asked if I could take that obviously discarded wood, and I mentioned that I now heat my house entirely with wood. He said yeah, sure, and then told me to hang on a moment. I heard him have a brief chat with his wife, then he came back on and said "Would you like some more wood? I have a pile and you can have half of it. We're not burning as much lately." They now have a two year old daughter, and it turns out they are not using their fireplace near as often as they used to.
I went over yesterday and took half of what looked to be about 3/4+ cord in all. It looks like about a half cord or a little less, as loosely stacked (tossed) in my 1-ton van. It's about 4 year old wood, he tells me, mostly Cherry with a little Maple and the odd piece of Gum here and there. It was all split and stacked- a little buggy with a little rot in places, but mainly good, sound wood and plenty of BTU's. The bark was falling off most of the Cherry.
I'm beat from moving it up a small hill from his back yard to the driveway. It was probably 25-30 partial wheelbarrow loads. I got in late and was real tired, so I'll post photos later in the day after it's out of the van.
The wood is well seasoned but is wet. I plan to trim off the worst of the punky wood on a few of the splits, and then let it all sit and breathe, spread out on pallets. Then I'll restack when it's good and dry again. A good day, in all. I wish all my wood came pre- cut, split, and seasoned like that. ;-)
I went over yesterday and took half of what looked to be about 3/4+ cord in all. It looks like about a half cord or a little less, as loosely stacked (tossed) in my 1-ton van. It's about 4 year old wood, he tells me, mostly Cherry with a little Maple and the odd piece of Gum here and there. It was all split and stacked- a little buggy with a little rot in places, but mainly good, sound wood and plenty of BTU's. The bark was falling off most of the Cherry.
I'm beat from moving it up a small hill from his back yard to the driveway. It was probably 25-30 partial wheelbarrow loads. I got in late and was real tired, so I'll post photos later in the day after it's out of the van.
The wood is well seasoned but is wet. I plan to trim off the worst of the punky wood on a few of the splits, and then let it all sit and breathe, spread out on pallets. Then I'll restack when it's good and dry again. A good day, in all. I wish all my wood came pre- cut, split, and seasoned like that. ;-)
