Free wood,Is it worth my time?

[kniffin50]

A non wood burning friend has just offered me the pile of wood from clearing his building lot. It is in 20ft lengths. There is almost 15 cords of wood in this pile. If not more.The proplem is that is has been piled for 4yrs. Do you think that most of it is still good. I would like not to leave a mess behind when I'm done taking the good wood.
Thanks-Rusty

 

[Tfin]

If its hardwood, or at least mixed I'd grab it! Even if some of it is rotten.....with 15 cord worth, you're without a doubt going to come out on top. It is most definately worth your time......or at least I should say that it would most definately be worth MY time!

 

[rosencra38]

I just received a pile that is 4 years old as well, 95% of it was pine and only about 1/4 of it was rotted out. I'd say go for it and see what you get, free wood is better than no wood.

 

[ScottF]

when I cleared my land for my house. I have about 7 cords of hardwood and left it in similar piles . It took 4 years before I began to cut and split and it was still perfect. It was stacked and uncovered for another 3 years before the tops started to rot just a little. Even then it still burned great. I would say no problem . Get it if you can.

 

[kniffin50]

Wood is ,White birch, black birch,hickory,oak,some maple.
Rusty

 

[ScottF]

If its hardwood. The wood is worth at least $100 per cord in your area. That $1500 for free. You could easily sell it and split the profit with him even if you didnt want it.

 

[Todd]

The Birch may have some rot, but the others should be fine. Great score, get all you can.

 

[ScottF]

Birch will rot first. Not good for too long . Maple has a couple of years but will rot quickly also. The rest will be fine. I burned rotted wood for a whole year. Not as much heat but it was all free. No bugs in the freezing weather .

 

[kniffin50]

Thats what I like, a guy who see's out of the box.

 

[savageactor7]

Not to keen on birch but yeah I'd grab it all.

 

[firefighterjake]

A possible con would be rotted wood that would be of no use for burning . . . but would make a good compost.

A possible pro would be that you know the wood is seasoned.

Personally, I would go for it . . . free is nearly always good in my book. For me personally, this year I'm burning up a pile of wood that I had stacked near a shed for the past three or four years. In moving the pile and splitting it I discovered that a fair amount was wicked punky and water-soaked (my wife still thinks we can use it if it dries out by winter . . . I'm not holding much hope for this wood however except for use on a campfire), but a good amount was also well seasoned or dry and punky (which I figure I can use for the shoulder seasons and on starter fires.)

 

[Henz]

definatly, the only hardwood that maybe rotten is birch

 

[jeffman3]

We burn mostly elm that was dropped about 4 years ago, and piled into large pits. We use the dodge to pull it out, and go to town with the saw and splitter. Most of it good, some is rotten, but it is mostly good. If you have access to free wood, get it! Free wood is good wood, even if it is marginal. Unless you have unlimited access to the wood of your choice, take all you can get, when you can get it.

 

[The Dali Lima]

Sounds like a winning proposition to me!

 

[Jags]

I wouldn't take it if I were you.

by the way - what was the address??

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Rusty, if you don't grab that one, there is something wrong with you. Go for it! And don't forget to clean up after you are finished to show your appreciation.

 

[johnsopi]

How far is it from your house? All so is it easy to get at. Unless you can pull your truck up to the pile
carrying it is to much work for me. Two year ago I got all most 14 cords from a cleared lot It was
easy to get at and only 5 mile from home. But was a lot of work. I enjoyed getting it was in a field
and I took 3 month moving it all.

 

[InTheRockies]

Wow, I would get it. Just had my propane tank filled and it's going up like all other energy. Free can't be beaten--15 cords, well what a treasure trove. I'm going to be lazy this year and have the extremely small fence and post operation in a nearby town deliver a dump trunk of their seasoned remnants. It will mainly be pine, although there may be some hardwood mixed in. I'll need to cut to length and stack in my wood shed. I'm in a national forest, but just don't have the time to get in and get wood this year. I just picked up my new stove and hope to install it on Friday (everything depends on when the blower kit gets delivered by UPS). I'm looking forward to breaking it in. We're dipping down in to the 30s at night here. (We've had a cold year so far and missed almost 4 weeks of summer--we had 2 cold weeks in early June and 2 cold weeks at the end of August. I'm really worried about what this winter might bring--last winter was brutal with almost 8 feet of snow on the valley floor and snow packs of over 30 feet in the higher mountain elevations. I had to shovel snow off my roof twice last winter. I hope I don't have to repeat that again.)

 

[Vic99]

I'd get it if it's close to you.

Birch will probably be bad. Marginal stuff could be used for a bonfire.

See if you process the rest of it soon and test with a moisture meter (not necessarily in that order).