Free wood...with a price

I answered a craigslist ad over the summer, looking for someone to buck a big silver maple trunk. Tree service took it down but couldn't buck it (?). It was a good one, most of five feet across and solid. The guy said I was welcome to the wood, or I could leave it. He just wanted it cut up. I sunk a wedge almost to the point of losing it, with water squeezing out, and not even a crack. I just took the $100 he offered and went home.

I'd walk away from that.