I have had an epiphany.

[ChrisNJ]

As I drive around I always note stacks of of wood in peoples yards, year after year sitting there not being touched. Rotting in piles, like in a neighbors driveway, over four years sitting there and now small stacks he is keeping next to a dozen trees he has been trimming and yet keeping the small rounds stacked under the trees as though he will be gathering them up any day rather the truth of pending rot. I sent a letter to a guy last year about the huge pile of rounds in his backyard I had been eyeballing for years, was saving them for grandson who said he wanted them but checked and I could now have them. They were all giant rot rounds which I left.

Another neighbor just had a tree guy cut up a couple decorative pears which the homeowner wanted to keep and the tree guy said almost everyone wants to keep their wood now. As I watched the homeowner work the rounds into a cart for movement to the back I could not understand why, he has not had any smoke out of his fireplace in the five years I have known him and yet here he was squirreling away the smallest rounds to a hoard which I would be willing to bet is the begging of a rot pile to match his immediate neighbors behind their shed and so on all along the street, everyone has a pile of rot to call their own. I would bet 8 out of ten houses in my area has a pile left to rot.

I figured out why, in retrospect it is obvious.

According to how much the supermarkets charge for those bundles of wood from Lithuania, it is all gold, wealth not to be squandered but saved for the time to cash in.

Now I know, had always thought the value was in the energy spent splitting it.

Sorry if I am pointing out the obvious, just been a puzzler to me.

 

[firefighterjake]

Some folks that are in an area that has experienced a few days of power outage also tend to want to have a small stock pile of wood on hand . . . just in case . . . others may want to keep the wood around for family members who say they will pick it up for camping or wood burning . . . some day . . . some day often never comes.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

some day often never comes.

Thats what Creedence Clearwater Revival said too lol

 

[ScotO]

Some people just hate to give anything away. They will keep it in a pile in their backyard (sometimes until it rots), that's just the way it is. Hey it's like J.G. Wentworth says all the time on TV....."It's YOUR firewood, use it when YOU need it........"

 

[oldspark]

I had one of those once when I was constipated.

 

[Ash_403]

I had one of those once when I was constipated.

What? An epiphany, or a rot round?

 

[Thistle]

I had one of those once when I was constipated.

What? An epiphany, or a rot round?

That sounds painful.

 

[jimbom]

Hope you get the stitches out soon.

 

[jimbom]

Wife says it hurts to get those stitches out.

 

[jimbom]

What did you name the baby. If twins, may I suggest Episio and Tomy.

 

[ironpony]

I have stacks all over the wooded area of the property, which can be seen from the road
noone has ever asked for any and I have offered it to many people
noone has ever come to get it
to much work
it is cut to 16 inches, but not split
I do not burn wood only pellets
so it sits and rots

 

[Wood Duck]

You are seeing proof that everyone suffers from the same urge to collect firewood that all of us are constantly posting about. It is in our DNA.

 

[eclecticcottage]

I have stacks all over the wooded area of the property, which can be seen from the road
noone has ever asked for any and I have offered it to many people
noone has ever come to get it
to much work
it is cut to 16 inches, but not split
I do not burn wood only pellets
so it sits and rots

Too bad you're too far from me...I'd come get it!

I think more people are keeping the wood from tree services because the services charge them to take it away now. I'm good with that though, because that is where we get some of our scrounges from!

 

[brian89gp]

I think more people are keeping the wood from tree services because the services charge them to take it away now. I'm good with that though, because that is where we get some of our scrounges from!

That is what a tree service guy told me. He has to dump it and is charged by weight, so obviously the most expensive part of the tree to dispose of is the trunk and main branches. Thus, it is very common to find topped and even sometimes bucked logs all over the place left by a tree service company at the homeowners request (to save money). And in a strange twist of fate, the tree service guy I was talking to charges to dispose of the whole tree but then turns around and advertises free firewood on CL and has people like me come and clean up a good part of the tree for him.

All I know is that hauling topped and bucked logs from someone's well kept and mowed yard is a whole lot easier then cutting and pulling firewood out of the woods somewhere.

 

[seeyal8r]

I live in a heavily hard wooded area of 160 acres that has 40 homes. In our recent HOA letter I asked that anybody having extra firewood that I would come and get it. I've got more wood than I could ever burn. But thats OKAY with me !

 

[black locust]

There was a feller down the road from me that bought a couple of acres and cleared the couple of trees on it to build a house. One was a nice 2 to 3 ft black cherry that had been pushed off to the side. After a month or so I stopped and asked if I could have the tree for firewood. He said no. I said I was going to use the tree for firewood and asked was he going to use it for firewood or build furniture. He got a puzzled look on his face and said he didn't know. Since I go by there at least once a day I watched that tree. Finally, after about a year he cut it up in firewood pieces and put most of it behind his garage building against it. That has been 5 years ago and it is still there rotting away. I don't think he has any kind of woodburner or fireplace. I called him an poophead for several years kinda in jest. His tree, so I guess he can do what he wants to. I do know people are the most possessive about their land about things like firewood or letting you hunt when they first buy it. So it goes

 

[firebroad]

It has been my experience that those folks who hoard wood that they have no intention of using are waiting for a cash offer. The guy I carpool with has a farm that was left him by his deceased parents that is run down, and has loads of fallen trees and wood that his folks used that is still stacked. He kept hinting that he had plenty to sell to me, but would never give me a price. Since I was real new to woodburning, I had no idea what to offer, and I am not one of those jerks who will offer a ridiculously low price just to get a reaction, although I probably should have.
Anyway, he had a bad turn financially, and one day he actually brought some wood over in the back of his van. It was dry wood, some of it ten years old, some of it rotted, some kind of buggy. By the time we unloaded, there might have been a quarter of a cord. I gave him what I considered top dollar, which was $50. He was so excited, he was ready to bring more, but I told him I couldn't afford it, thanks.
Some time later he noticed I had bought wood from my dealer (at $180 a cord), and got rather chilly. A few months after that, he related that a big tree had come down in one the fields, and someone had asked if they could harvest it. He was completely indignant about it, and when I asked why he was so upset by the inquiry, he replied, "I'm not giving away any free wood! Anybody wants it they have to pay!" Mind you, outside of that van-load he gave me, every stick of cut firewood is still sitting on his farm rotting away. So I agree--people see dollar signs, not BTU's.

 

[Gark]

We see the rotting wood piles quite a lot around here, too. I always just figured it was that the wood gatherer grew up and moved away or the resident lost interest or their stove broke. Or with some folks, it's just their nature to save stuff. Hate to see potential BTU's go to waste.

 

[BobUrban]

From a sociology/psychology standpoint it is an unfortunate human nature to be sceptical, hoardish and a bit paranoid when it comes to things like this. People have an "epiphany" that all of a sudden they own something of value and that they would rather let it rot than think someone else "got over" on them. Even though the wood has sat in the pile for years and will clearly rot before ever burned - most people fear that the moment they give it away someone will say, "you idiot, that was worth like... $5.00"

I wanted a canoe and because I am a bit handy, would rather repair something than buy new and like to paddle I decided to buy an old, used, beat up canoe. Living on a large lake I knew of 6-10 canoes that had been sitting upside down in the same spot for 10+ years - NEVER MOVED!! Most were in some degree of bad shape so I assumed I could releave the owner and possibly get it at a good price?

When I ask each boat owner if they would consider selling the canoe, as it is obviously not going to move otherwise, I got many different variations of the same answer but ALWAYS the same look. The answer was, "I am thinking of taking it out this summer" or "I think the grandkids will want to play with it" or... whatever?

The look was always a sceptical slight paranoid side eye that clearly indicated fear of loss. It is 20 years later and I have not been on that lake in at least 15. I will bet my wood pile that all of those boats are still in the same place they were then, never moved and in advanced disrepair. People are funny.

 

[oldspark]

Bob-its like you have crawled into my mind, I sometimes have a hard time of letting things go.

 

[jimbom]

The "Corollary of Delayed Coincidence".

If I send the fifty year old bicycle pedal to the dump today, tomorrow a friend will ask me if I have a pedal to complete his loving restoration of a fifty year old bicycle. Which he wants to give to an orphan that is struggling with cancer etc. Never fails.

 

[basod]

Let me start by stating that there aren't many full time wood burners in Alabama. Most everyone has a heat pump with a gas fireplace or maybe an open hearth for ambieance.
I see piles of wood on house lots that don't even have chimneys. When the tornadoes blew through last April there was more than a glut of firewood for sale.
Fortunately the storms stayed 20-30miles north and south of me. I had driven up to my cabinet makers shop in early May to verify the stain color before he completed them. The big EF-5 swept 1.5miles north of his property so I drove a little further up the road to see the carnage left behind. Amazing what a storm like that can do, looked like a 1/3mile clear cut expect everything is broke off ~6-8 above the ground.
It seemed every other house I passed had wood stacked in the yard $60/pickup load very few with chimneys.
Surely the next time I drive up there the wood will be stacked in the same condition slightly more rotten same price because someone bought a load or 2 a while back.

 

[BobUrban]

Human nature - plain and simple. I have a degree in sociology and it is just the way "most" people are. On the other hand - most people like to think they are doing the right thing so use a little psychology with your approach using the Orphan and the bike mentioned above.

Do your first contact work from your car or a least a very clean truck and not in full "I am ready to cut wood" regallia when scrounging. Be clean, don't smell like a snowmobile and let them know this is how you heat your home(and keep your kids warm). The "kids warm" thing is paramount!

May not work every time but I find it is more successful than a couple lumber jacks coming to the door with a muddy truck towing a dual axle trailer in the drive.

After you receive permission to cut or retrieve set an appointment and let them know what you are going to arrive in so they are not shocked to see the said, "lumber jacks"

May be a bit of a pain but free or cheap wood is priceless!!

 

[Realstone]

From a sociology/psychology standpoint it is an unfortunate human nature to be sceptical, hoardish and a bit paranoid when it comes to things like this. People have an "epiphany" that all of a sudden they own something of value and that they would rather let it rot than think someone else "got over" on them. Even though the wood has sat in the pile for years and will clearly rot before ever burned - most people fear that the moment they give it away someone will say, "you idiot, that was worth like... $5.00" ... People are funny.

Case in point: Firewood - $60

 

[aussiedog3]

I have actually posted on craigslist looking for these types of piles that people have sitting around and have some success scrounging some piles.
Was actually flattered by another guy about 20 miles away who copied my craigslist ad and posted it in his area, I let him know I saw the ad and wished him best of luck.