Potentially Awesome New Wood Source...

[teekal]

My family has Hutterite roots (My Grandpa and Grandma moved off of the colony when my mother was 9 years old). My Mom visited the colony today and got talking with one of her Uncles there. They are in the midst of building a bunch of new houses, and he mentioned that he offered all of the scrap wood that they are not using to a friend. He told him to just leave his trailer at the colony, and they would call him once they had filled it up. Apparently the friend has not taken him up on his offer so the wood is just being thrown onto a scrap heap.

The thought of bringing a truck and trailer to load up was exciting enough, until he got to the even better news. Apparently at their metal shop, they are constantly getting deliveries of materials with large slabs of oak underneath (my Mom was foggy on the details). They also just scrap the oak, and he said I was welcome to as much of it as I can use.

I will post more details as soon as I know more, as well as pictures when I head to the colony to pick stuff up. I'm thrilled with the potential, as I have only owned a home with a wood stove for a year now, and have not had the chance to build up a multi-year supply of wood. As it stands right now I don't even have enough wood to get me through this winter.

 

[jatoxico]

Good deal, surprised they don't use the wood themselves though.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Hutterite roots

Not to sound stupid but what is/are these? ^^^^^^^^

 

[teekal]

Good deal, surprised they don't use the wood themselves though.

I thought the exact same thing, but I am not about to encourage them to!

Not to sound stupid but what is/are these? ^^^^^^^^

Haha, no worries bud. The Hutterite people are an old-order religious people who practice closed-community living (on a colony). Think along the lines of Amish.

 

[turn_n_burn]

Free OAK!?!?!?! That would be freakin' awesome. I thought I was lucky when the neighbors threw out a 10 foot section of black walnut (about 8" diameter) they cut down. I live in Pine country, and you NEVER EVER see free oak here. I'm red-faced jealous. Good on ya, man!

That is the hands-down best avatar I've seen in my life, by the way. Make 'im a deal he can't refuse.

 

[teekal]

Free OAK!?!?!?! That would be freakin' awesome. I thought I was lucky when the neighbors threw out a 10 foot section of black walnut (about 8" diameter) they cut down. I live in Pine country, and you NEVER EVER see free oak here. I'm red-faced jealous. Good on ya, man!

That is the hands-down best avatar I've seen in my life, by the way. Make 'im a deal he can't refuse.

Haha, thank you fine sir. Here's hoping that it all pans out and that by "slabs of oak" she didn't mean "oak pallets with nails all over."

As for the Avatar, it's the outline of the logo from my Hockey Card website, and folks over there call me the Godfather because I created the site. Thanks for noticing

 

[Buzz Saw]

I really liked that show about the Hutterite's in North Dakota or was it Montana....Either way I wish it would come back on.

 

[turn_n_burn]

That was a very good show. In Idaho, we have a very large Mennonite population, and they are some of the most decent, upright, downright nice people I have ever met, and damn they know how to make good food. If you've never had traditional souse or scrapple, I recommend trying it. A lot of them trace lineage back to Lancaster, PA, which I believe has a large Amish population as well. All very good people. Even better if they give away FREE OAK! I'm still jealous.

 

[JA600L]

That was a very good show. In Idaho, we have a very large Mennonite population, and they are some of the most decent, upright, downright nice people I have ever met, and damn they know how to make good food. If you've never had traditional souse or scrapple, I recommend trying it. A lot of them trace lineage back to Lancaster, PA, which I believe has a large Amish population as well. All very good people. Even better if they give away FREE OAK! I'm still jealous.

The Amish in Lancaster are great people. Although, they attract many idiot tourists. Slow buggies with cars driving slow behind them taking pictures. It never ends....

 

[Buzz Saw]

We have lots of Mennonite and Amish here in Ohio too. They work hard and fast, but they also know where to cut corners in construction.

 

[English BoB]

We have lots of Mennonite and Amish here in Ohio too. They work hard and fast, but they also know where to cut corners in construction.

That is the first negative that Ive heard about their construction, care to elaborate ?

 

[bholler]

That is the first negative that Ive heard about their construction, care to elaborate ?

many here cut corners as well. Around here their construction is known for low prices and poor quality. There are also some very good amish or mennonite contractors but in general in this area they do not have a very good rep I persoanlly have fixed quite a few stove and chimney installs done by some Mennonite contractors that were just plain wrong.

 

[Buzz Saw]

That is the first negative that Ive heard about their construction, care to elaborate ?

I just had a pole barn built by a Mennonite contractor. The build is structurally sound however thier attention to detail is lacking. Most of thier short cuts focus on saving time. For example:
1. The metal wrap on the overhead doors openings has lots of gaps showing bare wood.
2. Using wrong color screws. Found a few roof screws in the siding.
3. Did NOT use J channel when installing the ceiling, which will result in me spending more time and money when I finish the walls.
4. Total lack of cleanup. My dad and I spent about 5 hours picking up metal cuts offs, lumber, plastic (blown over 1/2 mile away), shipping materials, and
5. I have a 3 year old and 18 month boys running around and I found RAZOR BLADES on the ground. Fricking RAZOR BLADES.
6. Lots of the siding is dimpled where the screws went it. Almost like the metal is thinner than other brands.

The over heads doors haven't been installed yet so we shall how that goes.

 

[BrotherBart]

"Who is gonna fix this mess?"

"Thee."

 

[JA600L]

I see what they do to their machinery. They run it till it breaks and then some, weld it up, and fly down the road with the front axle wobbling all over the place. No shame.

 

[Buzz Saw]

I see what they do to their machinery. They run it till it breaks and then some, weld it up, and fly down the road with the front axle wobbling all over the place. No shame.

Forgot about the oil leak on thier lift. The seal on the main lift cylinder is shot. They have sheet metal taped to the cylinder then several other pieces taped onto the machine to direct the oil to the ground. I now have multiple spots of dead grass in my yard. [emoji35]

 

[JA600L]

Forgot about the oil leak on thier lift. The seal on the main lift cylinder is shot. They have sheet metal taped to the cylinder then several other pieces taped onto the machine to direct the oil to the ground. I now have multiple spots of dead grass in my yard. [emoji35]

Haha that's a new one. I thought I've seen it all. Is this a telescopic loader? If so those lift cylinders can be a real bugger to reseal on the machine. I'm sure they would rather just add oil like any other shotty equipment owner.

 

[turn_n_burn]

Teekal. your thread got hijacked.

 

[Buzz Saw]

Teekal. your thread got hijacked.

Sorry. [emoji54]

 

[turn_n_burn]

I knida started it, so no worries.

 

[teekal]

Sorry. [emoji54]

I knida started it, so no worries.

No worries, boys! It's good conversation. From forum avatars to the work ethic of the Amish

I hope to have an update on this potential wood supply soon. Planning a trip to the colony this weekend to check things out.

The first bit of bad news is, that the first guy that talked to my Mom asked his Boss, and the Boss said no free oak. Apparently they sell it to other colonies who use the oak to make pallets, and contractor stakes. They sell it for $100-$150 for a pallet full. Boss gave him permission to sell me a pallet full for $50, so I am going to take him up on it and then I'll post pictures and get your guys' opinion if it's worth it or not (I have never purchased wood before so have little to no experience with fair pricing, I've only harvested for myself as I'm just a 1-year rookie in the wood stove market). I'm hoping to get to know the guys and hopefully talk them into continuing to supply me. We'll see how it goes.

 

[turn_n_burn]

Hell, if you can get a 4 x 4 pallet loaded with oak for 50 bucks, that's half a cord and you made out like a bandit. JEALOUS.

 

[teekal]

Hell, if you can get a 4 x 4 pallet loaded with oak for 50 bucks, that's half a cord and you made out like a bandit. JEALOUS.

Sounds great, I'll see if it was a one-time offer as a favour for an extended family member, or if it's an open offer.

As I mentioned, I have not even looked into what fair market value is if one were to buy seasoned wood. What is a price range that a guy should expect to pay regularly?

 

[sportbikerider78]

The Amish in Lancaster are great people. Although, they attract many idiot tourists. Slow buggies with cars driving slow behind them taking pictures. It never ends....

Wait till you are riding on a back country twisty road at a good clip...come up over a blind bluff and there's a friggen horse carriage going 3mph.

I almost sucked my custom Corbin seat up where the sun has never been.

 

[firefighterjake]

Around here horses still have the right of way when it comes to public roads . . . that said the local Amish realize that they're going a lot slower on bikes and in their buggies and wagons so all have slow vehicle reflectors and many are outfitted with lights and blinking tail lights.

Not sure about the work ethic . . . but around here the Amish for the most part are pretty well respected and their workmanship/products are considered quite highly. None of them are building homes -- most are running stores or growing crops. Bought my Schwinn mountain bike which retails for over $600 for around $400 from one of them -- turns out he buys the old models left over from when the new year's model comes in and for my purposes I don't need to have the latest and greatest bike design.