Scored some free wood today

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fugazi42

New Member
Jan 22, 2008
97
Connecticut
Hi everyone..

Just stopped by to say hi and show off the free firewood I scored today.. I figured you all would appreciate how excited I am, and exhausted, after today's work.

On the way to the office I passed a DOT and tree crew taking down some huge trees by the river. They had already taken down a huge oak and were working on some ash and beech down the road a bit. I asked the foreman and he told me to take as much as I wanted. I knew what I had to do: I turned around, went home, called in sick to work, and grabbed my gear.

The red oak was about 48" DBH and cut into a bunch of 8' sections. The first few I couldn't even touch with my 20" bar. I worked on the four "smaller" sections, maybe 36" or so.. Later, the DOT guys dragged over a nice 18" beech which I also took. I wound up with three heaping eight foot bed fulls of read oak and one of beech. All together it should be at least 2 cords. This is more than 1/2 the wood I'll need for next year, so I'm really happy about this find.

Anyone else find any good free wood lately?

Here's a picture.. The chunks are bigger than they look in the picture. There's a MS361 in there somewhere for a size reference.

Josh

P2200035.jpg
 
Nice score! Great job keeping your eyes open. When you show up for work tomorrow, those aches and pains are going to be really obvious. ;-)
 
Fugazi42 said:
Hi everyone..

Just stopped by to say hi and show off the free firewood I scored today.. I figured you all would appreciate how excited I am, and exhausted, after today's work.

On the way to the office I passed a DOT and tree crew taking down some huge trees by the river. They had already taken down a huge oak and were working on some ash and beech down the road a bit. I asked the foreman and he told me to take as much as I wanted. I knew what I had to do: I turned around, went home, called in sick to work, and grabbed my gear.

The red oak was about 48" DBH and cut into a bunch of 8' sections. The first few I couldn't even touch with my 20" bar. I worked on the four "smaller" sections, maybe 36" or so.. Later, the DOT guys dragged over a nice 18" beech which I also took. I wound up with three heaping eight foot bed fulls of read oak and one of beech. All together it should be at least 2 cords. This is more than 1/2 the wood I'll need for next year, so I'm really happy about this find.

Anyone else find any good free wood lately?

Here's a picture.. The chunks are bigger than they look in the picture. There's a MS361 in there somewhere for a size reference.

Josh

P2200035.jpg

Nice score and sounds like you got a good start for next year. Keep your eyes open and check craigs list. The seasons are changing and soon you will see a ton for free on there.

I got 2.5 cords of nice Red Cedar "today" and I have 3 cords of Doug fir to pick up this weekend, all bucked up into 20" just haul it away. Its nice to have friends in the big tree business. Got 2 cords of maple last week.
 
Nice score. I just got lucky myself. Our fire local company dropped 7 oaks next to our new fire hall. I called our fire chief and let him know I would gladly clean up...Four pick-up load so far!
 
roughly how does a full 8ft pickup box measure in "cords"??

I pretty much measure usage in pick up loads, as I never have a chance to stack it all in one place and measure it.


I got a standing dead hickory yesterday - the tree company dropped it, took the smaller stuff and left the rest in ~20" pieces.... NICE.

I tried some in the stove last night - it burns LOOOOOOONG!


Where is hickory on the BTU rating scale?
 
Hickory is right at the top in the BTU heating scale. Best of the best. Smells great too!
 
Good deal. I see cut wood along the highways all the time. Someone is picking it up because later I just see sawdust.

I like your wood shed. What size is it?
 
It's too small :)

I built it before we started heating with wood. I intended it to hold firewood for our fireplace. It's 8x6 and about 7' high so it holds about 2.5 cords. I wish it were twice as big.


Josh
 
To try to answer Milner's question- my pickup bed is 8x5x20" deep, which is 70 cubic feet, or just over 1/2 cord. If I tightly stack stove-length splits to the level line of the bed I figure it's 1/2 cord. If I'm moving big rounds or chunks of wood like in the picture above, or if I carry a heaping load, I figure it's closer to 3/4 cord. These are all just rough measurements of course. I won't know how much it really is until I get it split and stacked.
 
milner351 said:
roughly how does a full 8ft pickup box measure in "cords"??

I gotta tell a story!

Years ago, there was firewood advertised in the paper by the truckload. I called and a woman answered. I asked how big the truck load was and her response was "I don't know, but it's pretty big, the truck has a lot of gears".

I kid you not!

<sigh>

Ken
 
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