Scrounging headache

[DiscoInferno]

The usual craigslist/freecycle scrounging has been slow around are of late, so I posted to our neighborhood listserv looking for anyone with wood they wanted rid of. One response said they had a lot of wood, more than they could burn, and we agreed to trade some splitting labor (mine) for wood (theirs). What they had was a couple of stacks of mixed medium rounds, small rounds, and split wood. The small rounds were pulp and dust, as were many of the larger rounds. After I got done digging through both piles, separating the possibly decent wood from the beyond hope, I had a big pile of mulch (which I was told to just leave) and probably one full truckload. Based on my (admittedly vague) discussions with the homeowner (the wife, who had left) I put about 2/3 in my truck, and split and/or restacked 1/3. Then the wife comes home, and starts renegotiating. She wants to keep half. So I haul some logs back out of my truck, split them, and stack them until we're about even volume wise, and leave. So today I get a nasty email claiming that I still took too much; apparently half now meant half of the unsplit wood. She also complained about the quality, as if I made her store her wood unsplit outside in the shade. So to avoid a fight I dumped some more (split) in her driveway. Bottom line: I spent probably 2 hours doing what amounted to yardwork and some splitting, all for only about 1/6 of a cord of wood.

Lesson learned: be extremely specific upfront, or learn the hard way about unrealistic notions of "equal value".

The irony is that my listserv posting got me nothing but headaches, but a day later I scored nearly half a cord of fresh honey locust right around the corner that was just left out at the curb.

 

[BrotherBart]

Blessed was the advice of my dear departed Dad. "Son never do business with a relative or a neighbor."

 

[burntime]

I would have told her I will be right over, watch for me...and logged on to hearth.com ;~) Some people gripe just to try to get something for nothing. I just bought a sweeper on craigslist...had it listed for 150 for 46inch like new...agreed on 135, when I went to pick it up I looked it over, handed him 135 bucks and said grab a side. He was amazed it was that easy...he said he thought for sure I was going to offer less when I got there! If its a deal people should just take it and go...not squeeze and squeeze. If it is that bad then they probably can not afford it.

 

[fossil]

I've had some good luck on craigslist...firewood & other stuff. But even if there's an ad for something in which I might be interested, if the party placing the ad can't spell or put a sentence together, I think twice about even asking about the item. Just the other day, on the Bend Oregon craigslist, someone was wanting to sell a Sears snow blower. The ad headline read, "SOW BLOWER". I'm assuming this was a machine to properly keep those pesky porkers from plaguing your property. Rick

 

[pinewoodburner]

I always love the ones on Craigslist that say free wood, you take the tree down, take all the brush for first, and then you can have the wood. I aways wonder if the wood will be there when you get back from getting rid of the brush.

 

[Highbeam]

Free firewood= lumber scraps from a demolition full of nails for extra value.

 

[colsmith]

Live and Learn - seems like no matter how old one gets, you are always figuring out new stuff. We similarly haven't had a great score off craigslist OR freecycle this past year. Craigslist seems to have more offers of old lumber and standing trees than actual firewood. My favorite was the person who posted three times about a tree that they wanted cut down. Wouldn't even say what kind of tree it was, posted that they "didn't know and we shouldn't ask." Now obviously not everyone knows every kind of tree they have, but couldn't they at least say an evergreen, or deciduous, or something?!? Big leaves, small leaves, turn red in the fall, something to give a hint? Ask a neighbor what kind of tree they think it is? I always wonder how much luck they have getting someone to cut their trees down free, we have decided we aren't interested in those.

We worked out an arrangement to cut a tree a few miles from our house, the guy agreed to take down a section of pool fence first where the tree would fall. We showed up with all our equipment, fence was still up. It was a complicated chainlink thing that we could have taken down but not put back up ourselves, so we didn't want to mess with it. (Legally pools need fences around them.)

The electric company is having a lot of trees trimmed in our neighborhood, we are hoping to score big from that. Last year and this I found firewood while campaigning. I go up to the door, ask them to vote for me, then ask if they want that wood. Works pretty well, and this year I got elected. Have also discovered that a LOT of my neighbors also heat with wood.

 

[RedRanger]

Disc:; what were you thinking?? Just walk away from that chit. You must be a young man and thinking somewhat about what if I see these people again? Hey if you did , dont worry, they will be more embarrased than you. Or so they should be..

 

[DiscoInferno]

Disc:; what were you thinking?? Just walk away from that chit. You must be a young man and thinking somewhat about what if I see these people again? Hey if you did , dont worry, they will be more embarrased than you. Or so they should be..

We're on opposite ends of the neighborhood, I'd never met her before, and I doubt we'll meet again. My main concern was that she'd post something nasty to the neighborhood listserv, forcing me to respond, and you know the saying: "Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

 

[chrisfallis]

Craigslist seems to have more offers of old lumber and standing trees than actual firewood.

I have been prowling Craigslist and found only people trying to sell or give away sections of old cedar fencing. I burned a section of mother in laws's cedar fence and the 1x4s burned hot and quick. They are good for kindling, but not much else.

Last Friday I saw tree limbs on the curb up the street from me. They were 3 or 4 feet long and about 24 inches in diameter. Probably about 1/2 a cord in total. The curb is usually the dumping ground for free wood, but I wanted to ask anyway. No one was home that evening, so I vowed to return the next morning. Saturday I hitched up the trailer and loaded up the kids, scurried up the street and knocked on the door again. This time the owner was at home and told me that theywere going to keep the wood. Curses, foiled again.

 

[stephiedoll]

Craigslist has been pretty good. I was able to pick up a few good loads from it. I also met a farmer that has some elm and ash along a fence line that he will let me cut down. All I need to do is pile the brush up for him and it is along a road so easy access. Another person responded to my ad and we are going to be sawing buddys/ friends. He has acerage and a spliter so going to get some good wood out of that. When we get it cleaned up he can get all we want delevered for free to cut up. When we both have what we want, he can sell some and said we will split 50/50. What a great GUY. Stephie

 

[woodzilla]

I posted a wanted ad and got garbage! I drove an old subdivision near my work and have now moved 1 full cord of black locust, over 2 full cord of white oak(still 1 more to go) and over 2 face of ash. Point is, do some driving and bs'ing. It will produce better quality and quantity. Look for older sub's with mature trees. Happy hunting

 

[DiscoInferno]

I scored about 4-5 cords last year by running into two different tree crews I happened to drive by working in the hood. But the internet lists do work if you ask some key questions up front: yesterday I started hauling a cord of fresh-cut walnut from a little farther away via freecycle. There the guy was happy to load my truck for me while I quartered the largish rounds; the tree service wanted $500 to haul it off. I've had similar luck with craiglist, although there are always some "winners" there. Two current examples:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/zip/649654694.html
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/zip/648034986.html

Yeah, right.

 

[WarmGuy]

Thanks for the advice and warning, Disco. Sounds like you went out of your way to do the right thing.

 

[Jags]

I had a very good score off of craigs. A local golf course was advertising "$10 a truck (pickup) load, you load it". Saw it in there a couple weeks in a row. Found out that it was big stuff (average of 24-30") and still in log length. No one in the city had the equipment to deal with it and they would not allow anyone with a saw. Made a deal that basically came out to gas money, and they hauled the stuff to my house (approx. 13-15 loads in a f350 with dump box). Nice pile, at least 2 and probably a little more, years worth of wood. Mostly ash, some oak,cherry, hard maple, and a couple of mystery sticks.