What methods do you use?

[chazcarr]

Hi Folks,

Just got my trailer fixed and I can finally scrounge again.
There are a lot of trees down in people's yards still, cut up to rounds but nothing else.

One of my neighbors that I don't know, 6 doors down, just KICKED HIS INTO THE BRUSH yesterday.
I was sad to see so much good wood go to waste so I went and knocked on his door to ask if I could take the rounds. Even though he was home, he didn't come to the door.

The person on the corner of my street has 20 (yeah I counted) 8 foot logs about 20 inches in diameter sitting at the end of his driveway. They have been there for over 8 months!

So my question is what methods have you ever used to ask strangers for wood that you see rotting in their yards? Or is that wood just lost to me?

Thanks for the help.

 

[eclecticcottage]

We wait until they are outside. Our mega never ending scrounge down the road (I think we're probably at about 80 trees from them now) came that way. We saw a couple guys throwing rounds into a huge pile and stopped and asked, they said take it the property owners don't want it. Turned out to be they had more trees still to drop for the guy that owned the one lot, and were coming back to do more for the neighbors. Now those neighbors call us whenever they drop a tree (mostly beetle kill pine). In fact we were just down there after thanksgiving getting a birch that came down in a windstorm. They have more that will be down in spring. Whenever the one neighbor drops a tree he'll stack it and let them know to tell us to take it too. Even better, both will burn off the brush and usually they even limb the trees if they don't also buck them. We like those neighbors :D

 

[Lumber-Jack]

You might be asking that question in the wrong place.
I was reading a thread in this forum not long ago, sound like the consensus was if you (a stranger) approached hearth.com members on their property you'd better be well armed, or at the very least expect a lot of suspicion and a very unfriendly welcome. And that was even if you were only asking to buy some wood, not get it for free.

 

[eclecticcottage]

I guess one thing to keep in mind is the placement of the wood. Anything not close to the street, we don't bother with unless we can see there's a reason (utilities were cutting in the area for instance-we've seen them just drop it and leave it). Your neighbor with the logs pile might have gotten a log load then had something come up to keep him from bucking and splitting it-or he prefers to work on it in the winter, who knows.

 

[loadstarken]

The last couple of scrounges that I did I saw the owner in the yard and pulled up and started it off with, "looks like you have a bunch of work ahead of you." You can usually gauge where it will go from there. Last time the guy said, "yes I do, do you want it?" I told him that I could help him get rid of it! Hehe

 

[firefighterjake]

Rhythm Method.

 

[bogydave]

Hi Folks,

Just got my trailer fixed and I can finally scrounge again.
There are a lot of trees down in people's yards still, cut up to rounds but nothing else.

One of my neighbors that I don't know, 6 doors down, just KICKED HIS INTO THE BRUSH yesterday.
I was sad to see so much good wood go to waste so I went and knocked on his door to ask if I could take the rounds. Even though he was home, he didn't come to the door.

The person on the corner of my street has 20 (yeah I counted) 8 foot logs about 20 inches in diameter sitting at the end of his driveway. They have been there for over 8 months!

So my question is what methods have you ever used to ask strangers for wood that you see rotting in their yards? Or is that wood just lost to me?

Thanks for the help.

It's folks in your neighborhood, Neighbors, right?
Go knock or walk up when they're outside say "Hi."
"I'm your neighbor down the street. What's the plan for your wood laying there ? "
Get a neighborly conversation going. They may not be getting rid of theirs, but may know someone who is.

The act of asking shows respect & being friendly makes good neighbors & a good neighborhood.

They are neighbors, not in-laws. LOL

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree. Just go like you are to visit with a neighbor. Strike up a conversation. Relax. I've watched a lot of people and when they approach strangers they sort of tighten up and are not themselves at all. Just relax and have a conversation and there certainly is nothing wrong with asking what they plan on doing with all that wood. The worst that will happen is they will ignore you or ask you to leave. No harm done. Just move on to the next one.

 

[Halligan]

I size up the situation. After one storm (Irene) I knocked on some doors and all that answered were kind, polite, people who either wanted to keep the wood or it was already claimed by somebody else. Another house had a large oak log in the yard but they were never home so I left a note. They never called but did buck the wood theselves. After Sandy I saw a decent oak tree down in someones yard and they were outside. I asked if they wanted the wood gone and they said yes. 4 hours later the good wood was at my house and the brush was stacked by the roadside for the town chipper.

Disclaimer: I live in a suburban area where most people are tolerant of others due to close proximety of homes. I would guess certain people in the rural area's like to keep to themselves, hence why they live in rural area's, and they may be more intolerant of people coming on their property to inquire about wood.

 

[milleo]

Yup notes on doors, has worked for me the few times I have seen wood sitting for a bit even got a call back for more a year later from lady that kept my number....It's worth a try.

 

[chazcarr]

Yeah this is a suburban neighborhood where most people know each other. My father probably has the phone number of most of these people. I'm the nut that bought the abandoned woodmill property and have most of the privacy I need. People never come down my driveway (never a trick or treater or JW in 5 years).

That said I might try the note thing. At least I know I tried. For that one guy, he threw the rounds into the woods that will flood come spring time. Actually probably filling up with water today considering the weather. That one I must at least try to save. The others are on dry ground at least.

Yesterday one neighbor of mine wanted to know if I wanted some old oak branches he had in his backyard. I said sure and he had about 20, 2 inch thick, 18 inch long dry as a bone branches there for me.

It seems the larger and more noticeable I make my woodpile, the more people are just bringing wood to me.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Disclaimer: I live in a suburban area where most people are tolerant of others due to close proximety of homes. I would guess certain people in the rural area's like to keep to themselves, hence why they live in rural area's, and they may be more intolerant of people coming on their property to inquire about wood.

I think that goes for rural and suburban. We used to live "in town" and our awesome next door neighbor really didn't like being bothered, poor old guy used to try to hide when the lady across the street came over cuz he didn't really prefer to have a long conversation with her. He came over to talk when he wanted to and would just leave when he was done. Scared the bejeebus out of us more than once because he was as quiet as a church mouse walking up and then he'd be like "Hi there!". Nearly fell off the roof on the garage once, lol. I miss him (he passed away a few years ago). Now we're out in the country and find most folks are more neighborly than in our old neighborhood. People look out for each other and are always willing to lend a hand. Not to say there aren't those that would rather be left to themselves out here too...but I don't think it's much different than "in town".

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Yeah this is a suburban neighborhood where most people know each other. My father probably has the phone number of most of these people. I'm the nut that bought the abandoned woodmill property and have most of the privacy I need. People never come down my driveway (never a trick or treater or JW in 5 years).

That said I might try the note thing. At least I know I tried. For that one guy, he threw the rounds into the woods that will flood come spring time. Actually probably filling up with water today considering the weather. That one I must at least try to save. The others are on dry ground at least.

Yesterday one neighbor of mine wanted to know if I wanted some old oak branches he had in his backyard. I said sure and he had about 20, 2 inch thick, 18 inch long dry as a bone branches there for me.

It seems the larger and more noticeable I make my woodpile, the more people are just bringing wood to me.

Frankly I'd rather have somebody come knock on my door (while I'm home) and introduce themselves and explain what it is they want. Finding a note and, knowing somebody has been sneaking around in my yard while I wasn't there, I would find a little more unnerving than the direct approach. Simply explaining that you heat your house with wood and noticed that they had wood, that it looked like they might want to get rid of, aught to be enough to get a direct yeh or neh answer.
All you can do is hope that person is understanding and sympathetic, and not paranoid and suspicious that you might have ulterior motives.
Of course one would hope, and expect, that the next time somebody comes down your driveway, whether it be a JW or a trick or treater or whatever, that you'll be as understanding and sympathetic as you hope this person will be.

 

[Scols]

The last couple of scrounges that I did I saw the owner in the yard and pulled up and started it off with, "looks like you have a bunch of work ahead of you." You can usually gauge where it will go from there. Last time the guy said, "yes I do, do you want it?" I told him that I could help him get rid of it! Hehe

I just recently did the same and it worked well. A house that I knew an older couple lived in had two decent piles of bucked red oak on the side of the driveway. In two years of passing the house I had never noticed a wood pile so one day I was driving by and they were outside cleaning up leaves. I said hello and mentioned during our chat that it was going to be alot of work to split all that wood. The man replied that he had asked the tree service to leave the wood because he wanted to have some for his fireplace. He wasnt home when they bucked it so he was surprised by how much wood was there. So I offered to split and stack the smaller pile if I could take the larger one. Well he jumped all over that. In the end he ended up with about a third of a cord and I got about a half. Im eyeing up some other stacks in the area that I doubt will get split although it seems like some people just like having rounds stacked in the yard to get the "country look".

 

[milleo]

Frankly I'd rather have somebody come knock on my door (while I'm home) and introduce themselves and explain what it is they want. Finding a note and, knowing somebody has been sneaking around in my yard while I wasn't there, I would find a little more unnerving than the direct approach. Simply explaining that you heat your house with wood and noticed that they had wood, that it looked like they might want to get rid of, aught to be enough to get a direct yeh or neh answer.
All you can do is hope that person is understanding and sympathetic, and not paranoid and suspicious that you might have ulterior motives.
Of course one would hope, and expect, that the next time somebody comes down your driveway, whether it be a JW or a trick or treater or whatever, that you'll be as understanding and sympathetic as you hope this person will be.

Wow! Sad the world has come to such suspicion, I am not the easiest to get to know but I can usually sense if something is amiss when people approach....And believe it or not I am usually pretty friendly.