Welcome to the forum Gboutdoors.
We feel your pain. Around here it was the emerald ash borer that killed all our ash trees. Our woods looks very bare compared to what it used to be like.
I do think you should revise your estimate of how much wood should be shared if someone else cuts. For example, if a farmer rents his land out on a share basis, he gets 1/3 while the man working the farm gets 2/3. Many years ago we did have someone come in to cut some excess wood as we needed more cut and could not keep up. We ended up with 1/4-3/4 and I was happy with that.
The only thing I was not happy with was that year the ground did not freeze much at all. They came in during December and we figured the ground would be freezing up. Sadly, it did not. The deal was that they were to take only the trunks and leave the tops in the woods. They used a skidder but the sad thing was it had the big tires but they had basically no thread left. We were left with many deep ruts all over the woods. I ended up telling them they had to stop as the damage was too much. Well, one other thing is they tried to screw me out of 4 cord of wood and someone ran off with my cant hook. Needless to say, they were not invited back. We have also had a couple other come in to cut just for themselves. We've also given lots of the wood away to needy families.
The biggest lesson on having someone else come in is that their ideas and yours may not be the same. Most will not respect your land as you should expect them to. For example, we had 2 fellows cutting and they asked about cutting a new lane through the woods to shorten the haul out. I told them to go ahead and even showed them where I had planned on making a new lane. It would have been very little work (probably taken half an hour at most) and would have saved them much time in the end. All was well when I left. When I went back the next day I was ticked to say the least. They did not open a new lane but instead decided for some unknown reason to widen the lane they were using. In the process the cut many trees we did not want cut, including some apple trees. My wife had marked some vegetation we did not know what it was but wanted to find out. It was beautiful. It is now gone.
In addition, when cutting on shares, most tend to try to short you and also give you the worst of the wood they cut. This has happened to everyone I know of around here who have allowed others to come in and cut. It is really sad. So do yourself a big favor and give this much thought before you decide which way to go. If possible, do some checking on the folks you allow to come in.
Build for yourselves some large wood piles! Stack the wood off the ground and I would not go over 5' in height. Top cover the wood and it will last for years and years. If you get 10 years ahead on your wood piles, that would be fantastic. Don't worry, it won't rot and you will be amazed at how well that wood will burn after being stacked for years.
I never worried much about others coming in and the possibility of someone getting hurt. But I did make sure they knew how to properly fell a tree and buck it up before I left them on their own. I found a couple guys who had never fell a tree in their life. I taught them how.
Now on the lighter side, you stated, "Looking for some direction as I hate to see the wood I can't use go to waist." Well, I hate it when so many things go to my waist but the wood doesn't waste. Good luck.
