S
StihlHead
Guest
Here in the PNW, many of these too good to be true ads are often times just that. They are there to get phone numbers and email addresses. Or worse, they email you back and say that they have whatever they are posting some distance away and all you have to do is pay shipping. Many scams out there. Russian babes wanting to get married, and fleece you for all you are worth.
'Free' firewood here is gas money and time, and in some cases it is cheaper by the cord, already split, dry and delivered. $175 is my cordwood delivered benchmark. At a half cord per truckload, it costs me about $20 in gas, round trip, or $40 a cord. Time is usually 2-3 hours per load. While time is money, free wood is untaxed and income is not taxed either. To net $175 for a cord of wood by working for it, I have to make about $250.
Splitting varies; last load I got was dry split doug fir that a couple had, and they decided that they did not to burn wood for heat any more. Worst stuff is blowdown that I have to cut, load, split, stack and dry. Or logging remains and I hunt through the slash piles and cull logs. Typical load is from an arborist falling trees and they have huge rounds that I quarter with the saw (noodle cut) just to load them, and then I split and stack it when I get home. That is all for 'free wood'. People here want 'cordwood prices' for standing trees all the time. Or they want to trade for standing trees, falling, bucking and splitting the wood and you get 50% of the wood. Or worse, they want you to drop the trees they have on citiy lots that have laws against cutting trees w/o a permit. The guy cutting gets the fine. Also people here want arborist type tree removal in exchange for wood all the time, and they want you to be licensed and bonded, and have references. For the firewood? Not. There is usually all the cottonwood and poplar that you want here as well, for free.
'Free' firewood here is gas money and time, and in some cases it is cheaper by the cord, already split, dry and delivered. $175 is my cordwood delivered benchmark. At a half cord per truckload, it costs me about $20 in gas, round trip, or $40 a cord. Time is usually 2-3 hours per load. While time is money, free wood is untaxed and income is not taxed either. To net $175 for a cord of wood by working for it, I have to make about $250.
Splitting varies; last load I got was dry split doug fir that a couple had, and they decided that they did not to burn wood for heat any more. Worst stuff is blowdown that I have to cut, load, split, stack and dry. Or logging remains and I hunt through the slash piles and cull logs. Typical load is from an arborist falling trees and they have huge rounds that I quarter with the saw (noodle cut) just to load them, and then I split and stack it when I get home. That is all for 'free wood'. People here want 'cordwood prices' for standing trees all the time. Or they want to trade for standing trees, falling, bucking and splitting the wood and you get 50% of the wood. Or worse, they want you to drop the trees they have on citiy lots that have laws against cutting trees w/o a permit. The guy cutting gets the fine. Also people here want arborist type tree removal in exchange for wood all the time, and they want you to be licensed and bonded, and have references. For the firewood? Not. There is usually all the cottonwood and poplar that you want here as well, for free.