Do you buy or not buy your wood?

[CK-1]

I'm seeing more and more posts about people who actually pay for wood. Most times, they say it was a good deal. No deal is better than FREE. The day I pay for wood is the day I will switch to a Pellet Stove and call it a day. If your up to using a chain saw and throwing rounds of wood in the back of your truck/trailer... then let me give you a few tips that have worked for me in getting FREE wood.

1. Tell your family and friends you own a fireplace and looking for wood as well. You'll be amazed how word gets around.
2. In rural areas, tree companies sometimes clear big branches of trees from power lines and leave it near the road for the taking.
3. Its late fall, the leaves are gone. Notice that fallen tree in the woods. BINGO!!.. Asks first if its on someone's property.
4. Call a tree service. Some will be more than welcome to have you haul a tree away, while they pocket the money. Have them cut it into rounds.
5. Bad weather make fallen trees. This is where family, friends and the internet come into play as well.
6. Did someone say Internet?. I use CraigsList and the PennySaver on occasions. Alot of FREE wood out there depending on where you live. See a picture of the woodpile first. Some peope can send you a picture using their cell phone camera.



Hope this helps...

 

[fossil]

...Hope this helps...

Not particularly. What would help is if you would be so kind as to go way back in time and make the high desert of Central Oregon a verdant hardwood forest for miles and miles around, with a climate in which it would thrive. Just consider yourself fortunate to live someplace where all those kinds of free wood gathering opportunites exist...to many of us the scenario you describe is simply not available. It's certainly got nothing whatever to do with the amount of time, energy and effort we might be willing to devote to it, nor how ambitious or clever we might be (or not be). Happy gathering! Rick

 

[stanleyjohn]

I have near 2 cords that i have gotton from the woods on my property.It would be safe to say that i can get around 2 cords per year from my woods.At the present time i have no idea how much wood i will need per year to heat my home!next season will tell all!Not planning on burning 24/7!Just afternoons till bed time,weekends and time off from work.I just finished building a wood shed and planning on buying a few cords to try and get ahead of the game.I dont have a truck and cant pull a trailer with my prius so getting wood from other ways is not too easy.

 

[Jay777]

I'm seeing more and more posts about people who actually pay for wood. Most times, they say it was a good deal. No deal is better than FREE. The day I pay for wood is the day I will switch to a Pellet Stove and call it a day. If your up to using a chain saw and throwing rounds of wood in the back of your truck/trailer... then let me give you a few tips that have worked for me in getting FREE wood.

I guess it depends on how much your time and energy are worth in searching for "free" wood, cutting it, hauling it, and splitting it. Because nothing's really free.. you're just saving $N by investing M hours of labor, plus equipment and fuel costs. Helpful tips for people who benefit from that tradeoff, yes.

 

[Henz]

yeah I hear you there. I dont know if people realize how many trees you need to get a cord. i.e. there are some rules of thumb out there for the diameter of a tree at 4' hight. I believe that a 23" dia tree measured at 4' is equal to one cord. For me, who does cut trees on his own property it works well to know how many trees I need to cut. I dont like cutting too many trees at once, I would rather give them a year or two longer to grow!

 

[Risser09]

This will be my first year of wood burning and I have had two FREE situations come to me.

#1 A guy 1 block away from me had his 150 year old cherry tree fall over, so I asked him if I could give him a hand and take the wood. He said yes. That was some of the hardest wood I've EVER cut/split.

#2 Another dude down the street had a 5 ft. diameter (trunk) silver maple fall onto a hickory and take it out with it. Again, I walked by and noticed, then asked the guy. He said I could have it all. He even helped me cut it.

I'll be set for awhile....

 

[cocey2002]

I like to cut up some maple from my woods. I can get close to a cord or more per year. My neighbor owns 14 acres of woods about 3/4 miles away. He cuts, splits, loads, and helps me stack it for $120 per cord of dead red oak. At $120 per cord I will save my back and enjoy doing something else.

 

[budman]

I don't have the time or energy to go out there and find wood and haul it back to the house.
I buy log length @ 60.00 dollars @cord and when i have time i get her done.Right now i have 6 3/4 cord
of black locust,red oak,white oak,hickory and ash seasoned for 1 1/2 years for this year and some
for the following year and will start on another load this Sept. I do think my log guy will go up in
price this year with the cost of fuel but i have been dealing with him for about 10 years so i would
hope he will go easy on me. ;-)

 

[burntime]

I am cheap, ok, I said it. I also like to be warm. Get the picture? I find wood, bought the splitter and the saw and have been heating with wood since I was in my teens on and off. I need the exercise being a desk all week so its goog to get out and sweat and cut wood. Its about 20 buck a cord in gas to get it to my home, cut it, and split it. That does not include wear and tear on my stuff or me. If I could get wood at 100 bucks a cord I am not stupid, I would do it. By me it is closer to 300 a cord.

 

[BrotherBart]

I have been cutting and splitting my own off of this place for twenty-two years. Scrounging and hauling for ten years before that. I hate every minute of it. I am old and tired and if I could buy wood cheap I would donate the saws and splitter to Goodwill.

It ain't a passion around here. It's heat.

 

[Hogwildz]

I'm seeing more and more posts about people who actually pay for wood. Most times, they say it was a good deal. No deal is better than FREE. The day I pay for wood is the day I will switch to a Pellet Stove and call it a day. If your up to using a chain saw and throwing rounds of wood in the back of your truck/trailer... then let me give you a few tips that have worked for me in getting FREE wood.

1. Tell your family and friends you own a fireplace and looking for wood as well. You'll be amazed how word gets around.
Good idea, but not always a producer of free wood. Especially with more & more wood burners being born these days.
2. In rural areas, tree companies sometimes clear big branches of trees from power lines and leave it near the road for the taking.
That land is owned by someone, it would be curteous to ask the land owner first. Round here ya might find yourself pulling buck shot out of your arse otherwise.
3. Its late fall, the leaves are gone. Notice that fallen tree in the woods. BINGO!!.. Asks first if its on someone's property.
Another good idea, done that here.
4. Call a tree service. Some will be more than welcome to have you haul a tree away, while they pocket the money. Have them cut it into rounds.
Most tree co's round here sell it as firewood, not much for free from tree co's round here.
5. Bad weather make fallen trees. This is where family, friends and the internet come into play as well.
Good if its fairly close.
6. Did someone say Internet?. I use CraigsList and the PennySaver on occasions. Alot of FREE wood out there depending on where you live. See a picture of the woodpile first. Some peope can send you a picture using their cell phone camera.
Distance is the big denominator here, and having a truck to move it, and how accessible it is.
Having a ranger 2wd, and the price of fuel, its not worth the aggravation for me. Been getting it at $150.00 for 3 cords cut & dumped in my driveway.
Sorry, less hassle & work way outweighs driving round the countryside and burning a day or so for a cord or so. Life is too short.
My guy has colon cancer, so I will be looking in to a truckload of log lengths delivered. 8-10 or so cords for $550.00- $600.00 is just fine by me.

Some folks just don't have the time, truck etc to go for that so called free wood. As stated its not really free, but yes expensive yes.
But if one does not have the means, that doesn't make them less of a wood burner.



Hope this helps...

 

[sapratt]

Around here its easy to get wood for free if your willing to do the work. I don't think many like doing the work though cause
alot of people buy wood around here. Makes it easyier for me though. Rick just ask everyone to donate wood to the Fossil
organization then you'll get free wood.

 

[RedRanger]

It really does depend on where you live. Haven`t seen logging truck loads here for at least 7 or 8 years. Even rounds which are somewhat cheaper are hard to come by. Almost everyone here has to buy csd and the variation is between $150 and $185,, and all this is softwood.

Only saving grace is that every year there is always some new guys that think it is a profitable business and will start out selling the rounds or csd cheaper than everyone else with common sense. But ya have to grab that stuff in a hurry, cause they soon wake up and start charging what it is really worth for their time and labour or they stop doing business.

 

[Elderthewelder]

[Having a ranger 2wd, and the price of fuel, its not worth the aggravation for me. Been getting it at $150.00 for 3 cords cut & dumped in my driveway.
Sorry, less hassle & work way outweighs driving round the countryside and burning a day or so for a cord or so. Life is too short

If I could get 3 cords of cut wood dumped at my house for $150 I would be all over it too, but that aint gonna happen around here, and I simply do not have the lot size to get logs delivered to me, let alone the space to season 6+ cords

I do pretty good scrounging wood, mostly off craigslist, I got a very modest 4 cord right now, 3 of them will be ready to burn this season, but like others have said, it is in no way "free" its hard on the body loading/unloading into truck, wear and tear on truck, saw, chains, gas, splitter you get the picture

I have really started to notice how fast "free firewood" adds are spoken for on craigslist, you have to react fast in order to get the wood. All the wood whores camp out on craigslist and gobble it all up and re sell it, I did a experiment last year, I put a add up on CL, said I had a large maple taken down and cut into 16" rounds with easy truck access listed it for free, I kept the add up for 1 hour just to see what kinda response it wold get, I think I got will over 20 responses in that hour with like 5 of them in the first 10 minutes, it was unreal, I never emailed anyone back and deleted the add after the 1 hour

 

[fossil]

...Rick just ask everyone to donate wood to the Fossil organization then you'll get free wood.

Oh gee whiz, no man...I'd have to register as a non-profit, keep detailed records, file annual tax returns with the IRS and the Oregon Dept. of Revenue, and be subject to audit. Please don't donate any wood to me. I'm perfectly willing to put in a reasonable amount of effort into woodburning, and I believe I do. I just don't own a forest, and there just aren't any forests close by, and I don't own the proper equipment or have the requisite experience to go to where the forests are and do all the things that the guys I buy (gasp!) wood from do to get it to those of us who want it. I buy my wood either CSD or in rounds, depending on the price. I do a lot of splitting, moving, stacking, moving and burning. I've gotten some decent deals off craigslist, but not free. In Central Oregon, there's just no such thing as a free cord. As I get settled in here, I may look into buying log-length if I can find it. The once-thriving logging industry in Oregon is all but dead. I suspect that if I can find log-length, it'll be from pretty much the same guys who I buy wood from now, only somebody with a bigger/longer trailer. We who participate on this great forum live in different places, in different circumstances, and our wood-related opportunities are different. The common thread that runs through the warp and the woof of our online interaction is our dedication to woodburning for warmth and comfort for ourselves and our loved ones. I don't care where you get your firewood...if you can get it free, more power to you, I think that's very cool. I can't. That's kinda the bottom line. Now, go out there and riddle your wood, no man! :lol: Rick

 

[BrotherBart]

So what you are saying fossil is "Burn'em if ya got'em. If not see your log dealer.".

Sounds like basic training where they told me "Smoke'em if you got'em. If not, see your squad leader" Who happened to have some and made a fortune off of them.

 

[RedRanger]

So what you are saying fossil is "Burn'em if ya got'em. If not see your log dealer.".

Sounds like basic training where they told me "Smoke'em if you got'em. If not, see your squad leader" Who happened to have some and made a fortune off of them.

See your what dealer?? spelling mistake? Evil,,,BB--Evil

 

[PA. Woodsman]

To each his own, but like I said in another post, the day that I can't get my own firewood you can start throwin' dirt on me....



Put that shovel DOWN..... LOL!

 

[BrotherBart]

See your what dealer?? spelling mistake? Evil,,,BB--Evil

Dealer hell. Since I started making my own cigs this month and can put anything I want in them, I may start growing a garden next year. Like a Canuck I know of.

 

[fossil]

So what you are saying fossil is "Burn'em if ya got'em. If not see your log dealer.".

Sounds like basic training where they told me "Smoke'em if you got'em. If not, see your squad leader" Who happened to have some and made a fortune off of them.

Yeah, something like that, BB. Now take five, let's burn one, and make damn sure you police the area or Gunney'll be all over us like flies on stink if he finds so much as one butt. ;-) (Believe me, I know my "log dealers", and so far as I'm concerned, they're not making a fortune off customers like me when all the labor, costs, and time involved are taken into account. I feel I'm very fairly treated by them. If I felt differently, I'd take my business elsewhere...there's actually fair market competition for firewood providers out here. Rick

 

[BrotherBart]

(Believe me, I know my "log dealers", and so far as I'm concerned, they're not making a fortune off customers like me when all the labor, costs, and time involved are taken into account. I feel I'm very fairly treated by them. If I felt differently, I'd take my business elsewhere...there's actually fair market competition for firewood providers out here. Rick

I don't know why anybody would do this stuff for anything under $500 a cord cut and split. I could work at 7-11 and make more money than the wood I cut would cost me. Hell, I make more telling people on the phone that their bazillion dollar project has a $100,000 mistake in the project plan.

But the damned wood is just there. HooYah.

 

[fossil]

...But the damned wood is just there. HooYah.

Exactly. If it were "just here", I'd take it, to the extent of my capabilities...but it ain't "just here", it's w-a-a-a-ay "over there", and a number of trustworthy, ambitious young men are willing to go do whatever it takes to get it out of "there" and bring it "here" to make themselves what they see as some extra money. And that's just fine with me, old and tired as I am. My checkbook's a good deal lighter than my chainsaw, and these days that has to count for something, at least to me it does. So much to do, so little time. 8-/ Rick

 

[RedRanger]

...But the damned wood is just there. HooYah.

Exactly. If it were "just here", I'd take it, to the extent of my capabilities...but it ain't "just here", it's w-a-a-a-ay "over there", and a number of trustworthy, ambitious young men are willing to go do whatever it takes to get it out of "there" and bring it "here" to make themselves what they see as some extra money. And that's just fine with me, old and tired as I am. My checkbook's a good deal lighter than my chainsaw, and these days that has to count for something, at least to me it does. So much to do, so little time. 8-/ Rick

Well, I sorta of do have the wood to fall and buck. but I prefer to buy at todays low prices, and save mine for maybe, or perhaps, when there is none to buy. this actually happened a couple of years ago when there was a strike, and no one was logging or could even get into the woods to log.

Maybe a little bit crazy in these ways. like always keep canned goods, and dry stuff on hand to last for at least 12 months, cause ya just never know? And the first one that calls me Mormon Sonny is gonna get shot!! :lol:

 

[BrotherBart]

And the first one that calls me Mormon Sonny is gonna get shot!! :lol:

Morman Sonny.

 

[fossil]

And the first one that calls me Mormon Sonny is gonna get shot!! :lol:

Morman Sonny.

BB, don't think for a minute that I didn't notice that you intentionally misspelled Mormon in order to avoid being shot by Mormon Sonny. :bug: Rick