First scrounging attempt...

[Cate68]

Well guys, I'm now part of the club. I made my first attempt at scrounging (or I think it's considered scrounging) today by e-mailing the city forestry department and asking them if they made trees they cut and didn't chip available to residents for firewood. Not sure I'll get a reply, but at least I put my first feeler out there to see what happens.

Also, saw my first free firewood ad on Craigslist ... so I went to check it out since it was at a church about a quarter mile from my house, and the stuff was huge! One was a downed pine - you could tell by the billion branches cut off, but the others looked to be oak or maple, it was getting dark and a little hard to see. It made me sick to drive past knowing none if it would fit in my Civic. If anyone is in my area, let me know or check out the ad...it's a great haul of wood but needs bucked on site unless you have a crane.

 

[midwestcoast]

Sounds like there's plenty there at that church and 1/4 mile away is awesome. If it were me I'd get over there one morning & buck-up a bunch, then get a pick-up either from a friend (returned with full tank of gas & case of their fav beer) or rented from HD, Lowes and haul it home. Withh no truck free wood is not so free, but still very cheap.

You may try using the grapevine to talk to some city crews on a less official basis. The higher up the ladder you go, the more the answers are just CYA-inspired

 

[Cate68]

Believe me, Midwest, it killed me to just drive by with it being so close, by my truck and chainsaw person is an hour and a half away, and I'm sure it'll be gone before he could get here. I was hoping there were some smaller pieces, but no. Hopefully someone in my neck of the woods will see this post and go get it.

 

[midwestcoast]

Well, there's your first problem, you don't need a "chainsaw person", you need a chainsaw; Then YOU'LL be the chainsaw person, and when your neighbor has a limb come down in their yard they'll think "hmm, Cate has a chainsaw..." bingo, you get wood...er..you know what I mean.
Seriously, I do fine scrounging with no truck or trailer, but I've needed a saw for every score.

 

[Kenster]

You're not going to have too much success if your idea of scrounging is coming upon wood already bucked for you at just the right size. They might as well wrap it up in a pretty ribbon for you. Those kinds of scores will be few and far between. As MWC just said, at least get yourself a chainsaw and maybe a little trailer your Civic can pull. Find a score, buck up only what you can haul off in one trip. Then come back and buck some more. If you buck too much and have to come back for it... well, be sure to tie that ribbon around it because you will most likely have made a nice gift to another scrounger.

Welcome to our world.

 

[Mt Ski Bum]

get a saw & a small old truck- then you won't have to depend on your "chainsaw & truck guy"!

 

[Jags]

Asking a serious question here, because it happens - Cate - are you afraid of a saw? If so, be aware that some places offer safety classes or tagging along with another operator can often help. If you are really looking to go into scrounger mode, I would suggest this:

Small saw - comfortable for you to use (like a 14" or 16" bar)
Small trailer - 1500# 4x8 trailers are pretty cheap new and can be found in the used market pretty easily, and your little car should do fine if you manage the weight correctly. From 2006-2008 the civic is rated at a 1500# towing capacity. In 2009 it went down to 1000# (don't know why).

You will not find many scrounges that are bucked to length and ready to toss into the civic. That is why it is free.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Excellent post Jags.

And that close, I'd even take my atv and trailer to get it.

 

[Cate68]

Hi Guys...

Oh, believe me, I don't expect anyone to put ribbons around bucked wood for me, that's crazy! I just went to check on it because it was so close and thought there might be a few pieces small enough I could grab.

Jags - Good call. Operating a chainsaw, even a smaller one, is a bit intimidating for me. I'm very danger prone, and teaming me up with a chainsaw...well, it could get ugly. The City deal would be the best for me so I could just go get wood when "chainsaw and truck guy" aka: Dad, comes to visit.

 

[midwestcoast]

For the record I've scrounged small scores nearby in my Prius with the seats down & a tarp laid down. About 500lbs at a time. I've also carried small limbs home when walking the dog and carted a couple loads over from the neighbors in a wheelbarrow. I won't try to gather much that way, (a cord would be 8-10 carloads or maybe 50 wheelbarrows!) but if it's just a little wood very close & not worth getting hold of a truck I'm game.

 

[moosetrek]

Cate, I felt the same way when I first picked up a saw; my Dad always did most of the cutting when I was too little. But he was patient, and showed me how to do it safely. Like anything else, practice makes a huge difference. I'm no pro logger, but I'm now comfortable going into the forest with a saw, and coming out with firewood. For what you'd need, the ability to cut some longer things into shorter things that fit in your car, I think a small saw that you can keep in the Civic would be pretty doable; maybe have your "chainsaw and truck guy" show you how and do some of it yourself with him around until you feel better about it? It's a pretty useful ability, not just for firewood - sometimes it's nice to be able to trim your own branches out of the way, or clean up small stuff after a storm, or even help neighbor out who can't do it.

 

[Cate68]

Nice use of the Pruis, Midwest! I've gotten about 140 splits in my Civic.

Thanks for the encouragement, Moosetrek. I'll have to give this some more thought, but I won't ask my Dad to show me...he knows my injury track record and would probably tell me not to even consider it.

By the way, heard back from the City...it's a no-go. He said they put the wood through a rubber grinder and use it for mulch in the parks. What a waste of good wood...oh well, I'll keep looking.

 

[moosetrek]

You could try a local saw shop, they'd probably be willing to help find a saw that you'd be comfortable with and show you how to use it, no need to mention the track record either. I'd offer to help but the drive is a bit far, maybe some other Hearth.com member can help bring you to the dark side. But don't say we didn't warn you-

(sure, it starts out innocently enough. Just one little saw, for those stray pieces that won't fit in the car. Then that saw is just a liiitttle too small for those other pieces you have to leave behind. It's OK though, you can get by with a new bar and chain and keep going. Then, one day you stop in at the shop for some oil and there it is, the perfect saw on the shelf. Hmm, you think - "with that one I can get a lot more wood from my scrounging finds". Maybe you resist, at first. You tell yourself you're content. Until you can't get it out of your mind, every time you have to leave that perfect log behind. "What the heck, new tires can wait". So you bring it home, no longer will you be denied that well-seasoned piece of oak!

All is great, for a few weeks, maybe a couple months. But one day, as you slam the hatch over and over trying to fit it all in, you realize that the Civic just ain't big enough for all the new wood you can get. And you drive by the car lot, since just looking can't hurt, and see that little Toyota pickup sitting alone among the minivans. Wow! "Small enough to drive easily, but it sure would help haul the wood home, I could even go further for free wood since I can carry more of it". Besides, you already need new tires for the car so think of the money you'd save. But it's still just manageable; weekends, evenings on the way home from work, the occasional holiday spent driving to check out some guy's wood lot an hour away because it might be a big score of seasoned ash.

And you think that's where it ends, but no. After a while, the saw seems just a teeeennny bit underpowered, and you watch somebody next to you drive up, rip through 2' logs, throw them in his truck and drive off as you're still working on the first log. A sense of worry fills you - "am I not getting as much wood as I could?". But it's still OK, a quick trip back to the shop for a bigger bar and chain and all is well again.

For a while. And pretty soon, the pattern repeats itself until... "I really wanted to pay the power bill, but Stihl was having a sale on pro saws, and besides the stove works fine without power"... and "I really WANTED to go to your school play son, but this church had a whole row of LOCUST and I couldn't take the chance of missing it, I'm sure you understand. It's OK, I'll make it up to you - how about a new candle for your room?" After a while, you start to live for the smell of gas and wood chips on a cold morning and the thunder of your diesel pickup.)

 

[SnapCracklePop]

Moose,

What a fine bit of prose. Not, by chance, a true story, hmmmmm???

 

[moosetrek]

Well, not completely... no kids so I never had to miss the school play! Just hoping to offer a little lighthearted encouragement-

 

[Cate68]

Moosetrek - that was great! I'm thinking you must be a writer. And thanks for the offer of help...but yes, Wyoming is definitely far from Ohio, but if you're in the area let me know! Now I'm going to be dreaming of chainsaws and Toyotas tonight.