Got me a wood thief!

[3fordasho]

I've ordered some paint markers and even some ultraviolet markers, I already have the UV light for leak detection in air conditioning systems. Come to think of it the leak detection dye in a bingo style blotter would work great, and better yet I've got that laying around too.

Had a similar situation about a year and a half ago. Actually the wood theft was the last straw after a long string of them taking advantage of my generosity.
I put up a security light that lit up my stacking area and a sliver of light would hit their firepit area. All hell broke loose over the light, they complained to the city and tried to block access to the rear of my property (by blocking the alley). I won on the alley issue the but light had to be turned off. I ended up with 4 security cameras watching my property and the wood seems to pretty much stay in place... I say pretty much because somedays I think the piles have shrunk just a little too much. The cameras have never caught them, but they're not real effective at night. Over this last weekend they had two large bonfires and I never saw any wood in their stack earlier in the week and they always seem to burn till every last piece is gone.... Keep wondering if it's my wood... If they've gotten smart enough to pull a piece here and there from the tops along my 121' long stacks I'd prolly never notice :-(

I've been trying to find a way to mark those top splits so I'll know if some are missing, but not be so obvious that they'll figure it out..... this is the sh** you think about when you have bad neighbors..

Brand the wood with a special hammer that will leave a unique mark in the end grain. You can likely make a hammer pretty easily with a hammer and grinder, or a hammer and welder... or even a hammer and dremel tool...

Then lightly brand all of the pieces on the top row and see if they disaappear.

Or, take pictures of the top row so you can go back and referrence exactly what pieces of wood were in what location. Then periodically check the stacks vs. the pictures to see if pieces are missing...

Or just lightly paint the pieces on the top row one color, and the 2nd row another color. If the 1st color slowly disappears, and you're left with the 2nd color being your top row then you know what it happening...

 

[20cordayear]

Nothing like an ole shot of rock salt in the ole 12 ga. Can't fix

 

[Thistle]

I'd bore a few holes in the wood and pour some "Dave's Insanity Sauce" in them then fill it over with wood putty. When they burn it, it will fill their room, or depending on the amount, house with a pepper gas.


Orrr, causally tell your neighbor that your worried about your wood pile as you just found out that the road commission informed you that where you got your wood from was sprayed with a special insecticide and is harmful when burned and inhaled. It has been known to cause cancer............... If he's dumb enough, he just might panic. That for me is justice enough.

I'm a vindictive prick.

Nothing wrong with that.At least others will think twice before crossing you again.

 

[firefighterjake]

Insanity sauce, liquid butt, black powder . . . in my own case I could easily see myself forgetting that I did this and end up burning the affected wood in my own woodstove.

 

[joecool85]

Insanity sauce, liquid butt, black powder . . . in my own case I could easily see myself forgetting that I did this and end up burning the affected wood in my own woodstove.

Yeah, I would do the same. I can't imagine explaining that one to the Mrs.

 

[3fordasho]

I took some air conditioning UV dye and mixed it with a bit of mineral oil (lube in a/c systems) and poured it into a bingo style blotter. Took about 15mn to blot a nickle sized dot on the end of each split at the very top of my stacks. Under the UV light it flouresces nicely. Time will tell how long it will last. The dye is basically unoticeable on darker colored or well weathered splits, fresh ash splits you can see the dot. I figure the wood stealing neighbors won't notice in the middle of the night.

My wife is conviced it was my wood they were burning over last weekend, I suspect she's right as one of the fires I could smell cherry burning which I have alot of and
it would be unlikely they could source any their own..

 

[DanCorcoran]

So you sneak over to their house in the dark with your UV light source and get shot? What's the plan, Stan?

 

[joecool85]

So you sneak over to their house in the dark with your UV light source and get shot? What's the plan, Stan?

No, he checks his pile to see if the UV-spotted logs are missing. If they are, he knows someone is stealing them. The issue is he has so much wood he's not 100% sure someone is taking any. Also, if he marks them with an obvious spot (say red paint), they will take logs just under that and leave the red paint ones...or at least they would if they were smart.

 

[Countryboy1966]

Trail cam would be nice as long as it does not have a flash or make noise otherwise you'll lose that too.



Five years back I had a renter move in next door. I’m polite open country so I went over and introduced myself. Learning their situation I gave them about a 1/3 cord of firewood to keep warm until they figure things out.

a month later they had an all night party that I was hesitant to call the cops about trying to be a good neighbor. As I was drinking my morning cup of coffee I noticed a bunch of people outside partying around a large fire. I observed them coming onto my property through the woods/brush and taking my wood over and throwing it on their fire.

I walked over and around the house so I approached them on a odd angle not to put two and two together. Walked up next to the guys and was welcomed as a fellow partier. We started talking and so forth about nothing. I then eased into it.

Me “So you enjoying this fire?â€

Partier # 1 “Yes, it’s cold out.â€

Me “Do you realize you are stealing this wood from the neighbor whose only source of heat is the wood you’re pissing away right here?â€

Partier #1 “No – I thought is was ritas woodâ€

Me “Bullshit. Property lines are obvious wood is in the center of my property behind my house.– I strongly recommend never stepping foot onto my property again.â€

Unbeknownst to the conflict, As I walk away partier #2 asks me where I’m going. Partier #1 quickly tells him to shut up and leave me alone.

A week later I reamed the renter over the situation. Month later she was evicted.

 

[Thistle]

That's better than what I did in Aug 2009. After seeing 2 wheelbarrows worth missing from my stack over a couple days then seeing the remainder smoldering in firepit early the next morning, jumping the fence & practically ripping the thieving neighbor's screen door off the hinges while screaming "Get out here you f-ing thief or I'll drag your ass through a window!"

 

[firefighterjake]

That's better than what I did in Aug 2009. After seeing 2 wheelbarrows worth missing from my stack over a couple days then seeing the remainder smoldering in firepit early the next morning, jumping the fence & practically ripping the thieving neighbor's screen door off the hinges while screaming "Get out here you f-ing thief or I'll drag your ass through a window!"

As I recall that person . . . or her boyfriend . . . left or were evicted soon thereafter as well . . . seems to be a reoccuring fact . . . thieves don't stay in one place for long.

 

[joecool85]

As I recall that person . . . or her boyfriend . . . left or were evicted soon thereafter as well . . . seems to be a reoccuring fact . . . thieves don't stay in one place for long.

Thankfully.

 

[bsj425]

What are these neighbor things you guys keep referring to? Sure is nice living in the middle of nowhere

 

[3fordasho]

Here is what a well seasoned mulberry split looks like with the mark - in light and under the UV lamp.

 

[Kenster]

I've had neighbor problems in the city in the past, mostly concerning barking dogs. Seems like no one can hear their own dog bark day and night.
Now we live out in the country. My nearest neighbor's house is about 200 yards away. We're good friends and help each other out all the time with whatever needs to be done.
Another 'neighbor' lives about three quarters of a mile down the road. We both have 8N tractors. I borrow his box blade. He borrows my bush hog. I borrow his trailer.
I was running short on wood the winter before last. he gave me a huge, straight Water Oak trunk that I trailered down to my place and split. It had been dead so long the bark was blown but there was no sign of punk. He also gave me about half a pickup load of splits. All of this was ready to burn.

Now, he has a big pile of wood in his front yard including a few dead oak trunks. I'm going to get with him soon and help cut that up and use my splitter to split it. I may just go down there some day while he's at work at do it myself. I love having neighbors that can help me with things. I especially love having something I can do to pay them back, even when they would never ask for payback.

 

[DanCorcoran]

The air smells better and the view is nicer from the high ground...

 

[firefighterjake]

What are these neighbor things you guys keep referring to? Sure is nice living in the middle of nowhere

But you live at the North Pole . . . don't your elves count as neighbors, Santa?

On the serious side . . . because I do know about North Pole, Alaska (actually passed through there and of course had to make the stop at the Santa store) . . . neighbors aren't all bad. Neighbor across the way was able to tell me where my large elm disappeared to after the town cut it down (turns out there was a miscommunication with a town employee) -- if she wasn't around I wouldn't have known where my wood went to. While working on my woodshed I was doing the asphalt roof by hand until the neigbhbor next door loaned me a pneumatic roof nailer -- which I used since I was starting to feel the effects of carpal tunnel. My Amish neighbor invited us all to a pig roast one year and has given me free veggies . . . and I return the favors right back to these neighbors.

I don't think having neighbors is all bad . . . in fact it can be quite good . . . just having bad neighbors is bad.

 

[3fordasho]

bought an $8.00 UV LED flashlight on Ebay and it seems a 100x more powerfull than my pro UV light for leak detection. All I need to do is walk along the stacks at night and look for:


Now I'll know for sure if the wood is walking off or the stack is just shrinking on it's own ;-)

 

[DanCorcoran]

When you figure out what's been happening, please change the title of your post (as well as adding a comment) to indicate this.

 

[Hunderliggur]

I think I don't I have enough.

You can never have enough, well at least thats how I look at it.

Shawn

Thats exactly how I feel, but my wife thinks like the neighbors. I think I can convince her this winter when the house is nice and toasty again.

What about the 99% of us who don't have enough? It's not fair that the 1% who do keep getting more! (Am I getting too political)? ;-)

 

[rottiman]

I think I don't I have enough.

You can never have enough, well at least thats how I look at it.

Shawn

Thats exactly how I feel, but my wife thinks like the neighbors. I think I can convince her this winter when the house is nice and toasty again.

What about the 99% of us who don't have enough? It's not fair that the 1% who do keep getting more! (Am I getting too political)? ;-)

Keep that up and they will be puttin you over in the ash can

 

[Ash_403]

I think I don't I have enough.

You can never have enough, well at least thats how I look at it.

Shawn

Thats exactly how I feel, but my wife thinks like the neighbors. I think I can convince her this winter when the house is nice and toasty again.

What about the 99% of us who don't have enough? It's not fair that the 1% who do keep getting more! (Am I getting too political)? ;-)

Keep that up and they will be puttin you over in the ash can

Great. Firewood entitlement. Sure, WTH, why not? ;-)

 

[blades]

Ya he'll be in the ash can, right after I dry im out above the nc30 and then feed im to it.

 

[red oak]

I think I don't I have enough.

You can never have enough, well at least thats how I look at it.

Shawn

Thats exactly how I feel, but my wife thinks like the neighbors. I think I can convince her this winter when the house is nice and toasty again.

What about the 99% of us who don't have enough? It's not fair that the 1% who do keep getting more! (Am I getting too political)? ;-)

Exactly! Only the 1% work hard! The other 99% just must be lazy whiners! They can't possibly have legitimate concerns! If they did I'm sure FOX News would have covered them by now lol lol lol!

 

[NCredneck]

Let me ask you guys how to handle this:
I have been taking some wood from my neighbors stack of wood. I think he may be suspicious and even setting up some cameras or even painting the wood so I gotta be careful not to take too much at one time. Would you ask him if I can have some or just keep taking a piece here and there and hope he doesn't notice?

Who even thinks like that? Little thief.