Great progress on my firewood supply.

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sirlight

Burning Hunk
Dec 4, 2021
116
Albany, OR
Starting last winter, I went from wondering how I would heat my house to having a abundance of wood. I made friends with a local tree service and they have been dropping off a pretty much unlimited supply of logs and wood chips. It has really gotten a bit out of hand, but I don't want to tell them to stop delivering. My farm has very easy access and the tree service is just happy to have a good place to drop. The wood chips have gotten so out of hand that I posted a ad on craigslist and have already sold over $800 in wood chips this season. Sorry to brag, since I know so may of you really need to scrounge for wood. Just wanted to share my bounty.

This is all free tree service wood:

4 Cords oak and maple split and stacked.

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5 cords oak split and stacked.

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Cedar and oak.

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Oak and sycamore.

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Cedar.

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Firewood paradise!

I am just thrilled that I found a great, free source of wood. I had a hard time convincing myself to purchase a wood splitter, but honestly have you seen the price of firewood recently?
 
Nice. Good job. Good for you you are getting ahead, getting dry wood, and providing safe heat for your home!

Do you have a moisture meter? By measuring periodictally (e.g. once every three months or so) on a few freshly split pieces, you can learn how fast that species dries, and then you can plan for what to burn when. E.g. Cedar and Oak will show a world of difference when being the same age in your stacks.
 
Nice. Good job. Good for you you are getting ahead, getting dry wood, and providing safe heat for your home!

Do you have a moisture meter? By measuring periodictally (e.g. once every three months or so) on a few freshly split pieces, you can learn how fast that species dries, and then you can plan for what to burn when. E.g. Cedar and Oak will show a world of difference when being the same age in your stacks.
Yep, I have a moisture meter. I plan to monitor the wood. I will burn the fir and some of the cedar this coming winter. I typically use about 3 to 3.5 cords per year.
 
That's a perfect plan.
Now some more pine to combine with the maple for the season after the coming one, and you're three years ahead, meaning you're all set even if you only get oak from there on out.

Great job.
 
That's a perfect plan.
Now some more pine to combine with the maple for the season after the coming one, and you're three years ahead, meaning you're all set even if you only get oak from there on out.

Great job.
I figure I have 12 to 14 cords split now. Over the next few months I should be able to stack another few cords. The oak will not be ready for a couple years, but will be great when it is ready. Burning 2 cords of fir I cut back in 2014 this winter and a cord or cord and a half of cedar. Winter of 2023 I might be able to start on the oak,
 
Well done.
 
What do people want the wood chips for? I can get tractor trailers of them for $40 a ton but the only buyers are wood chip power plants
 
What do people want the wood chips for? I can get tractor trailers of them for $40 a ton but the only buyers are wood chip power plants
People use the chips for mulch on their garden beds and to keep mud down on pathways. I am selling for $15 a yard and people just come by with their pickups and trailers and I load with the tractor. I figure I have moved over 100 yards of chips since the winter between selling, personal use and giving chips to friends.
 
Great, I thought they were heating with them.
 
Starting last winter, I went from wondering how I would heat my house to having a abundance of wood. I made friends with a local tree service and they have been dropping off a pretty much unlimited supply of logs and wood chips. It has really gotten a bit out of hand, but I don't want to tell them to stop delivering. My farm has very easy access and the tree service is just happy to have a good place to drop. The wood chips have gotten so out of hand that I posted a ad on craigslist and have already sold over $800 in wood chips this season. Sorry to brag, since I know so may of you really need to scrounge for wood. Just wanted to share my bounty.

This is all free tree service wood:

4 Cords oak and maple split and stacked.

View attachment 297059

View attachment 297060

5 cords oak split and stacked.

View attachment 297061

Cedar and oak.

View attachment 297062

Oak and sycamore.

View attachment 297063

Cedar.

View attachment 297064

Firewood paradise!

I am just thrilled that I found a great, free source of wood. I had a hard time convincing myself to purchase a wood splitter, but honestly have you seen the price of firewood recently?

Show us all that you get.. be proud.. brag.. its ok.. I get all of my wood for free.. I scrounge as much as I can and I sell some here and there also.. nothing wrong with it.. It might be motivation to some to get out there and network or scrounge themselves..
 
Show us all that you get.. be proud.. brag.. its ok.. I get all of my wood for free.. I scrounge as much as I can and I sell some here and there also.. nothing wrong with it.. It might be motivation to some to get out there and network or scrounge themselves..
It is so great to just have a tree service drop off the logs. Only downside is that some can be quite big and hard to handle. Still, much better than getting a wood permit and having to cut the wood and haul it back from the forest. Never know what they will drop off. Last load was cottonwood. Has any burned cottonwood before? Is it any good?
 
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I got lucky, my brother has a bunch of trees cut down and last year I cut and split them, ended up with about 7 cords, should last me two years since I always buy a pallet of compressed wood. Problem is it's stacked at his house a mile away, need to find a way to get all of it to my house since I don't have a truck. It's great wood, hickory, oak, maple and ash.
 
I got lucky, my brother has a bunch of trees cut down and last year I cut and split them, ended up with about 7 cords, should last me two years since I always buy a pallet of compressed wood. Problem is it's stacked at his house a mile away, need to find a way to get all of it to my house since I don't have a truck. It's great wood, hickory, oak, maple and ash.
Home depot has trucks you can rent for $19 for 75 minutes or $129 for the day. With his house being so close, you could move alot of wood in that length of time. You could also rent a trailer if you have a way to tow it. You could just load your trunk as full as possible and just make multiple trips over the course of the winter. Unless he wants it out of there right away...
 
I don't have a truck.
As my wise, old, now retired friend from work often says, "There's a cure for that s*%t!"
As a matter of fact, he just used it on me a day ago when I was complaining about work stuff. Hmm. ;)
 
Home depot has trucks you can rent for $19 for 75 minutes or $129 for the day. With his house being so close, you could move alot of wood in that length of time. You could also rent a trailer if you have a way to tow it. You could just load your trunk as full as possible and just make multiple trips over the course of the winter. Unless he wants it out of there right away...
This then becomes the best game of how-fast-can-i-move-all-this-stuff-to-avoid-the-$5-overtime-fee. Which is frankly, lots of fun. I think people even pay extra for that kind of workout--is that AMRAP? HIIT? Probably all of the above. Best of luck with the move!
 
I got lucky, my brother has a bunch of trees cut down and last year I cut and split them, ended up with about 7 cords, should last me two years since I always buy a pallet of compressed wood. Problem is it's stacked at his house a mile away, need to find a way to get all of it to my house since I don't have a truck. It's great wood, hickory, oak, maple and ash.
I’ve moved a good bit with the seats out of the minivan and a tarp down. Not 7 cords but an hour or two a weekend could move a good bit.
 
"Has any burned cottonwood before? Is it any good?"
Wouldn't touch any cottonwood, better off burning rolled up newspaper, easier too.
 
cotton wood is poplar.. you can look any tree up on a BTU chart. Poplar is low like 14 million BTUs per cord.. It has its purpose in life, like if you split it in January its ready to burn that April, yes it will.season over the winter. Would I ues it for overnight burns, no, would I want to burn it in the dead of winter, not really.. its a great wood to burn in fall, spring and if in a jam. If its a wood you can get your hands on a d your wood supply is low.. Id burn it.. and Iv burnd cords of it
 
Wood that you have is better than better wood that you don't have.
 
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