Now that we know how you heat...or not, how do you get the firewood for heating ?
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I keep and eye out for new construction sites and ask permission to cut what's already been dropped by the contractor doing the clearing and dirt work. They usually have no issue with taking a few P/U truck loads. Most are happy to let me have it and can't believe I asked before taking it. They come back to their site after a weekend off to see that the busy weekend beavers have been at work on their pile with no permission.
I scrounge a lot off the curbs around my house, mostly pecan. Sometimes from jobsites, and from my buddies woods if I need it.
Im a contractor and cut lots of wood and get payed to take it .?But the power line guys cut lots of trees and let us have it .
100% scrounge.
Craigslist, colleagues, opportunistic, town workers, even pallets from the hardware store if I'm running low. All with permission of course. Just finished processing my 12th cord in 2 years. Haven't paid for anything directly . . . yeah , yeah car fuel, chainsaw gas, etc. of course.
Craigslist, colleagues, opportunistic, town workers, even pallets from the hardware store if I'm running low. All with permission of course. Just finished processing my 12th cord in 2 years. Haven't paid for anything directly . . . yeah , yeah car fuel, chainsaw gas, etc. of course.
Cut, split and seasoned on my 12 acres (with occasional forays onto the adjoining 60 with permission of course). Most by hand but I have a little 7-ton electric splitter I beat on for the big ones. That will likely have to be upgraded, as 4-5 cords a year is "above its pay grade". It sure beats jogging every morning for excercise.
60% harvested of standing and lying dead, 40% friends, Craigslist, road crew, etc. 0% purchased. Have about 15 cord split and stacked, about 15 cord cut or log length that needs final processing. Guess what I do with my spare time? :lol:
Only take the blow downs and dead stuff from my acre+.... Mostly buy csd, and sometimes rounds if available. Logging truck loads haven`t been for sale around these parts for at least 10 years. I usually pay between 160-180 per cord csd. And that is all softwood.
We are lucky. We just go out the back door and follow the tractor trail to some standing dead. Makes good firewood and theres no one to question us about cutting. Its good to be alone in the middle of a wild forest.
I just fire up the processor and park the one ton under the conveyor or I clean up rail tie cutoffs from around the mill.
I will now crawl under the desk to avoid all imaginary splits that are now being thrown at me through the screen in a rage of jealousy. LOL
I will now crawl under the desk to avoid all imaginary splits that are now being thrown at me through the screen in a rage of jealousy. LOL
I'm still too new to it to know what my wood gathering 'pattern' is going to be. So far, 100 percent scrounged. Hope to keep it that way. Started with a big, dead Red Oak on my own property. I bought a chainsaw early on. Probably have enough hardwood processed and seasoned now to make it through the winter in good shape. Word gets out and friends start offering wood. This year I was given over a half cord of cherry and about the same of Black Locust (for next year). I have access to on the ground deadwood at another friend's house. Will probably start harvesting that in the next month. I have both hand split and used a borrowed 20 ton gas splitter.
A friend of mine that used to live across the street from me took me out to his parents farm and said take what I want from the grove and store there as well. I have done this for seven years now. I can come and go as I please to split and cut downed trees first and then I remove fence line trees or anything they want taken down that is safe for me to drop. It is an awesome set up.
They surprised me a couple of times by paying for cutting up trees that they paid to have felled by a pro as they where to close to the house so I got paid to cut my firewood. It is pretty hard to beat that. Ohh I also get use of a tractor for moving wood about the farm with a large bucket on the front as well since I sold my truck.
I use utility trailer for hauling dry wood to my house with the golden turtle as I call it (Chrysler mini-van, or as I refer to as the man-van since it is the biggest vehicle in the fleet now)
They surprised me a couple of times by paying for cutting up trees that they paid to have felled by a pro as they where to close to the house so I got paid to cut my firewood. It is pretty hard to beat that. Ohh I also get use of a tractor for moving wood about the farm with a large bucket on the front as well since I sold my truck.
I use utility trailer for hauling dry wood to my house with the golden turtle as I call it (Chrysler mini-van, or as I refer to as the man-van since it is the biggest vehicle in the fleet now)
I had to click scrounge because there wasn't enough options. That's what I used to do. This year I bought four cords of slab wood cut to length for 220 bucks.
WOO HOO.
WOO HOO.
well, every one seemed to miss this one so i will mention it here.
Go to the town dump with an empty PU truck or trailer & wait for someone to come it with a load of wood. You will get a lot of 2x3 & 2x4 & 2x6 & maybe some 4 x 4 ends & odd lengths .
The dump guys won't allow you to dumpster dive or pick out of piles,too much libility if you get hurt but they should allow you to help someone unload their trailer or truck full of junk wood that they want to dump & just put the wood into your trailer or truck instead.
Just take natural uncoated wood, no composite or pressed wood as these have glue in them that release noxious or toxic gasses when burned & act as a fire accelerant as well.
Don't take anything with paint or any other finish on the wood as this makes toxic or at least unhealthy gases when it burns. No cardboard or plywood as this has glue on it with similar gases
as paint when it burns. NEVER BURN PRESSURE TREATED. It may have arsonic or pottassium or ciainide poisons in the wood which are released when burned.
Dont take any rotted wood ,eather because it dont burn good & is full of mildew,fungus, mold & germs & not worth touching.
Go to the town dump with an empty PU truck or trailer & wait for someone to come it with a load of wood. You will get a lot of 2x3 & 2x4 & 2x6 & maybe some 4 x 4 ends & odd lengths .
The dump guys won't allow you to dumpster dive or pick out of piles,too much libility if you get hurt but they should allow you to help someone unload their trailer or truck full of junk wood that they want to dump & just put the wood into your trailer or truck instead.
Just take natural uncoated wood, no composite or pressed wood as these have glue in them that release noxious or toxic gasses when burned & act as a fire accelerant as well.
Don't take anything with paint or any other finish on the wood as this makes toxic or at least unhealthy gases when it burns. No cardboard or plywood as this has glue on it with similar gases
as paint when it burns. NEVER BURN PRESSURE TREATED. It may have arsonic or pottassium or ciainide poisons in the wood which are released when burned.
Dont take any rotted wood ,eather because it dont burn good & is full of mildew,fungus, mold & germs & not worth touching.
My father in law has 200+ wooded acres consisting of alot of maple and cherry...
I basiclly have an endless supply.
I basiclly have an endless supply.
Harvest some off our land, keep an eye on Craigslist for people looking to have fallen trees removed, land cleared, etc. Been meaning to call the park service near here as well as some tree services. I'll have to keep an eye out foe construction sites, but building around here has slowed waaaaaay down.
We have 250 acres of mixed hardwoods, a large tractor, decent saw and a strong back ( so far).
Ed
Ed
I harvest some and have and arrangement with a tree service for some more. I guess I fall into catagory 1.
For last year and this coming season I've harvested all my wood from my mother's property. But she only has 5 acres so that's coming to an end. I'm planning to purchase a truck load of tree length next spring which should put me ahead by two years.
If I had to buy firewood, there is no way I'd be heating with a woodstove. All mine is delivered to my woodpile as cut to length rounds from a friend who owns a tree service.
100% Scrounge. Some years are better than others. This year is a mixture of everything including some pine. Next year is about 3 cords of red and white oak. Of course it has been drying for about 2 months now so it should be ready next fall.
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