True. Give away some of the lesser firewood and keep the oak.
I am a wood addict
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Wood is like money , can't really have too much haha . I've got 3-4 years worth . 2 years worth under cover and the rest is a stacked uncovered .
The guys at work think I'm crazy until winter rolls round and there nearly outa dry wood half way through haha.
The bulk of it was free too , all I had to do was put the effort into cutting and splitting it
The guys at work think I'm crazy until winter rolls round and there nearly outa dry wood half way through haha.
The bulk of it was free too , all I had to do was put the effort into cutting and splitting it
Oh it is on. After getting that pile split and up off the ground I really have enough on my property. So I enrolled a friend who has a wood stove! We will keep it at HIS house on pallets. I have free pallets and about 5 cords of scrounged opportunities. Just borrowed a trailer from a friend and all scheduled to get whole bunch of oak (5 trees came down in a heavy storm) that we can drive right up to. The last piece we need to fall into place for the weekend is the guy with a stihl with a 30" bar who is a friend who needs to cut a few logs up for us.... and I told my wife hey, I'm not out partying. and we split by hand so i'm getting in shape. After this winter when she sits with the stove I won't get any more complaints I think Cheers to all y'all My split oak smell is wafting into the house and it smells like Heaven.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
When I jumped back into woodburning, after a 13 year break in which I met and married my wife, she was a bit surprised and concerned with the time this endeavor was taking. I was gathering roughly 12-15 cords per year without very good equipment at the time, and hand splitting nearly all of it with a maul, or sledge and wedge. We had three old hand-me-down stoves, from which I was nearly always able to scrounge enough parts to keep two going, again with a lot of time and effort.
But she quickly became addicted to the wood heat, to the point where one year she suffered burns on her back side two years ago, from frequently standing too close to the stove. Now, she's the first one in the fall to ask when I'm going to get the stoves going, and never makes a complaint about the time it costs me, or the equipment in which I've invested over the years.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
Deppizzymo
Member
I do the same. We are raising an autistic son. This puts my wife through a lot during the day and so home time is when I am actually helping her mostly. On my work lunch breaks I scrounge cut up wood in town or advertised on marketplace. This is our first year of wood burning and I have about 4-5 cords I would guess. Over 50% of it I scrounged off of marketplace on my lunch breaks. Got a massive bunch of sycamore/walnut/elm (never again will I agree to take elm stumps) and a lot of the wood is over 50% of the way processed with most pieces cut up already. Just need split and stacked! Saves an awful lot of time. I haul it in my 2009 Kia Rio most of the time lol. These pictures show a huge bunch of sassafras logs I picked up down a sewage pump service entrance and hauled in the car.
Deppizzymo
Member
It has been with me. I try to avoid smelling like oil and gas before going back into the office though haha. I have started being a little more picky about what I take and what I don't. If my back groans just looking at the pictures I say no... if I have to make more than a couple cuts for the whole load I also say no haha
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
Yes, I've done the same in my wife's previous car (a Mazda 5 "van"). The tarp was in there always, so that I could just drive off when needed (if she was home).
The bark on those logs does not look like sassafras to me, not in texture nor in thickness. Try peeling something off; it has to be orange in the bark or underneath and smell like root beer. Splitting sassafras is the easiest of any I ever tried. Wood inside is a bit tan/beige. Burns quickly though.
To me this looks more like oak. But who am I; I did't carry them and stuff them in my car...
(red) Oak is clearly orange, and smells acidic.
The bark on those logs does not look like sassafras to me, not in texture nor in thickness. Try peeling something off; it has to be orange in the bark or underneath and smell like root beer. Splitting sassafras is the easiest of any I ever tried. Wood inside is a bit tan/beige. Burns quickly though.
To me this looks more like oak. But who am I; I did't carry them and stuff them in my car...
(red) Oak is clearly orange, and smells acidic.
Deppizzymo
Member
I dragged these out back in March so they are long split and in the pile now. It was a uniform brown wood throughout and not super dark. They smelled awesome and were easy to split. The wood almost had a sheen to it. The bark sloughed off very easy. I had someone tell me it could have been Catalpa. It was just a log on a ground at the time so I didn't give it a whole lot of thought. What do you think on the ID of Catalpa? I know regardless... catalpa/sassafras either one will not burn very long haha
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
I don't know Catalpa (have not worked with it), but googling it, the bark seems more consistent with that, yes. Some other addict will maybe provide a more definitive answer 
Deppizzymo
Member
Some of the pieces in the end-piece pic are actually sycamore. I dragged a bunch of that out too hahaI don't know Catalpa (have not worked with it), but googling it, the bark seems more consistent with that, yes. Some other addict will maybe provide a more definitive answer
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
Deppizzymo
Member
Right? I'll take anything even remotely dry/cut up like that if it's within reach on my lunch break hahaRegardless, the quality/price ratio was infinite; all is good
Ashful
Minister of Fire
"Huge" is a relative term! Here's a single 5500 pound'ish red oak log, I dragged onto my trailer in 2019. Strapping that bad boy down, so it wouldn't roll and fish-tail my trailer right off the road in a bend, was a bit of a project.
Deppizzymo
Member
WOW! I would have definitely had to slice that thing up first haha. "huge" for my little Kia Rio. I actually had to look up maximum load capacity for the car haha
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Get used to that. Excepting those with 1-ton short beds, most of us hauling hardwoods run out of weight capacity, before volumetric capacity. Figure 63 lb/ft3 for fresh oak, and 65% - 70% packing efficiency, and a standard 2.5 yd3 pickup bed holds 2800 lb. before even going above the rails. My 1/2 ton pickup squats pretty hard at half that capacity, despite having the "heavy duty springs" option.
No kidding. I used to haul wood in the back of my 3/4ton truck. Luckily I have airbags in the back, which made the truck level out. Without any air in the airbags you would hit the bump stops going down the road, so I ran new lines to the airbags and got that working again.
Got about 8 free trees from a neighbor just down the road, one of them being pine, which I thought was considered pretty light. I haul in my trailer now, leaving my truck available for work, and I find it to be easier in general to use a trailer.
This is the pine I loaded up, and by the time I was done loading the suspension bottomed out and the box was sitting right on the axle. Only had to go half a mile so no big deal.
What part of Maryland are u in?? I may be able to help out and take some off of ur hands 😉
This is super cool. My truck is worthless now, but I don't have the heart to get rid of it. So instead I have a trailer on a Honda Pilot. They recently cut MANY MANY trees down in my area for the power lines. I see that over the months since this happened, many people went by and collected the wood, but there is still ALOT of wood out there that isn't collected. My issue is, I can't move it. Some are down a hill or just too damn big for me and my little echo saw. If I had ONE person to help I could collect SO much free wood. It's kinda depressing
I have thousands of acres of state forest around me. I know that any trees trimmed along the road of state land is up for grabs. A lot of free wood in this area. Probably why firewood I so cheap.
@GrumpyDad
I would think that you could get a winch for your trailer maybe to haul up pieces that are too big to handle alone. Not whole logs, but pieces you cut up with the chainsaw some.
I’m not sure how it is in your area, but by me a saw with a 20” bar will cut up 95% of the trees around here. Even if it means cutting from one side and then going to the other to finish the cut.
You can get a new Echo CS-590 with a 20” bar for 400$ plus tax. It would pay for itself eventually.
@GrumpyDad
I would think that you could get a winch for your trailer maybe to haul up pieces that are too big to handle alone. Not whole logs, but pieces you cut up with the chainsaw some.
I’m not sure how it is in your area, but by me a saw with a 20” bar will cut up 95% of the trees around here. Even if it means cutting from one side and then going to the other to finish the cut.
You can get a new Echo CS-590 with a 20” bar for 400$ plus tax. It would pay for itself eventually.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
I'm a wood addict too. And a fire addict. And it's summer. So this'll have to do. (Sorry for the pit misplacement; worked better for the steak this time, given where the pole is for the grate.)
I'm surprised no one has mention bugs. Earlier in the spring and later in the fall kinda goes better with no mosquitoes and black flies.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
We don't have black flies here, but as evidenced by the dusting of snow in my photos above, I never collect wood in mosquito season.
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