If a tree falls in the woods....

[Skier76]

....does it make a "scrounge"?

I've now resorted to scrounging off our own property. We had 4 standing dead pines. I had no chainsaw, little patience...and it was almost 90F in VT. So I cut em down, limbed (nice dry kindling!) and hauled to the pile on Saturday. I need to borrow a buddy's saw to cut up the larger pieces. I'm asking Santa for a Stihl this year....

These small rounds should make some nice larger kindling splits.

 

[wendell]

No, scrounging requires cunning, resourcefulness, an ability to see wood by the side of the road a mile away and 2 blocks over, occasional treachery and ever present eye on Freecycle and Craigslist.

Walking out your back door to get your wood does not count. ;-)

 

[Archie]

Scrounging off one's property is the first step, not a "resort" to step..at least in my case. Lots of trees, stuff falling all the time. So I'm guessing you "resorted" to the manual saw method? New saw on my Christmas list too, by the way. Poulan is a non-starter.

 

[Skier76]

I used a bow saw. Luckily, the trees weren't that big. But as usual, I picked a hot day to do this. Par for the course for all my wood gathering this year.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I cut a couple loads of deadfall up north this weekend. I call it cleaning up the property...the wife calls it generating material for too big of a bonfire and too many beers.

 

[learnin to burn]

No, scrounging requires cunning, resourcefulness, an ability to see wood by the side of the road a mile away and 2 blocks over, occasional treachery and ever present eye on Freecycle and Craigslist.

Walking out your back door to get your wood does not count. ;-)

Cunning, as in listening to fire and police dispatch for downed trees in the area during a storm! I have 3 lined up to check out in the morning as of 5 minutes ago. :cheese:

 

[SolarAndWood]

Cunning, as in listening to fire and police dispatch for downed trees in the area during a storm!

you da man

 

[wendell]

Cunning, as in listening to fire and police dispatch for downed trees in the area during a storm! I have 3 lined up to check out in the morning as of 5 minutes ago. :cheese:

Dude, you have taken scrounging to a whole new level! I bow to your mastery!!

 

[Skier76]

No, scrounging requires cunning, resourcefulness, an ability to see wood by the side of the road a mile away and 2 blocks over, occasional treachery and ever present eye on Freecycle and Craigslist.

Walking out your back door to get your wood does not count. ;-)

Cunning, as in listening to fire and police dispatch for downed trees in the area during a storm! I have 3 lined up to check out in the morning as of 5 minutes ago. :cheese:

ShamWow! I can't top that!

 

[LLigetfa]

You guys are like ambulance chasing lawyers.

 

[SolarAndWood]

You guys are like ambulance chasing lawyers.

Even better, lawyers only get a third of the spoils. I didn't even have to start my saw for a cord of splitter ready hardwood this week.

 

[Vic99]

Nice use of the bow saw.

I agree, though, it is not wood scrounging. If they are dead on your property it is could be termed cleaning or managing.

Scrounging requires an overwhelming appetite for wood, a keen eye, a good sense of smell, and a bit of the jedi mind trick.

 

[Skier76]

I agree, though, it is not wood scrounging. If they are dead on your property it is could be termed cleaning or managing.

Sweet! I'm going to tell my wife that not only am I a "Logger"...I'm also a "Forestry Manager and Land Use Specialist". :wow:

Her response will probably be something like this: 8-/

 

[Jags]

Cunning, as in listening to fire and police dispatch for downed trees in the area during a storm! I have 3 lined up to check out in the morning as of 5 minutes ago. :cheese:

Your scrounger-foo has been mastered. There is NO more advanced levels. Class is dismissed.

 

[learnin to burn]

Ah there are still a few tricks up my sleave... Unfortunately the 3 original spots to check turned out to be not much at all. However I pulled 1 more trick. Found the nearest power company worker and asked where the power outages where and which were caused by trees falling on them. He went to his truck and came back a few minutes later with a list for me. Bingo Large Locust took out 3 poles and all the power lines 1/2 mile away. I just have to wait for the power company to fix things up and check with the property owner who wasn't home.

 

[stejus]

I always take a trip into woods behind my house (my property) towards late Oct early Nov when it's cool. Last year I managed to pull out about a cord of fallen or dead standing oak. Lot's of large limbs fall every year too. My theory is if its wood and its free, it free heat!

 

[Skier76]

We've got a bunch of larger pine trees on the property. Towards the bottom, there are a lot of dead limbs. Dead and nice n' dry. I imagine I'll be able to get quite a stack of kindling from a little work with the pole saw.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

Ah there are still a few tricks up my sleave... Unfortunately the 3 original spots to check turned out to be not much at all. However I pulled 1 more trick. Found the nearest power company worker and asked where the power outages where and which were caused by trees falling on them. He went to his truck and came back a few minutes later with a list for me. Bingo Large Locust took out 3 poles and all the power lines 1/2 mile away. I just have to wait for the power company to fix things up and check with the property owner who wasn't home.

I like this....

I just got an email sent round the largest real estate company in the area asking for their agents to look for people who wanted to get rid of their wood when selling - hopefully this will lead to some nice and dry ready split stuff..... Or perhaps a load of rotten tarp covered wood - we'll see.

 

[maplewood]

Speaking of realtors: my dad and I used to get free wood from lots that were for sale (to help "clean" them up from fallen or crowded trees).
We also built a relationship with 2 building contractors: when they had a lot they were going to develop, they hired us to clear the trees and we
got to keep anything we wanted before the excavator came in and hauled everything else away. While we were loading the hardwood onto a
trailer to haul home, sometimes another scrounger would come by, hoping we would deliver the load to his house for free. Ha ha.

 

[SolarAndWood]

sometimes another scrounger would come by, hoping we would deliver the load to his house for free. Ha ha.

sounds like a freeloader as opposed to a scrounger.