I had been "stalking" a dead oak by a stop sign I pull up to regularly by my house. I stopped in one day and gave the owner my number and told her I would love to "help" her get rid of that wood when the tree was cut down. She told me her friends down the street wanted it. Darn. I told her to call if they changed their minds. Then a few weeks ago I pull up to the stop sign and see the tree sitting in log lengths by the curb as the tree co. is doing their final cleanup. I circled the block a few times and waited for them to finish and leave. I was timid about re-approaching her as I didn't want to be a pest, but there it was, all cut and stacked and literally 1/4 mile from my house! I had to give it a try. Boy am I glad I did. Turns out her friends only wanted the WOOD CHIPS FOR THEIR LANDSCAPING! I could have the whole tree! My heart leapt with joy! The only job I had left was figuring out how to load and haul 44 inch diameter white oak logs, by myself. This sucker was huge. It took me most of the day, but I hauled 5 loads in a 7x14 enclosed trailer (after quartering those logs and moving with a hand truck). No one but you guys understands what happiness I experienced that day... Am I sick?
Is scrounging a sickness?
- Thread starter Russ in Chicagoland
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Sick is a little harsh. Its a syndrome called OWD (obsessive wood dissorder). If you are a regular, on this specific (wood shed) forum you are unfortunately effected.
Next you'll be asking about how long that oak (2yrs) will take to season. Then if it should be covered, then how big to make the splits, then if you should take the bark off, then about shed ideas, then about other wood types etc......
Next you'll be asking about how long that oak (2yrs) will take to season. Then if it should be covered, then how big to make the splits, then if you should take the bark off, then about shed ideas, then about other wood types etc......
FSS---firewood scroungers syndrome.....
Step 1. We admitted we were powerless over free wood and our backyard wood piles had become unmanageable.
Step 2. We came to believe that a power greater than feeding our wood stoves could restore us to sanity..........
NP
Step 1. We admitted we were powerless over free wood and our backyard wood piles had become unmanageable.
Step 2. We came to believe that a power greater than feeding our wood stoves could restore us to sanity..........
NP
Yep we have a sickness, I call it "free warm"
I was afflicted with this illness last Feb. and have almost 9 cords split and stacked
and close to that much on the ground waiting to be split.
Going tomorrow to get some more, and on Wed. to pick up some cherry, just can't help myself.
It is very contagious, just this summer a friend I work with was asking about my wood stove and just two
weeks ago got one for his very own, he will be with me on Tues. and Wed. and now mumbles to himself
"gotta get more wood", "gotta get more wood"
It is usually triggered by such things as the sound of chain saws in the distance, craigslist ads, and the sight of tree co. trucks.
And the worst jones of all is the day after a big storm when all the above symptoms are present.
I myself have been so desperate to feed this addiction that I have called out sick from work and hitched up the trailer to go
scrounge the day after a big storm When all the symptoms were present.
I think the only cure for this is to cover every square foot of available space you have 4ft. high with splits.
I was afflicted with this illness last Feb. and have almost 9 cords split and stacked
and close to that much on the ground waiting to be split.
Going tomorrow to get some more, and on Wed. to pick up some cherry, just can't help myself.
It is very contagious, just this summer a friend I work with was asking about my wood stove and just two
weeks ago got one for his very own, he will be with me on Tues. and Wed. and now mumbles to himself
"gotta get more wood", "gotta get more wood"
It is usually triggered by such things as the sound of chain saws in the distance, craigslist ads, and the sight of tree co. trucks.
And the worst jones of all is the day after a big storm when all the above symptoms are present.
I myself have been so desperate to feed this addiction that I have called out sick from work and hitched up the trailer to go
scrounge the day after a big storm When all the symptoms were present.
I think the only cure for this is to cover every square foot of available space you have 4ft. high with splits.
Nice score Russ. Shyness gets you no where in the scrounging game.
NP, who decides when your wood pile has become unmanageable?
NP, who decides when your wood pile has become unmanageable?
Nice work!
I feel I have the same "problem". I'm very alert when it comes to spotting tree trucks. I've also considered leaving a note at house near mine. The guy had a large tree cut down a few weeks ago, and the rounds are still sitting in his backyard...right where they fell.
I feel I have the same "problem". I'm very alert when it comes to spotting tree trucks. I've also considered leaving a note at house near mine. The guy had a large tree cut down a few weeks ago, and the rounds are still sitting in his backyard...right where they fell.
Russ, to you and all the others who scrounge and get some big logs. Go buy yourself a cant hook ($80). Take a plank or two and roll those logs up the plank using the cant hook. It make work much, much easier. Personally, I rarely go cut wood without a cant hook. Not only do they make life easier, sometimes they can get you out of a pinch.
I have not quiet upgraded to the full fledge scrounger title. I have replied to craigslist's ads with ok results but I have been hesitant to knock on random doors. What's the tell tale sign that the wood on said property is not a fellow wood burner. Currently a few miles down the road someone took some big branches off a few trees (mixed) and they seam to be lying exactly where they were piled, in about 3ft lengths. they are not near the street but they are also not stacked very neatly. what do you think should I ring the door bell and ask?
Nope. If you were seriously inflicted, you would have been there weeks ago.Skier76 said:
BWS, a cant hook is good to roll a log a short distance but to roll something that is taller than wide up a ramp might border on dangerous. While expensive, a tree moving dolly is one way to move large rounds. They are built to take the weight and have fat tires for uneven ground.
(broken link removed to http://www.americanhort.com/dollies.html)
It is a sickness - I wish I could shake it..... but I can't.
Everyday I am driving - I am scanning the adjacent woods along the road ways for downed trees I could get. Even though - I still have a ton of wood to stack and more rounds to split. I am probably good - but your mind tells you - never pass on free wood and you're always on the hunt.
And the competition aspect - getting before the other guy gets it adds to the syndrom. Once it gets really cold, I'll back off. Scrounging really cut into my fishing this past year and that hurts. But the free heat is well worth the work.
Everyday I am driving - I am scanning the adjacent woods along the road ways for downed trees I could get. Even though - I still have a ton of wood to stack and more rounds to split. I am probably good - but your mind tells you - never pass on free wood and you're always on the hunt.
And the competition aspect - getting before the other guy gets it adds to the syndrom. Once it gets really cold, I'll back off. Scrounging really cut into my fishing this past year and that hurts. But the free heat is well worth the work.
To steal from Christopher Walken:
"I got a fever, and the only prescription is... more free wood."
"I got a fever, and the only prescription is... more free wood."
Well... in the "it takes one to know one" vein, he would be an expert witness for the prosecution.BrowningBAR said:
PunKid8888 said:
Hmmm I am also at this level of scrounger, always keeping an eye out but thus far having minimal results, I do have aspirations for great things in the world of scrounging though
I took my dog out to do her duty this morning and a small limb had come down and stuck into the ground. Most people would just walk by this. Not me, picked it up and threw it in my scrounge pile. These make good 2" rounds.
Every piece of wood is an opportunity for heat.
Every piece of wood is an opportunity for heat.
When you become a completely infected scrounger you will have people take pity on you and call you to help with your condition...
I cut up and removed a storm damaged tree for a neighbor last spring and he called the other night to ask me if I was interested in a "not oak" tree that his wife's coworker was looking to get rid of. I gave the guy with the tree a call and found out the power company had already blocked and dropped the tree in their back yard...
I just needed to haul it about twenty miles one way. I made four trips last Sunday and still have about 4 to go.
:bug: The tree was a Black Locust nearly 3' in diameter...biggest BL trunk I've seen....I cut the rounds to length and use a ramp to roll them into my trailer.
This will get me well on my way to being ahead for next year.
If scrounging is a sickness... I don't want to be cured. ;-P
I cut up and removed a storm damaged tree for a neighbor last spring and he called the other night to ask me if I was interested in a "not oak" tree that his wife's coworker was looking to get rid of. I gave the guy with the tree a call and found out the power company had already blocked and dropped the tree in their back yard...
I just needed to haul it about twenty miles one way. I made four trips last Sunday and still have about 4 to go.
:bug: The tree was a Black Locust nearly 3' in diameter...biggest BL trunk I've seen....I cut the rounds to length and use a ramp to roll them into my trailer.
This will get me well on my way to being ahead for next year.
If scrounging is a sickness... I don't want to be cured. ;-P
olpotosi said:
I split a bunch of 30 inchers yesterday; them buggers are heavy. Made 6x6s out of them.
Every autumn it happens, I have to pull over off the side of the road to pick up a couple of pieces that must have lept off the wood truck; I see firewood suicide like this all the time, year after year, it's tragic and I do what I can to save them.
yes I admit I am a woodaholic and I need help.
So I got a saw , a splitter , a trailer , a hand cart, a shed, a wheelbarrow, and some people to help find and collect wood for me.
I have a pile of logs 30' long and 20' wide stacked 8' high and 8 cords of wood split plus a couple other stacks of rounds and 2 whole trees down in another pile.
Please help me.
I'm looking for some more wood.
So I got a saw , a splitter , a trailer , a hand cart, a shed, a wheelbarrow, and some people to help find and collect wood for me.
I have a pile of logs 30' long and 20' wide stacked 8' high and 8 cords of wood split plus a couple other stacks of rounds and 2 whole trees down in another pile.
Please help me.
I'm looking for some more wood.
Dont feel too bad about it. Im sure you will thank yourself when its -2 outside and 78 inside. I drive about 40 miles each way to work and i find myself looking for fallen trees or sometimes i even take local roads just to drive past residential area in hopes of seeing cut trees on the side of the road. Many times I have been successful at it. I always ask the home owners if it is fine for me to take the wood before I take it. 9 times out of 10 they are more than to comply and on rare ocassion I encounter people who have already promised it to somone one. I am never afraid to ask for free wood.
Hello, my name is Dan. I'm a wood scrounger. I've put a round of pine in my car and have the sap marks in the hatch to prove it. I cut down a hedge "bush" in my neighbor's yard because he asked if I wanted the wood. I did solid work for 1hr 15min and got a pile of wood that is in a triangle that measures about 3 feet wide and 2 feet high.
I knock and rang 2 times at a house with a barkless sugar maple laying in the yard. I did a 3 point turn in the driveway and I think I spotted an scared old lady in the house.
I'm bringing my youngest daughter with me next time, what good is an addiction without someone to enable you?
I'm bringing my youngest daughter with me next time, what good is an addiction without someone to enable you?
The best wood is FREE wood.
My wood pile might not consist of all hardwood but it is free. I refuse to pay for firewood.
For me paying for wood defeats the entire purpose of having a wood stove. But I must admit, it is a little addictive.
I check CL / KIJIJI way to frequently......
Happy scrounging.....
My wood pile might not consist of all hardwood but it is free. I refuse to pay for firewood.
For me paying for wood defeats the entire purpose of having a wood stove. But I must admit, it is a little addictive.
I check CL / KIJIJI way to frequently......
Happy scrounging.....
im down with that sickness, its hereterary. i remember driving with my mom in the car as a kid past a pile of wood at the end of some ones driveway. the sign said free wood. we loaded that pinto hatch back up a few times and got it all home. that was what i remember to be my first scrounge. these days its still the same. i scrounge all year and it adds up to huge stacks. only difference is that i have a small network thet keeps a look out for felled trees. simply put its utility repelent. pete
I think it may be a sickness actually and I do suffer from it. Within the last week I noticed trees in the large corporate building lot where I work that had pink ribbons wrapped around them. I then saw two guys looking at them and talking and I went and asked if there were gonna remove them and asked if I could get some of the wood. Well anyway the removal guy said they chip up to some absurd size but the trunks would be loaded onto a truck and driven to PA for disposal since they didn't have a spot in NJ to get rid of it but at my prodding he said it would be np to drive it to my house and place it with the boom wherever I wanted it :-O So here I am awaiting the 2-3 weeks period before removal and looking out the window at the 3 Honey Locust with ribbons and feeling all kinds of anxious because of the large branches on them I hope to save from the chipper. Sadly this and the transport home have been the biggest thoughts on my mind since I spoke to them. If it all works out I will have a delivery of 3 Locust, 1 oak , 3 white pine and a couple maples he mentioned but I have yet to spy in the area.
Oh and of course my wife just thought it was an excuse for me to finally buy a chainsaw "ie. another toy" and failed to grasp the benefit of free wood, to her all my work away from her and the kids is play time.
Oh and of course my wife just thought it was an excuse for me to finally buy a chainsaw "ie. another toy" and failed to grasp the benefit of free wood, to her all my work away from her and the kids is play time.
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