Scrounger's dilemma

[bluedogz]

So, a nearby resident (maybe 2 miles away) is clearing a piece of his property, maybe 1/2 acre or so, of DOZENS of black locusts. A crew has been cutting away for a few days and stacking neatly in what looked like grapple-loads. As I drove by, I thought, "Boy, love to get my hand on some of that..."

I pass by on the way to work this morning, AND THEY'RE CHIPPING IT Feeding chunks into the biggest chipper I've ever seen!

I wanted to run over yelling STOP STOP- but don't have the equipment to get it off the property timely.

 

[weatherguy]

That hurts, saw someone doing that to a stack of red oak last week

 

[begreen]

That is painful. Maybe ask if any of them could deliver some logs in their truck if you paid them to?

 

[loadstarken]

It is painful to watch when they pull up and bulldoze a bunch of old houses then clear cut it and stuff it all into a Morbark kettle type grinder/chipper. Ugh!

The last jobsite I stopped at they said it was worth more to them as chips because it was residential wood. I asked when the chipper was coming and he said Monday so all weekend I was cutting rounds and made close to 18 runs.

I ended up letting my cool neighbor take a bunch the rounds because I needed to make room to process the other rounds.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I think Begreen is right. Offer some dollars if they will deliver it. They could save themselves a lot of time and equipment wear and tear.

 

[bluedogz]

I think Begreen is right. Offer some dollars if they will deliver it. They could save themselves a lot of time and equipment wear and tear.

BeGreen IS right. But to do that one needs the dollars. Timing is poor, for me.

 

[BrotherBart]

Never hurt to ask if they would drop it off for free.

Leave the device in the car.

 

[Woody Stover]

don't have the equipment to get it off the property timely.

Let that be a lesson to you.

 

[Hills Hoard]

There will always be more to scrounge. You need to pick your fights. haha

 

[Flatbedford]

I caught 3 loads of BL on the way to a dumpster after Sandy.

It also helped that I had the old flatbed at the time. I don't think I'd have them load my F250 like this. But, I did save them a bunch of dumpster space. Never hurts to ask...and helps to have the right equipment handy.
Boy do I miss the old Flatbed.

 

[Ashful]

Bluedogz, if your profile didn't say Maryland, I'd assume you've been driving past my house. They've kept a 400 hp turbo diesel chipper busy for several days, on the lot adjacent to my own, feeding it grapple-loads of trees. There was a period of two days where they were hauling out a tandem-axle dump load of wood chips every 20 minutes.

With the exception of one log truck they filled with 8 or 10 cords of black walnut, these really don't want to deal with limbing trees, when they can just chip them. They sell the chips, so it's no loss to them. I ask them for trees each time they come back to do more clearing, and they always leave me a few trees (maybe 5 each day) out of pity, but they shred 95% of what they fell.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I wanted to run over yelling STOP STOP- but don't have the equipment to get it off the property timely.

Yet you call yourself a "scrounger". . . .

 

[bluedogz]

Yet you call yourself a "scrounger". . . .

Touche. I'm prepared for the odd roadside scrounge, but nothing like this.

 

[smokedragon]

That hurts, saw someone doing that to a stack of red oak last week

The town I live in picks up brush from the curb and chips it (and sells the mulch). I once saw the brush truck picking up a hickory tree (28" DBH, at least seven 10 foot sections of just trunk). They took it back to the yard and chipped it into mulch.

Sad.

 

[CombatChris]

For this reason I so want to get myself a Deuce and a Half. Rated to 10,000 lbs cargo on the road, it would be the cheapest way I can think of to carry so much in an event like this. I keep my eye open for large used trucks. I had a rent a truck from Home Depot - and I think that the 3,000 lbs buzzer alarm for the bed load was a little over-eager. It also didn't help I had an hour drive to the scrounge site.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

For this reason I so want to get myself a Deuce and a Half. Rated to 10,000 lbs cargo on the road, it would be the cheapest way I can think of to carry so much in an event like this. I keep my eye open for large used trucks. I had a rent a truck from Home Depot - and I think that the 3,000 lbs buzzer alarm for the bed load was a little over-eager. It also didn't help I had an hour drive to the scrounge site.

I haul a lot of wood with my old man in his '85 F350. It has a 8'x12' flatbed with 4' racks. And I have never filled it up. It'll hold about 3 cord but the most I've ever put in it is 2. Point is, you don't need a huge truck with a tall bed like a deuce and a half (unless you plan to machine load it)

 

[CombatChris]

I haul a lot of wood with my old man in his '85 F350. It has a 8'x12' flatbed with 4' racks. And I have never filled it up. It'll hold about 3 cord but the most I've ever put in it is 2. Point is, you don't need a huge truck with a tall bed like a deuce and a half (unless you plan to machine load it)

I'm taking that into consideration also now that I look at it. Really, any 250, 2500, 350, or 3500 would do what I want it to do I guess. It doesn't even have to be a flat bed- and I can get them for less than the price of a Deuce. It would also make a much more practical farm/homestead truck as long as it's 4x4.

 

[Ashful]

Wait... I'm confused. When you say "Deuce and a half," I picture this. Surely you don't need one of these to move roadside firewood?

 

[tsquini]

You just need Sign: "I scrounge for firewood. Got logs, I'll take them for no or very little cost."

 

[CombatChris]

Wait... I'm confused. When you say "Deuce and a half," I picture this. Surely you don't need one of these to move roadside firewood?

View attachment 132740

Yes, that was realistically being considered. Since it can carry 10k lbs in the bed, and the last scrounge I went to it would have been 2-3 trips even if I had one of those! And I get all excited thinking about running it on pretty much anything flammable, for pretty much free. But then I think about the rest of the maintenance on it and all the other hassles I wouldn't have to deal with if I just found a decent used F250. Having an absolute top speed higher than 55mph (UNLOADED) will be a nice bonus too....