How do you divide up free wood?

[Kurt Helgerson]

I have a chance to use my Alaskan mill to produce some slabs from a large black oak tree in my neighborhood. The chunks of the trunk are about 5 feet long. The tree was huge, and I think I may have to go down one side and then back up the other, just to cut a slab. Should I be able to successfully do this, how do you divide up the wood between the homeowner who wants some and myself? Is there a usual 60/40 division or 50/50 division? I don’t have any close-up photo but these logs have been on the ground for 2-3 years as they show up on Google Earth.

 

[J D]

Personally, in this situation I would ask for some money up front to cover actual costs (travel, fuel, equipment wear & tare, & a bit to cover time). Doing so covers you in the event you get to milling it & find half the wood is junk.
Communication is key... establish what the client wants out of it & what (if anything) the remaining wood might be worth to you. Consider how things might need to be varied if not all the wood is usable, or in the event of unexpected additional expense (hitting embedded metal, wood full of dirt or requirement to remove bark, etc)