Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[mainewoods]

Mountain High: I don't own a 550xp but I have run one, and it was impressive to say the least. The Autotune is pretty sweet. The 550xp replaced the 346xp and is an even better saw. That says a lot when you can improve on the best 50cc saw ever made.

 

[svk]

Is it Friday yet? I just want to cut stuff down/up and see my last row filled with splits.

 

[zogger]

Is it Friday yet? I just want to cut stuff down/up and see my last row filled with splits.

Well, why wait, you don't need sleep! Over rated! Get out there with generators and spotlights at 3am and go to town.

~not really~



It'll get done.. I have been putzing, two to a high of eight wheelbarrows an evening splitting. Once I get low on rounds I'll go get some more. Man, it doesn't take long to get heaps of wood cut. That's the easy part, for me anyway.

I made a big push after I joined here and got hip to a variety of saws including big ones to get ahead with my firewood, it really wasn't hard, now I don't sweat it. I could easily take a year or two off and still not sweat it.

30 years younger and still with an intact spine, I would be going for mass quantities for commercial sales, but...got to face reality.

Either way I would need to mechanize more, acquire more tools, some way to load a dump truck or trailer, the actual dump truck or dump trailer, a fast four way splitter or reasonable facsimile. Plus a client base so I could go direct from woods to customer, no third step of seasoning here, let it season at the customers. I would try to really, I mean really, put the effort into better educated and cooperative good long term customers. Give em a deal if they take green and stack themselves, and help them get it set up the first time, so they are immediately two winters ahead, then get them on a one winter replacement schedule during the year.

I don't know how successful I would be, but that would be the plan.

The way I do it now is 3/4ths sport to me (1/4th I need to heat plus do cleaning and trimming for my farm job), so I can "afford" to do it slow and tedious now. If it was a business, I would want to keep the fun part, but bump up the volume on the per zogger hour side.

If it ever stopped being fun, I would stop doing it.

 

[4x4American]

I'm having a hard time finding wood to cut out here!

 

[zogger]

I'm having a hard time finding wood to cut out here!

Offer to pay some land owner stumpage, like 10-20 bucks a cord? Or buy a few acres that are heavily treed, then thin and manage it? Thin it, make a building site, then flip it, take the money and do it again? Knock on farmer's doors, offer to clear over grown fencelines and ditches?

 

[4x4American]

Offer to pay some land owner stumpage, like 10-20 bucks a cord? Or buy a few acres that are heavily treed, then thin and manage it? Thin it, make a building site, then flip it, take the money and do it again? Knock on farmer's doors, offer to clear over grown fencelines and ditches?

Welp, I just recently moved out here, so I don't know many people, and many people don't know me. I've got a job down the road at logger's equipment, as a fabricator/mechanic and there's a good bit of opportunity to meet some people, but most of them are just the truck drivers, and on top of that the new owners of the company watch everything you're doing and everything is kept track of on the computey box..so I can't really take time to talk with them quite yet, not 3 weeks into it at least. I was hoping to find somewhere I could go to the landing (header as they call it out here) and cut up some tops and toss em into my pickup, but the thing is, everything is mechanical out here. I don't think many people touche chainsaws anymore, they use every part of the tree too. From what I understand, they cut with feller buncher, skid em to the landing with skidder, log loader sends em through a debarker, and bucks em with slasher, the tops get chipped and send to biomass mills and the logs get sent to the mill. And if you want a log truck load of hardwood delivered, you're gonna pay top dollar. Exact opposite of how the logging company I worked for worked.

 

[4x4American]

I'm in the adk park, no farms here just mountains and 3 million acres of private and state owned land. the majority of people out here burn wood, making scrounging efforts very difficult. also, one of nys's past governors made it illegal to take downed wood from the side of the road, so it makes that part of it sketchy because you can get in trouble just for taking some wood that would otherwise rot and do nobody no good.

 

[svk]

If I worked near where I cut, I'd easily put up 20 cords a year. But for now I'm a weekend warrior being 4 hours from work to cutting area.

 

[zogger]

I'm in the adk park, no farms here just mountains and 3 million acres of private and state owned land. the majority of people out here burn wood, making scrounging efforts very difficult. also, one of nys's past governors made it illegal to take downed wood from the side of the road, so it makes that part of it sketchy because you can get in trouble just for taking some wood that would otherwise rot and do nobody no good.

How about a state permit to cut on public land, looked into that? Both the feds and most states have such programs, usually charge by the cord in designated areas, only taking marked or downed trees, etc. Rules vary widely, but you could look into it.

Surrounded by forest, bottom line, there is a way to get trees...gotta be a way.

 

[zogger]

If I worked near where I cut, I'd easily put up 20 cords a year. But for now I'm a weekend warrior being 4 hours from work to cutting area.

8 hours round trip plus cut and load time? Dang.....don't know what to say other than use a big truck, make it worthwhile.

 

[zogger]

Welp, I just recently moved out here, so I don't know many people, and many people don't know me. I've got a job down the road at logger's equipment, as a fabricator/mechanic and there's a good bit of opportunity to meet some people, but most of them are just the truck drivers, and on top of that the new owners of the company watch everything you're doing and everything is kept track of on the computey box..so I can't really take time to talk with them quite yet, not 3 weeks into it at least. I was hoping to find somewhere I could go to the landing (header as they call it out here) and cut up some tops and toss em into my pickup, but the thing is, everything is mechanical out here. I don't think many people touche chainsaws anymore, they use every part of the tree too. From what I understand, they cut with feller buncher, skid em to the landing with skidder, log loader sends em through a debarker, and bucks em with slasher, the tops get chipped and send to biomass mills and the logs get sent to the mill. And if you want a log truck load of hardwood delivered, you're gonna pay top dollar. Exact opposite of how the logging company I worked for worked.

Similar logging here, not a lot done with chainsaws, just the small outfits. All the serious companies have harvesters and other big mecha mechanical dinosaur looking stuff. Most of the firewood guys are joe blow with a pickup a couple saws and a splitter. Trees grow fast here, i am cutting off and on on a little strip that was logged in the 80s and it is ready to log again. Just taking my time and doing it for firewood. Got no way to deal with saw logs, so firewood it is!

 

[4x4American]

How about a state permit to cut on public land, looked into that? Both the feds and most states have such programs, usually charge by the cord in designated areas, only taking marked or downed trees, etc. Rules vary widely, but you could look into it.

Surrounded by forest, bottom line, there is a way to get trees...gotta be a way.

Yes I did look into that, there's a lottery for it, and if you get it, you have to have some certifications and safety gear. I am going to try and get the certs when I can, because I'll proberly need them later on anyhow.

 

[chads]

Too wet to get wood from my previous spot.
Hard to drive by bucked up wood that may get thrown in the dump every day on the way home.
I was planning on going to the gym and thought I would rather put up some wood.
I dropped by last night and talked to the property manager about a ash tree the electric co took down and bucked up.
She said fine as long as I don't drive on the grass. It was about 50 ft or so to the street.
Used the wood dolly and a cart to move it to the trailer.
I got one load last night ,unloaded it after work tonight and got another tonight.
Some of them were pretty big.
Here's what I got I stacked along the fence and the next load.
Turned out to be a pretty good workout getting the second load unloaded.
Now I need to split it.
Chad

 

[steved]

I just got a call from the woman who gave me the pine the other week...she had several more trees taken down and wanted to know if I wanted them...

She doesn't have much land, but it goes to show that simply answering a Craigslist add can get repeat offers.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G730A using Tapatalk

 

[Garmins dad]

Do you guys ever take a bin of cookies for the land owner when you get a call back a second time? Seems to help around here.. I have to wonder if the old guys never get cookies and hide them from their wives...

 

[nomad_archer]

Got another load from the tops I have been working on. Wont make it back till next week but that doesn't seem to matter, the landowner is happy that I keep coming back and working on cleaning it up. Here is my pile from the last month of scrounging plus 3 trees I removed so I can put a new shed up.

20+ feet long 5 1/2 tall and I am not sure how deep it is any more. It doesn't look nearly as impressive here as it is in person. The neighbor up the street offered up his splitter since it never gets used. I guess I need to get splitting on the days I don't cut or else I will quickly run out of room in the space I have been allocated for wood by the boss. There is still quite a bit of wood still in the tops on the property but now I am having to work for it a bit more. I have to carry most of it out since there is too much junk on the ground to get the wheelbarrow to it. Overall still very worth it and I've dropped 10lbs in the last month just cutting and hauling wood. I didnt realize how lazy I got over the winter.

 

[mainewoods]

I had a guy stop the other day and ask me about the wood left on my lawn, from the tree service crew trimming the overhead power lines. He was very polite, personable, and offered to clean up everything. I figure if a man can make the effort to ask for wood, and be respectful when he does, then he deserves to have it. I'm 5 years ahead on my firewood, and I didn't need it, so I told him he could have it. You would have thought I gave him a million bucks, he was so grateful. He and his son wrestled some big 24" pieces of ash onto his little Ford ranger, and cleaned up every bit of debris after they finally got all the wood hauled off. I was so impressed with his attitude, and willingness to clean up after he had removed all the wood, that I told him he could have the rest of the trimmings, left along the road, to the end of my property line. I think he scrounged about 4 cord by the time he was done. He offered to pay me, but I said no payment necessary. He brought me some deer tenderloins and moose steaks anyway. Goes to show that it pays to ask, and it pays to give.

 

[svk]

8 hours round trip plus cut and load time? Dang.....don't know what to say other than use a big truck, make it worthwhile.

I burn the wood at one of my two cabins so its a max 40 minute haul.

 

[audible fart]

Rolled down to the scrounge spot and noticed somebody had discarded these locust logs for me to saw up and confiscate:

 

[MustangMike]

Archer, great wood pile, just be sure to get it off the ground when you split it.