Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Deleted member 83629]

the van you use is handier than a shirt pocket.

 

[Old Goat]

I will have to agree on having a larger saw. My 395XP with 32" bar has come in handy. Not only can I cut up the larger trees that most people won't touch, It also makes quick work of cutting the large rounds into more manageable size pieces. This tree is sitting at the city green dump just waiting for me go after. It is too big for most guys, this one is maybe too big for me. That is a 257 with a 20" bar sitting on top of it for reference only. I did end up with what is in the trailer. I took a load of garbage to the dump and brought back a nice load of plum, honey locust, and a few other odds and ends. Not bad for about 45 minutes worth of work. I was able to just back up to this wood. I always take the saw when I take a load to the dump, you never know what you might find.

 

[mainewoods]

My local Transfer Station serves multiple neighboring towns, and has a designated area for wood waste, along with metal waste. It never ceases to amaze me what people throw away, and helping yourself is encouraged. A man with a trailer, or a truck, can score some darn good loads of wood there any given day of the week, especially on days following the weekend. Doesn't get much easier than backing up to a pile of wood and loading up.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

No recent scores here to much ice and snow to go dig around.

 

[zogger]

My local Transfer Station serves multiple neighboring towns, and has a designated area for wood waste, along with metal waste. It never ceases to amaze me what people throw away, and helping yourself is encouraged. A man with a trailer, or a truck, can score some darn good loads of wood there any given day of the week, especially on days following the weekend. Doesn't get much easier than backing up to a pile of wood and loading up.

I used to call that going to the Big D department store....that's where I got my one and only pair of skis, the dump.

No scrounging around here, no picking or scrounging and it costs to dump anything at all. Nuts, no fun....

 

[mainewoods]

Strange thing is, small town dumps and recycling facilities don't allow picking or scrounging and most charge to dump waste. Transfer stations allow scrounging of everything except recyclables. Many set aside items in an out building for the taking. Any wood and metal scrounging is welcome. I picked up a Husky 353 a while back in the metal pile. All it needed was a new piston and ring. Still can't believe someone threw that saw away. I imagine he was "from away".

 

[Philbert]

It fits the 'reduce' and 're-use' philosophy. Take advantage of it. Surprised that they don't get some money from the metal pile - around here we have scrappers who pick up every piece they can find to sell.

Enjoy it while you can - sounds like you are set.

Philbert

(PS, I left my 353 somewhere . . . )

 

[mainewoods]

I leave the wood for others who need it. I own 52 acres of forest and cut my own wood.

 

[Philbert]

I own 52 acres of forest and cut my own wood.

Just re-read your first post - I kept thinking that you wanted to scrounge wood.

So here is another idea for scrounging. Find a guy with 52 acres of forest and ask him if you can help cut, haul, or split in exchange for some of the wood!

This works especially well if the forest owner is picky about what he burns, only wants pretty wood for sale, doesn't want smaller limbs, etc. I know some guys who only want large splits for their OWB, and don't like the smaller limbs that I am happy to burn in my stove.

Philbert

 

[mainewoods]

I think I explained pretty clearly that the thread was to help people who scrounge wood, especially people new to the art of scrounging. I thought it would be helpful to have tips and methods, that others have found successful, in a single easier to find thread. I have nothing but respect for anyone who scrounges wood to keep their family warm.

 

[Poindexter]

The one thing I see over and over is be the guy that will be recommended. If David cleans up one tree but leaves a bunch of crap in the grass, while two doors down Michael rakes up behind himself and takes all the little crap too, the neighbors will be looking for Michael after the next storm.

I think that's the point. Successful scrounging isn't about you and the wood, it is about helping others and ending up with the wood.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

I will have to agree on having a larger saw. My 395XP with 32" bar has come in handy. Not only can I cut up the larger trees that most people won't touch, It also makes quick work of cutting the large rounds into more manageable size pieces. This tree is sitting at the city green dump just waiting for me go after. It is too big for most guys, this one is maybe too big for me. That is a 257 with a 20" bar sitting on top of it for reference only. I did end up with what is in the trailer. I took a load of garbage to the dump and brought back a nice load of plum, honey locust, and a few other odds and ends. Not bad for about 45 minutes worth of work. I was able to just back up to this wood. I always take the saw when I take a load to the dump, you never know what you might find.

View attachment 337030 View attachment 337031 View attachment 337032

cut me a load while your at it.

 

[mainewoods]

Old Goat: You are very fortunate they let you run a saw on dump property, with law suits being America's favorite pastime.

 

[bbxlr8]

I am very fortunate to have more wood than I could ever handle on site and am always asking friends and new people that I meet if they want some. Most who do not burn for heat (fireplace, pit etc.) always say yes, but don't really want to work for it when they find out it is "large format" and not CSS. I have some visible downed trees from the main road and many, MANY in the woods after last couple of years of big storms & also on the high voltage line clearance projects.

Regarding asking & scrounging - my determining question is always if they burn themselves or sell it...If it's for them & their families the answer is yes (combined with a good "BS meter" of course)

 

[fearofpavement]

One of the reasons I have a small tree service is to have a source of wood. Lately, many of my customers want me to cut the trees into firewood and leave it for them. I rarely will cut wood for free even if it is easy pickings. Sometimes for neighbors I will cut up a tree and take the firewood and leave the brush for them to pile and burn. One of the neighbors has a very large windblown oak down in his paddock right now. I may go slice that up as it's only about 500 yards away and I can probably pull the dump trailer right up next to it.
Firewood is so cheap here, it doesn't pay to sell it if I don't get paid to cut it. We burn about 3-5 cords a year heating our house so I try to keep a good stock. We have gone through more wood this year than in any of the 13 previous years we've lived in this house.

 

[mainewoods]

I had a guy from my small town strike up a conversation at the local coffee shop one day, about finding wood to cut. I told him I have more than I could ever use, and if he wanted to cut and haul it himself , he was welcome to some. That man worked his tail off, piled up any brush he left and helped me process some of my wood at the same time. He earned every stick of wood he got, and it helped me a lot too. He came back in the fall, on his own, and cleaned up all my woods roads and piled brush to thank me again. Just shows it never hurts to ask, and if the answer is yes, treat the land owner like you would want to be treated if the roles were reversed.

 

[Dalmatian90]

It never ceases to amaze me what people throw away, and helping yourself is encouraged.

It's amazed some of the wood folks helped themselves too at ours! The "big" stuff goes in a separate area since the brush pile has to be under 4" stuff in order to get a burn permit for it.

For the longest time I couldn't figure out why it was rare in the fall for me to score paper sacks full of leaves, which I would haul home for my garden (heck, that's FASTER than bagging my own leaves for the amount of time I spend driving down to the garden to empty the bagger! Toss 'em in the car or truck, get home, toss 'em out by the garden, deal with them later) Then the dump guy clued me in...he buries them with loose leaves ASAP otherwise folks would see the paper bags and start tossing plastic bags full of leaves too.

We have two sheds for folks to leave decent stuff in, and you're allowed to scrounge anywhere else as well except the electronics PODS container because of the contract with the electronic recycler. Best score ever was a Honda 650w generator I fished out of the metal recycling bin...turned out it wouldn't start because of a low-oil cut off was engaged. Topped off with oil, started second pull.

 

[mainewoods]

Damn, that's got my 353 beat!

 

[4x4American]

Some states have a woodlot lotto or something similar

 

[spike60]

I'm also fortunate to have more wood than needed. Mostly due to a logger friend who lets me take the tops and drops from his log sites. Some from the store, some from here at home. But it is fun to share and help other scroungers.

The wood we had left over from my store GTG in the fall is good example. There was a lot of wood left there just sitting in the parking lot. My business partmer's son Tommy, who helped all day at the GTG took a couple dump trailer loads home to his house. One guy took all of the cookies. There was a lot of huge and ugly stuff from the big logs we had for the guys with the 100cc saws and 5 ft bars. Took a lot of cuts to get it down to stove size, and we gave it to 2 local guys who we know. I'd call them up and say, "hey, got another load ready for ya; come on and grab it". That just left some hemlock that nobody seemed to want. I think hemlock burns pretty decent, (and it seasons quick), so I took it home myself. Two truckloads in my Dakota, and I've mixed it in with my better wood all this winter. Even had one guy take a full truckload of saw chips for his animal pens. It was all put to use.