Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[dancan]

On my way to go get a load of wood .

Not really scrounging but this was from my 1 cord stack that I bought this fall in case I couldn't scrounge up enough wood to get me through the winter , I've been picking away at it so it will be next years wood

Get out there and enjoy these large days

Scrounge on gentleman .

 

[svk]

Don't know about the larger balsam fir, most likely burned some when I was scrounging Christmas trees. If it is anything like southern white or yellow pine, she'll burn and hot once real dry.

Unfortunately balsam burns fast but not hot. Isn't worth cutting unless it's in your way. Takes three stove loads to heat the sauna (even aspen only takes one) and a full load in my boiler lasts a whopping 45 minutes (no lie). To boot you've got a million sappy branches and 1000% moisture count takes long to dry. On my property I cull any that don't have potential to be a Christmas tree.

I'm sure that a good tree or two comes through, I did see some small Norway pine way up in the pile.

 

[svk]

On another note I dropped two more dying aspen and split them up today. Dropped and bucked with protective gear then swapped over to light clothes for the splitting. Bugs and ticks were thick but Repel worked wonders.

 

[nomad_archer]

I graduated in 74 when the school still had only 5,000 students. The well known Coach Fuller was the wrestling coach, and Tom Coughlin (NY Giants) was the football coach. It was his first coaching job. I hear they don't even have a Football team now.

A lot of PA is beautiful also, I get to see it when I go up to my property in Hancock, which is right across the border.

No football team for a long time. Now they have a competitive div 1 hockey program.

 

[mainewoods]

One thing I've found is that politeness goes a long way when scrounging wood. A natural reaction to someone coming out of nowhere and asking about their wood, is to say no. Thank them for their time, and maybe hand them a card with your name and number on it. Cards are cheap and better than scribbling on a piece of paper. They may think about it once you are gone, and change their mind. Asking people you know first might get your name out there. Neighbors are a good place to start. Knowing you live down the street tends to be a lot more comforting than a total stranger knocking on your door. If no is the answer at first, politeness can often turn it into a yes later. Just make sure they know who you are, and how to reach you, in case they change their mind. Doesn't do much good to be "the guy that stopped by the other day". People talk, they will spread your name around if they know who you are. Putting a few of those cards around in different locations doesn't hurt either.

 

[MustangMike]

Clint, you are right, networking works wonders. Mentioning my chainsaw tinkering to one of my tax clients resulted in me taking a few trees down for him, and will result in several cords of nice hardwood for my daughter.

 

[dancan]

It's not all about firewood , don't forget the kindling , that's what the short clear trim cuts are for .

 

[MustangMike]

Nice. We always keep some kindling and Birch Bark in the hunting cabin. When you arrive and it is cold and freezing, you don't want to be looking around for that stuff. We usually use Ash for kindling. No softwoods up there, and Ash splits easy and stays dryer than the other woods (Mostly Cherry and Hard Maple).

 

[svk]

Went out to where I was cutting last Saturday. Darn near got carried away by Mosquitos, it's a pretty thick crop this year. That area can wait till August and I'll cut on higher/drier ground until then.

 

[1project2many]

A couple of weekends ago the woman who runs our kids' daycare called and said "I've had some trees cut down. If you can get here today you can have them." I loaded up the tools and trailer and headed over, wondering what I'd find. When I arrived I was told "It's Ash and Oak." The dropped trees were actually Ash, Oak, Red Maple, White Pine, and Basswood. Since the trees were free and since the homeowner asked me to take everything, I didn't feel I had a right to refuse anything. I was able to leave most of the Pine (an old guy up the road burns Pine in his OWB) but I did have to take the Basswood. But she'd had the branches cut off all the trees and was giving the tops to her goats to devour the leaves which meant even less work for me. So taking the Basswood wasn't too big a deal.

This past Saturday afternoon I went over for a second load, which I unloaded from the trailer Sunday morning. As I'm unloading I'm trying to figure out what to do with Basswood, while my four year old son comes over to help. This boy isn't built very big and he's frequently frustrated when he can't pick up the rounds that he thinks he should be able to lift. So when he started shouting Dad! Dad! I thought he'd gotten into trouble trying to lift too large piece off the trailer. I spun around to see him holding a 14" long, 6" round of Basswood with an ear to ear grin. "Dad! I got Super strong!!" Well, that just made my day. Turns out Basswood's best use is for turning children into super heroes.

 

[mainewoods]

You did the right thing taking all the wood offered ( almost all), and built a good reputation for yourself. She will spread the word as well as any advertising method you could come up with. Being flexible and willing to take the good with the bad, goes a long way towards establishing yourself as a trustworthy scrounger. Great story about the little guy, priceless!

 

[1project2many]

You did the right thing taking all the wood offered ( almost all)

Pine will be cut, split, and stacked neatly before I'm done. I have advised her that if no one takes it by summer's end, I will return. By that time I will have freed up some space in the yard. Well, hopefully I will have freed the space. I have also offered to use my chipper to finish off the branches once the goats are done.

FWIW, the amount of wood received has to do with how much I'll do in return. In this case I've taken two car trailer loads home and I'm going to get at least one more before I'm done. She's willing to work with my schedule which is difficult to do and she hasn't rushed me after the initial day when she needed the driveway and entrance cleared up. IMO I'm not doing anything "extra" but paying back in kind for a decent amount of wood.

 

[svk]

Practiced flush cuts with the two trees I dropped this weekend. I normally measure one block up and then notch and cut above that point and cut the last block after the tree was felled. But this worked just as well. I then cut the hinges flush and used the stumps for chopping blocks to split up the rounds. Guess I could have brushed the chips off from bucking before I took the pics.




The notch is on the left of both pics and is a bit misleading as the roots on that side tapered in very quickly above the cut so the amount of notch actually in the tree was significantly less.

 

[Mike-M]

Small world. I went to RIT as well. 2002-2006 I graduated with the class of 2007 because I finished in the fall of 2006. The winters where something special up there but right I after I graduated I moved to Cleveland, OH and that place made Rochester look not so bad. Same weather but there was more to do in Rochester. I am happily now living in south central PA. NY is a beautiful place.

I graduated in 74 when the school still had only 5,000 students. The well known Coach Fuller was the wrestling coach, and Tom Coughlin (NY Giants) was the football coach. It was his first coaching job. I hear they don't even have a Football team now.

A lot of PA is beautiful also, I get to see it when I go up to my property in Hancock, which is right across the border.

I went to RIT also, 95-96. I couldnt handle the rain and lack of girls any more, so I moved back to LI.

 

[MustangMike]

You can get spoiled in LI.

 

[dancan]

Forgot to tell you guys , this is my first year at burning wood so keep up on posting the pics and info , it's just like opening a textbook

 

[nomad_archer]

Earned this 3/4 load tonight. Everything was huge logs and needed bucked rolled and noodled to get it to the truck which was not nearly as close as it looked. Well worth it. Mostly oak I think smells like stinky red oak. Not to many loads left on this property of tops that is worth working to get out to the truck. Possibly 2 more loads but the pickings are getting pretty slim.

 

[MustangMike]

Nice load Nomad. Oak is very heavy, but will give you a lot of BTUs if you can dry it out. The pros around here refer to Red Oak as "Piss Oak" because of the smell.

Did a lot of cutting with my brother today (sorry, no pics) dropped several trees and cut to firewood length to get it removed (someone wants it). We are clearing a path for his driveway on property he owns in Garrison NY. I already have a wood source here in Brewster that will provide me with more wood than my daughter can store.

It was the first time my brother ran his MS 460 since I put a dual port muffler cover and HD-2 air filter on it (and removed the carb limiters). He loved it, said it not only ran stronger but responded faster to the trigger.

 

[MuskokaSplitter]

Had an oak limb come down. not sure if its scrounging if its on your property

i think i might take down the rest of the tree soon. its about 3 feet across at the base. too bad i only had my little 036 with me.

theres actually a funny story behind this.

my father and i were sitting and having a beer after finishing up for the day. I told him i was surprised this oak tree got leaves as i thought it was dead this last winter. so we get up the next morning and sure enough the tree crack about half way up. The timing just made it funny. guess you had to be there LOL.

p.s. disregard the outhouse

 

[zogger]

Had an oak limb come down. not sure if its scrounging if its on your property

i think i might take down the rest of the tree soon. its about 3 feet across at the base. too bad i only had my little 036 with me.

theres actually a funny story behind this.

my father and i were sitting and having a beer after finishing up for the day. I told him i was surprised this oak tree got leaves as i thought it was dead this last winter. so we get up the next morning and sure enough the tree crack about half way up. The timing just made it funny. guess you had to be there LOL.

p.s. disregard the outhouse

That *is* funny! At least it didn't smash the poop de ville, especially with anyone in there! hahahahah