I hear ya on the scrap boards. We have a crate company here that has free pine bins for anyone who wants it. That place has saved my butt on a few occasions. I always try to keep a stock of that stuff around. They always buy the cheapest untreated pine so there is usually quite a few knotted pieces or split boards to pick up.
If I am in the woods, I will leave anything below 6" unless there is a lot of it. If I am scrounging, it really depends on how close I can get to it. If I am working up an embankment, and can toss it right down to the truck, I'll take down to 3-4" if its oak. I will usually only cherry pick the good stuff. I'll leave crotches or anything that looks really gnarly where they lay.
Anything that won't stack nicely goes in the outdoor firewood stack for summer burning in the fire ring. Plenty of that stuff in Pine! The straight stuff gets stacked nicely and gladly burned indoors. Anything under forearm/wrist size gets burned up as we process.
I really want to get one of those big water bladder cages. I bet those would work great for the funky pieces.
My tree service guy chips everything -6". When I gather my own, I take everything (minus crotches) 4"-20"
I have definitely learned to leave those crotches if I can, although, if it were Locust I might keep them.
Ill take it all if locust. I end up with a couple "noodle" logs in a PU load. Luckily most of my BL scrounges are nice straight trees!
A year ago Asplundh came through the area doing lots of cutting. One area was a lot of white oak and hickory. I was able to cut it roadside in a wooded area. I mustve left at least a PU full of crotches/gnarlies behind!
Guarantee someone else probably stopped by later thinking they hit gold and was utterly disappointed they didn't get there sooner. You must have gotten a pretty good haul if that's how much you left though.
The IBC cages do work great for that! I have at least three 330 gallon cages full of shorts, uglies, cookies, etc. Unlike others I hate leaving any burnable wood behind. Even with 21 acres, it seems a waste to me. Sitting in front of the stove with a cold beer and knowing the good wood is still waiting in the stacks for a cold day is a great feeling. Burning the uglies extends the good stuff that much further.
