These wood prices are Highway Robbery!

You will love the black birch. All the BTU’s of Oak with about half the drying time. It’s my favorite.

 

That was exactly my hopes in snatching this stuff up. I love oak but that wait time is killer, so I figured having a cord of the black birch around with a cord of ash will ensure I have something on hand for the next couple burning seasons.

 

Update: day 4, night 3 highway heist. Turns out my trips to the onramp highway stash are a lot more productive when I bring my saw! It’s worth noting that I work 2nd shift... So before I went there tonight I figured I should be somewhat smart about it. Google maps shows the nearest residential homes are 1,000 feet away. Good enough. I get there at 11:15PM. Roll the logs down the bank and stage them up close to the guardrail. Good to go! Fire up the saw. Make quick work of bucking 7 decent sized logs in half. Load all 14 of them up under the pale moonlight as the humid June night air has me breaking a sweat. Jump back in the cab and I’m off to the races! Just the adrenaline rush I needed in these days of unrest and uncertainty. Hoard on!

 

I hear you about the adrenaline rush, but nobody was interested in those logs except you!
Good job, making the most out of an abandoned pile that would have rotted in place.

 

Usually, on the major thorough fairs, the wood is cleaned up rather quickly by the state. Sounds like he found a little pocket of wood they missed. It happens. I know a few spots too far from home that the State decided it would be too difficult to get the wood out of. Down in some deep gully’s etc. As for hoarders on the side of the highway? Most Ct residents aren’t that bold or interested in firewood.
Much of it is camouflaged by vegetation now. Gotta spot these things in the winter months

Eric your not on Rt 9 near Meriden are you? I recall seeing some logs on one of the major ramps the last time I went to Logan Steel. That was awhile back tho.

 

Im impressed! Done like a FHC ninja. Did it get rained on or did the storms miss the area?

 

Don't let those black birch logs sit around for too long. They will start to go punky, fairly quick.

If you can't get to them, or, have some of a size that you won't split, run your saw lengthwise, zipping the bark. That'll help let the internal moisture out.

 

The highway ramp wood i got a few weeks back was 91 exit 21 get on South bound. 9 doesnt cut through Meriden. Did you mean 691 which 66 turns into jo191145 ? Ive seen wood in that area.
State seems to leave wood in logistically tougher locations from what ive seen. Unless scroungers grab the easy stuff fast. I was surprised the stuff i grabbed on 91 rest area was there.

 

Right highway, different spot Now I’ll have to check up that way.... Thanks!

 

I got there right after the storms rolled through. I couldn’t have had better timing if I had planned it that way. Sometimes these things just work themselves out I guess

 

Thanks for the tip! I’ve heard that birch rots pretty fast inside the bark when left on the ground. So far I haven’t found any punky ones so I’ve been lucky. I’ve been processing what I grab pretty much the following day anyway.

 

Ally I know is my gps takes 9 to get to Logan Steel which is in Meriden. Technically 9 goes through Berlin in that area. Just a short hop up the pike to Logan.
Yep, valleys and hill tops can have wood left behind. Imagine it’s dependent on what machinery and crew they have working that day. Sometimes it’s not worth their effort. Few spots where you can tell they simply forgot about them.
There’s still a large straight oak trunk on 66 near me they left behind in 2018. The first batch of cutting. The inspiration behind my trailer way up on a hill. Now you can access this particular log from the top of the hill. Private commercial property. Never sought permission. Thought about it 100 times tho.

 

100% agree. My buddies hunting camp thinned thousands of small black birch trees a few years ago to allow the nut trees to flourish. I cut a truckload of rounds all 3-5" in diameter with the plan to let them dry as is. After noticing they weren't burning well in the outside fire pit, I went through the stack a halved all of them before they started to rot.

 

That goes for birch of any color. Get it split or zipped.

 

Went back to the scene of the crime this afternoon. First daylight raid there in weeks. I took a stroll further down into a ditch and wow! This spot isn’t done producing for me Actually I found a couple 8’ logs that were between 12-18” diameter so I’ll have to go back yet again! Loving all this black birch! I bucked roadside today as traffic there was almost nonexistent. Then at another spot down the road I stopped and scored this nice discarded 2 X 10 that I’m going to repurpose as a rack for yet another row in my addiction. The saga continues.

 

Another great little haul Eric. One of my favorite things about scores like that is when you "explore" further and find more wood. Great find and repurpose on the 2X.

 

Wait ! We thot CT. was one of the far southern states that doesn't get cold.
Wood like that never stays on roadsides long up here.
You send those loads north....please.
Nice haul.

 

Ohhh it gets cold here from time to time. We can count on a few single digit days every season and plenty of daytime highs in the teens-20s. Coldest I’ve seen in my area was maybe 5 below at night but even 40 miles north of me in the foothills of the Appalachians I know they’ve seen 20 below. It’s cold enough here to warrant having a wood stove anyway. I imagine some black birch would go fast up there where you are on the tundra

 

Another raid last night. Did some more scouting and found even more easy pickings. More black birch, a bit of yellow birch and now some maple! I can’t tell what kind of maple it is, it’s a relatively young tree that was felled. Smooth gray bark. Sugar or red I presume. I cut and split all the birch but only cut the maple to lengths. I’ll get around to splitting it another day.

 

I have over 3 cords. All hand split with a 10 pound husky maul