In a post I made about sassafras, member, Mr.Finn, said he works at a chipper and he tries to save sassafras. I hope he sees this thread and will comment on working at a chipper and saving wood! Man, that would drive me nuts. There are bound to be other ways people benefit from their job. A simple way is... I know a guy who works for the city and he drives to the dump regularly to see what trees might have been dumped there. Scrounge scouting on city time. Something else I can think of sometimes people say their job throws various material away and they snag it. (I don't know how to make Mr.Finn's name "live" as if a link. I tagged him, unsure what that does.)
Mine doesn't help at all with scrounging. Unless the city the guy works for allows everyone to cut at that wood dump, he will want to be careful not to violate any ethics rules.
At my job we heat the shop with wood. I am the one with the saws and splitter. It is a small 4/5 employee company and I’ve been here 28+ years. So things are pretty loose. I get paid to make firewood on company time and some wood often finds it way to my house. Plus I have spotted several scores while out delivering to customers. I work for a sand/gravel and redimix company. The old boy that used to own it is the one that got me interested in saws, he had a Husqvarna 266. His son runs the business now and the 266 is still there.( along with my 8 saws)
My job helps indirectly with its location surrounded by miles of forests. There’s been plenty of times going to or leaving from work where I spot a tree down on the side of the road and do a quick buck and load. Actually about half the wood in my stacks was acquired this way. Also I’ve brought my chains into work and sharpened them on my lunch break too. The boss is a fellow wood burner so as long as I’m doing it on my time, he looks the other way.
My job puts food on the table, which gives me enough energy to work the firewood. (Not much scrounging as a part-time college instructor ...)
I get alot if free wood in town because everyone knows my love for firewood and i also sell it. I know alot of families being the facilities mgr here in our town.
Im self employed and do business with suppliers that have a lot of pallets which ill scrounge through from time to time. My travels bring me through different locations where wood has been cut and is roadside. I do an occasional chainsaw job and haul brush to the dump where i am free to take wood. A lot of my customers know i do firewood and refer/call me when wood available.
I've scored wood from 5 of my coworkers (would've been 6 if the tree from the property of the 6th coworker wasn't covered in ivy), plus I cleared a huge downed tree (full cord) from the property where my work is located. I guess having the title of "BTU Possessor" taped above my door helps!
My job helps me in a couple little ways. and a bigger way. Little ways are I get a work boot allowance, and a new carhartt coat every year. Also count in the free gloves whenever I need them. The big way is I work 3rd shift, so I can get to the free scores first thing in the morning after work. A bonus is most of my time is spent behind a desk, in a back office, so I have plenty of time to read this forum, and watch youtube.
As a teacher, my job provides scraps from wood shop for an unlimited supply of kindling and it provides me the summer off to cut and split just about every day during break.
I am the arborist for an acc school, so my house is the dump site for straight hardwoods, or anything unusual that is fairly straight and good to burn. Good for them, good for me. My dump does not accept any pine species, or poplar.
It’s funny that this thread started today and I posted on it this morning, but I had to deliver a load of material this morning. Near where I was dumping was a pile of trees that had been taken out. Property owner was there watching me, so I asked about it. He said they were probably just gonna burn it this winter. “do you want some of the wood? have at it. It’s mostly Elm, there’s a bunch of dead stuff in there”. I said thanks. Shouldn’t be too hard to get at least one, maybe two good pickup loads from it
Mine allows me to have logs dumped in the back so I can css there on the spot. When we get a good dry spell, I load it up, bring it home and stack it there. I live 2 minutes from there so it isn't too big of a hassle to do this for now. Other than stacking it twice but I don't try too hard on the first stack, I only worry about it at my house.
Opposite of everyone, I work for a utility where I am responding to problems caused by down trees and asking for the wood is out of the question because you can’t trust anyone not to try to use it against you to their advantage. Can get you fired faster than you can blink if they say it was given as a bribe. It’s always prime wood, easy to get to and off limits. It’s torture.