I get a text over the weekend from my friend where i have firewood stored. Friend of his had some tree work done. Talked to his friend today. He says they cut it to fireplace length and my heart sunk. I checked it out today. Tree service cut red & Norway maple, box elder and some old spruce. Should it take it? PROS: Fresh cut and clean. (i wont take the spruce) I can cut on site. I can bring splitter and use on site. Close by and convenient. Two miles from storage. Cut at my convenience. Ill give some to my friend for his stove. Never have scored box elder so a "novelty" score. CONS: Extra work to cut what i can to my size. Lots of gnarly wood. Lots of shorts, cookies and uglies. Would you take this FHC? Take the survey. I havent committed or declined.
If I was starved for wood I would take it but recutting all that is a PIA. If you want some of it, do as Softwood said & just cherry pick the straightest stuff.
Some tree guys think 16" is anything between 10" and 24". It's happened to me a couple of times. Plus no positioning the cuts to minimize the nasties and maximize the rounds. I'm thinking if you have to ask us you know the answer. I've seen your pics of your stacks and I don't think you will be happy with the mess.
I burn 20 cords a year, there are no such things like this golden goose in Alaska. If that was within 100 miles I would show up with my dump trailer and laugh how easy that much wood is. Getting wood I need for the winter is a lot of damm work and effort involved.
The nuggets and less than perfect wood i'd give to my friend. Im building a one cord plus nugget bin for him first.
Two miles from storage! I agree with others—it all comes down to if you can cherry-pick. I guess the other question is what you’d be doing with that time if you weren’t working this. Having decisions to make like this is a good problem to have.
I don’t get much Maple, so I would chip away at it. I see some smaller uncut stems. Easy access on flat ground with plenty of room for a splitter and piles of splits. All fast drying. Would it blow your customer’s mess out of the water if everything is not 16”, or is it all for bundles?Looks like a good place to work when it’s too muddy everywhere else. I have to use 4x4 to get to my wood right now and I’m not going to bother trying to move the splitter.
Free, close, easy it meets 2 out of 3 criteria so thats a YES. Id take the spruce over the box elder.
I voted yes. You have the OK of the landowner. I have no experience with box elder. You need to come up with a way to market the short pieces. Maybe sell them to customers that have storage for a couple of years.
Another vote for partially yes (cherry pick) That spruce won't be a lot of fun to split even with hydraulics, and worse yet it won't stack well with all those knots. Box elder is so/so, and IME it burns best mixed with other stuff rather than by itself. Believe it or not, that can be a bear to split by hand sometimes. To boot, it looks like the center is getting soft on a couple pieces. I suppose you could mix it in with your bundle wood though. The red/Norway maple is definitely the best of what's there, and I wouldn't hesitate to pick through that for the best lengths to process. Looks like the red maple was an open grown yard tree with crotches everywhere Back when I was first starting out building a real inventory, I would've taken every stick at that score.
I would take it all! Your pro list is longer than the con list. Would you rather recut some pieces and have some nuggets, or be pulling wood out of some weeds that's down or up a bank with traffic coming by? Either way is work, but what is easier and safer work? Plus it looks like you get a couple of bikes in the deal.
I find it interesting that some say if you're asking, you know the answer....and that it's "no". I say the opposite.....if you're asking, the answer is "yes"! I know it's not BL, but it's wood, and it's not sycamore or sweet gum....
