Load six today. BIG sugar maple trunk. Guy said i could take the four biggest logs including the stump. He was giving the rest away to someone else who showed up just as i was done with the third tank in the 400. Lots of noodling today. Left a few rounds behind. Asplundh's log truck had come through and removed all the other wood. Not sure when and where they are cutting more in the area.
Holy crap!! A Fiskars tool that's in one piece in Brad's truck!! It's rough looking, but in working condition.
No. If i had to i wouldnt touch the wood. Enough work already. i jokingly told him he had some free mulch.
Thats the isocore. Just in case i was going to split some. Lost the X25 somewhere so the X27 the only "good" axe i have.
Busy week with minimal time for scrounging. I was surprised to get a text this afternoon from the guy where i cut last Saturday saying my five rounds were still there. Not having much time i went and noodled them. Puts me around three cords for the thread/score. He may yet let me take the other big wood he was saving for friends. Scouted farther down to see what Asplundh has been up to and more fresh cut for the taking. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update.
Todays load. Black birch and red oak by the road. Fresh woodpecker hole in one hollow oak round. Guessing pileated. Black birch and beech in the yard. Lady didnt want the wood and let me back in to get it. Poison ivy covered logs...yuck. And it was elm...yuck, yuck. Got almost all of it. First time i recall getting birch and beech in the same score. Couple spars left they'll take down plus more wood in another area i may hit. 3.5 cords for the score.
Being late afternoon yesterday i didnt feel like rushing to storage and unloading so planned on splitting it right off the truck this afternoon. Hour and a half and it was done. The half cord of BL i sold yesterday emptied this rack so in there it will go. More wood to be had. Lost my hookeroon there. Have to go back and find it so good excuse to cut another load.
Those guys come through here from time to time. There is no lack of trees whatsoever. Most people promptly put out a sign that says “keeping wood” or “no trespassing”. I’ve come to figure it’s a location thing. Must me more people looking for the wood to be gone than want it to burn in buZZsaw BRAD ’s area
Connecticut is funny. In some areas premium wood will rot in place because nobody wants it, in other spots it's being loaded up as the arborists are pulling away. Usually residential tree work is contracted out to the smaller outfits, and so far I've had very little luck getting wood from them as a lot of them sell firewood on the side too. You're right that most homeowners don't want to deal with the cleanup and are happy that somebody is willing to haul it away.
In the end it is Asplundh's responsibility to take the wood. Ive talked with a picker truck driver and he says they only have four trucks to cover either Connecticut or New England. Either way its a lot of territory. Some of the recent wood was picked up rather quickly including stuff i was going back for.
It’s a case by case basis but a lot of times (at least when using the smaller tree companies) the homeowner is charged extra for removing the wood off site, so to save a few bucks some opt to leave it roadside for the taking. In the fall of 2021 about 3 minutes from my house I came across a huge silver maple that a tree company left at the curb. The woman who owned the home was practically begging me to take as much as I wanted, so I took a couple loads as did my neighbor. When we both had our fill the remaining chunks and rounds sat for close to a month before disappearing one day. I’m sure the woman had paid someone to haul it off.
A lot of the FBM wood i cut is the remnants of what tree guys leave behind as it saves homeowners a lot if they dont haul it away. The lady who just let me into her yard Sunday had a huge pile of oak trunks from work she had done in the past year or so. It was all mine but i wasnt about to wheelbarrow out several truck fulls of oak. Scrounging is hard work and im liking easier more and more in my old age.
Its weird. Late Fall 2016 or 17 There was at least ten crews cutting all over in the local neighborhoods close by. I was asking all around and couldnt score a load of wood to save my life. Fast forward to early Fall 2019 and they were at it again, BUT on the heavily traveled local roads. I was scoring wood left and right. I have old threads on here from that time as i had just joined FHC. Seems folks like it right in there front yard vs diving up the road and cutting it up. I think time of year os key too. Fall time all the procrastinators will cut their oak to burn in a few months. My landlord is worse. Saw him try to "burn" two month old fresh cut red oak! He sends me smoke signals when he does.
It could be different in your area, but here we had several warm years without a solid frost in the ground. Propane was around $1 per gallon, and seasoned wood burners were burning propane cause it was so cheap. Then in 2013 we had a really cold snap and a very cold winter, 2' snow overnight and wind chills -40* for a week. For the next few years everyone wanted to burn wood. Next thing you know propane was $5 per gallon. Then wood boiler sales were thru the roof. Then in 16-19 you could find used owb's everywhere. People bought them and didn't want to do the work with mild winters again.
I have a 2x4 diagonally across the 3rd( middle row, and held tight by a big ratchet strap. Then once I finish the 5th, last row, I'll probably put a 2x4 across horizontally to combat the lean. Also, practically all of our snow is melted now, except the really big piles in parking lots or at the end of our cul du sac. So I can get my trailer out and hoard again.
