Did a job yesterday for a regular customer. She shares the driveway with the neighbor. I worked for her back in the Spring and the neighbor had just cut this white (paper) birch down. Of course i asked the neighbor for the wood. They were going to use it. Stack just as i saw it in the Spring now growing mushrooms stacked directly on the ground!
5+ years ago I cut a tree for a neighbor and asked if they wanted the wood. They said yes and they would take care of it. They stacked it un split, under bushes and in the shade behind the garage. Looks like worm bedding now.
I guess they neglected to tell you it was for their compost! Cant tell you the number of times i inquire about wood only to see it sitting years later rotting away in the same spot!
Same story here- there’s a ginormous walnut tree down in a guy’s yard and after it later there for 3 months I saw the owner out in the driveway and asked him if he was open to letting me cut it up and haul it away. He said he was going to slab it for projects...well, 20 months later guess who still has a downed walnut tree in his yard that hasn’t been touched?
Local timber management company left some dandy rounds on a job they had just logged. I went to the office to ask about being able to get them for firewood. The "president'' of the company put me off on getting them for about 2 plus years. Then he finally said, sure, go ahead and take it. 99% of it was full of black ants, and worms. Just about a total loss, made me sick, it was #1 trimmed butts, and would have made great firewood. But, it's their show, not mine, they own it, so what can you do?
Most people just do not know. Most of them really do not want to know either. The rest of them think they know but don't know squat.
I am not sure if any of you drive 90 (thruway) between Syracuse and Buffalo, but they have had thousands of trees dropped roughly 20 -40ft off of the edge of pavement. So mAny cords of ash slowly rotting away
I’d be willing to bet the wood won’t get used. If you’re not a serious wood burner, most people don’t get it.
I almost made a similar post the other day about this same issue... The drive to my parents house has four seperate instances of owners putting up “Do Not Take” signs in nice piles of wood rounds and lengths. All of them are sitting untouched, rotting away, two years later. I’ve got a few trunks out back on our property that have always bothered me. Five beautiful oak trunks, each about 25- 30 feet in length, sitting in a pile about as far back on the property as you can go. I wish I would have had a way to get them cut up and down to the wood yard but I didn’t have access to that area except by foot until this past summer. They’re well rotten now. Probably could have salvaged some five years ago. I’ve nearly shed a tear for these lengths ... always wondered why the loggers that came in under the former owners left them to rot. They are straight, 12”-16” DBH, beautiful lengths of wood.
Did you check the heartwood? Oak is rather resistant to rot. Can you buck a round off and see. Can be a PITA to remove bark and punk but looks to be worth the effort. The far left log looks decent. Can you roll one with a cant hook? Im not a big fan of salvaging partly rotted oak, but wood is wood.
and it was birch Steve! Ive never scored white birch that big before, so was gung ho when i spotted it back in the Spring.
I drove through there for work a few months ago. I was astonished at the amount of good ash just laying there. Hopefully it goes to use for someone, too far away for me to haul.
I salvaged some big birch rounds last year. The bark came right off, and there was a mushy punk layer that I scraped off with a chisel. It was quite time consuming. Plus, it had that lavender colored fungus growing on the ends. I split and stacked it, haven't burned any yet so I can't comment on its quality.
