I took in my fair share of uglies, shorties, branches, etc.....No doubt about that. The same guy even came with his bucket truck and cut down some dangling limbs that were caught up after my white oak split in half during a crazy storm we had 2 months ago. He didn't even charge me after I insisted I pay him. I told him whenever he needs (dry) firewood to let me know.....and he took me up on that and I delivered a truckbed of wood to a longtime customer of his. No charge. I guess I am lucky. I have asked other neighbors around here if they are interested in having wood dumped on their driveway from the tree service guys.....and only one has taken me up on the offer. Most people around here would rather pay to have firewood already split delivered instead.
I also worked for him for a day when he was shorthanded.....and I also bought him a logrite 30" hookaroon. Funny thing is he started counting out bills after the day of work and after I gave him the hookaroon.......and both times I refused. I can definitely use the money - don't get me wrong - but I felt better helping him out as well.
Right. On my little one lane rd 10 of the 15 houses burn wood. People would on free dumps like a buzzard on a s wagon. Where you are they need to pay to get rid of it here there is a market for it. I’m not hating on you. Just trying to point out that you have a very lucky situation where the demand is far less than the supply. Good for you.
I know you're not. It's just crazy to me that the tree guys here literally just dump the wood and throw it away. There's a town dump here and the trees guy pay the village to have a little punch card so they can dump.....and then the village pays someone else to come and haul it away. What they do with it afterwards I would hopefully assume is to chip it or compost it....but deep down I have a feeling they just get rid of it and let it rot. I am looking into opportunities to change that. Here's a few pics of stuff just sitting at the dump. I could probably spend an entire month 7 days a week pulling logs out of there. In the first pic on the left you can see a bunch of spruce logs someone actually noodled in half....they are shorties....and I took all of them and just made kindling out of them.
Usually in the cities around here they pile it up and bring in a tub grinder and make much out of stuff like that. Another thing people will pay for...
There is no such thing as free wood around here, everybody burns wood and even the junk is hoarded. I'd even take willow if I were also getting loads of wood chips, I'd just push the rounds to the edge of the woods and let them rot.
I just started using FB MP and the two places I've been to get wood have been awesome. I'm supposed to go somewhere on Wed to pick up some more pine. I guess I'm surrounded by city slickers. And according to my not-so-friendly neighbor I'm a "dirtbag" for living like this and my kids live in the "hillbilly loser house". Lmfao.
I pushed some 5 food diameter (seriously) rounds of poplar into the edge of the woods 2 years ago... The few times I have split poplar it had mushrooms growing off it within a few weeks, so I figured these big rounds would decompose in a few years. Two years later they have hardly changed. Certainly not much decomposition going on, although the bark did fall off. I'm thinking they're going to be around as long as me.
I do have one guy who cuts to length for me. He's a small time operation and loads his dump trailer by hand, so he's got to cut it up anyways. I told him my stove takes up to 22" splits... He brought me a massive load of rounds cut to right around 24" length, which just don't fit into my large stove (Napoleon s9). So I spent a few hours cutting 2 inches off rounds, and just cut some in half for the small insert I've got downstairs. It was red elm, which is damm good and under appreciated firewood in my opinion. Almost oak good -- burns as clean as ash when allowed to season 2-3 years, lights easy, good coals. Even smells good when green, unlike American (pizz) elm. Smells like cinnamon.
Nice! Maybe get him a 6-pack next time and thank him and maybe mention 22" vs 24". But I don't mind too long. It just gives me an opportunity to use the saw a bit, make some sawdust for the compost pile, practice my sharpening skills, and if they are super straight (not elm!) Then I can cut those 24" into half and make kindling out of some of them.
