I was going to create a poll but lots of different answers. I was just curious on how some of you process your firewood. There is no doubt that processing firewood is work, a lot of work at times. And I am sure it's harder for some of us than others depending on your setup, location, and the help of machinery. Here are some examples: Are you scrounging wood off CS, FB, etc... and hauling back, manually unloading, splitting/stacking? Are you harvesting wood locally or off your own property, hauling back and with the aide of machinery unloading, moving, stacking/splitting? Do you have a tree friend dropping wood off to you once in a while? Above are just few of many examples. Am currently picking up a little off CL, especially if I see some good stuff. But majority of my wood is coming off my own property for now which makes it little easier. I recently took some wood off a friend who had a big oak tree dropped about 2 months ago. Picking that up alone and moving those big rounds into my truck and trailer, hauling it back home, unloading it manually into my dump cart, hauling it around back, and unloading it, well let's lets just say I didn't need to go to the gym anytime soon!
"Here are some examples: Are you scrounging wood off CS, FB, etc... and hauling back, manually unloading, splitting/stacking? Are you harvesting wood locally or off your own property, hauling back and with the aide of machinery unloading, moving, stacking/splitting? Do you have a tree friend dropping wood off to you once in a while? " D - All the above.
My property borders state forest land....you can get a permit for 20.00 per cord of wood. Its practically all red n rock (chestnut) oak. I have taken several oaks from my own property. I watch craigslist a lot...my first year burning ...I found 2.5 cords of black locust css for 150.00..it was 3 year old stuff......found several tree trimmers that allow you to come there n cut what you want... I have 2 trailers....6x8 footer n a 7x16 footer. I pull them with my 04 Toyota 4runner . I use weight distribution bars on the 16 footer. Around home I have 2 cheap tsc 15 cu.ft. carts I pull behind my kubota g6200 or my 1250 cub cadet to pick up the wood close by. I have taken my kioti CS 2210 to a few places to load some big stuff. Anymore.....I always split it as I take it off the trailers or carts. As I am splitting I stack it in 1 of the carts n take it n stack it....repeat until finished. It has taken me about 1 year to get to my 3 year plan...about 17 cords on hand..Im now working on 3-4 cords...css to replace what i burn this year.....its like a revolving circle.
We get some off our property, some friends have seen pics of us working on FB and contacted me about trees and word of mouth. We use tractor FEL and dump trailer to get it home in log form, then as time allows we CSS with splitter and stack in sheds.
I cut or assist/supervise cutting offsite, and try to pull the splitter to the wood, making pickup bed loading easier, and keeping potential ants on their home turf after busting. If it’s in the 8-12” diameter range, it may just get loaded and split here at the house....all depends on the situational variables.
Great stuff fella's, thanks!!! Like you say Eric VW and bear 1998 I think pulling the splitter to the wood for the bigger stuff and splitting it onsite and loading it much easier unless like you mention the rounds are smaller in diameter. Moving splits is much easier....... Problem is I 1st need a splitter LOL
Same here. Although most of the stuff I burn comes from my brothers farm. The problem is I can usually only get to it from the end of fall to planting season in the spring.
Or getting ate up by bugs. In theory I shouldn't get stuck unless there is a bunch of snow either. However after this summer I'm thinking there is gonna be nothing but mud until it freezes
Sometimes, time is of the essence, and with my shift schedule, if we can get it home fast, then it's in my possession. Different tricks for different folks. Just keep hoarding, just keep hoarding, ...lol
In the past I have gotten downed rounds on Craig's list, happened on trees being taken down and asked for permission to remove the wood or been referred to wood by a Tree Service friend. My Tree Service friend now has a log yard and has been removing a lot of trees to it. I have permission to cut all I want there. I usually remove rounds to my property and find it easiest to pull the rounds from the trailer to the splitter. Either stack then, time permitting or later if I not. If I become aware of a good deal of quality wood or nice seasoned wood I will still jump on that also!
I mostly scrounge. On a rare occasion have had wood dropped. But that can be a huge mess because all my property is lawn except for my stacking area. I prefer to cut somewhere else and make the mess there. Scrounging the dump has been fairly fruitful for me lately. The nice thing about that is that I can back right up to it and load it. I try to split right out of the trailer if I can. I do t want to handle the wood more than I have to. And I do my best to get it stacked right away because I don’t really have the room for piles in the yard. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I also like to saw up my wood myself....kinda anal when it come to lengths......16 inches is what I like...stove will take 21 inch pieces but most of my skids or wood racks are 48 inches deep. Works out so I don't have any overhang ..JMO
Right now I'm pretty flush with rounds from a couple large Ponderosa's we took down last year. I'm getting ready to buck and quarter the rest of it and move them to their processing location. Normally I have my wife look on Facebook and I check Craigslist for stuff that's free and easy pickins'. We live by National Forest land so we can get permits for $5 a cord. The drawback to permits is they only allow you to harvest certain times of the year and it's pretty short so you have to dedicate some time during those periods to go get wood (not really a big deal though). As far a processing I buck onsite (less mess) load it into my trailer and then stack the rounds on pallets along my fence line. For the stuff ready for the stove it's my pickaroon, splitting axe and a tire to process into splits. The splits go into a wagon and moved to their final resting place before going into my indoor firewood rack and then into the stove. Based on the layout of my house I think I have it down to the least amount of touches possible. I think...
I’ve been CSS on a really small scale all along on my own property just for the fire pit ever since we switched to pellets around a decade ago. Now that we’re back to wood we decided to invest in the equipment to keep ourselves going for as long as possible. Between our property and two of my adjacent neighbors there is enough for at least ten years. One of those neighbors is my cutting buddy and he burns about half a cord a year at his camp. Both my daughters have property and a few trees that need to be cut so there’s more. So the wood will be free for awhile at least. Beyond that I’m sure others around will have wood they want to get rid of as most don’t burn. I’ll be doing as much scrounging as possible when the opportunity presents. I intend to get up to the 6-8 year plan if I can over the next couple years just in case of failing health down the road. Having said that I’m not 100% sure I have enough well seasoned for this winter so I just ordered a cord of KD to put inside and I’ll be golden with that. It was a little pricey at $330 delivered, but it basically puts me on a 3 year plan almost from the start with what I have on hand. Next year will be mostly 2 year old but after that we’re good. I have a bit of oak and that’s staying out for 3 years. The rest is mostly beech with some maple and pine. If I ever get to where I can’t process my own the plan is to buy green to replace what’s burned every year and stay at 3-4.
I have a friend in the tree business that drops off whole logs.Then it’s up to me to CSS.I do some scrounging and CL as well.Can pass up a easy opportunity
We're fortunate here as we do all our cutting on our place. The way the wood has been handled the last few years is a bit different from our normal operation so I'll start by telling how we normally do things. I really do not like cutting and splitting or anything like that during the warmer months. In the fall I hunt. Therefore, the wood cutting usually begins either early December or right after Thanksgiving or over that weekend. Because I do not like getting the splitter out each time we cut, I simply stack up the wood and then do all the splitting at one time in the early spring; usually early April. Stacking follows that immediately. I might add that as I stack the logs in winter, I stack them right where I want the wood to be stacked. So after splitting, I start stacking right next to the split pile; no hauling. Over the last 3 years we've had a get-together in the spring. So I try to stack up some logs in the winter and the guys buck them up and do most of the splitting at the party. They also fell a few trees and all together have a good time. It looks like we'll probably have another gtg next spring so I'll be cutting logs into 8' length and stacking them up out in the open area. It works very nice and the extra help is really appreciated. They tell me I'm officially a senior citizen now and supposed to take it easy. I try.
