In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

What is the best season for hoarding?

Discussion in 'The Wood Pile' started by cigarsmokingzombie, Apr 6, 2019.

  1. cigarsmokingzombie

    cigarsmokingzombie

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    I’m new to hoarding with my addiction really peaking this winter. There seems to be a lot of free wood on FB Marketplace and Craigslist every other day. I’m thinking Winter and late Fall, early Spring is prime season because that’s when most fell their trees cause of no sap and leaves. Should I expect the pickings to be slim in late Spring and summer?

    If I keep hoarding at this rate (back permitting), I’ll have 50 chords by next Winter.
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2019
  2. brenndatomu

    brenndatomu

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    I would expect there to be lots of free wood ads right after any big storm that takes limbs/trees down...
     
  3. cigarsmokingzombie

    cigarsmokingzombie

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    I get the storm, but we haven’t had a bad one in months in the Mid-Atlantic (last year was different). But still tons of freebies.


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  4. brenndatomu

    brenndatomu

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    Yeah...I dunno...sometimes no rhyme or reason to this stuff...I've noticed the same thing with other stuff on CL...just seems like its feast or famine sometimes...
     
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  5. buZZsaw BRAD

    buZZsaw BRAD

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    cigarsmokingzombie I personally prefer making firewood in the cool/cold weather (mid October to mid April) but hoarding is a year round venture as you never know when wood will be available and you have the time to get it. I also prefer to cut/split and maybe stack as i go to have room for new scores. My processing/stacking area is on the smaller side and sometimes a score can be several good truck loads (8' bed F150)
    The last few years i have come home with loads of wood in the warm weather but may not CSS them til months later.
    For some reason the wood gods have been very good to me in the past several months as i have more wood now than in the past three years combined...and more scores are in the works!
     
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  6. jo191145

    jo191145

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    Maybe it’s demographics. Hoarding season started today in Ct. all winter people are asking money for the fallen trees in their backyards. Today the free adds popped up because the thermometer approached 60. LOL
     
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  7. cigarsmokingzombie

    cigarsmokingzombie

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    I find at least one add a day here in Delaware. If I didn’t have a full time Job with a Bank,
    I would hoard daily but have lots left over. Clearly I can’t support myself with full time hoarding, but I’m thinking if I keep going, I can sell some and support my firearms fettish...whoooo!


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  8. buZZsaw BRAD

    buZZsaw BRAD

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    jo191145 is that a true statement? Ive never looked on CL for wood til last December and had posted an add wanting wood.
     
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  9. jo191145

    jo191145

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    Perhaps just a fluke but an observation I made starting this year when I began looking for wood adds myself. The preponderance of the adds last summer were for free wood. Seemed as soon as fall hit and the temps dropped those chunks of wood took on a monetary value ;)
    Slightly funny I had just looked at FB marketplace and noticed a few free wood adds at the top of my hit list. Then I cruised over here and this post was at top. Spring is in the air.

    PS I checked out the logs near the junction of 66 and 2. Logging operation. Must have been 6-8 triaxle loads by the time I got there.
    Talked to a state forest ranger that same day. Logs arent worth nothing to the mills around here right now. There’s a glut on the market from all the dying oaks. Took an atv ride slowwwly around the state forest. Yeah it got hit hard up here from the gypsy moths. Loggers are busy but they arent gettin much for it.
     
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  10. amateur cutter

    amateur cutter

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    Hoarding for me is usually Sept thru April as weather permits. I don't "scrounge" as I have access to multiple large properties at my leisure. Tree removal jobs are when they are & tree service drop offs also. I take it when it comes. I do not enjoy working in hot humid weather, otherwise I'll hoard whenever.
     
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  11. buZZsaw BRAD

    buZZsaw BRAD

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    jo191145 I had suspicion it might be a logging operation as how neatly the logs were stacked. Its true about the glut of oak. I felled a huge white oak last Sept, maybe 32"DBH. I was ready to buck the trunk and thought it may have more value as lumber than firewood. Called two places and no interest. Next winter ill have access to at least a dozen huge white oaks where i cut that one. All killed by GM's. No easy way to get them out though.
     
  12. jo191145

    jo191145

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    Oh there’s always an easy way. There’s just no cheap and easy way hahaha
     
  13. Backwoods Savage

    Backwoods Savage Moderator

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    The best season to hoard wood would be spring, summer, fall or winter.

    Also, you mention no sap in early spring but that is not true. Sap starts pretty early. I can cut maple in February and the sap will run out of the trees. Most times the sap is running well before the snow has melted.

    Also, wood is measured by the cord, not by the chord. We'll leave the chords to the musicians.
     
  14. billb3

    billb3

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    The one with three months in it.


     
  15. Timberdog

    Timberdog

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    Anytime.
     
  16. billb3

    billb3

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    All your musician friends will be quite envious.
     
  17. woody5506

    woody5506

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    seems to me once spring starts showing its face a bit more, it gets people outside more wanting to clean up and with that comes more tree work, and more free wood. I usually like hoarding in the dead of winter because I don't mind the cold and it seems like most wood sticks around longer. But this past winter was pretty awful for me as far as free wood ads.
     
  18. Jon_E

    Jon_E

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    I don't bother with scrounging off my property unless it comes to me (i.e. delivered to the driveway). I like to cut starting right about now through Memorial Day, and then most of October and November. The biggest problem now is mud and frost/ice, but it is mostly gone. I don't like to rut up the woods. I am contemplating getting a cheap ATV so I can just grab a saw and some wedges and go cut for an hour, not load or split or carry or do anything else, and then when the ground firms up I can go collect it all.

    Not to say that I don't check out FB Marketplace and CL ads all the time, and the "free" ads are starting to show up more and more as the weather gets warmer. Around here everyone burns wood, so free wood usually equals junk wood.
     
  19. yooperdave

    yooperdave

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    :D
     
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  20. Paul bunion

    Paul bunion

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    There are three knots in a chord.