The tree service idea is excellent too. I know the bigger ones in my area and there are 50 more I don’t. They are interested in saving time and money. Give your # out and if they have a job near you, more than likely they will gladly dump wood and try to give you chips too.
Weeeeell it isnt that simple. I do go out and work hard to get it. Isaias and the tornado right after helped my locust mania quite a bit.
I wasnt referring to you Brad. There are members who come home and the BL has quite literally been dropped at there doorstep by the tree company. Just like when Santa left you presents under the tree when you were a kid and you awoke to find them.
This is why I've had gas ran to my house. Just had a 96% furnace installed, sold my log splitter. I have about a cord left, will burn occasionally.
I didnt think so, but i know what you mean. I often got coal from That load of BL you gave me the lead on was maybe the fifth or sixth time ive got it roadside. The second of quantity. Couple times a few pieces at the dump.
I think you gotta find those smaller tree service companies. That's what I did. I tried calling the bigger ones and they haven't dropped off a single loads. The little guys, however, really need to save since they usually are quite a bit cheaper than the big guys I'm guessing. Plus it builds relationships for them. For example, the guy that has come to my house the most - I offered to wrap up bundles of kindling for him free of charge for his good customers as a holiday gift. All he has to do is tell me how many and when. He's probably dropped off 16 cord of bucked up rounds, all for free, all saving him the $250/truckload dumping fee. He also recently dropped off an entire truckload of wood chips which I'm using as a floor for my raised garden bed as well as for my compost. We, the ones that get wood bucked and dropped off at our door, are definitely lucky......but if I didn't go out of my way, follow the sound of the chainsaw that first time, and then politely ask for the wood.......all this wouldn't have happened for me. Don't get discouraged if you make 5 contacts and none of them come through. Keep trying and all you need, really, is to find that one guy who can help you out......and that you can help out as well. Good luck!
I have been told that the plant in Fitchburg is the reason the price of grapple loads has gone up in our area. Much easer for the logger to grind and dump than load on a truck and bring to a homowner that doesn’t have the space or needs to be tracked down...
Yeah - the tree guys don't have to pay to dump their chips and scraps here - the Town runs a composting facility and wants the feedstocks. Lawn clippings / yard waste - anything and everything that composts. Last I knew they took stumps and pine logs for free as well as they have a huge stump grinder. About all you can save them is transport costs. If they aren't cutting hardwood themselves on down time for firewood they are selling the straight logs to someone with a proocessor that will pay for them. You just don't find "free wood" around here unless it is garbage or someone doesn't have the means to transport it. All sorts of biomass has value here so there just aren't that many freebies unless you want branches that a homeowner can't get into a paper yard waste bag. At least the biomass "value" isn't driving the price of firewood up. (yet)
"Yet" is the key word. I regularly see $300 cords (non-artisenal) for sale. Throw another oil price increase in the mix and all bets are off.
I know a local tree guy was getting $700 for a 6/7 cord grapple load last year. This year I see its $850.
The tree guys here actually have access to the town dump.......and I've gone there multiple times and found pure gold. I just wish I had 5 acres of space. Then I'd really be cooking!
Biomass collection and composting is done at the sewer plant here. The landfill / recycling is at the other end of town. Different resource streams.
I see what you mean, sirbuildalot . I wish I could poke fun and say it must be a Massachusetts thing, but there's equally bogus "scores" to be found all over Connecticut Craigslist. The only time I got wood off CL was a few weeks back when I got sloppy seconds on some Locust right in my town that Joe191145 tipped me off to. Besides that, it seems to be a real crapshoot a lot of the time. I'm no longer on Facebook but I know marketplace can be hit or miss too. Who knows, this winter could bring a couple nasty Nor'easters through and we New Englanders will be begging the wood Gods for mercy. Hey, stranger things have happened. FREE Wood! Perfect for Firewood, Furniture, etc! Pine - free stuff
Sheesh, that's way too far and I'm sure you'd hit your fair share of traffic getting there too. I'm surprised it's as hard as it is in MA and NH. You guys have way more forested area than CT does.
I do OK between the dump, homeowner Craigslist giveaways, Asplundh roadside cuts, neighbors, and for the past two years, WeldrDave's lot clearing. It's year round constant vigilance to get enough free wood to stay 3 years ahead.