A few sticks of wood--

[scotsman]

Wow...so that's where you live? Now I can see why you have to drive 40 miles for wood....your back yard is flatter than a puddle of water. Nice load of wood btw


edit to add...I'd like to see the wood that's staged up for removal too...thanks.

Actually, from where I'm standing to the farmhouse you see in the background the change in elevation is about 40', and that's a mile over there, btw. Of course, "topographic relief" is relative. It really isn't as flat as folks think, it's just that it's wide open. It is said that you can stand on a soda can and watch your dog run away for three days, but that isn't really true--it should be more like a week! No, really I am joking about that! The cover you see in the background has pheasant and quail in it and we have dove, geese (seasonal), coyotes, roadrunners, rabbits and lots of other critters in and around it, so it isn't barren.

I'll try to get the batches of wood on tonight.

 

[scotsman]

Okay, here's the photographic evidence: Batch A, which I've begun to work on hauling. This is the place where there are about 38 stacks just like this one on this site and the company has 16 locations each one of which has more. You can see other stacks in the background on one or two shots. They are under white covers way back there, which are little bitty white specks.

 

[scotsman]

Here is Batch B, which I've also started on. If you look carefully, you can see another parallel row in the background. Both piles go way down past the double tree to the left of the yellow building.

Anybody got a nice stove to trade for a lifetime supply of wood? Let's talk!

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Wow! You da man. What an incredible find! Looks like you are in a fairly dry area in Texas- good for long lasting firewood with no rot. You have a lifetime supply there, and should probably go into business selling firewood, as the others have suggested. Wow! Lucky, lucky. And you don't even have a wood stove? (snicker) You can buy one from the profits of selling that wood. ;-)

BTW I took your pine cones and kerosene suggestion to heart, and it has now become my favorite type of starter. Plus I'm getting use out of my 10 year old kerosene, to boot.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/23572/

I was given a big 10lb box of Georgia fatwood over the holidays. Great stuff, but I'd use it as more of a 'fire rescuer' than as a starter.

 

[Pagey]

Freakin' A, that's sweet! Either I missed it, or I am blind: but tell me again what this company does/did to have so much wood lying around to later dispose of.

 

[scotsman]

Freakin' A, that's sweet! Either I missed it, or I am blind: but tell me again what this company does/did to have so much wood lying around to later dispose of.

If you look in the backgrounds you will see large warehouses. In the past, and for MANY years, the managers were allowed to store the product outdoors when indoor storage was full. Now the controling agency has decreed that there will be no more outdoor storage within 5 years, two or three of which have already passed. This wood was used to put under the bales to keep 'em off the ground. Since there is no more outdoor storage, there is no more use for this wood, which is called "dunnage". I just happened by at the right time to make the deals.

It's doubly ironic for the folks where Batch A is located-where the neat stacks are. They just recently bought about 81 53' semi-trailer loads of 8' Wolmanized landscape timbers to take the place of the stacks of short pieces of wood. So, now they've spent tons of money on timbers they can't use for more than another couple of years at most. In any event, the wood was freed up for a poor boy to tote to the house for heat, hopefully to last the rest of his days, and not have to buy propane to heat the house as he tries to "keep his lum blithely reekin' 'til he's auld eno' to dee". At the very least he won't have to decide between buying propane and buying food.

Now, if he can just get a stove, he should be set. Hopefully soon.

 

[savageactor7]

Holy cow that is real nice...that really is a lifetime supply of wood. For some reason I was expecting a hodge podge pile but that's all an easy take.

 

[firefighterjake]

Wow . . . what a great find.

 

[drdoct]

You know.... You could probably make a little money with a plan. Find an enterprising person up north who knows wood. I figure this stuff probably isnt more than 2500-3000 lbs per cord and maybe less because it's so dry. You could get a premium right now for the good stuff if your ground game is laid out and you can get to the people looking for real seasoned dry stuff. It costs $1100 to bring a load from Texarkana to Atlanta so I figure you could get it up north for probably $1500 if you find the right truck line. They could drop you a 53' van trailer which you could load over the week. Load about 19 cords on it which won't be completely full. Send it to your enterprising person up north who already has 19 cords sold of the good stuff. Voila... you sell to him @ $200 a cord... he tacks on $50 for his troubles and contacts. Your out $80 a cord for the trucking which still nets you over $2000 for your weeks worth of work. Not to bad for a little footwork. You'd be helping people up north get some awesome dry stuff that they would never find up there. Getting rid of 100 or so of your cords... keep what you can burn forever... Everybody wins. It could be a good 'job' if you can find the right person on the other end.

 

[Danno77]

This stuff is as good as gold. Definitely start selling it off. You could seriously have a second job (hey, this is TX, i don't know about full time wood peddlers down there). Save away the money you make from selling off the wood and buy a huge hauler and then increase ability to sell and maybe even drop prices and hire helpers. This is no small find.

 

[scotsman]

Okay, y'all--Last year (13 Jan 2009), I mentioned that I had found a few sticks of wood, but some of you didn't believe me and demanded photos. Well, I've now acquired the capability to attach photos so here y'go.

Batch A is the one with my 1-ton van in it. The two photos show the full pile of wood. If you look carefully, you will see a piece of wood which shows in both photos. This stack is one of 38 on this site, all about the same size. This is one of 16 locations which all have this amount or more. This batch is conservatively estimated at 2100 cords total.

Batch B is another pile with the yellow building in the far background. You can seen the two trees way down there at the far end of this pile. There is another pile between this pile and the large metal building you see to the left. Both piles calculate out to right at 861 cords, + or - about 10 cords. This batch is only this one site.

Batch C is another pile with the white pickup in it. This pile is about 16' tall, 30' across the base and more than 250 yards long. I've estimated it at 1406 cords. I have not made serious inquiry regarding batch C yet, but I have found out that it is available.

All this wood has been outdoors for more than 50 years and most for more than 80.

In November I found a place that can provide about 10 cords/month of 2 x 4 and 4 x 4 kiln dried lumber from a pallet manufacturer. I'll get photos of that when I get the first load.

So, there y'have it!! I think I'm fixed for wood for a while. Just didn't want y'all t'think I was just only braggin' like some of us Texas boys do! :lol:

 

[scotsman]

Hey, Y'all, sorry about the duplicate post. Forgot that I had done figgered out how to do the pictures. At least y'can see Batch C. It's new, I hope!

 

[Danno77]

wow, was that already a year ago? geesh. what's the holdup?!?!?!? get to burnin...

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Awesome! You really ought to sell some to those guys up north who are freezing their butts off. Are you ever getting yourself a stove?

BTW I did settle on your kero and pine cones fire starting method. Works best for me of all the various methods I've tried. You're my favorite 'wood millionaire', dude.

Now start burning some of that stuff, hear? ;-)

 

[Danno77]

Awesome! You really ought to sell some to those guys up north who are freezing their butts off. Are you ever getting yourself a stove?

BTW I did settle on your kero and pine cones fire starting method. Works best for me of all the various methods I've tried. You're my favorite 'wood millionaire', dude.

Now start burning some of that stuff, hear? ;-)

a woodianaire maybe even? I like the sounds of that.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Since you have all that wood I'd probably pick up that 2nd Fireview just to make sure you have enough heat for the house.

Matt

 

[scotsman]

Awesome! You really ought to sell some to those guys up north who are freezing their butts off. Are you ever getting yourself a stove?

BTW I did settle on your kero and pine cones fire starting method. Works best for me of all the various methods I've tried. You're my favorite 'wood millionaire', dude.

Now start burning some of that stuff, hear? ;-)

a woodianaire maybe even? I like the sounds of that.

Danno and Cluttermagnet--Since several of y'all have suggested that, I'm thinking about it somewhat seriously. Transportation is the main logistical hurdle and "wood" probably have to be done in the warm months, when folks are interested in other things. BUT, I have started to explore the possibility. The other question: Is 80 year old cedar that attractive to anyone?

Glad the cones and kero works for you. Sure worked for my grandpa and before him for lots of generatiions. It will even work with green cones! Just soak 'em and the little they absorb, compared to the dry ones, will get the pitch going for a long burn. Try it, you might like it!

Re: the stove--I pick it up at the freight dock today. The sweep is supposed to come Monday to install the insulated liner, that's been lying in my floor for several days, so we should be "on fire" by Monday night.

I kinda like to think of myself as "The Stick Man"! :lol: Like Dennis and the folks he helps out, it would be nice to get some of all these millions of pounds (best estimate is between 4000 and 4600 cords) of wood up to the people who need it, but I don't have enough money to finance that deal on my own. If I figure something out, I'll holler. Who would have ever thought this area had so much wood! Y'all have all the trees, after all!

 

[Stevebass4]

find of a lifetime

 

[SolarAndWood]

Seems like you need a partner somewhere along I-25 in Colorado and a third partner with a semi.

 

[Danno77]

The other question: Is 80 year old cedar that attractive to anyone?

this is a valid concern. I feel the only way to completely understand the quality of your wood is to have someone test it out. Please send about 10 cords my way and i'll be happy to help in any way i can.

 

[Tony H]

Holy Moly that's alot of wood what the heck were they using it for? Like the others said seems a firewood business would be in order. Sell the first as a you haul operation and as you get some cash flow going you can buy the equipment to run the business with delivery. Think of the toys you can buy skid steer,dump truck, saws, big dump trailer and then buy some new company trucks for the family. Sounds like alot but if your estimate is anywhere close you are talking about over a Million dollars worth of wood

 

[Bigcube]

And here I have over 5 cords that refuses to burn in my stove. :long:

 

[scotsman]

Holy Moly that's alot of wood what the heck were they using it for? Like the others said seems a firewood business would be in order. Sell the first as a you haul operation and as you get some cash flow going you can buy the equipment to run the business with delivery. Think of the toys you can buy skid steer,dump truck, saws, big dump trailer and then buy some new company trucks for the family. Sounds like alot but if your estimate is anywhere close you are talking about over a Million dollars worth of wood

Yes, it IS a lot of wood, but again, it's cedar, which makes me wonder just how much in demand it would be. Some folks turn their noses up at cedar, but I have found that in a controlled combustion air situation, as dry as this is, it will burn as long as oak PLUS it gets hotter way faster than any other wood I've ever burned. I would even wager that the BTU output per unit time for cedar this dry may be comparable and maybe even better than the oaks. Ash, maple, hickory and a couple others, maybe not, but THIS 80 year old cedar burns extremely hot AND it smells good to boot! The only kind of wood I'd take in a 1 to 1 trade would be bois d'arc, IF it was as dry. One stove load of that could burn 24/7 for a week!

I am seriously considering the prospects however.

 

[SolarAndWood]

spoken like a true salesman

 

[scotsman]

Yesterday I found a few MORE sticks of wood!! I've attached photos. All the wood in the cubes is mine. It's all hardwoods, mostly oak, but some ash and other stuff. There must be 200 or more of those cubes sitting under cover. Since they are four feet on each side, each one that's full is half a cord. The owner said they've been there since he was a kid and he's now 56! So, they've been sitting under cover drying out for a very long time. I'm planning to go up and pick up four loads Monday. That will be four cubes to the load or two cords per load.