Do you buy or not buy your wood?

[RedRanger]

And the first one that calls me Mormon Sonny is gonna get shot!! :lol:

Morman Sonny.

Well, I`m gonna make an exception for those crazies that actually toured Nam 3 times. Why? Cause I know they got to be as crazy as me, and no doubt their cupboards are stocked full of non-perishables. Specially those Southern "nut cases" that are expecting another Yankee invasion at any moment %-P

I just seem to keep on giving that BB guy those openings. 8-/

 

[Dix]

Oh, Mormon Sonny (gosh darn it, I'm 2nd, depnding upon how fast I hit "post" ! ), I believe alot of what you said, especially the food stuffs.

And bottled water... always gotta have some. If the power goes out (I have a well), the dog & cat can have a drink

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Although I'm new to this game, I am thinking to start looking around for 'opportunities' to get a little free firewood. Probably fairly small quantities at first. Ya gotta start small. I do have a modest chainsaw and a 1 ton truck. Probably can move some fractional cords around from time to time. Some day I may buy a splitter. Right now, I do it all the hard way.

That being said, I've found that I still have a lot to learn. My wood cutting and splitting and stacking are probably all very inefficient right now. I'll get better as I gain experience. I do need the exercise, and we are using a lot less heating oil these past couple of years. I aim to decrease it even more in the future. It's pretty much an economic necessity. Besides, it really makes my blood boil to think just how ripped off we all are on gas and oil. While I'm splitting with axe and maul, I'm thinking "here, you no good ripoff artist expletives, take that!"

 

[Backroads]

Well I come from both ends of the spectrum. I used to sell wood back when green was $85 and seasoned $100. I know the work and effort that goes into a cord of wood. Last year I bought wood...why would someone who used to cut wood buy wood? Wood here was almost $200 last year, I got 2 cords for $100 c/s I had to pick up and another 1 1/3 for $175 CSD. I heated our home with wood and oil for about $750 and I didn't have the time or ambition. This year is different though. I have people lined up giving me their wood. I'm getting all the deadstand I can haul. I do have to drive for it and process it myself. But now it's $225 CSD. I only need 3-4 real cords so I'm up for the work and happy about saving 5-6 hundred bucks. I would never tell someone to NOT buy wood though, it's completely their choice. It's out there for the taking, IF you want the work that goes with it.

My only advice is this:

If you buy wood, get to know your seller! Offer them a beer or cold drink when they deliver. So many people sell wood that is NOT a real cord and they don't loose sleep over it. Also the more friendly and respectful you are the more likely they will treat you with respect. More respect=better service=better wood/possibly a better price.

If you go and get your own, BE SAFE and obey PRIVATE PROPERTY!

 

[gibson]

#1: To get your own wood you need a big truck. A Ranger aint gonna do it.
#2: Wood might get expensive but not for long where I live. People don"t cut their own lawns here. They don't even have time to stack it.
#3: Scrounging costs you time and gas. Multiple trips with a big pickup.
#4: I just had 2 cords dropped c/s/d for $300. Red Oak 95%. I will get another 3 cord soon, hopefully for around $500.
#5: Bottom line. Most suburbanites, new to the game don't have the balls to burn wood consistantly. To do that you have to be truly cheap, like me! That is why I think that until proven otherwise I will "scrounge" for the lowest price c/s/d. When it gets too high, then I will go to log lengths. Cheap wood is out there!

 

[gibson]

Another thing is, doing the quick "fuzzy" math in my head, I can't figure out how processing wood is profitable. Unless the tree service companies gotta pay the guys anyway and you have really good equipment. I don't know...theres gotta be a reason why some (many) of these guys drop their wood in the landfill. This makes me think I will be able to get it cheap.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

I have really started to notice how fast "free firewood" adds are spoken for on craigslist, you have to react fast in order to get the wood. All the wood whores camp out on craigslist and gobble it all up and re sell it, I did a experiment last year, I put a add up on CL, said I had a large maple taken down and cut into 16" rounds with easy truck access listed it for free, I kept the add up for 1 hour just to see what kinda response it wold get, I think I got will over 20 responses in that hour with like 5 of them in the first 10 minutes, it was unreal, I never emailed anyone back and deleted the add after the 1 hour

Wow. That's kind of sad. I wonder if it's that bad in my part of the country?

This forum got me looking at Craig's List again. I've seen all sorts of things, from huge, storm- downed hardwood trees that would be way too much for me, to some guy who was offering a tiny pile of dubious logs, maybe 20-30 of them, and he wanted you to split them and give him a few. You could keep the rest. I got a good belly laugh out of that one. Anyway, my sense of it is that some of these ads even get repeated a few days later, for lack of any takers. So eventually I will try responding to a few ads and see where it takes me.

A neighbor of mine saw another neighbor having several big hardwood trees cut down. He went over and asked the tree guys and also the homeowner, I guess. Anyway, they brought a lot of big rounds, maybe 3-6 ft+ lengths over, and dumped it in his side yard. I think he will share some of it with me if I cut it up for him. I'll start that project next, after I finish off my own, never- ending Red Oak disassembly project. Oh, and this neighbor says that he has access to a log splitter. That would help a lot on that batch, as most are 18-24 in+.

 

[Backroads]

Another thing is, doing the quick "fuzzy" math in my head, I can't figure out how processing wood is profitable. Unless the tree service companies gotta pay the guys anyway and you have really good equipment. I don't know...theres gotta be a reason why some (many) of these guys drop their wood in the landfill. This makes me think I will be able to get it cheap.

I have a couple friends that process wood. 1 by hand and he does alright. The other can do C/S/L in about 20 minutes and he can't keep up with the orders. It must be profitable or they wouldn't do it.

 

[Hogwildz]

Another thing is, doing the quick "fuzzy" math in my head, I can't figure out how processing wood is profitable. Unless the tree service companies gotta pay the guys anyway and you have really good equipment. I don't know...theres gotta be a reason why some (many) of these guys drop their wood in the landfill. This makes me think I will be able to get it cheap.

You best git yourself a calculator, and stop figuring in your noggin.
Tree guy is getting the wood for free, and hes paid to get it. So the wood is not costing him anything, he pays a couple laborers 10 bucks an hour of so, re-do the math.
Not to mention, when things are slow in the winter, it keeps a few of his guys busy, rather than collecting crappy unemployment.
Trust me, worked in that field, hes making money on it, and remember, he was paid to remove the tree to start with.
Excavators do the same thing. Thats where I been gittin my cuts from.

 

[sapratt]

I did that already, backs still sore from moving all that wood. Hopefully the leaning
problem is fixed and I won't have to riddle my wood anymore.

 

[savageactor7]

We harvest logs from the backyard, if I had to buy wood we'd be burning coal. Coal is bullet proof and a lot less dicking around with.

 

[drhiii]

I harvest my own wood. BLM mostly, observing tree services, word of mouth, a little Craigslist thrown in. When equipment works 100%, I love it. When something conspires against my mechanically, I don't. There is a *LOT* of free wood within an hour's driving. You just have to go get it. Am partial to pinon because there is so much of it, and the scent is like nothing else. Then cedar/juniper. The main reason for having this heat is arthritis. Not mine... my wife. And of course, fuel cost savings. When it is -10 and my wife is sitting in the living room with the heat radiating into her bones, and I'm hearing the sound of cha-ching all around me as my neighbors are paying to heat their homes (typical gas bill/mo for me is $20... others around here is $400), I am quite happy to go out and harvest stuff.

 

[Vic99]

I'm lucky to live in a place where I can get all my wood free. Of course I have to then factor in fuel costs, etc.

It takes time and I'm at it all year, but I look at it as a replacement for a gym membership since I lift, split, stack, or some such thing 3-4 times a week. My wife knows I like it, so that helps with the time thing.

 

[Thomask9590]

I am pretty much half and half.

 

[WoodMann]

I feel pretty fortunate. As I've illustrated countless times to many of you, my folks have 20 acres of heavily wooded land that got nailed by bark beetles 4 years ago. I moved back here from Illinois 3 years ago and ended up with a house with a woodstove 10.7 miles away from my folks. Not all of the tres died after the bark beetle fiasco but the ones that did are dead and standing, seasoned just about. I'm welcome to take all the wood I want/ need and the cool thing is that the bark falls off pretty easily, I have and uneasy feeling of what lives in the bark then brining it into the house. I've even started to replant seedling in the bare areas after cutting down so in 30 years I can do it all over again...........

 

[Tfin]

All free last year and will be free this next burning season. After that it may be down to 60 (purchase tree length) and 40 (free....scrounging/dead or desired downs on family property).

 

[Patapsco Mike]

I bought wood initially to supplement what I could cut and split myself, and to get better wood than the poplar that dominated my woods. Then I became good friends with the guy I bought my wood from, who owns a tree service and sells wood on the side, and he offered to deliver cut to length rounds for next to nothing. He keeps the easiest to split specimens, and gives me the PITA loads full of knots or very big. I never complain, free is free.

Then I bought a house just a few doors down from my tree service friend. Now he really keeps me busy, there are 5 cords worth of white oak, cherry, elm, and apple sitting in my backyard now waiting to be split and stacked. All free and dumped right next to my wood pile while I'm at work. I'm very lucky with regards to my wood.

I caught an 87 lb bluefin tuna on Saturday, and I'll give you one guess who's family was invited to dinner last night to eat fresh tuna and mahi mahi (and was sent home with a big bag of tuna steaks).

 

[WoodMann]

That's too much work, to fed someone else for your wood..............

 

[Risser09]

Don't forget about how you conserve resources by using fallen trees & dead standing trees that are close by. Helping out people in your community by ridding them of fallen trees is quite altruistic. Good Karma

 

[Bammer]

Befriend a tree service,preferably a larger one. The big ones don't usually mess with firewood,you'll be suprised at how eager they are to have dump off points.. If I have to pay then it's time to quit the wood burning.

 

[WoodMann]

I rent my wood..................

 

[Jake]

I get 90+% of my wood for free from work (hardwood flooring mill)
there is 0 scrounge time cause I drop my trailer off, it gets loaded and I haul it home. Last year I burn't mostly 4x4 sleepers, Some pallket wood, and some flooring scraps.

oh yea, the stuff is kiln dried so the M/C is around 8%

If my Father didn't own the place and wood wasn't free, I wouldnt burn

I get some trees every now and then from neighbors and tree co's

 

[gpcollen1]

I agree but disagree...

2 yrs ago i bought 5 cords for 600 in September. All I had to do was stack it. No chain saw - no splitter - no BS - just 600 for my winters heat. Not too bad If I chose to go that route all the time.

 

[Jay777]

I get 90+% of my wood for free from work (hardwood flooring mill)

If my Father didn't own the place and wood wasn't free, I wouldnt burn

This is a great idea! I'm totally going to get my father to buy a flooring mill!

 

[eba1225]

100% of my wood is scrounge wood. Ever since I started doing this it is amazing how much wood is by the side of the road.