I was originally depressed because I couldn’t score any free wood off of Craigslist. Every time I called it was either gone, too far away or crap. Then I hit!
I had one guy down the street from work that used to have a small saw mill. He had about 3-4 cords of rounds and thick (3-4 inch) slab wood that he wanted to get rid of, all oak I told him I could work on it on my way home from work. The next day I hooked up with a tree guy that was taking down 10-15 good size oaks. I had to share that with other scroungers so I only got 1 ½ cords that weekend. He took down more during the week and I got another cord the following week. Two weeks later he calls me and says he has another job up the road from me and if I’ll take it all he won’t even put it on Craigslist. How could I say no? I’ve got 3 cords so far and there are another 2-3 cords left. Add all of this to the 2 cords I took down this spring and I have a mighty pile of rounds to be split. It’s lining the driveway for about 80 feet. I was just pulling in the drive, heaving the wood out of the truck and trailer and going back for another load.
I only picked up a splitter last week so as soon as I’m done with these last couple of cords I’m taking a break from scrounging until I’ve got it all split and stacked.
Of course this is the hottest part of the year so I’m drenched in sweat inside of minutes. Plus I should buy stock in Advil.
My goal is to have 16 cords put up by the fall so I can be a least a year ahead.
Oh yeah, I also found someone who was tearing down their old deck because it didn’t match the house so I got about 250 sq. ft of 2x6 pressure treated to build a wood shed with in my spare time. It’s painted on one side but the other side is still in great shape. (I keep telling myself its only a wood shed.)
I had one guy down the street from work that used to have a small saw mill. He had about 3-4 cords of rounds and thick (3-4 inch) slab wood that he wanted to get rid of, all oak I told him I could work on it on my way home from work. The next day I hooked up with a tree guy that was taking down 10-15 good size oaks. I had to share that with other scroungers so I only got 1 ½ cords that weekend. He took down more during the week and I got another cord the following week. Two weeks later he calls me and says he has another job up the road from me and if I’ll take it all he won’t even put it on Craigslist. How could I say no? I’ve got 3 cords so far and there are another 2-3 cords left. Add all of this to the 2 cords I took down this spring and I have a mighty pile of rounds to be split. It’s lining the driveway for about 80 feet. I was just pulling in the drive, heaving the wood out of the truck and trailer and going back for another load.
I only picked up a splitter last week so as soon as I’m done with these last couple of cords I’m taking a break from scrounging until I’ve got it all split and stacked.
Of course this is the hottest part of the year so I’m drenched in sweat inside of minutes. Plus I should buy stock in Advil.
My goal is to have 16 cords put up by the fall so I can be a least a year ahead.
Oh yeah, I also found someone who was tearing down their old deck because it didn’t match the house so I got about 250 sq. ft of 2x6 pressure treated to build a wood shed with in my spare time. It’s painted on one side but the other side is still in great shape. (I keep telling myself its only a wood shed.)
Guess I'm no good at goin' in cold.
