How do you gather your firewood?

[mikereynolds]

I live in the desert so there are no woods to drive the Gator into. So, I drive 2-1/hours to an Avocado grove with my Cummins powered Dodge with extended bedsides and Dump trailer. I modified a carpet cart with cradles welded to it and put about 4-8 logs cut down to 4-feet on the cart and push it through the grove to my truck. I then hand load it and carefully stack the logs to get the most I can fit in both truck and trailer. I can haul about 4 cord this way (Avocado only weighs abougt 3500 lbs. per dry cord...much lighter than say Oak). When I get home I hit the dump button and get busy with the modified Makita 6401 and my homade hillbilly log splitter. This routine happens two to four times per week. The round trip is 8-9 hours and with a good helper can process the four cord in 6-10 hours over and over again.

 

[Chris-PA]

All of my wood comes off the hill behind our house, hauled with a 4-wheel cart behind our old Wheel Horse with a 12hp single cylinder Kohler M12. If I have to I use the front end loader on my 30hp diesel Kioti tractor for big rouonds. I never put wood in the truck. All wood is split with an axe or sledge & wedge. Or a maul if I ever get around to replacing the one I broke.

People burn wood for different reasons. For me it's to save money and to not be dependent on fossil fuels, which I believe will become increasingly expensive and before too long hard to get. I also expect the electricity supply to become increasingly unreliable. I can get all my wood with very little gas or oil. The Wheel Horse putters along using very little fuel and the chainsaws do an incredible amount of work on a small amount. I'll be willing to pay a lot of money for the fuel needed to get my firewood if needed.

Anyway, with that it would not make sense for me to heat entirely with wood if I had to use a lot of fuel to do it.

 

[VTWoodchuck]

Wow. I guess I'm really lucky as well. I live on 16 heavily wooded acres, about 2.5-3 is cleared around the house. I have a logging road that I can drive my F150 down that runs right through my land. I do need an ATV soon as I'm running out of trees to drop right on my road or lawn. I mostly get maple, beech, ash, and white birch. There is alot of cedar and tamarack though that I mix in even though I hate cutting that crap. I can usually cut and split a cord in a day, maybe day in half. So, roughly 10-12 days of cutting get me my wood for the year. I haven't been stocking up on nexts years wood like I should but I might start.

 

[sunfish]

I've cut on my own property for 21 years, 15-20+ cord a year.

Can usually get the truck pretty close to the wood.

 

[Marc]

I'm surrounded by my aunt's 140 acres of farmland with fencelines that haven't been touched in 30 years. Probably 30-40 acres worth of wooded land that also hasn't been touched in as many years. Mostly red oak, maple, white ash and cherry.

Also occasionally get some from a wood lot she owns about 3 miles away, 19 acres, she recently had logged. Over 100 cords worth of tops butts and odds and ends. My father and uncle are processing and selling most of that though.

Yeah. I'm spoiled, I know. I'm thankful every day for it though. God, I love burning the 2 year old red oak I have right now. Sometimes my wife gets worried overy how excied I get about the quality of firewood I have.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Many, MANY years ago I was in the same situation as you but I was a kid helping my Dad. We had no land and what our immeadiate family had was cleaned up of all the dead and such. We were so desperate we agreed to clean out an apple orchard. 1/2 of the wood to the owner 1/4 to us and the other 1/4 to Dad's friend who helped. We even had to burn all the brush and stack his wood in a barn, THAT is desperate.

I do not know your area but call a few tree removal services or make friends with them. Tell them you'll haul any wood away within X amount of days. The one we found worked best was to get with farmers. They always have fencerows or trees needing to be cut back. Coffeshops, feedstores or farm stores are good places to post notes at. Basically all you need to do is find one and do a good job and his word of mouth will keep you in all the wood you need. That is how it worked for us. Go overboard on cleanup, don't rut his fields up and DO WHAT YOU SAY and you'll never be wood poor again. We throw all the brush in "windrows" out in the field so when burn day comes you can easily push it on to the fire pile with a tractor. Usually farmer does this and you're the cleanup guy. We haul when it is frozen hard or dry and with the brush out of the way it's fast. If it's by a road you may have helpers to contend with though.

Here's a pic of a 3/4 mile long fencerow we did to give you an idea.

We have our own woods now that gives us all we need +

It's out there and you don't have to work as hard as you are now. Sure, you may not get all hardwood but it all burns and you'll be ahead time wise.

 

[goosedowner]

I live on a 72 acre farm and about 20 of it is woods. There's an old logging road that runs through my woods and I cut and stack anything that falls on or near the road beside it and pull my road trailer up next to the wood with one of our tractors. If a tree drops down in the woods away from the road I skid it up to a hay field and cut and stack it there. I'm in the process of having a "woods" trailer made so i don't have to skid any more logs and tear up my logging road.

 

[Marc]

I live on a 72 acre farm and about 20 of it is woods. There's an old logging road that runs through my woods and I cut and stack anything that falls on or near the road beside it and pull my road trailer up next to the wood with one of our tractors. If a tree drops down in the woods away from the road I skid it up to a hay field and cut and stack it there. I'm in the process of having a "woods" trailer made so i don't have to skid any more logs and tear up my logging road.

Old manure spreaders make good wood wagons. I've converted three into off road wood wagons. Usually have good, rugged frames, usually nice tall tires and lots of clearance. The only catch is they often have the axle way at the back to keep some weight on the drawbar when the apron has moved all the manure back to the beaters. In all the conversions I did, moving the axle was as simple as cutting a few bolts and drilling a couple new holes the in the frame and rebolting the axle into position.

 

[zogger]

long term

Long term it might pay you to get a larger firewood truck and trailer. You'll only put like 5-600 miles a year on the rig, so anything that works should last a long time. Any old generic flatbed farm truck that runs and a beefy trailer. If you have to go that far, might as well get several cords, not half a cord.

 

[electiccottage]

This is our first year burning, since we just bought the place. Had to buy everything we're burning this season-6 face cords along with 100 or so packs of ecobricks for daylong burns (we can pack it in the morning before we leave to work and have enough coals left to restart when we get home about 10-11 hours later with them). We have a good sized stack (several cords) already cut and split set up to season for next year. Every piece was scavanged roadside or via craigslist. We don't have family or friends with wooded lots, and if we're paying to cut, we may as well save the work and buy already split given the work/time/wear on our DD and equipment. We've got our own business and I have a day job too, so there's not a lot of extra time in our days for wood processing (we make it of course, for free wood). We have a pretty good sized pile of rounds at our old house still too (picked up and dropped there since it's "in town" and less of a drive with our smaller winter DD, it would take about 10 trips, 30 miles each. Instead, we'll haul it to the new place in the spring with our full size truck and trailer). Since we don't have a woodshed yet, we were limited to what we could buy this season and keep dry for burning-hopefully we'll make it through with little reliance on our yet to be installed vent free fireplace and blue flame heater. Especially since TS is out of Ecobricks...still!

 

[goosedowner]

Old manure spreaders make good wood wagons. I've converted three into off road wood wagons. Usually have good, rugged frames, usually nice tall tires and lots of clearance. The only catch is they often have the axle way at the back to keep some weight on the drawbar when the apron has moved all the manure back to the beaters. In all the conversions I did, moving the axle was as simple as cutting a few bolts and drilling a couple new holes the in the frame and rebolting the axle into position.

We have on old one but the frame is shot. The local Votech welding class is going to build me one and the only thing I will have to pay for is the wood for the floor and sides.

Zogger,,"Long term it might pay you to get a larger firewood truck and trailer. You'll only put like 5-600 miles a year on the rig, so anything that works should last a long time. Any old generic flatbed farm truck that runs and a beefy trailer. If you have to go that far, might as well get several cords, not half a cord. "

I have two gas wells on the farm so I don't heat with wood. I cut wood for our fire ring and to give to family members that need it. We have a 10 to dump trailer that we use to haul wood from the farm to other peoples homes so I only need a trailer that will haul what I cut in a few hours of cutting out of the woods.

 

[Somesawguy]

My parents have a wood lot, but my dad's been in and out of the hosp this year, so I've been scrounging.

CL is good if you keep an eye on it. Most people seem to want you to take down a tree for free, and it's usually right next to the house. They also want insurance. So, keep an eye out, but be careful.

I've had some reasonable luck with storm cleanup work. If something is already down, then it's not too bad to cut it up. It can't hurt to ask.

I've had some wood from my neighbor as well. He wanted some trees down, so I helped him out. They weren't all that big, and it was quite a bit of work, but I was able to help him out, and get some free wood out of the deal.

Keep an eye out on the side of the road. You'd be surprised how much stuff is just laying out there ready to be cut up. It can't hurt to stop and ask for the wood.

If you can get ahead of the game it's much easier. This time of year everyone is out there looking for free wood, and it's hard to find much. During the off season, there isn't much competition.

Best of luck.

 

[greendohn]

when approaching/negotiating with farmers/land owners make sure all the specifics are layed out. Not bashing these people on the whole, grew up with uncles farming and made a lot of honest money as farm help as a kid, and not just for my uncles. i.e., guy down the road timbered a 13 acre wood lot, almost 300 trees. let his neighbor come in also, this guy chains the tops and has his boy knock every thing from 5 to 6 inch dia. and smaller off the tops and takes the "beef" of the tree, making a tangled mess. mean while i'm loading every thing 2-3 inch up on my truck and neatly stacking brush for "habitat" as agreed. owner approaches me late winter wanting me to clean up this other guys' mess,,,i mention it looks like this other guy needs to come back and finish his chores, no,, no he's finished in here, he got all he wants,owner says,,.I says, looks like pay work to me, tangled mess that this guy has made, limbs under load waitin' to crack some body's jaw,,, says he, you must not need fire wood very bad,, NOPE I SURE DON"T...SEE YA'. and there are two other land owner/farmers around here I wont mess with any more..just make sure you under stand what's up..

 

[howellhandmade]

Heh, heh. Some guys always think all wood is valuable. Couple of years ago a neighbor of a friend called and said that a storm had knocked down some big cherry trees in his back yard, that they had hauled all the brush but left the firewood, did I want it? Well, it was frankly more than I needed and it was all the way in his backyard with no access so it had to be taken around the house in a wheelbarrow, and it was a little further than I wanted to drive, but I had a friend who was just starting to heat with wood and he was all hot to get some free wood, so I said okay.

The day before we were supposed to go load it up the owner calls and says, look, I know what I said, but I had to pay the tree service $5,000 for all the cleanup, I've got to get some money out of this wood. I said I wonder why the tree service didn't just take the wood and knock the "value" off your bill? Here's why: because often the difference between a valuable commodity and a pain in the a$$ is where it is, and what you've got in your back yard is a pain in the a$$. It would be worth something if it were dumped in my driveway, but as it is, getting it out of your yard is so much work it's more a favor than anything. You can probably find somebody else who will hump those huge rounds around your house in a wheelbarrow, but good luck finding somebody who will pay for the privilege.

After a few weeks he called back, said he was sorry, he'd been trying unsuccessfully to sell it and realized I was right, and since he'd made a deal with me first to remove it, it was still there if I wanted it. Well, I respected him for that and I got the wood, but by that time the piles had killed huge patches of his grass. Anyway, I reckon that once that landowner has a couple more yahoos in there wrecking stuff your work will start to look pretty good, and if he's man enough he'll call you back.

 

[Steve NW WI]

By whatever means necessary.

I've cut trees in my own yard, in the woods out back, in friends yards, at another farm down the road, 30 miles up the road on county forest land, and had a tree service dump some off here. I've helped others cut log length loads, you name it I guess. About all I don't do is climb a tree to get my wood.

Like some others, I try to minimize the handling. I haul everything to the stack and split and stack it there, unless I've got a lot of big rounds, then I'll knock em down to size before loading in the truck, wood wagon, or ATV trailer.

There's firewood out the wazoo around here if you're not too picky about species, the good stuff can be harder to find, but it's out there too. A guy could burn box elder 24-7-365 and never run out of free wood if he were so inclined (and I have a neighbor that does mostly that).

 

[zogger]

bwahahaha

I hunt for wood in my company car a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria. Several of my associates know of my affliction and assist me from time to time in my effort. Found a guy today that is having a tree company drop a very tall 24" red oak and 26" white oak. He is happy to have me pick up the rounds after the tree service completes the removal. I am pretty excited at the prospect of picking up this load. It is a wooded area so the trees are very long and straight with very few branches. I can back my trailer up relatively close to the landing and roll everything down a short hill. I wish I could try my hand at milling some of it. The hill makes it a perfect set up since I don't own heavy equipment. Unfortunetly, the guy wants the wood gone as soon as possible.

--you are "detaining" "suspected terrorist wood chunks"

 

[turnkey4099]

I drive 20 miles from my house, 4 miles on rough dirt roads. I then hike 100-200 yards up a 45 degree slope, the only place the hacks won't usually go. Cut standing dead trees 8-24" diameter. These are blocked into 65" sections which I then manhaul back to my truck. Load them up, I can get a little over 1/2 cord on my tacoma with tie downs. Once at home I process them there, cut 4 pieces that are 16" from each of my logs and split. I would love to have a log next to my truck to cut but it isn't happening around here, to many firewood hacks.

My first two years out of the AF my 'wooding' was done by a 60 mile trip up into the mountains for standing dead Tamarack. Didn't take me long to realize a looong day, 120 mile rountrip for 1/2 to 3/4 cord firewood was _not_ a paying proposition

From your description it would pay to lay in 200 yards or more of cable, chain, rope, tow straps and use the truck to pull the logs down to the road. My wood hauler has at least 150 yards or more of 'tow supplies' and I have had all of it out at times although mostly through snatch blocks to set up pull lines or yank a big log out of a problem spot.

Harry K

 

[electiccottage]

I should mention all our CL scrounges have been for DOWNED wood only. I ignore all the postings for standing trees, there's NO way we're going to accept that liablity, I'd rather buy a few cord than deal with that. We did help one guy take down some trees, but we felt so bad for him, he was trying to do with with an electric pole saw, and both were over 3' wide-poor old man was going to kill himself that way. We also took one out for our old neighbor, he was trying to cut up a semi downed storm damaged tree with a HAND SAW (probably a 50 year old or so maple), and he was in his late 70's at the time. That was even before we had a wood burner, we just couldn't let him stand out there sawing away like that!

 

[olyman]

Have a 13 HP tractor with a trailer that I drive 300 yards into my neighbor's property. Cut up damaged or blow down material ( red, white oak, silver beech, birch ) and drive the rounds to my shed. American cls handles the rounds then into the piles they go. About 20 cord at the moment. About 12, 24" dia 40' sticks waiting to be processed. It's amazing what you can do a little at a time.

dont leave them in piles,,they will start to rot in the center immediately......

 

[GeeVee]

I send my five man Mexican Crew.

Pedro Juan Carlos DeJesus Martinez takes care of it for me.