How do you gather your firewood?

[stihlrookie]

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.

 

[Chris-PA]

Wow. It's gotta take a lot of time to get enough wood for a winter. 80mi of driving per cord, probably overloaded. How do you wrestle a 65" long, 24" diameter log 200 yards to the truck? Why wouldn't you cut them up shorter? I don't see how that is sustainable and I suspect you'll hurt yourself and/or your truck.

 

[xraydaniel]

Storm damage in a metropolitan area in the back of a bmw wagon . . . several trips =)

 

[Genius.]

Lately I have been having friends and family drop off loads and loads of pieces cut in 16" lengths for me:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

The a few weeks ago my grandpa borrowed my splitter and then next thing I know is he brings me two trailer loads of split wooduttahere2:

Then this past week, he was so thankful I have been letting him use my splitter as a thank you he brings me 3 trailer loads of split and dry wood ready to burn:biggrin::biggrin: (1 1/2 cords)

When I go out cutting I just go in my woods with my gator, cut till I get a box full then drive it up to my splitting area and drop it off. Although, this year I just got a new splitter so I might see how it works to pull it in the woods with me and split before it goes on the gator.

 

[Rudedog]

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.

 

[Misfit138]

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.

It's never easy, huh?
I made a decision never to pay for firewood if I can help it, so all my stuff comes from either my buddy's farm, or other friends and neighbors with unwanted/storm damaged trees.
I've got 3 seasoned cords of Red Oak and Cherry for this year and another 3 green Red Oak, for next year.
It usually doesn't involve driving much more than 10 minutes for me, (it's pretty woodsy and farmy out here) but processing can be tough for one guy with only a mid-range saw and a splitting axe. I cut rounds to ~16" to make splitting easier. 16" pieces also seem to burn really well in my stove anyway. Sometimes I split on site, other times not.

I actually enjoy the work. I'm just about 41, and thankful for the measure of health, energy and strength I still enjoy, so I'll keep on doing it as long as my bones let me. I have a high efficiency natural gas furnace, so I don't really need to burn wood, but I enjoy the whole process so much and also get a kick out of the low gas bills.

Sometimes the state park up the road sells a $5 permit to cut up and remove storm damage trees, but I have yet to resort to that.

 

[stihlrookie]

Wow. It's gotta take a lot of time to get enough wood for a winter. 80mi of driving per cord, probably overloaded. How do you wrestle a 65" long, 24" diameter log 200 yards to the truck? Why wouldn't you cut them up shorter? I don't see how that is sustainable and I suspect you'll hurt yourself and/or your truck.

Average about 8 hours time per cord including the drive. I cut 15 cords this year. My truck is definitely loaded but not sitting on the axle if you know what I am saying. I will admit the big logs are few but they are real hefers to manage when I do cut one down. I have the slope of the hill to help get them to my truck, I roll them down for the most part and need to unstick them 6 or 7 times. I am looking for a hookaroon to help my back but nobody around me carries one or knows what they are practically. I cut the logs to 65" because they fit in my truck nicely, 1 log makes 4 perfect 16" pieces, any shorter than 65" they want to miss all the trees on the way down to the truck and go right over the road, forget them then. Any longer and they jam up frequently on the way down, lots of handling that way.

I can find trees in the 75 yard reach but its on the downhill side of the road, same 45 degree slope. Thats a hard pull for my tacoma, even with the diff locked and in 4 lo. I pulled a couple up this year but for one I was beyond the 100 foot cable rule by about 125 feet and my clutch took a beating.

 

[stihlrookie]

It's never easy, huh?
I made a decision never to pay for firewood if I can help it, so all my stuff comes from either my buddy's farm, or other friends and neighbors with unwanted/storm damaged trees.
I've got 3 seasoned cords of Red Oak and Cherry for this year and another 3 green Red Oak, for next year.
It usually doesn't involve driving much more than 10 minutes for me, (it's pretty woodsy and farmy out here) but processing can be tough for one guy with only a mid-range saw and a splitting axe. I cut rounds to ~16" to make splitting easier. 16" pieces also seem to burn really well in my stove anyway. Sometimes I split on site, other times not.

I actually enjoy the work. I'm just about 41, and thankful for the measure of health, energy and strength I still enjoy, so I'll keep on doing it as long as my bones let me. I have a high efficiency natural gas furnace, so I don't really need to burn wood, but I enjoy the whole process so much and also get a kick out of the low gas bills.

Sometimes the state park up the road sells a $5 permit to cut up and remove storm damage trees, but I have yet to resort to that.

I could not agree more. I enjoy it immensely, it is hard work for sure but that is what we are made to do. 40 is not to far off for me and I certainly expect to be doing this for many more years. I do have to pay $5 per cord for my permit but that is no big deal. I am very particular and only like to cut western larch, it is getting near impossible to find hence my far travels.

 

[Whitespider]

What is the "100 foot cable rule"?

 

[howellhandmade]

I take what I can get, as much as I can get, when friends or neighbors take down trees. I'm friends with a climber; sometimes I put him onto jobs where I know somebody who wants a tree down and wants to save some money. He does the dangerous part and takes his check, I do the cleanup and take the wood. Getting a big locust in a couple of weeks this way. This spring another tree service was taking down a big dead white oak three blocks from my house. They had a sign up, "free firewood." Several people came with trucks and trailers, but I was there nonstop, did seven axle-sagging loads in four hours, busted my rear, took all the crotches and gnarly and weird pieces other guys left. When they were done, they were grateful for me keeping their site clean and dropped off the whole trunk in my driveway. Seven pieces, about 36" dia and 30" long. I was lying in bed waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in when I heard the truck, went from feeling like I was never going to move again to feeling pretty darned good in about one second.

I often get antsy when the stacks are going down and I don't have anything to split, but it seems like something always turns up. Two years ago I had so much cherry from a microburst that took down a bunch of trees that I ran out of room and gave about two cords away. Being opportunistic, willing to work, and not looking like an escaped convict is my formula. When that stops working I guess I'll have to think of something else.

 

[dmlefevre]

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.

 

[rmotoman]

I mainly get firewood about 3 miles from my house. I have permission to side trim all trees hanging over and growing along the sides of a 80 acre field. There is lot of overgrowth. There is a mix of hedge, mulberry, black walnut, and elm. I prefer hedge but have to cut all to make the farmer happy.

I also can go to a pasture about 25 miles from my house. It's all big hedge. When I go I always take the trailer and get a full load to offset the cost in gas.

 

[Misfit138]

I take what I can get, as much as I can get, when friends or neighbors take down trees. I'm friends with a climber; sometimes I put him onto jobs where I know somebody who wants a tree down and wants to save some money. He does the dangerous part and takes his check, I do the cleanup and take the wood. Getting a big locust in a couple of weeks this way. This spring another tree service was taking down a big dead white oak three blocks from my house. They had a sign up, "free firewood." Several people came with trucks and trailers, but I was there nonstop, did seven axle-sagging loads in four hours, busted my rear, took all the crotches and gnarly and weird pieces other guys left. When they were done, they were grateful for me keeping their site clean and dropped off the whole trunk in my driveway. Seven pieces, about 36" dia and 30" long. I was lying in bed waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in when I heard the truck, went from feeling like I was never going to move again to feeling pretty darned good in about one second.

I often get antsy when the stacks are going down and I don't have anything to split, but it seems like something always turns up. Two years ago I had so much cherry from a microburst that took down a bunch of trees that I ran out of room and gave about two cords away. Being opportunistic, willing to work, and not looking like an escaped convict is my formula. When that stops working I guess I'll have to think of something else.

Excellent post. I can relate to everything you wrote.

 

[wdchuck]

Keep all my options open.

Free wood when it can be had.
Clean out fence lines....they always seem to lean to the roadside. Least favorite.
Drop a tree, or clean up a storm/dead/blowdown and split with the landowner.
Buy wood when the deal is right, for me. Often selling less than half to cover the full expense and retaining more than half for my own use. This is my favorite, least amount of work.

Shortest drive, backyard.
Longest drive, 90 miles one way.

 

[jhoff310]

i gather storm damage, wood from spring brush pick up. Our city has a yard waste compost facility...lot of wood there. I have some friends who work for tree companies, i get a heads up. I go down to the family farm and cut wood...right now working on ash trees..

Jeff

 

[Whitespider]

Seriously… If I had to drive 20 miles (4 of them on rough dirt), carry equipment 200 yards up hill, man-haul logs back to and into the truck… well, I just flat wouldn’t do it. The 80 miles of driving per cord (16 on rough dirt) would be enough to stop me, let alone the amount of work added to that. But that’s me, not you… I’m certainly not gonna’ suggest that you quit burning wood… I’m just sayin’ I wouldn’t do it.

First of all, I just flat don’t have that kind of time, and I also place at least some value on my time.
Second, the cost of fuel, wear & tear on the truck, equipment maintenance, and time lost for other things that need doing would offset any “realized” savings for me (paying for delivered firewood would make more sense to me).

I worked April, May, June, September and October on the firewood I have put up right now… 5 months, averaging around 10 hours per weekend… so around 20 (8-hour) days work and somewhere between 18-20 cord of firewood (12 cord of it oak). I never left my property, and never tossed one stick of wood in my pickup box… but I did use the truck to pull down a handful of hangers/leaners. I figure I’ll burn less than half of it this season ‘cause I’ll cut more standing-dead and save the oak for those really cold nights… maybe stretch the oak out over a few years (and I have more to cut this winter).

I like to work efficiently, handling the wood as little as possible. As I buck I leave the rounds lay where they fall, except to maybe roll them a couple inches to make room for the next cut. Then I bring the splitter to the cutting site, splitting and tossing into the trailer as I work (I can roll my splitter along the row(s) of rounds with one hand). I use the old Craftsman tractor to haul the trailer out of the woodlot and right up to the stacks… or right up to the house if it’s standing-dead. I won’t cut standing-dead unless I have room in the house for it (no sense in stacking it outside and then haft’a handle it again to get it in the house). I can easily stack 6 cord in the basement, 10 cord if I wanna’ work a bit more. So I have no need for a wood shed, and I ain’t gonna’ spend the time and money to build one… I’ve never had a problem stacking in the open yard.

I’ve always believed in the “Work Smarter, Not Harder” way of doing things.

And I have to ask again… What is the "100 foot cable rule"?

 

[slowp]

It depends. I've gotten it off the National Forest, taking stuff nobody else wanted, or lucking out and beating them to a blowdown.

Most of this years wood is from a couple of maples that died by my house. I cut and split them and used my pull wagon to move it to the woodshed.

Now I'm getting green wood from my thinning work. The trees are limb locked and most often don't want to hit the ground, and I need to think about our skid roads, so I can't always gun them to the road. The leave trees are close together and I can't always back my pickup in. The tractor is not always available. So, I look at it as "going to the gym." and yard them by armload to the pickup. The wood is small and doesn't take much splitting.

That's a 24 mile round trip, which is short. Most of it is on pavement too.

 

[greendohn]

I've got it pretty good. Mostly cut within 6 to 8 miles of the house, pretty much flat paved country roads. All good hard woods, ie,,ash,locust,cherry, the occasional hedge and mull berry, some oaks here and there, and any junk wood that's in the way, I load it all big and small. A couple honey holes about 12 miles or so on occasion. Rarely have to drop any as the spring time storms do a pretty good job of blowin' 'em over. While I have only two saws, they're both newer saws and all I need,(71cc and a lil' bitty 12" brush-limbing saw). "Ol' Whitey" my trusty, beat rig 4x4 gets loaded to the frame rails and rode real nice and easy back home to the wood shed. I wish all you guys had this good. I really do. Wood cuttin' is hard honest work and it's what we do for our homes and family. Again, I realize I've got it pretty good, and for that I am thankful.

 

[Redhorse]

Take the ole H farmall with the truck bed trailer down to the field to cut blown over tree's mostly Hedge, What we have been cutting for last several years was either down due to wind storms or ice storms but still greens up every summer so we don't cut it till it's time to burn it. Can back the trailer right up to the pile of wood, taking the wood splitter when needed. Had one fence row of hedge bull dozed over by road district(with our permission) it lasted a couple of winters. Dad says the hedge burns hottest about two weeks after it has been cut up--Something in the sap I guess.

My Dad has about 80 acres now and from storms and a bit of logging haven't fell a tree in years. But now that Dad and I both have OWB I am going to have to find more wood, already got a site that a co-worker and neighbor said I could come cut anytime I needed, he has about 80 acres of timber with quite a bit of standing dead, and he burns propane for heat????

Doing all that driving and labor just for wood would not be worth it to me, but then I live on the edge of the Ozark mountains and forest, plenty of trees and wood around here!! You are a very dedicated wood burning to go through all that to get your wood!

 

[hoosier daddy]

I've got it too good...

I don't know how you guys that travel so far do it!!! I am grateful that my primary cutting spot is 2 hundred yards from the house. Mostly cherry and hedge with a scattered mulberry in the mix. I can load mule, pickup or grain truck with tools and be cutting in less than 20 min any day...I also have a pasture with tons of standing red oak a friend has asked me to cut for him (to clean up the pasture) that is 5 miles...the longest cut for me is 8 miles and is all the easiest...a friend manages a pallet plant and saves the stickers that the cants come to the plant and a couple times a year we gather on a Sunday afternoon and run them thru the radial arm saws, toss them into tip dumpsters, dump them in grain trucks and haul them home. Mostly ash and oak and poplar. Did it last Sunday and we did 4 FULL grain trucks in 3 1/2 hours (6 of us)...there is a little stuff thats 4X4 but most is 4X6 and 4x8 hard wood.

My wife has questioned me about the need for saws, splitters and tools..."why would you do all this work if you can get all the pallet stuff for free???" She just doesn't understand that there is something very rewarding to me to be able to spend time working hard outside in the woods...

I am thinking that next year I may sell a little of the wood that I process...really don't want to but if I don't I'm going to work myself out of a hobby...