How do you gather your firewood?

[myzamboni]

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

Watching Craigslist and pouncing with my Volvo Wagon . . .several trips. (and I thought I was the only one)

 

[rob066]

I cut a pile of logs up that were drug into one area. I throw it into a pile of about four chords. Then load it onto an Army Duce with fold up sides. The duce makes a great firewood truck with its six wheel drive capabilities.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I must be nuts but...

... I gather the firewood about a mile from my dwelling, usually in big rounds. I cut the rounds to length and transport them 30 miles to a logsplitter that my friend owns where I store them until dry enough to split. I then split the rounds and carry my share home in my truck. I stack the rest near the logsplitter for my friend, usually two-thirds of the catch. He burns that or we sell the excess either in bundles or by the truckload.

So, most of the time my truck is full of big rounds going to the splitter and full of split firewood on the way home. Sounds goofy, but it works primarily because a truckload of big rounds produces more than a truckload of split firewood.

And, his barmaids pour good beer. :biggrin:

 

[Chris-PA]

And, his barmaids pour good beer. :biggrin:

Now this, I can understand.

 

[hanniedog]

Keeps up this rain it's going to take some kind of swamp buggy to fetch wood.

 

[cheeves]

With two pickup trucks. Both 4x4. My wife's Tacoma 2002 and my Chevy, 6cyl. 5 speed. Strap on the belt and go at it. Got a load with the Tacoma today. Laid down dead red oak about 14"s across. Nice stuff.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Bud Light

Now this, I can understand.

That's why I added that sentence to my post. Sometimes you have to get to the bottom line.

 

[stihlrookie]

Some of you guys sure have it easy, kidding of course, firewood gathering is never all that easy. I would like a bigger vehicle/trailer but with my tacoma, and I also have an 81 toyota longbed, I can get places others can't and park along most forest roads and not worry about moving every time somebody comes by. I have 200 feet of cable and other assorted chains and straps, I could reach 300 feet, about 1/2 of my longest distance. As I said earlier though, the 100 feet rule, we can't pull things to the road from beyond 100 feet, some silly law around here. I have done it a couple times but I don't need to be looking for trouble from the Forest Service LEs.
I know my way is hard work, my body tells me at the end of a day of cutting, especially if I go back and get a second load in the afternoon. I don't know what I would do if I had a whole tree right by the road and could cut and load right there.

 

[Ironworker]

I pick up my phone, call logger, tell him I need a load, 3-7 days later he gets envelope with cash and I have my wood, although I have been thinking of scrounging, with tons of wood all over the place everywhere I go, it is still hard to find the time plus it is not cost effective, maybe after I get done with next years wood I will try scrounging in my spare time.

 

[redheadwoodshed]

I take my tractor with a 20 foot trailer about a mile and a half down the road to a sawmill that cuts crossties and they load me up with cull logs.

 

[1project2many]

For a lot of years I had time but no money. Then for a few years I had money and no time. Now I have neither. You can bet I watch for wood that doesn't require cash outlay.

I try to watch along my route to / from work for wood. I had a deal set up at one place just a few miles from home but it changed a bit when my work switched to 4 ten hour days. My days off don't match the homeowner's days off and I'm at work 'till after dark. Nights are the wrong time to be cutting wood in an area you don't know. For time savers, the dump body has helped a bunch. I can back right to the wood working spot and lift the bed. No more hand unloading. This year I put a stop on the saw horse that allowed me to cut without any marking or measuring. That saved a ton of time. I also bought a killer electric saw for working the pile at home. That helped a bunch too. I'm thinking about making a way to mount the saw bar to a new sawhorse with a spring loaded hinge so it works like a chop saw. Having the second wood shed made a helluva difference as I can wait until the season's right to work wood.


This year I hooked up with a deal about 40 miles away where I was picking up after loggers who had made a mess of 125 acres. Couldn't pre-cut and stack because I didn't have an exclusive deal with the landowner. Couldn't leave equipment there because I never knew if someone else was going to be taking wood from the same area. I had to carry most of the pieces out by hand and it was making for some really long days and taking quite a toll on my back. But I filled the entire woodshed and barely covered an acre of land. I forded the brook once with the truck and loaded real good, but then on the way out I found out that it was all mud under the crushed wood that served for a road when the truck sank up to the running boards. I was more than 100' from anything I could tie a winch cable to and there was no way a wrecker could get to me. Managed to get out but I decided to wait 'till the ground froze. That was October. We're going to have temps in the 50s today and I'm thinking I'll just have to get my stuff and get out there for 7:00 this Saturday. It's mostly Oak, Beech, and Yellow Birch out there and that wood is real nice to have in the woodpile. Plus it's just a nice, quiet day of simple and honest work.

 

[Big_Al]

We have 40 acres of woods & fields and bil has the adjoining 40. Woods are mostly tamarack, red fir and cedar. We have a couple campers, generator, wood shed up there. Spend a lot of weekends up there and have used a lot of the dead wood. We usually buy permits from the forest service/blm and cut most home wood from there. Can usually get a couple cords in a day , depending which truck & trailer we take. Just enjoy being out in the woods, hundreds of miles of fs roads that are usually deserted, except hunting season. If it wasn't for frequent trips up to the property it might not be cost effective to cut wood. Maybe if I got a bigger trailer and could haul more .

 

[confused8122]

I head out to a friends house/property about 65 miles from home. He has 80+ acres of firewood. Once there I drive his woods/plow truck through the trees, I cut previously felled trees into rounds and load into truck. I then drive back to his house.
View attachment 210237

I then split from truck into the trailer, I can fit about a cord into trailer, without excessivly overloading the suv pulling it home.
View attachment 210236

Once home I stack into wood shed.
View attachment 210234

Since my friend is an older gentleman, I take time to cut split and stack as much as I can for him.

I like the idea of the army truck, and since I kinda aquired this, I might try to make it road worthy for next year.
View attachment 210233

I also normally have the help of my wife and 1 daughter, sometimes both daughters.View attachment 210235

It all makes for a good time with friends and family.

 

[Philbert]

I live in the city and burn recreationally. I don't have any acreage or family wood lot to rely on. But there are opportunities: help neighbors, stop by when tree services are working in the neighborhood, occasional pallets, etc. Not too picky, and have burned lilac, box elder, buckthorn, and wood shop scraps (although, no plywood, particleboard, treated or painted lumber). Right now, I have no more place to store any more.

Our local compost site used to allow you to remove wood, until the emerald ash borer arrived. I volunteer with storm damage clean up groups, but much of it is too far away to practically haul, or conflicts with the EAB firewood restrictions.

I'm thinking about making a way to mount the saw bar to a new sawhorse with a spring loaded hinge so it works like a chop saw.

Check out posts #18 and 19 in this thread: http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/186935-2.htm

Philbert

 

[Officer's Match]

I get my wood off my own land, and typically skid it up to a clearing with my Kubota RTV900. Absolutely love that thing. Occasionally I'll just buck it up and throw it in the back of the RTV - love the hydraulic dump bed. I'm thinking about a DR Rapid Fire, in which case I'd probably start using the bed of the RTV as a way of positioning the rounds over/beside the splitter, and positioning the splitter over the edge of the trailer I use to haul the wood I sell.

 

[genesis5521]

Some of you guys sure have it easy, kidding of course, firewood gathering is never all that easy. I would like a bigger vehicle/trailer but with my tacoma, and I also have an 81 toyota longbed, I can get places others can't and park along most forest roads and not worry about moving every time somebody comes by. I have 200 feet of cable and other assorted chains and straps, I could reach 300 feet, about 1/2 of my longest distance. As I said earlier though, the 100 feet rule, we can't pull things to the road from beyond 100 feet, some silly law around here. I have done it a couple times but I don't need to be looking for trouble from the Forest Service LEs.
I know my way is hard work, my body tells me at the end of a day of cutting, especially if I go back and get a second load in the afternoon. I don't know what I would do if I had a whole tree right by the road and could cut and load right there.

Hi StihlRookie:

I'll be 66 this December. I buy the $20 permit to take 4 cords of standing dead and downed trees from the Nicolet National Forest in Northern Wisconsin. Been doing this for 6 years. I can get 3 permits a year for a total of 12 cords. I to used a Toyota Tacoma pickup with 200,000 miles, but the catalytic converter pooped out in September. So I just recently bought a brand spank'n new 2011 Dodge Ram 1500 Tradesman with an 8 foot bed, and a Hemi 5.7 liter V8. Lest you think I got the big bucks, I don't. I'm making payments on the truck, so I really gotta watch my pennies. Got the truck for just under 19 grand. Put in a good heavy duty, full bed liner as I knew this was gonna be my woods runner. I can easily get 1 face cords in this puppy. And the with 390 HP, and 407 ft pounds of torque, the Hemi don't even know it's there.

Permit has some special restrictions. I can't take anything over 18 inches in diameter, or more than 150 feet from a fire road. So I really gotta work for my firewood. But I luv making firewood and spending time in the forest. I can't tell you how many hundreds, if not thousands, of 80 pound rounds I've hiked 50 yards over un-even terrain and thru brush to my truck. Kept me in decent shape. Always take extra T-shirts, and plenty of Gator Aid/coffee as I always work up a pretty good sweat. All I ever used was a little Stihl MS 170 with a 14 inch bar. Light as a feather and a pure pleasure to use. One summer, I bought a full load of 8 foot logs (12 full cords). Bucked that whole load with that little 170. It's been as reliable as dirt. I burn 5 cords (15 face cords) a year. But I've got over 25 cords on hand. I wanna build up a real healthy supply of firewood cause I might not wanna (or maybe can't) make it when I'm 80. I'm alone, so I always let somebody know when and where I'll be collecting firewood. And I always email them when I get back. I try to be real careful and never had any close calls. But things always get a little dicey when a tree gets hung up against another tree, which happens a lot. I live right next to the national forest, so I go 7 to 10 miles out and 7 to 10 miles back for 1 face cord. On a good day, I can make 2 trips for 2 face cords, but most times I make just 1 trip. Split everything with a little $299 Ryobi electric log splitter. Works like a charm, even on 18 inch rounds. Aside from a few really gnarly pieces, it's split everything I've thrown at it. I built a table for the splitter and another table to hold the rounds. I can split 1 face cord per hour. I should post some movies here. Just bought a Stihl MS 290 Farm Boss to compliment my little 170. What a difference ! Thought about getting a gas powered capstan winch (PCW5000) to pull felled trees to the road for bucking. That would save a ton of work ! ! !

Enjoy your time in the woods Stihlrookie, and be safe.

Don <><

 

[Ayatollah]

I send my five man Mexican Crew.

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

:msp_mad::mad2:


I picked up over 4 cords this year from craigslist ads. One was an 80 year old walnut tree in a backyard. A tree service cut it up, and I just had to haul it out. Lotta work in100 degree heat, but lotta good wood too. Also got some free oak from a landscaper who had 36" rounds in his way. One more walnut stalk that were in 30" rounds x 3 and 4 foot lengths a guy had me haul out of his yard. And lastly, one local guy cut down about 30 of his big eucalyptus trees. I just loaded up 10 and 12 foot logs on my trailer and cut them into rounds on my property.
Before that, I used to purchase rows of orchard trees that had been pushed over. Almond and walnut mostly. I used to get a permit and cut in the forest, which is about 60 miles. Not so much anymore.
Used to be that you could get all kinds of free good trees already cut into rounds on craigslist. But nowadays there are so very many people who have lost their jobs or primary business out here, and go into the wood gathering business, that the competition is tough. I really don't like the ads that just ask you to drive over and take it, because you may find it gone already, or get into a pissing match with someone who already staked a "claim" on it. If they won't respond to an email, or post their phone, I don't go

 

[cheeves]

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

In the fall of '80 I got 4 cords of wood in the trunk of an Audi. Back and forth like a squirrel. Father felt sorry for me. Said he'd never seen anything like it and bought me a truck.

 

[Wolfcsm]

Buying firewood here made up my mind to get into cutting my own.

In 2000, I placed an ad in the local paper saying I was looking for wood and would cut and take half of what I cut. Ran the ad for two weeks. 14 replies. 12 said just come and cut, take it all. 2 wanted part of the take. Lots and lots of wood from that. 70 plus cords.

This fall I placed a CRAIGS LIST ad asking for free firewood. Had two good replies. The first was about 5 cords of alreadt down oak. Big rounds that needed to be noodled. Five loads for my 16 foot trailer.

This weekend I am headed to the second. The family wants a number of oaks dropped and taken away. Going to help out one of my coworkers with a truckload for him and try and bring home a trailer load for me.

Here, in Central Texas, there is always wood available. One of the things that helps is that I can cut up just about any tree they might have and do not mind working the big pieces.

Hal

 

[meadowsuper]

I get a bunch of wood each year from my area golf courses. Just ask the superintendent what he does with the wood, almost all of them cut trees each winter. Its like repeat business. I do good work, keep everything clean, take whatever hes got, and they almost all call me back each year when the cutting starts. Usually ask em what they like for a beverage and bring some on the first trip, and youre in.