Who the Heck Steals Firewood

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I sure do hate it, but I keep all my sheds under lock and key. A few years ago, I had a 21 year old, dead-beat-welfare bleedin' kid down the alley stealing my fire wood. I didn't have a wood shed then,,I do now, and it's locked.

It's a crying shame an honest man can't punch a thief in the eye-ball to come to an understanding with him about personal property.
 
1) I certainly am no expert in Maine laws, but from my reading over the years of news articles when they pop up...you also have the Maine Forest Service to turn to -- this would certainly be true if he had taken log-length wood which would make it timber theft. And they're one of the few states to have folks specialized in forest law enforcement. I'm not sure if they get involved if its just simple firewood.

2) If you're using a splitter, a good idea I've seen here in the past is to weld a bead of your initials into the plate. Paint, schmaint...pretty hard to argue otherwise when you can pick a few splits and put them together to show your initials and it matches exactly your splitter.
 
im a big fan of propping up a roofing nail on both sides of all 4 tires. bound to get at leas one flat out of the deal. makes me smile every time

Hell just use a gutter spike and get all 4. I remember a friend of mine had his truck broken into and had 2 older saws he was gonna replace anyways and some other stuff stolen and a witness told him who it was so one night he went to the guys house and knocked a hole in his oil pan on a very new truck, he never got his saws back but im sure a new diesel motor wasn't cheap:laugh:
 
file a small claims case. it will be cheap you have paint evidnce and the farmer who saw him with wood in his truck
 
This thread is reminding me about the time I had White Birch rounds stolen from me four years ago and I'm still angry like it was yesterday. :angry:
 
I'm not excusing the fella that took the wood, but it sounds like the property owner (where your pile was) has some pretty lax security. Random people coming and going. It reminds me of the scene in Full Metal Jacket when private "Pyle" left his foot locker unlocked. Just sayin.

I think I'd make different plans for future wood storage.

Don't get yourself locked up over it.
 
I am skipping some pages I haven't read here to post a thought or two. Sorry to hear about this its a load of bs. If you involve LE, mention the dollar value of the wood. even though you cut it yourself, you would have paid "x" dollars for it otherwise.

Maybe if your lucky the guy will say "i didn't know it was yours" and give it back to you.
 
Go to the dudes house and politely knock on the door and when he comes out say hey buddy just wanted to warn you that someone's been stealin wood around here. My pile that I markerd with blue paint, cut split and stacked to keep my family warm this year was just taken from the (farmers owners name) field / woodlot over there.... I see you've got nice pile just like I had and it would a shame if someone took yours as well.

No accusations, no threats just enough to let him know you know what he's up too. Hell he may pony up and say that was your pile? .... I thought it was abandoned wouldn't have taken it otherwise, maybe (but I doubt it) you'll get your wood back.
 
Stuff that you busted your back making or creating is closer to you than that which you bought with money that you earned doing the same. Unfortunately, wood is one of items that a certain cross section of people treat as one of god's creations, and left unattended, is still in the public domain for gathering. This unwritten law extends even farther into other categories of goods that are "discovered". An example is, I was a contractor in the liquidation of an old closed grocery store, which we had dismantled about 1/2 of when a smaller contractor was hired by the landlord to secure some electrical boxes inside for his future use. While taking apart a shelving run backed up against a freezer case aisle, we found about 400 bars of soap that had fallen over the top and down in between the shelving run and the freezer case. The next morning, a little over 1/3 of those bars were gone, and I found them in the back of the electrical jobber's truck. He got incredibly stubborn and wouldn't give them back, and challenged the ownership of them in the first place. Some people believe that their proximity to unprotected goods is sufficient to lay claim. And there is a gray area as far as the law is concerned, where ownership is a matter of interpretation by the civil courts. If you cannot show a breaking and entering, or some document proving ownership, you're pretty much out of options as far as criminal justice goes.
 
I was a contractor in the liquidation of an old closed grocery store, which we had dismantled about 1/2 of when a smaller contractor was hired by the landlord to secure some electrical boxes inside for his future use. While taking apart a shelving run backed up against a freezer case aisle, we found about 400 bars of soap that had fallen over the top and down in between the shelving run and the freezer case.

And now you know why this store won the "Soap Seller Of The Year Award" 5 times. Sorry couldn't resist.
 
And now you know why this store won the "Soap Seller Of The Year Award" 5 times. Sorry couldn't resist.

Naw. The "loss" occurred over a couple decades. Some of the brands near the floor were way out of print for years. The store managers probably chalked it up to pilferage, and then fired the cleanest, best smelling employee each year.:msp_biggrin:
 
If you're using a splitter, a good idea I've seen here in the past is to weld a bead of your initials into the plate. Paint, schmaint...pretty hard to argue otherwise when you can pick a few splits and put them together to show your initials and it matches exactly your splitter.

That's a great idea. Even if you're hand splitting, you could make a "brand" by using a 4" by 4" piece of flat steel with your initials beaded into it welded to a 1 inch rod. Once you stack up the pile, just "stamp" every dozen pieces with one blow with a hammer on the brand.

If you're really good, you could put something like this on the brand -

"Warning - Many pieces of wood in this pile are stamped with federal ID numbers and equipped with tracking devices. Some pieces are simply rigged to explode when moved. Good luck!"
 
I'm with woodguy105. I would have to let him know that I know. Sometime you may have the opportunity to get even. Dont forget and dont forgive. Some of the sweetest revenge is when you are the only one who knows.
 
Once a thief, always a thief.

Don't say anything and put wood back at the same area then setup (well hidden) cameras. He's going to keep stealing until the police show up at his door. Make an example out of him. Buy a cheap/broken trail cam off eBay and put it someplace he'll find it and think he's got u beat.

If u say its yours you have no way of proving it unless your firewood has serial numbers.
 
Had some wood come up missing from my backyard put a deer camera up. Found out thery where driving across are wheat field me and the boys whent out and waited took 3 nights before we got them. We had pics of them loading there truck .to bad we kept them there to the state boys got there.
 
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Had some wood come up missing from my backyard put a deer camera up. Found out thery where driving across are weat field me and the boys whent out and waited took 3 nights before we got them. We had pics of them loading there truck .to bad we kept them there to the state boys got there.

real question is, did you even call the state boys or are they still there just kinda "waiting"..... :D
 
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