Another "Free Wood" Lesson Learned

[wkpoor]

Got a call Sunday to come and load out a bunch of Cherry cut down to clear electric lines by Asplundh. Got there Sunday night, met with the owner to go over what we were taking and the clean up. Before we even got there someone took some of the easy stuff.....burns me! Well this time there was plenty left and as usual I agree to clean up and take it all good and bad plus rake the grass. There was so much is was going to take a few days and several loads to get it all plus working around my work schedule. We had about 1/2 of it loaded out. We showed up today and whats left is all gone! Homeowner was 88yrs old and apparently didn't understand the verbal agreement. I was pissed. Of coarse the poachers last night didn't clean anything and left all the rotten stuff behind. I said screw it and went home. Even when you get there and talk it over they, the whom ever land owner is, don't get it. If you want it all gone and clean make who ever comes get it all good and bad. Not just the scraps. From now on I will jave to make it even more clear that if I'm taking the narly crotches I'm getting all the nice straight stuff to. And if anything goes off otherwise your on your own.

 

[spike60]

I always take the easy/best stuff first in case someone else crashes the party. I also never cut up more than I can haul out at one time. If wood is left blocked up people are much more likely to grab it since they can do it quietly without running a saw.

The invite for the wood is often given to one or more other people, and things are never quite exactly as described with these deals.

 

[beerman6]

yep,I'm with Spike on this.

 

[Rookie1]

Ive noticed homeowners around here putting "no trespassing" signs on wood thats easy to get to from the road. Then slowly see wood disappear. I am guessing the wood poachers are leaving it alone and the proper people are getting it. Maybe make up some signs that you can stick in the woodpile.
Or smear dog crap all over the pile.

 

[Circle B MN]

I will post or tag a tree that I am working on and have to leave for a period of time. Make it look kind of professional like and the honest people will leave it alone.

 

[audible fart]

I showed up on a jobsite where the tree company owner told me a specific time to show up to get oak and maple w/ my truck and trailer. 5 guys or more were wheelbarrowing away when I got there. My trick is to expect absolutely NOTHING going into it so I'm not disappointed leaving empty handed.

 

[BigPITA]

I always take the easy/best stuff first in case someone else crashes the party. I also never cut up more than I can haul out at one time. If wood is left blocked up people are much more likely to grab it since they can do it quietly without running a saw.

The invite for the wood is often given to one or more other people, and things are never quite exactly as described with these deals.

Completely agree. I learned this the hard way.

 

[giXXer]

I will post or tag a tree that I am working on and have to leave for a period of time. Make it look kind of professional like and the honest people will leave it alone.

Unfortunately it isn't the honest people we need to worry about. I've been cutting on private property for a while now and there are 3 or 4 other guys that cut in the same vicinity. I typically take my jeep out there and cut the trees and drag them out of the tight areas to the two-track so I can come out on another day with my truck and trailer and get a full load. I noticed a couple of months ago that my stacks were getting slightly smaller every so often so I made a small stencil and I spray paint my "sign" on each of the bucked pieces of wood. I was pretty certain I figured out who was stealing my wood when to my surprise I noticed on the homeowners wood pile several pieces of the nice beech I had been cutting with my mark on them. It happened to be a 90 degree day (one of the only ones we've had) and I was way more pi$$ed than I should have been when I confronted the jerk. At first he denied it, then he tried to explain that it was technically his wood...etc even though I had already paid him for the trees. It ended up working to my advantage, though. I'm still cutting wood there and to make up for it he gave me the two-track he has been saving for a few years. It's all beech, oak, and maple and all right near the road. After speaking with 2 of the other guys that have been cutting wood there it doesn't surprise me to find out that one of them realized about the same time as me that his wood was getting stolen and he narrowed it down to me as the thief and the other guy had no idea, never noticed any missing wood. I go out to into the woods to get away from the drama and BS of this sometimes crappy world we live in, not find more of it. Lately I haven't been leaving nearly as much cut and stacked and I am also thinking about changing my stencil to a hand gun painted with fluorescent paint so no one can miss it. Even after going through this post and reading it I still get worked up, all over some firewood!

 

[wvlogger]

its not right for a man to take another mans firewood. and what was worse i that you had a verbal agrement. i cut asnd sell firewood and sen my piles getting smaller so i bought a game camera and put it in the pine tre by the shed. in 2 days the people stole 3 loads of wood from me. i took the footage to the cops and the were arested. sounds extreme but why should i have to deal with it.

 

[giXXer]

I guess it's no different than stealing propane, natural gas, or cash for that matter. I look at even more severely because of how labor intense felling, bucking, loading, un-loading, splitting, and stacking can be (especially, like I mentioned previously after cutting wood on a 90 degree day can easily push me over the boiling point). To have someone disrespect your hard work, pride, and sense of accomplishment, not to mention steal my much needed 2009/2010 heat!

 

[demographic]

If you have access to cheap marking paint, spray a line the full length of the trunk and big branches in whatever nasty lurid colour you can get. That way every log you cut has that line on it.

 

[Nailsbeats]

I showed up on a jobsite where the tree company owner told me a specific time to show up to get oak and maple w/ my truck and trailer. 5 guys or more were wheelbarrowing away when I got there. My trick is to expect absolutely NOTHING going into it so I'm not disappointed leaving empty handed.

Yup, when you taking free wood you can't expect anything.