My CL Experience

[Circle B MN]

A couple of weeks ago I posted an ad on Craigslist...

"Firewood Wanted.....Local home owner trying to beat the rising cost of home heating. Will cut and haul most anything."

Simple and to the point. Not mention of cost, shares, etc.

Got a pretty good response from the ad. Several callers were from 60+ miles away...with branches and tree trimmings... But I did manage to get three very good sources.

First was an older farmer a few miles down the road. 40 acre parcel, half open, half wooded. Twenty or better standing dead oak, and a bunch on the ground. Man tells me "Son, if you're willing to do the work to get it out of there, you deserve to have it for free." I've taken a half dozen so far, and cleaned up a fallen tree in his yard after a storm. He wanted to pay me for than one, but I surely wasn't going to accept.

Second was another older gentleman with 80 acres fo oak. Lots of standing dead. he keeps the ground fairly clean and burns himself. We decided I'd cut here for shares. I take all the trunk, he wants to tops so he doesn't have to split. I just cut it up and leave it in a pile by the stump. Nice man, but he wants to be home everytime you cut. Understandable, but the farmer lets me come and go as I please.

Third good response was a from a man my age that purchased a lot near the old farmer. Pure coincidence to have met him from CL. He's cutting an area to build his house on. Again all oak. His ad was make offer for large downed tree cut in firewood lengths. I try VERY hard not to pay for wood, but I called to see what it was going for. After I found out how close he was, I decided to meet him and take a look at what he had. Met him this morning. He had a good half acre or better already cleared, and a long driveway. The trees were right where they fell, all cut to length, brush piled away from it all to burn later. Very clean site. I talked with him for a bit about building, and some of the local businesses as he was not from the area. Ended up offering $150 for it all. He was pleased with the offer and agreed. Said it would be a big help for him to have it all out of the way so he can cut more. I'll take the skidsteer over tomorrow and scoop it all up.

Sorry for the long post, but it goes to show that with a bit of digging, etc. you can still find "Free Wood".





ETA: I reposted my ad this morning on CL just to see what else I could find. It got flagged and deleted inside of an hour. I think the local firewood sellers had something to do with it, but that's just my theory.

 

[avalancher]

I'm glad you had good luck, I tried the same and ended up with a ton of folks that wanted trees removed from their yard. it seems that they had arborists give them an estimate for the removal, were shocked at the price, and wanted me to remove it for free.
I tried to explain that their costs were based upon heavy equipement, liability insurance, and labor to pay their guys, but they all seemed to think that they were getting ripped off. Most of the trees would involve climbing, and I am not skilled enough or have the expertise in complicated drops. I can generally get a tree to drop where I want it, but i sure wouldnt try where a house is on one side and a power line on the other.
I reckon I will keep going where I am at, out in the woods where I dont have to worry about someones house getting crushed.

 

[Circle B MN]

I agree with staying in the woods. I won't cut anything near a house, structure, power or phone lines. There's is a reason people other than myself get paid to do jobs like that.

 

[wdchuck]

That's great.

Knocking on doors or leaving a brief note with contact info has worked well for me so far.

Oh, the " free firewood wanted " thread on AS has been a boon as well.

 

[Moddoo]

Congrats on the oak man.
I haven't been finding much on CL that is worth the drive this year.
Everything goes within minutes.

I am in Forest Lake. If you have any leads on this side of town, please let me know.
If you know of anyone in between us (East Bethel?) and want to meet and work together, that would be cool too.
I have a decent stash, but it never hurts to get a bit more for next year.

 

[iowawoodcutter]

I went out to check out a reply to my CL ad today. They said they had 124 acres and lot of downed trees I could have. Was pretty excited till he showed me around his 124 acres of sheep grazing land (hardly a tree in site) that had a few garbage trees by the fence line, none more than 12" diameter. Win some, lose some!!

C

 

[abohac]

A couple of weeks ago I posted an ad on Craigslist...

"Firewood Wanted.....Local home owner trying to beat the rising cost of home heating. Will cut and haul most anything."

Simple and to the point. Not mention of cost, shares, etc.

Got a pretty good response from the ad. Several callers were from 60+ miles away...with branches and tree trimmings... But I did manage to get three very good sources.

First was an older farmer a few miles down the road. 40 acre parcel, half open, half wooded. Twenty or better standing dead oak, and a bunch on the ground. Man tells me "Son, if you're willing to do the work to get it out of there, you deserve to have it for free." I've taken a half dozen so far, and cleaned up a fallen tree in his yard after a storm. He wanted to pay me for than one, but I surely wasn't going to accept.

Second was another older gentleman with 80 acres fo oak. Lots of standing dead. he keeps the ground fairly clean and burns himself. We decided I'd cut here for shares. I take all the trunk, he wants to tops so he doesn't have to split. I just cut it up and leave it in a pile by the stump. Nice man, but he wants to be home everytime you cut. Understandable, but the farmer lets me come and go as I please.

Third good response was a from a man my age that purchased a lot near the old farmer. Pure coincidence to have met him from CL. He's cutting an area to build his house on. Again all oak. His ad was make offer for large downed tree cut in firewood lengths. I try VERY hard not to pay for wood, but I called to see what it was going for. After I found out how close he was, I decided to meet him and take a look at what he had. Met him this morning. He had a good half acre or better already cleared, and a long driveway. The trees were right where they fell, all cut to length, brush piled away from it all to burn later. Very clean site. I talked with him for a bit about building, and some of the local businesses as he was not from the area. Ended up offering $150 for it all. He was pleased with the offer and agreed. Said it would be a big help for him to have it all out of the way so he can cut more. I'll take the skidsteer over tomorrow and scoop it all up.

Sorry for the long post, but it goes to show that with a bit of digging, etc. you can still find "Free Wood".





ETA: I reposted my ad this morning on CL just to see what else I could find. It got flagged and deleted inside of an hour. I think the local firewood sellers had something to do with it, but that's just my theory.

That's the midwest response and it's why I will always live here.

 

[Wet1]

I do landscaping on the side and normally do several tree jobs over the course of the year. Over the last several years I've given away the wood to friends and family since I had stopped burning. This year I decided I'd start burning again, but I've found all but one land owner wanted the wood from the trees I dropped, which is fine since they are paying me to do the work.

So anyway, since I've had a shortage of wood this year, I've looked for freebies on CL myself. I too have had several homeowners that want their technical tree work done for free (which I won't do), but I've also had a couple that were easy drops as well. One guy told me he had a bunch of hickory trees, when I got there they were the soft maple variety, plus he wanted me to cart off all the brush. Others have had good trees and are okay with leaving the brush, which is a little more fair.

But every time I do this I get the same feeling, as I'm working my azz off while the HO drinks his beer watching, I feel like a cheap b!tch for doing this work for free that I normally get paid good money to do!

 

[Circle B MN]

I am very fortunate in that I live in a rather rural area. A lot of the residents here are farmers, or older people with land. The smallest lot you can own in this area is 2.5 acres, (so as to reduce developers impact). Here you leave the brush lay or pile it so they can burn it. In addition, I cut right down to the 2" mark, so there is often very little left when I am done. Big or small, I burn it all....

 

[Backwood]

I have had some good luck on CL but the saying win some lose some sure goes here. last fall I answered an add that said they had a bunch of HUGE holly trees. I calles and asked if I could get it in my truck or would I need to bring a trailer, she told me she had a pile of " logs " 9' high and 14' long and I would need a trailer. Cool, I hooked up the trailer and drove the 80 miles , the biggest pieces were 4" diameter and 4' long and you could put them all in a wheel barrel then a big pile of 1" and under limbs. :angry2: