What to do with junk wood?

[3fordasho]

Ok, so I've got this lot (not mine) I'm clear cutting and pretty much have got all the decent wood that I need for my own use (ash, black cherry, misc). So now I've got lots of lesser quality wood like box elder, piss elm, a medium cottonwood and most of all siberian elm... could be 10 cords or more that I need to get rid of and I do not have room for it on my own property. What I've cut down so far is bucked to 16-18" lengths and stacked on pallets (not split). Original plan was to split and season on this same lot but I'm kind of seeing the firewood market around here may not be so great for these types of wood. Would I be better off bucking to longer lengths (thinking of OWB guys) and selling the unseasoned rounds cheap? (like $20-25 for as much as you can get in your full size PU)
Looking for ideas here....

 

[Laird]

Most with OWB's only like to feed them twice a day, and most of those woods would need stoking more often than that unless it is early or late in the season. Might work for campfire wood if you have a market for that around where you live. Personally I would just have a bonfire with the junk you have and have a party or GTG.

 

[smokinj]

View attachment 188979

Here what I do! uttahere2:

 

[Cedar-Acres]

Ok, so I've got this lot (not mine) I'm clear cutting and pretty much have got all the decent wood that I need for my own use (ash, black cherry, misc). So now I've got lots of lesser quality wood like box elder, piss elm, a medium cottonwood and most of all siberian elm... could be 10 cords or more that I need to get rid of and I do not have room for it on my own property. What I've cut down so far is bucked to 16-18" lengths and stacked on pallets (not split). Original plan was to split and season on this same lot but I'm kind of seeing the firewood market around here may not be so great for these types of wood. Would I be better off bucking to longer lengths (thinking of OWB guys) and selling the unseasoned rounds cheap? (like $20-25 for as much as you can get in your full size PU)
Looking for ideas here....

I have an OWB and would take that deal, although I would bring a trailer and load a full cord between the trailer and the pickup. I very rarely have to load mine more than once a day even in the dead of winter. I would use what you have from March thru October. I use my OWB to heat my hot water year round and usually only have to put 2 or 3 chunks in every 2 or 3 days if that during the summer months. The only time I have had problems with a plugged chimney is when there is a good string of sunny days and the solar panels keep the tank hot enough that I don't have to burn wood, then the birds build nests in the chimney!

 

[homemade]

I stack it up and have a few friends that love it, i just want to get rid of it. they put it in there "inhouse" stoves. Its free and there to keep on restoking it anyways, then they will throw a pieice or two of oak and go to bed.

 

[avalancher]

If you just want it gone, then put an ad on Craigslist and it will probably be gone before the weekend. Seems that when it comes to firewood many subscribe to quantity rather than quality, and there are many folks like me that burn anything that they can get their hands on and piled in a truck.Some years like this one, I can afford to be picky with 15 cords of hickory and pecan all stacked up, but other years I would be pounding on your door before you were done posting that ad for a chance to load up on wood that was already cut up.


My neighbor some years ago cut down 20 sycamore trees and posted a sign along the highway "free firewood" and while I was piling it into the trailer three guys stopped and loaded up their trucks. It was almost a feeding frenzy, all four of us kept peering over the loads to see how much the other guys were taking, and chunking wood faster and faster to get as much as they could before the pile was gone.

 

[laynes69]

Many around here won't burn junk wood. In my eyes if it's wood it's heat no matter the species. This fall I burned cottonwood for the first time. In the past with the old furnace I wouldn't touch it. Now it serves a purpose and those cool fall nights it would take us through the night with a few coals in the morning. If I want a small hot fire then I want the soft woods. Hardwoods are for the colder weather. Junk wood to me is wood that's too far gone or rotten to burn, otherwise it's seasoned and burned.

 

[indiansprings]

I just sell it at a discounted price, I got a customer with a owb that will take anything that will burn, just as long as it will fit thru the door of his OWB, hell he burns old telephone/electric poles, railroad ties, what ever he can get cheap goes into the burner, he doesn't care if it was cut yesterday or is fully seasoned. I sell him all my junk stuff and odds and ends.

I'd just price it a little cheaper than what good wood is selling for in your area, their is someone who will buy it, especially when it starts to snow and they've sit on their azz and not got any wood cut yet.

 

[zogger]

I agree

I just sell it at a discounted price, I got a customer with a owb that will take anything that will burn, just as long as it will fit thru the door of his OWB, hell he burns old telephone/electric poles, railroad ties, what ever he can get cheap goes into the burner, he doesn't care if it was cut yesterday or is fully seasoned. I sell him all my junk stuff and odds and ends.

I'd just price it a little cheaper than what good wood is selling for in your area, their is someone who will buy it, especially when it starts to snow and they've sit on their azz and not got any wood cut yet.

I agree with Indiansprings

In this economy not everyone is rolling in dough (and people are still losing jobs left and right) and can afford primo seasoned wood....but might still need some wood. Well, will need wood even more then if they are outta work and/or they didn't get enough and it is a harsh winter, etc.

Offer the wood at a discount, it'll sell. Money is money, and if it needs to be cut and moved anyway, might as well make a little payback on it. Or even offer a swap, a "what ya got"? deal. Who knows what treasures you might get for a cord of grade B or C wood from someone who really needs *something* to burn but is short on cash.

Then there is pure charity, perhaps to some elderly folks on small fixed income, etc.

The last thing I would do is just burn it in a bonfire. I just can't waste stuff like that. I see some of that around here and it actually whizzes me off, not even an attempt to even give it away first, even just a sign on the road "free wood" or anything, just push it in a pile and throw some diesel on it and burn it...just don't seem right to me.

 

[D&B Mack]

+1 on the GTG, heck always wanted to visit Minnesota. uttahere2:

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

MN is a big state...

Not knowing exactly where you are - and considering all of the state parks are shut down until further notice...

I like the idea of selling campfire wood if you are within the 25mi Emerald Ash Borer firewood quarrantine. Does MN have that regulation like WI does? You can see the prices go up and up the closer you get to the state parks. @ the park, it's usually $5 a bundle (little less than an armload) and it's about the same price for a little more just outside the park. And usually the product is a mixed bag of pine, pine sawmill slab cutoffs, and a very small amount of oak or other hardwood (if you're lucky).

Point being, most car campers don't care if its seasoned oak - they just want to have a fire to cook marshmallows on.

 

[3fordasho]

We'll I've decided to test the firewood market around here on a limited basis- put up some of my well seasoned sorta junk wood that I collected a year or two ago - my main interest was to make room in my home stacks for better quality stuff:
I've had four responses so far, but still have the wood pictured in the ad : Firewood - Split/Seasoned
Let me know what you think of my listing ;-)

As far as the wood at the lot, I started splitting yesterday - got about 2 cords done or about 1/3 of what is bucked.. would have done more but for some reason I always pick the hottest, most humid day of the summer for these tasks - the heat index was 108F, think I went through 3 shirts and two pair of jeans because they were soaked...

 

[datalcott]

I'd say that's one of the most complete and clear CL ads I've ever seen. Fair price, too. I'll bet you get some takers.

 

[zogger]

By far and away

I'd say that's one of the most complete and clear CL ads I've ever seen. Fair price, too. I'll bet you get some takers.

*The* best CL firewood ad. If this was cold winter heating season, all that wood would be gone.

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

very nice ad. Clear. Concise. You know exactly what you're getting.

I think it's a pretty good price, too. Most people in Southern WI are selling a truckload of seasoned firewood for approx. $100 a load. Different market, different price pressures.

 

[woodbooga]

Burn it yourself. Learn how to use lesser woods in your stove during off-peak times. And kearn how to make a good campfire to cook summer and autumn meals. I hate using the gas range. Consider your curse of junk wood a blessing and reap the rewards. Or follow avlancher's advice and allow another to benefit

 

[Whitespider]

Yeah, what woodbooga said.
That's just the kind of wood my fire pit sees almost every night from early spring to early winter. We cook most all our meals outside (except when it's raining) over that fire. The nice thing about "lesser" wood is it burns down fast to a low cooking fire, whereas "better" woods (like oak) can take one, two, maybe even three hours to "burn down".

 

[3fordasho]

Well my Craigslist ad has managed to sell a couple loads of firewood for the price I was asking.. So I think I'll get everything split up and start selling the excess next year... no need to waste it or give it away ;-)

 

[zogger]

Cool!

Well my Craigslist ad has managed to sell a couple loads of firewood for the price I was asking.. So I think I'll get everything split up and start selling the excess next year... no need to waste it or give it away ;-)

that's really an ace ad..did you get any comments on it from callers?

 

[Tofurkey]

I donate all of my odds and ends and less than desireable pieces to a local youth camp. Since they only burn campfires or an occasional fire in the lodge fireplace they are really happy to get most anything. I guess it's my small way of giving something back to the community.