When do you have "enough" wood?

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
My wood seems to be a frequent discussion among people I know also. They are just jealous!
 
So, at what point do you scroungers call it "enough?"


for me, when they start putting the pallets down over the hole that my casket is in..............................Frustrated as hell right now as I would love to be out cutting, but had a new left knee joint installed last wednesday. no playin in the bush until this fall @ a minimum. did spent the xtra $20. though, and had the Doc install 2 grease fittings on this one. Only got 62 years out of the original.................................LOL

*snort* grease fittings HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
 
I'd have to say enough is when you no longer need to take (or get) any wood that you really don't want. When you can be selective about what you take & how far you'll go for wood, you're set. Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop cutting, though

I gotta agree with steve on this one. It's nice to have the luxury of being selective on what you take home and what you burn given the outside weather. I'm finally at the point where I don't have to take home any crotches or nasties if I don't want them. Or if taking all of it is a condition...they go on the fire pit pile. Hard work does pay off!
 
If I ever get to "enough", I'll let ya know. Don't hold yer breath waiting. I'm loading another 2/3 cord or so of "work scraps" on the ole Chevy before I leave tonight.
 
I gotta agree with steve on this one. It's nice to have the luxury of being selective on what you take home and what you burn given the outside weather. I'm finally at the point where I don't have to take home any crotches or nasties if I don't want them. Or if taking all of it is a condition...they go on the fire pit pile. Hard work does pay off!

I've found that scrounging is a skill to be honed, just like anything else. When I started in landscaping, I took some bummer jobs because I didn't ask the right questions up front. Same deal when I first started scrounging wood. You learn by getting burned. Keep editing your CL scrounge posting, make sure everybody you ever have a conversation with knows you burn wood... pretty soon you have wood coming out of your ears & you're turning away stuff you'd have been happy to have a few years before. I can sell any surplus & give away (read: put favors in the bank) any nasties that end up following me home.
 
When my wife tells me she can't park her car in the driveway, that is when I call it quits. I already park my truck at a relatives house due to my alleged "OCD" behavior of not saying no. Than, I bring firewood to my friends house until his wife tells him he has enough. Than onto the next friend et cetera ....
 
I say it depends on what your yearly consumption is.

To me it would be alot easier to be ahead of the game if you use under 10 cords a year.

Double that amount and it gets hard to be even a year ahead let alone 2.

I am usually scrambling at the end of the winter.

If it's a vicious winter of sub zero temps and lots of work in the shop, the boiler goes through wood like a fat kid at a self serve Brach's stand.

Anyways, congrats to the guys with good stockpiles, I am envious.
 
I always tell the wife that i can stack higher. But it is nice to be ahead two years which is wher i am now now im searching for green wood so that in three or four years it will be nice and dry, in the late fall when everyone is scrambling the get their wood cut for winter im out ther cutting junk wood for the warmer temp in oct nov and whatever is leftover in spring so that im not useing all my oak
 
I've recently started a few stacks of pine...to save the good stuff for when the temps really drop. My getting ahead hasn't turned me into a wood snob - yet. Right now Im in the experimental phase, dabling in the "lesser" woods since I have the security net all set up. That, and it's fun to see my neighbor get all in a twist when he sees me splitting pine...on more than one occasion he told me Im gonna burn my house down. I just smile and wave. He thinks Im the moron, but he pays for his wood.
 
I've recently started a few stacks of pine...to save the good stuff for when the temps really drop. My getting ahead hasn't turned me into a wood snob - yet. Right now Im in the experimental phase, dabling in the "lesser" woods since I have the security net all set up. That, and it's fun to see my neighbor get all in a twist when he sees me splitting pine...on more than one occasion he told me Im gonna burn my house down. I just smile and wave. He thinks Im the moron, but he pays for his wood.

Show him this, proves pine is used for firewood all over, and it doesn't burn peoples houses down. Burning green anything wood with the damper closed and not cleaning the chimney burns houses down, or at least causes chimney fires and not all chimney fires burn houses down. And that can happen with oak or whatever..

Not using pine is east coast junk science. Like believing hoop snakes will bite their tails and form a hoop and roll down the street and chase you.

pine firewood cord site:craigslist.org - Google Search
 
A friend of mine tries to get his "this year" wood done by Halloween.

I have been there, more than once. Too busy chasing tail and raising hell to think ahead.
I have 1 cord left over from last year- dry as Saharan popcorn- and 4 cord of wood added to that all stacked and drying. I have a cord of "green" white oak to split, and a cord + of rounds I brought in last fall to split, oak and beech. That stuff should be dry as a bone come fall if I split it in the next month.
I have 1/2 a cord of red spruce to work into kindling as well.
I'll burn 5 cord this winter, and have 2 cords of white & red oak left over for next year.
 
Show him this, proves pine is used for firewood all over, and it doesn't burn peoples houses down. Burning green anything wood with the damper closed and not cleaning the chimney burns houses down, or at least causes chimney fires and not all chimney fires burn houses down. And that can happen with oak or whatever..

Not using pine is east coast junk science. Like believing hoop snakes will bite their tails and form a hoop and roll down the street and chase you.

pine firewood cord site:craigslist.org - Google Search

Dry pine makes fine early and late season "take the chill off" wood. Not so great for a -20* week in NH. The old folks back in the day would always start the moring fire with dry pine and let it roar up the chimney- flames right out the top. Got the chill out of the air and cleaned the chimney like a steam whistle. Also made for good cooking with the hot fire.
 
When do you have "enough" wood? I heat my 1200 sq. ft. adobe home with a wood cook stove which I also use for cooking. I use a cord a year. I currently have 6 cords of wood (piñon, cedar, russian olive, birch, beech and elm) all scrounged from Craig's List. As such, I am pretty well stocked and some would say I have "enough" wood to last me six years. This is true. However, I say I have "enough" wood until I find more wood regardless of how many cords I have. As far as I am concerned no one can have "enough" wood. I love working with wood whether it be dragging, cutting, loading/unloading, bucking, splitting, stacking or gathering splitter rejects and branches downed by strong winds. It all good!! :msp_wink:
 
Last edited:
4 years ahead. I started out as a wood whore, now I am thankfully a wood snob. I will only take the real good, close, and easy wood for free. I will however charge to remove if its not close or top quality wood. Only happened twice tho. I now have piece of mind for heat, and know that I still have to get wood to stay ahead. No freaking out if something bad happens.

And if anyone uses 10 or more cord, they should look into insulation, or a better burner. or both. Do the math it tells all.
 
Never enough wood! Here in western KS its relatively dry so rotting is not a problem with just a small amount of air able to get thru it. My wife and parents wonder why I keep bringing it home but this winter it won't be an issue. Hauled 3 16' car trailer loads in just yesterday of mostly cottonwood but 1 load of elm and a small amount of mulberry. I just try to sort out the stuff that needs burnt 1st when I process it and split and stack the rest. Where we live you take wood when you can get it, not that many trees around and the tree cutters go in cycles around here. The last 2 years there has been quite a few dead elms and misc trees taken out but next year there may be none or I may be too busy to go get it. Its always great to have a little extra to sell or donate if there is someone in need that cannot cut there own. We use 6-8 cord in the house in a normal winter and 2-3 cord in the shop so it goes away pretty fast.
 
Never enough wood! Here in western KS its relatively dry so rotting is not a problem with just a small amount of air able to get thru it. My wife and parents wonder why I keep bringing it home but this winter it won't be an issue. Hauled 3 16' car trailer loads in just yesterday of mostly cottonwood but 1 load of elm and a small amount of mulberry. I just try to sort out the stuff that needs burnt 1st when I process it and split and stack the rest. Where we live you take wood when you can get it, not that many trees around and the tree cutters go in cycles around here. The last 2 years there has been quite a few dead elms and misc trees taken out but next year there may be none or I may be too busy to go get it. Its always great to have a little extra to sell or donate if there is someone in need that cannot cut there own. We use 6-8 cord in the house in a normal winter and 2-3 cord in the shop so it goes away pretty fast.

You just got a rep nuke for that post...
Key word, "donate"...
It's what us saw nuts do...
Welcome to the brotherhood...:rock:
 
Back
Top