When is enough enough

[jhoff310]

When is enough enough?
I have around 9 cords of wood on hand c/s/s. Probably another 2 cords waiting to be c/s/s. I have a large oak to take down at a friends house. The city boys informed me this morning they are taking down a big locust today, so they gave the homeowner my number. Homeowner calls and wants the wood to disappear this weekend. I will gladly take it because its locust. But then raises the question...when is enough enough?
I am 2-3 years ahead now. I hate seeing wood sitting there on the side of the road, and I hate turning it down. What do you guys do?

Jeff

 

[CTYank]

If there's space, I'd find a place. In a nutshell. You never know when you might hit a dry spell.

 

[nathon918]

figure out how many more years you want to burn wood, then when you get that many years ahead, it will be enough, maybe a couple years extra just incase...

 

[mainewoods]

I donate several cords to the food pantry, run by the local, church every year. It is surprising and sad how many families struggle just to stay warm and can not afford firewood for their stoves. Some don't have furnaces and couldn't afford the oil even if they did. It gives me an excuse to keep cutting wood, and goes to a good cause at the same time. When I asked what I could do to help the food pantry out, the first thing they said was firewood. Turned out there was a mother with 6 children who had lost her husband and had run out of wood for her only heat source. I never thought of that before. Since I have years ahead of firewood I gladly donated some and have been doing it ever since. Unfortunately there are others every year that are in need as well. Just 1 cord of firewood can mean a lot to someone when they don't have any.

 

[Fred Wright]

Well... way I figger, if you're cutting for your use only, lay in what you can reasonably use before it rots.

Otherwise, sell or donate to charity.

 

[Festus]

I wish I had your problem. 9 cords would be less than 2 years worth for me. It's hard having the time to get ahead that much. It's either too hot, too wet, flooded, too much snow, or the time of year I just have other stuff to get done.

 

[MrWhoopee]

The limiting factors are length of time before rot sets in, how much space you have and the tolerance of your spouse, neighbors or municipality.
Consider the possibility that you may not have access to wood or that an injury or age might prevent you from being able to cut for a period of time or indefinitely. At what point are you willing to go back to buying your heat? There is no such thing as enough.

 

[avalancher]

I donate several cords to the food pantry, run by the local, church every year. It is surprising and sad how many families struggle just to stay warm and can not afford firewood for their stoves. Some don't have furnaces and couldn't afford the oil even if they did. It gives me an excuse to keep cutting wood, and goes to a good cause at the same time. When I asked what I could do to help the food pantry out, the first thing they said was firewood. Turned out there was a mother with 6 children who had lost her husband and had run out of wood for her only heat source. I never thought of that before. Since I have years ahead of firewood I gladly donated some and have been doing it ever since. Unfortunately there are others every year that are in need as well. Just 1 cord of firewood can mean a lot to someone when they don't have any.

Im glad you have had a good experience with donating to local charity, my first year of donating left me such a nasty taste in my mouth I never repeated it. First time I dropped wood at a family's home, I could see they needed some help, and that was what I intended. But the second trip blew just about every gasket I had. I was met on the driveway by a shaggy 25 year old guy who pointed to a spot BEHIND the house, and said, "stack it there" and started to wander back into the house.Clearly, he was fully able to fend for himself, so I let him know it was getting dropped on the driveway and he could pack it around back if he wanted. Then I noted the big screen TV in the living room through the open doorway.Jimminy, it must have been a 60 inch job if it was an inch. Way I figure it, if you can afford a TV like that, two nice cars in the driveway, and expect wood carried around back, you dont need to bother calling me. I got back in my truck with the wood still in the back and left. Three more times of events like this made me track down the head honcho of our local "meet the need" charity, and I asked him what criteria they go by as far as handing out resources. His reply? "Well, we just expect folks to be honest, and if they call and ask for firewood we try and meet their needs". Wrong answer!

 

[mainewoods]

There is no excuse for rudeness and lack of appreciation when someone goes out of their way to help, as you have done. I guess I have been fortunate,as I have not had that happen. I do visit the address and check out the location of the drop before I deliver, and I am thankful to say I have never encountered anything remotely as discouraging as that. Each one has been very grateful and extremely humble. The food pantry is run by the local church and many of the recipients of donations are church members, some elderly. Often I only have to tell them that I have some firewood to donate and a group from the church comes over and loads the wood for delivery themselves. I am sorry you have had bad experiences, but you made a wonderful gesture and are to be commended for it. You are not the one that lost my friend, they lost.

 

[philoshop]

One of the really nice things about locust as firewood is its durability. Stack it off the ground and it'll be years and years before it rots. I discovered a small stack of 8" to 10" rounds in the woods on my property when I purchased it in 2010. The property had been mostly abandoned for 6 years prior to that. All but the very bottom of the stack, that was in direct contact with the ground, was totally burnable when I moved in in 2011. My neighbor said it may have been 10 years since he heard a chainsaw back there.
I wouldn't worry about it going to waste if you have room for it. :msp_thumbsup:

 

[zogger]

Stored food and fuel is never a problem. Just rotate, oldest stuff gets consumed first.

It has come in handy for me before due to unfortunate occurrences, and conversely, I have been caught lacking, boy did that suck.....

Piece of paper and digital alleged "investments" and "insurance", then real tangibles, two completely different things.

 

[bert0168]

When is enough enough?

Never.

 

[Bingo]

Excess wood?

Take as much as you can get and take it home. Dump it and worry about it later. I've never been able to get that far ahead. I would take every tree I could get if it would help a neighbor. You cannot be too far ahead. If you want to give some to your wood-needy friends fine...you'll be the source. One does not turn down good firewood...ever...

 

[Axlerod74]

Get the wood while the wood is good!..............that's my motto.

 

[stihly dan]

!0 yrs ahead is enough. Then get it and give it to family and friends.

 

[513yj]

I'm not even going to venture a guess because my wife claims I have a wood problem.

 

[mitch95100]

Mine wont rot. We have 19 buildings on our 300 acre farm... 2 are for my wood storage 1 is the shop! Id say its enough is when you run out of room.

Sent from me to you using my fingers

 

[blades]

30 + cords at present, CSS, is it enough? NO! Some like the locust/oak will take 2+ years to season. Course I could have a 1000 gal oil tank buried out back or maybe a propane tank sitting on the lot as reserve , I suppose that would make the city slickers feel better until either one leaks and either blows up or contaminates the ground water . Oh I 've got NG piped in as well, just do not care for the utility jacking prices. (They have more ways of scamming the public then the troops from Nigeria. ) Pretty hard to keep the utility bill total under a C note when half of it is various add on administration charges. There's been a couple comments, my response was it is a "renewable rustic fence". Cord of fire wood around here is about $200, so at a fire sale price of $100/cord there is $3g's worth better return then any banking enterprise around at present. I generally do not sell any, give a bit away here and there maybe a cords worth a year.

 

[turnkey4099]

One of the really nice things about locust as firewood is its durability. Stack it off the ground and it'll be years and years before it rots. I discovered a small stack of 8" to 10" rounds in the woods on my property when I purchased it in 2010. The property had been mostly abandoned for 6 years prior to that. All but the very bottom of the stack, that was in direct contact with the ground, was totally burnable when I moved in in 2011. My neighbor said it may have been 10 years since he heard a chainsaw back there.
I wouldn't worry about it going to waste if you have room for it. :msp_thumbsup:

2011I burned the last of a batch of locust I cut in 1993. Solid as the day I cut it, even the stuff in direct ground contact only had a thin layer of rot on the ground contract side.

1986 I cut a 6"x6" locust post holding up a beam in my basement. End buried in wet dirt. Had to have been placed there back in 60s at the latest. I could stick a knife blade into the rotted portion only about 1/8".

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Never.

Yep. Rule of thumb: When is enough enough of anything? When I have 1 more than what I already have.

Harry K