"Free Wood!!"

[jcarlberg]

Rented a dump trailer to haul a couple of cords a few hours away. It was our first "big" wood delivery.

So the dude that rented us the trailer (very good deal IMO; 7x14 dump trailer for $80 for the day; it was no prize but hauled & dumped just fine) says "Hey if you cut a few trees down for me you can keep the wood!"

It's just up the road from his shop; an intersection of two country roads; he wants like a dozen or so trees cut down along with some brush. It would take a day at least. I probably would end up with less than a cord of usable wood and it would be lousy wood at that.

Thanks but no thanks - call a tree removal service to see what they would charge you.

 

[Bill G]

Why not do it as a favor and maybe next time you can use the trailer for free. It is the neighborly thing to do. We barter here all the time. Rarely does money change hands.

 

[full chizel]

Why not do it as a favor and maybe next time you can use the trailer for free. It is the neighborly thing to do. We barter here all the time. Rarely does money change hands.

it surely shouldn’t be $80 next time.

 

[Gullet]

"Free Wood!!"​

@dall

 

[Bill G]

it surely shouldn’t be $80 next time.

We barter and trade labor here. Sometimes one person is up a bit but it balances out the next time.
We used to pour a lot of concrete for hog floors and need a few extra bodies. They worked for the low price of a few beers afterwards and rabbits. Years ago before they got cocky and lazy some cleared brush here for the rights to hunt deer.
Dad cut trees for guys for a nice grilled steak and a beer when done.
I cut a lot of trees and clear brush for a man that has kept my farm rent price the same since 1986
Not everything in life needs to involve money.

 

[jcarlberg]

Why not do it as a favor and maybe next time you can use the trailer for free. It is the neighborly thing to do. We barter here all the time. Rarely does money change hands.

It def crossed my mind to just do it as a community service. But this guy lives 40 miles from me & with 4 kids plus six jobs there’s only so many of the world’s problems I can solve!

 

[Duce]

No such thing as free wood. Nothing is free, unless you get a free chainsaw, free chains, free tools, free gas, free oil, free vehicle, free trailer, free labor, etc. Nothing much in life is truly free.

 

[Hoser]

Amen. Don’t pay for standing trees in fence lines or yards, don’t cut what won’t sell and only do favours for those who will remember or return them

 

[KS Plainsman]

40 miles is further than I'd travel, but I've done dozens of trees for "free", for people in my town. Self sufficiency and saved money on a power bill has been payment enough for me, for years. I enjoy helping folks.

I don't know your situation and don't necessarily need to, but if a person struggles finding wood (like I've read people have) being generous with labor is a good way to build up a supply of firewood. Everyone is different, with different situations.

I have 6 years worth of firewood cut, split and stacked, plus another 2 years in log form, from doing just that. Now, my situation is either town trees, that are usually good wood, or the country trees along creeks, which is mostly cottonwood and a 30 mile round trip.

For a one man operation, I'm pretty efficient and have a good enough system, that I can get through jobs pretty quick. I'm finishing a job now, that will yield me a winters worth of firewood, for about 20 hours of effort on their property. That's pretty good, I think.

My point is, situation dictates whether "free wood" is a scam, or bad idea, or not. 80 mile round trip would be a no go for me.

 

[jcarlberg]

Came across some better free wood recently; cut some standing poplar and brought a half-ton load home. Still pretty borderline as to whether it's worth it or not - if I can get it literally for nothing, it's valuable as filler in backyard campfire bags - folks are not worried about BTUs, etc, as long as it's dry & it burns well.

 

[Wilhelm]

I am kinda in the realm of thought that "free firewood" is truly FREE only if You get paid Your time & expenses spent dismantling a tree and then being granted to take any of the firewood worthy stuff home with You.

I personally will invest time pulling sub par firewood out of the bushes knowing it isn't worth the investment.
But, I will do so only on my own properties - as such it counts as maintenance and is justifiable in my mind.

"Free firewood" is a loose term that rarely delivers.

 

[drf256]

I get “free firewood” in the form of log lengths being dropped off because the tree service doesn’t want to pay the dump weight to discard.

It’s usually stuff no one would want because of its size, I get the big stuff no one else can handle.

Remind the guy that tree services generally charge customer’s less if they leave the wood. It’s worthless in log length because of the amount of labor it takes to make it usable in any way.

 

[Woodpecker]

No such thing as free wood. Nothing is free, unless you get a free chainsaw, free chains, free tools, free gas, free oil, free vehicle, free trailer, free labor, etc. Nothing much in life is truly free.

Yup my dad used to say “there’s no such think as free kittens”… it took me awhile to figure out why he said it every time I cranked my neck looking a a pretty young lady

 

[jblnut]

I have a buddy that is buying hay from me and has a bunch of wood to get rid of. I told him he could use my trailer to haul the hay if he loaded it with wood on the way back. Other than some wear and tear in the trailer it’s about as free as it gets. Plus I don’t have to haul him the hay so that’s saving me around $75/trip not counting my time. He’s hauled 9 loads of hay/wood so far totaling around 12 cord. Can’t argue with that.

Other tree service guys drop about a load a month off. All I have to do is cut it and pile it. Just about as free as it gets there.

OP I don’t think I’d drive that far to get “free wood” unless you really need it and there is nothing closer. Look on marketplace or put an ad out there looking for wood. Locally there are gobs of ads on marketplace for “free wood - you haul away and it’s yours”. Not truly “free” but most of it looks easy enough to grab.

 

[Wilhelm]

I get “free firewood” in the form of log lengths being dropped off because the tree service doesn’t want to pay the dump weight to discard.

It’s usually stuff no one would want because of its size, I get the big stuff no one else can handle.

Remind the guy that tree services generally charge customer’s less if they leave the wood. It’s worthless in log length because of the amount of labor it takes to make it usable in any way.

I have a buddy that is buying hay from me and has a bunch of wood to get rid of. I told him he could use my trailer to haul the hay if he loaded it with wood on the way back. Other than some wear and tear in the trailer it’s about as free as it gets. Plus I don’t have to haul him the hay so that’s saving me around $75/trip not counting my time. He’s hauled 9 loads of hay/wood so far totaling around 12 cord. Can’t argue with that.

Other tree service guys drop about a load a month off. All I have to do is cut it and pile it. Just about as free as it gets there.

OP I don’t think I’d drive that far to get “free wood” unless you really need it and there is nothing closer. Look on marketplace or put an ad out there looking for wood. Locally there are gobs of ads on marketplace for “free wood - you haul away and it’s yours”. Not truly “free” but most of it looks easy enough to grab.

Wow, I wish I could secure dropoffs like that.
Especially large OD stuff, that is the funnest to process and yields the most split wood.

Good for You two!

 

[Bill G]

Yup my dad used to say “there’s no such think as free kittens”… it took me awhile to figure out why he said it every time I cranked my neck looking a a pretty young lady

Kinda like when a guy is getting hitched and ya tell him "why buy the cow when you get the milk for free"

 

[Bill G]

Tree services love to "give away" trunks.