Free firewood just about anywhere you live.

[Clair_Schwan]

I just updated my website with a page about how to get firewood at no cost - okay, the cost of hauling it, but other than that, it costs nothing but your time and labor.

My place is in the country, but relatively close to town, but this advice could apply to most anyone. My experience across the country shows there is no end to the amount of firewood you can get just for the cost of hauling.

The only drawback is the wood is scrap wood, not usually logs for splitting. Nevertheless, I think it's great because it burns hot and clean. My stovepipes over the last few years are hardly worth cleaning each summer because the fires are so hot.

If you're interested in my techniques, give a read:

http://www.frugal-living-freedom.com/fire-wood.html

I've invested in a buzz saw to help with the cutting, and I use chain saws as well. It is work I gladly do rather than write a check to the folks at Cheyenne Fuel Light and Piracy.

My efforts over one summer have me set for wood for the next 10 years. :o My neighbors all agree they are heading for my place if their heat ever goes out.

Fine with me. They can help me cut up more for the next heating season.

[ryanmercer]

Only problem I see with that great idea... is all of the chemicals in chemically treated wood. If it kills and repels termites and other nasty things... it probably can't be too healthy to be burning it in your home... sure most of it is going right out the stovepipes but eh...

[ozarksnick]

The author makes it a point a couple times that he takes the untreated wood.

[ryanmercer]

The author makes it a point a couple times that he takes the untreated wood.

Yes but saying you'll haul away wood, showing up and going "oh I'll take this and this but not that" is probably going to have a lot of people say "ok leave my property"

[WileyCoyote]

You can also offer to clear away deadwood or trees that have been killed/split by high winds, lightning, etc.

In a gully out back on our new property, apparently the previous owners (and perhaps some neighbors, when the property was abandoned - there's a LOT) dumped destroyed trees as a matter of course. We have enough wood for our small woodstove for several winters - all we have to do is haul it out and cut it up.

[ryanmercer]

You can also offer to clear away deadwood or trees that have been killed/split by high winds, lightning, etc.

In a gully out back on our new property, apparently the previous owners (and perhaps some neighbors, when the property was abandoned - there's a LOT) dumped destroyed trees as a matter of course. We have enough wood for our small woodstove for several winters - all we have to do is haul it out and cut it up.

Now that is awesome :)

[JBinKC]

It will get the job done but burning treated wood and plywood that is glued is not a good idea if you are a responsible steward of the environment.

I like my method better I throw an annual karaoke potluck party with lots people who are rather well off and when they see my unique setup and eccentricities I get offers all the time to local woodlots and free firewood.

[WileyCoyote]

That's kewl, JBinKC!!!

It isn't just about being a steward of the environment - anything that has chemical residues that put off chemically-laden gases is liable to gum up your chimney with stuff that will eventually catch fire and set your chimney, if not your house walls, on fire. I've put out a lot of 'creosote' fires in homes, where folks used heavily-laden pine tar tree limbs, as well as scrap wood, creosote soaked wood, and treated wood indiscriminately. One of the principal wood treatments consisted of cyanide - not something you want to put out your chimney, breathe in, or have lingering about in either your soil, wood ash in in the compost pile, or your chimney.

[mom]

There is a small sawmill outside of out little town. The owner was burning lots of in a pile. DH made friends with him and now we have all the good wood we can haul off. Some needs to be cut or split or dried but it's free - the guy is just glad he doesn't have to fool with burning it up.

[flatwater]

I'm a job coach for DD adults and one of our jobs is to take down utility wire reels. I throw away the round ends but save the staves. We collect about a cord every other week but can't hardly give it away. It's clean dry wood 32x4x1 inch. One cut and you have two nice pieces of fire wood. I've had some of the utility men come buy but they want you to cut it and stack it in their trucks. what a bunch of prima donnas.
Flatwater

[GrumpyUnk]

For several years I had an arrangement with a tree trimmer. They have to pay (or transport a ways off) to dispose of the chipped limbs (Mulch) and larger chunks of wood they haul off from a site. Anytime my place was closer than the designated dump site, he'd drop me a load.

We got several years of worth of firewood and mulch for almost nothing. An occasional case of beer was all.

Next time you see a crew working somewhere stop and ask. Ask what kind of beer they drink too. All they can say is no.

[crafty2002]

Any one that burns wood and can still climb a tree or knows a young buck that can that you can hire even just on saturdays should think about getting a business licence and insurance for cutting trees down.
It isn't nearly as hard as one might think. I am disabled and I hurt for several days every time I climb a tree, but I usually get paid to do it plus all the wood is free.
I have a pecan tree that is about 4 feet wide and 23 feet to the first limb on it that a man wants me to cut for him. The tree companies want to rob him. $1,500 + to cut it and haul all the debris off.
I told him I would do it for $850 (and even that is robbing him but I really need the money right now and I am still saving him a big chunk of cash. He has several other trees he wants cut so if I charge him this to start with I can really cut him some slack on the others) *if he would let me cut the limbs he is really worried about right now and then finish the job when I finish building my saw mill.
I look at it like this. I get a single, if I get my fire wood for free. That's a good deal to start with.
I get a double if I get paid to cut it plus get the fire wood for free.
I get a tripple if I get paid, get my fire wood for free, and can sell some of the wood for firewood.
But I really get a great grand slam if I get paid to cut the tree down, get my firewood for free, sell some for firewood, and then sell the best parts of it by the board foot.
At Lowes, a 1 x 12 x 12 feet long is nearly 50 bucks now. *:o..... *I couldn't believe it.
Poplar is over 30 bucks. :o
If I get off my butt and finsh the saw mill, (Let me say that another way, if I had the money to get off my butt, LOL) There is a lot of money in cutting your own firewood. *;D
I need the sawmill finished and a good planner to smooth the boards down.
I have built a lot of shelves and tables and trim from rough cut oak that I planed down, molded etc. Some of the boards were so cupped and twisted it would take 30 minutes running it through the planer but we got the boards for $1.25 a bf. several years back and I turned them into 4 bucks a bf in 15 to 30 minutes. *
So far, thank the Good Lord, I have never had a mishap when cutting trees, but I sugest anyone cutting a tree close to someone elses house go ahead and get a business licence and insurance.
Most Of the time the first job you do will more than pay for it and I don't like taking a chance that something dumb will happen and not being covered. A licence and insurance both shouldn't be $300 and it sure lets you rest a lot better at night with a roof over your head if something were to go wrong and you damaged some ones house and they take you to court. Never been there for anything like a lawsuit and don't want to go either. But if I had to, insurance sure would be nice to have.

[Clair_Schwan]

Additional notes: Scrap wood is easiest to haul and cut - not so with natural wood from fallen trees.

Dimensional lumber is easy to stack and cuts easy for firewood whether you use a buzz saw or chain saw. Plywood is easy to stack and makes good building material for animal shelters.

Heavy limbs and branches are great, but they can be much heavier per piece, so they are often awkward to load. They often don't stack nearly as well either, so you end up with lots of empty air space on the trailer instead of a good solid trailer load.

My neighbor called me to come pick up fencing materials just a few days ago. All large cedar posts and split rails that stack great in the trailer and cut very easily with my saws. I was happy to get more than a month's worth of heat, and he was happy not to have to haul it off to the dump.

Clair

[Boris859]

follow logging trucks to their sites and see if you can cut up the tops when they are done,or put you in contact with the landowner, also haul pallets home from work,can somtimes get sawmill slabs for cheap or free,your Dept of Natural Resources will sel you a permit for dead and down trees (25$ here)(I think),but you have to follow their rules to a tee,which can mean lots of hand lugging as no vehicles permitted off trail,I border 5,000 acres of Federal Forrest so it is not that incovienent for me,of course barter,but thats not really free I guess,sometimes on craigslist I have run across some one who says "free firewood,just cut down tree,or remove a fallen one,but none of them have been close enough to make it worth my time,there are probably many more ways that I haven't even touched on,just be creative,old magazines work also,roll em up with wire ..etc...or you can make paperlogs with a log roller doo hiky I seen somewhere :)

[RenieB]

We had the assesor to the state stop by a couple of weeks ago and talked about how much land they are taking. They are going to widen the road and hope to start next
spring any way he will be cutting down aeveral of our harwood trees and they will stack up the hardwood so ds can come and cut and split it. Might as well get all we can from them doing this. Because my land has a lot more frontage we lose a lot of trees.

RenieB

[bassntrout]

Firewood is always available if you use your head. Check out this article: http://divorceddadfrugaldad.com/2008/11/06/where-to-get-firewood.aspx

[machinemaker]

I got most of our firewood from the local electric company. They hire a large tree service to trim and remove trees from around their power lines. Then they haul it to the parking lot of one of the power plants where it is free to haul away. I also go to one of the urban parks and rec. district head quarters where they do the same thing.
kent

[cubcadet]

Since last June, I`ve posted,"wanted, firewood", *on Freecycle.

http://www.freecycle.org/

Just write your county or, the nearest large city in the search, and join it. I belong to yahoo and send and receive emails from there.

I live way out in the mountains, and even here, there`s still alot of property owners who will give you wood. I managed to squirrel away about 2 cords of seasoned wood this season. Not to mention the dead wood and old barn wood and fallen branches I pick up and bring home. Made some friends along the way too.