You should cut the logs to length and use your tractor to pile them up. Next time your logger makes a delivery to you, organise for him to go grab the logs you cut and bring them back to your yard. If its only 3 miles from your place I'm sure it wouldn't cost too much and would save you a lot of lifting and double handling. You can then process them at your leisure.
This is the reason why its not all bad buying logs delivered to your yard. The hard dangerous part of the job is done and as you say no double handling and a whole lot less travel. Tree felling can go wrong and next thing is you're in trouble with the land owner. Farmers here are reluctant if not completely refusing to allow firewood cutters on to their properties unless they are ticketed to do so.
Morning Chris. Watching your videos for over a year, it seems to me your energy would be better served, having truck loads delivered to the Woodyard, unless there is a log shortage. Having a regular job and everything else you do, your body might thank you😉
What if you pay someone to process into rounds and you’ll take the rounds - i have done this and i make a bit more money then buying logs-chain-split -stack
It all burns. Some better some worse. I'm an equal opportunity firewood burner myself. Learned that from my dad. Never met a free tree that he didn't like.
Morning Cottonwood Chris! Well I think you’ve already got it figured out but my unprofessional opinion is to go in cut all the ash and cut some of the easy cottonwoods around the edge for boiler wood! I think the owner will understand that Cottonwood is crap and if you’re feeling spunky maybe you can just drop the other ones.👍🏻👍🏻GNI
Chris, if you can get your tractor and grapple to the area I would cut and load logs into your dump trailer then process them at your woodyard. Take the good wood and leave the cottonwood. Your time is valuable, dont spend it on wood not many people think is desirable unless you have future plans for higher volume campfire sales.
I would definitely take it all! There's an outfit up in Green Bay that buys cottonwood logs. I never turn down free wood...I always figure out an avenue to get rid of the wood if I don't use it for personal use or sell as firewood!! Still value in the logs! Stay safe my friend!!
That close to your wood yard that's nice score. You could take your tractor and trailer to log it yourself to get it home. Then work it as you can. Plus moving the wood and brush is easier. All wood burns!
My take on this “ Never refuse anything that’s FREE “ even if it sits in your woodyard for 2-3 years it will eventually sell.!! Like you say it could be split large and sold at a reasonable price as boiler wood, and the way that prices are rising on all commodities someone would be glad to get it, it will all transpire into your favourite “UNCLE BENJAMIN’S” 😜
Cottonwood is low grade firewood and only good for pallet wood/ carving. Its soft. Spongy, weak grain, it definitely wouldn't last 3 yrs sitting around in a firewood pile. Cut what u can to 8 and 10ft 6 sawlogs anything solid and over 10" small end and straight. Pallet lumber sawmill might buy them if there's a full load at least to haul if u can get John or someone to truck it. Wittenberg has a pallet lumber mill I've toured. Otherwise call and ask a few sawmills in your area if they buy cottonwood. They won't pay alot for it but at least it'll get used.
@@InTheWoodyard My brother and I have our own sawmill and lumber kiln but we saw mostly pine, cedar, walnut, Ash. Oak. The large sawmills around here might buy cottonwood logs. They have wider markets/ buyers established already
Probably the best investment I ever made was a Farmi pto winch for my tractor, amazing piece of equipment. 160 ft of cable will usually reach anything I need. It also serves as good ballast when lifting. They're expensive but well worth it. Nice score by the way
Talk to the guy that owns the property and tell him you need to supplement the cost of taking the wood because cottonwood doesn't bring a premium in a firewood industry. You will be doing it at a reduced cost and still saving him money. Your other half would be made in selling it as boiler wood. Keep up the good work Chris 👍👍
Good Morning Chris From a business perspective, this is probably an easy pass for you. But from a YT content perspective, this mini project could be very interesting and informative, and done right, profitable for everyone. You might start by putting out feelers to prospective buyers (boiler wood, campfire wood, bulk sale green wood) which might allow you to process the wood on site without tying up space in The Woodyard with inventory that you don't really want. Then it's just a matter of figuring out the most efficient way of clearing the lot and processing the wood. And if the numbers don't work out, then you can pass with the knowledge that it was an informed business decision. Just a thought.
I think this is the spot where you cut last time when I learned that skidding downed trees through the mud isn’t always a great idea when you start bucking the ground-in dirt. Look forward to seeing what you decide! -Brad
Look forward to your decision on the trees close to your house. After the wind storm we had a week ago, Im still cutting oak!! Some are about 40 inches in diameter. Have a Safe Day
Hi Chris, When some one offers you free wood you either pass on it or take it all NOT pick at it as the next time he has a Field full of Ash and oak you might not get the call from him, i am from Yorkshire England, been following you from the start great job your doing.
@@samskeeter1 Depends on what the guy asked. 'can you take all these trees so i can bulldoze the stumps', or 'take what you want from this stand because im getting it cleared'.
Chris I have been think about all the cottonwood for you since I watched this morning.. Get ahold of John and see if he would be interested.. If not take what you can and drop the rest in that revene.. I toss all cottonwood I get into industrial chippers as I have no use for it..
Only problem with cottonwood is that it must be kept dry or it rots incredibly fast once cut and split if it gets wet. I'd just mix the wood into a campfire mix if do the job. Boiler wood is the best option for that much cottonwood IMO.
Cotton wood for fire pit wood. I don’t go out of my way to cut undesirable wood but when it comes up I cut and split and sell for fire pit or camp fire wood, which I have some how recently shifted that to being my main sells because no one else sells campfire quality sizes I sell a 4’L by 2’T for camp fire/ fire pit wood, thanks for the videos
My guess is to process the ash for firewood, and cut the cottonwood to 8 foot logs. Then you've got options for moving them without investing too much in processing. Could be pallet wood or boiler chunks whenever you get to them.
Mornin Chris, If you have the folks who would burn the cotton wood in boilers for a for sure price. go for it. If your busy enough with the wood burners then go that direction. Have a good one.
Love your show always interesting each day what content is added. I live in the Northwoods and we have lots of outdoor boiler units all around. I am sure someone with an outdoor boiler would like a low priced product. Why dont you see if your brother wants it since its free. Bring it up to him when you do your remote shows from his wood yard and trade him for some oak that your customers prefer for the fireplaces. His outdoor boiler customers I am sure would love that product.
Great video. Ya not the nicest logging site fir you but is close to your place. To bad you can't rent a skidding winch for your tractor because your tractor would be your best friend. You skid them out tree length, buck them to your trailer lengths and load trailer with your grapple. But your tractor will skid even without a winch better than your truck. 2 years ago I logged with my skidding winch on my tractor and processed 80 cords in 4 months but I have a wallenstein processor instead of just a splitter but your splitter fast still.
In my area if I have some time when I’m not delivering Douglas fir for wood stoves I’m cutting cottonwood, spruce, pine, poplar for campfire wood. I sell those types of wood to people in campgrounds because it’s not much good for anything else but it’s easy splitting and I can get $100-$120 a face cord for it, it’s easy money. If that was me I would take it all and mix it with some other stuff or sell it as campfire wood.
Lol I agree cotton wood is good to a point but they are not overly huge so there manageable. Cotton wood seasons fast when split if big pieces but also rots fast
Cottonwood got my start with firewwod bundles back in 2002.. campgrounds love it.. make em a little bigger and it will go.. I had a grove of cottonwood that was 50 plus acres and it all goes..
When I get deals like this I like to cut logs to dump trailer lengths ahead of time say week nights after work for me, then on the weekend line up a second driver and take a machine to load logs, then send the driver home with the first load while I load the second and keep switching. You could probably talk Tony into bringing his truck and trailer for a day. Or if you get your new dump trailer you'd just need someone with a truck. I bought a bigger dump trailer a few years ago and end up keeping both because it's so handy to have 2, don't have to worry about having 1 tied up or broke down.
Lots of small trees, yes some ash but lots of cotton wood. Relationship with owner is the main thing if you say no someone else may have an option and first option next time. If you can get some of those dead ash from the other area it may even out to be viable.
I'd first check with your logger to see how his supply and demand is going, if he's having trouble getting wood together for firewood then go for this slash job, if the logger is running solids and has more logs then he knows what to do with, then go with the higher quality stuff.
Free is an interesting concept. As a business owner running a logging and landclearing business I also would get all that wood for free. But the property developer pays me a few thousand dollars also. A lot of trash and chips on that job. Remember your time has value.
Cut them all. Ask John what length the mill is accepting. Cottonwood doesn’t pay a lot but but you could sell the butt sections and have him haul the rest to your yard.
I'd cut and process them and sell it as campfire wood or mix a little in with mixed loads for the people that just want "anything but pine". Maybe start your bundle business with it? In my experience people want fast burning flame making campfire wood that is split extra small... Cottonwood is a great choice for that. It's free after all...
I'm with you. Split it smaller than normal, and have a 'maybe bundle' pile drying. If you bundle, it's there, if you don't, then it's anything but pine.
See if you can sell them directly to someone with a boiler. Any of that stuff, poplar, basswood etc I call spring/fall wood where you don't have to worry about it burning out in the mild temperatures. Save the good hardwood for the cold months.
Better time spent elsewhere, but also need to consider the land owner and future wood access. If you do harvest the cottonwood, I would mix it with campfire wood. Decisions, decisions.. 🤔 -Dave
Could you cut the cotton wood and use it for a firewood stand? If you were able to get those trees up onto the road or field buck them up then bring your splitter and split right into your dump trailer. Then you could dump it wherever you want in your woodyard to stack and sell it as campfire wood. The major issue i would be concerned with is that the wood is all in a ditch and you will be rushing to beat the thaw in a couple months.
Do the guy a favor on the cottonwood because he’ll give you more wood in the future. Also, hire a high school kid to split and bundle the cottonwood for campfire wood. Mentoring our youth is a worthwhile endeavor!! Thanks a for the vid.
It'll burn, you need to start restocking the wood yard, the wood had been leaving fast lately. And it is close by, so you might just as well get it. GNI
Try to connect with someone local that operates a portable sawmill. He gets the cottonwood you get the hardwoods. There's enough room to mill on site. A win-win situation!
I wrote down below but after reading some of the better comments and suggestions i'm thinking... 1. If it was flat ground and not in a ditch that is going to be thawing in a month and a half to 2 months. It would be no problem as it is free wood but the extra work to get it out from a low spot and processed before the thaw seems a recipe for frustration. 2. If you were able to get your logger guy to come and grab them and bring them to the lot... Maybe... Bottom line is i think you have to think well on committing to this because the time and energy could be used elsewhere and make you money. Its a hard call without actually being there. Im always having to make those decisions in my forest. The wood is all free but some trees i pass up because of the location. Wood free... Time and energy isnt.
I'd have to agree with others before, its free wood, (sans the work to recover it), and if you can cut the cottonwood into boiler sized, even if it takes a year or three to sell, you do have some boiler wood customers and it is "free" so why not take it. And maybe a few phone calls to your boiler wood customers might get it all pre sold.
Well the dilemma is that if you don't cut them for him he might never call you again to come and get free trees and him being a commercial property owner, I'm sure he owns more land so it might be wise to just cut all the trees down and keep in his good graces. Also you do pretty well with buying truckloads of logs. It all comes down to you, if you want to keep him as a good contact for free trees then go cut them and if you don't need him then don't cut them. If I were you I would go cut them, at least the accessibility of the trees is good. Plus I like watching tree cutting videos😁
If it's that close don't forget you have a tractor. Dragging, loading... Unless you want to pick up every log into your trailer. Call a pallet lumber guy and make a deal on the logging.
That be nice score for me. For you be the most expensive wood in your yard. We got pine and cotton wood here. The btu is close to the same. So I burn lots of cotton wood.
@@InTheWoodyard I do wood because I like to and for the exercise if I paid my self 10 bucks a hour I have to sell the wood for 500 a cord. We’re you get it a truck load you made way more with that then getting it yourself.
I would pass on it. The cottonwood is quite a bit of time for wood that you'd be selling cheap.. it would also take up valuable woodyard space. If anything take the bigger ash and leave the rest
I would weight if good wood is worth it because land owner will be wanting you to cut it all but if you decide to cut it I would carry my tractor over there and use to pull and I would cut it up to logs and use tractor to load dump trailer you could haul several loads a day since it is 3 miles away
I worked for a developer and would go in before the land was gonna be cleared ,bring my truck and saw every night after work and take a load ,I would sometimes have a cat 330 and could push over ten trees and then hold them up and cut them easy ,I would be obsessed and I destroyed my truck ,but I loved it
3 miles away fairly flat 50 hp tractor and grapple and a dump trailer cut them at dump trailer length to get them out stock pile in wood yard sell for boiler wood/mixed hard wood
G’morning Chris. You’re welcome. I remember when you cut those other trees. Hotter than a beeahh that day. I hate Cottonwood. Probably should cut it down, to keep the connection happy. GoodNightIrene
Got a ton of cottonwood out here in western ND. Yeah it’s not oak but it still burns. Just a matter of if it’s worth the aches n pains. Those rounds will be a bear to deal with.
hi there well is there a sawmill that may want the c/w you may work a deal with one . then helping the land owner he may think of you again the next time . when i use to take tree cutters wood i took the good wood along with the bad . it seamed to work well . thanks john. ps i thing the c/w is about the same as our poplar
Free wood is good but it has to be good wood also. I am cutting storm damage and getting it for free for doing the cleanup but most of it is red oak some white oak maple and ash. There is also basswood which I may cut up and see if I can use it for camp firewood. I do have to haul and I cut, split and load and than haul to where I stack and stack right as I dump so I minimize my steps taken and never deal with snow covered wood. I have a short video on my channel of what I’m Cutting and it’s quite a lot of wood with easy access. Check it out it’s a mess but still not bad with the skid steer and grapple.
If you have the market for boiler wood and sell that with a profit, that is what I would do. Especially if you can sell that before it is fully dry. Otherwise, I would take the ash and cut the cottonwood so he can bury it. May you can look at the idea coffeebuzzz posted below. But since space is at a premium in your woodyard I don't know if you want to use much of it for storing cottonwood, that is why I like the idea of (longer, bigger) boiler wood to reduce handling and sell quick.
If you could find some locals wanting boiler wood that you could deliver to directly after cutting and keep the cottonwood from clogging up the wood yard
Nice.looking trees. Those cotton wood trees could go to a pallet mill. that is what i did when i had some nice ones. Do you have one near you? Nice Ash and Oak in there. Will the owner let you just take what you want? Nice walk around video.describing the trees!
Can't make out the letters and numbers on your trailer plates, Snow on Plate. Tarp your Load. 🤣 Or you might be paying out some of those “UNCLE BENJAMIN’S” 😜 🤣🤣
Wisconsin law also provides for a $200 citation ( "BENJAMIN’S” ) for failure to properly secure a load (348.10) or for spilling a load or waste along a highway (346.94). Items that bounce out of trailers or away from trucks such as coolers, chairs, lumber, or ladders become dangerous obstacles that can damage other vehicles or result in crashes when drivers swerve suddenly to avoid roadway debris, State Police Captain Wanink said. Covering a load is not required by law, but having a cover over a truck bed or trailer will help ensure that any load is properly secured and contained.
I’m in menasha and interested in the cottonwood if you’re not. I’d even buy it from you as logs or 16” firewood lengths non split. I have a 16’ trailer and can pick it up.
I understand cottonwood would not be good for heat but could you not sell for a camp wood. Then you could save other wood that you would sell for camp wood and sell in the winter months. You also could start a selling camp wood or even partner with the boy scouts sell the wood and you get a cut of the money. I know I have seen that before. The problem with that is you have to store it for them and they would be responsible of coming to the yard to get the wood so they can fill up their wood stands when products are low.
Well you may be able to do some horse trading.......... 1 cord cotton for 1 cord of ash or whatever that would look like with your logger. Sell it low priced ...... May not make much on it it...but land guy happy and you made a couple of bucks. I'm guessing if he is a commercial land owner he probably has other properties or is looking for other properties. I would think you could get a cable long enough to reach to the center of that island for skidding them out. A skidding winch would be ideal there if you can't drive down unfortunately they don't give them away. May not even have to haul the cottonwood out of there when it's so close if your logger is interested he could probably swing in and grab it if it's semi nice piled. Perhaps he might be willing to buy it off the "landing from you" . Lotsa avenues to go on this project and always good to have options and friends
Picky! Picky! Picky! Don't split it, cut it! Don't want it, cut it to sawmill length, like 10'-12'. Sell it via Logger John to pallet mills. They can still use it. Or make a deal with mulch producers, grind it up. Or chip it.You could haul it out, or John. Some mills will pick it up if cut and piled close to the road. Limbs and things, buck 'em up, put them with your cookies, "Heat for Cheep" skates. All else fails, ask Tony! --- You know me, just tryin' to be helpful. Can't help it. A blessing and a curse! Oh yeah, the bigger ash and oak saw logs have more value as saw logs. Make the cottonwood more saleable too.
This would be a good opportunity for you to use your tractor to pull them out of there Most of the tops could fall to the edge or a little on top You could use your tractor to pull them up cut them in 8 ft lenghts stack them and then move every thing to your yard If some get to hard cut them down and he cab land fill over them. Great experience for you money wise not the best but 3 miles away. You sometime have to pay to learn. Time is what you will have to pay and if your contact doesn’t mind if you leave them on the ground you can lose. Just make sure he is happy with the job
I’d take all the wood I could get especially being so close to your wood yard. Make a roadside stand and sell it as campfire wood. I think it would go a long way towards the owner calling you in the future to cut some more desirable wood. If you don’t take that, whoever he gets to cut it will likely get first dibs on any future log removal.
I burn any/all wood. Selling it is a different thing. If it's free and close I'd cut it for certain and at least get it back to the yard. Cut and split it on demand and even consider selling it as rounds pretty cheap. Cheap wood appeals to most people.
Looks to me like it’d be a wash…a truckload of work for a very modest return on your efforts without getting a truckload of your usual high quality firewood. At most, I’d take the Ash and leave the rest.
It appeared that culvert area was created with all the trees sunk down 12-15 ft. That would make it difficult to load with it all having to load up hill? I think I would cherry pick the easiest/closest to perimeter if I didnt have fight getting the wood up the 10-15 ft incline. Like someone else has just said in comments, considering time and wear and tear on your truck and body, having wood delivered to your woodyard is pretty valuable. As we mature we sometimes have to learn sometimes free isnt the best deal after all