Gracious neighbors....

mrcaptainbob · June 29, 2011, 12:09:53 AM

A neighbor came by a couple weeks ago...seems like a common neighbor has aver 140 acres and had some trees felled about a year ago. The guy wants the tops out. YIKES!!! Must be over a hundred of 'em! We took out SIX mounded-over loads in a power dump trailer of 90%white oak, 10% cherry! That was the easy pickin's. Today we did two, but none of this stuff has to be split. 80%cherry, 20%white oak. We did less than 1/4 of this fist section. It will be a VERY warm winter for both of us!
Thank you, kind neighbor!

SwampDonkey · July 01, 2011, 02:16:54 AM

Yes, there is a lot of firewood in tops if you have a kitchen wood burning cook stove. Depending on where the top is lopped off and the size of the trunks, there might be some nice sized furnace wood. Nice to have obliging neighbors. That would be rare for anyone to give firewood away around here.

Al_Smith · July 01, 2011, 10:31:30 AM

Give it away??? The guy was very nice to let them have it but giving it away is after it's cut and split not laying in the top willy nilly /helter skelter .Then too the owner is getting the mess cleaned up that each and every timber cutter leaves bar none and thus is getting the labor for same for something that would otherwise rot on the ground given enough time .

SwampDonkey · July 01, 2011, 11:47:38 AM

Well if they sell some, that's where they recoup costs. If they burn some they also recoup costs because they saved the different on stove oil. ;D

As my uncle would say, if I wasn't taxed on it or my labour by the government it must be free. :D

Al_Smith · July 01, 2011, 01:19:34 PM

Well yes on that aspect ,it's true .Now tell me this though .You have maybe 50 acres of woods on the farm,just full of nice lumber trees .You pay very little tax on them .

You cut down several and mill them into lumber,still no taxes while in a stickered stack .

Assemble a building or structure of some type and watch just how fast they levy a tax burden on you . In that case they are indeed taxing your own labor .--'taint right I tell ya --- >:(

SwampDonkey · July 01, 2011, 03:43:45 PM

I doubt my tax would change, until I built a new house. I've got two other buildings on this place along with the house and I pay under $400 in tax. For 40 years while this lot was part of the farm, almost no tax. The woodlot tax is so little that they might as well not even send the bill. :D

WDH · July 01, 2011, 10:19:23 PM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on July 01, 2011, 03:43:45 PM
The woodlot tax is so little that they might as well not even send the bill. :D

So, there is a least one good thing about living in the frozen tundra :D.

mrcaptainbob · July 01, 2011, 11:45:17 PM

It is going to the wood pile for both of us doing the clearing. Considering my house would go through close to 450 gallons of Pro-Pain a month ( ! ), I consider this quite the gift. It's true that he is getting his woods cleared. And it helps further that it will make available paths for near future culling of more timber. But still...it's going to a good cause. He could well have hired somebody to cut and split in place and sell it. Not sure what white and red oak go for in south central Michigan, but from the prices of the plastic wrapped packages being sold to the campers at MIS, he could be making a fortune! We do plan on giving the owner a thank you gift...maybe something along the lines of a gift cert at a local restaurant for he and his Mrs.

tyb525 · July 01, 2011, 11:47:45 PM

Your time is worth something, yes....but if you accounted that into everything in life, nothing would be worth doing if you didn't get paid for it.

SwampDonkey · July 02, 2011, 06:33:08 AM

Quote from: WDH on July 01, 2011, 10:19:23 PM
Quote from: SwampDonkey on July 01, 2011, 03:43:45 PM
The woodlot tax is so little that they might as well not even send the bill. :D

So, there is a least one good thing about living in the frozen tundra :D.

Yeah, but the number one is still sledding. Only these days most folks have to have something to propel their fat but with the least effort on their part. ;D

Al_Smith · July 04, 2011, 09:49:17 AM

Quote from: tyb525 on July 01, 2011, 11:47:45 PM
Your time is worth something, yes....but if you accounted that into everything in life, nothing would be worth doing if you didn't get paid for it.

You have to look at kind of like this .Say you bought natural gas ,electricity or heaven forbid profane gas .You had to earn the money used to pay for the stuff and pay a penalty called income tax while doing so .Could be 15 percent,could be 30 percent depending .So your hard earned dollar just shrunk to 70-85 cents .

So you get this firewood that more times than not had it been left to nature would have taken 10 million years before it became oil,gas or coal .Not only did you beat the tax man ,you've beaten father time .A little sweat equity is all it takes .

As yet they haven't found a way to tax firewood but I'm certain given enough time they will . :(

clww · July 04, 2011, 01:57:40 PM

That's a good neighbor you have! 8)

bill m · July 10, 2011, 08:33:33 AM

Quote from: Al_Smith on July 01, 2011, 10:31:30 AM
Give it away??? The guy was very nice to let them have it but giving it away is after it's cut and split not laying in the top willy nilly /helter skelter .Then too the owner is getting the mess cleaned up that each and every timber cutter leaves bar none and thus is getting the labor for same for something that would otherwise rot on the ground given enough time .

These are some pictures of the job I have been cutting the past 2 winters.

I leave all of my jobs looking like this whether I am next to the main road or a mile back on top of the mountain.
I don't think it looks like a mess to me.

Al_Smith · July 10, 2011, 09:38:48 AM

I commend you sir,you're the exception to the rule .

What I've found is that most times the local cutters do a half ways decent job .The gypsies from parts unknown could care less ,in ,gone,forgotten .

SwampDonkey · July 10, 2011, 11:37:02 AM

There are always a few renegades for sure, but most fellas who have to buy the wood on the stump will make sure they remove anything cut down to 3" tops. No one will go around removing brush, I've never seen anyone do it, not on a logging job. I have had a couple loggers point out, that if he can see down the block and there is a big top in the air, he's loosing wood, and will lean on the cutter to go get it.

Weekend_Sawyer · July 10, 2011, 01:29:54 PM

If it isn't someone's yard or a park, I thought it was a good idea to leave the branches where they lay, cover for the new trees and as they break down they will feed the new trees.

Jon

SwampDonkey · July 10, 2011, 04:26:33 PM

It is a good idea. But I think we may be mixing waste with non merchantable tops in the discussion. ;D

Al_Smith · July 10, 2011, 06:50:52 PM

I don't know how it is in the rest of the country but more times than not the cutters leave a mess . On the oaks they would just take it to the first limb and leave the rest unless they can get another log above it .I've never seen them take firewood .

In these parts with a smattering of 10- 20-30 acre woods they know they will only deal with the land owner once in his life time .FWIW back 30 plus years ago when I firewooded as a suppliment to my income I went in after a lot of cutters .Most farmers were tickled to death to get the mess cleaned up .

For me it was great ,they already had a pathway cleared .Most times I could back the truck right up to an oak top and whittle away .

SwampDonkey · July 11, 2011, 08:08:13 PM

That's what happens when your markets are limited. That being said, I know a lot of loggers who would love to sell even more than they can market now. But there is no market for junk (rotten, crooked, pistol grip buts, bug infested, pasture spruce). We can sell pulp, but not junk. ;) I also think if you only have a sawlog market, the woods management suffers as the cream is always cut.