People asking for 'unwanted' firewood...

pburns

I have a forest due to be thinned, decent size - mainly conifer, few acres of ash.

Anyway have had a couple of people (friends & neighbours) move it to me recently about getting in to get a bit of firewood - the 'non-commercial' stuff. Fair enough I thought at first, but it irks me a bit the casualness... 'Ah shure might collect a bit of wood from your place' kinda thing...

Part of it is privacy...don't want fookers annoying me at weekends & access isn't the greatest right now. Safety/insurance a consideration too. Part of me also annoyed at assumptions of all this 'free' timber like it's some sort of commons...

Once roads in & thinning done I might think differently but it'll be stuff I don't want, in the way & v much on my terms...

Am I being mean & small-minded or have others experienced this?

gozunda

pburns wrote: »

I have a forest due to be thinned, decent size - mainly conifer, few acres of ash.

Anyway have had a couple of people (friends & neighbours) move it to me recently about getting in to get a bit of firewood - the 'non-commercial' stuff. Fair enough I thought at first, but it irks me a bit the casualness... 'Ah shure might collect a bit of wood from your place' kinda thing...

Part of it is privacy...don't want fookers annoying me at weekends & access isn't the greatest right now. Safety/insurance a consideration too. Part of me also annoyed at assumptions of all this 'free' timber like it's some sort of commons...

Once roads in & thinning done I might think differently but it'll be stuff I don't want, in the way & v much on my terms...

Am I being mean & small-minded or have others experienced this?

Do the thinning. Get it cut and draw it / put in ton bags. Then put a price on it to cover your costs plus whatever profit. See then who is interested. If no takers advertise for sale.

Dinzee Conlee

We have a wood, the man here before me used to let some people take wood... whilst they were fine, all that happened was other people saw it, and then wanted some as they wanted ‘their share’ of free timber...
Soon, people didn’t bother asking, just helped themselves...

When I took over, I put a stop to it...

Give people an inch and they take a mile...

Easier to just say no to everyone...

tabby aspreme

Timber is a crop, planted like any other crop, to be harvested for an income, nobody gives away grain, meat, or milk, but lads think it's only a bit of timber and they can help themselves to it. I had to explain to a few people around here, that the trees didn't plant themselves.

The_Conductor

Its quite common for the first thinning to pay for itself in thinnings- with nothing over- and thereafter, everything to have a value.
Its bonkers to simply give timber away. We had a neighbour try to collect some timber with a donkey-the donkey fell in a culvert and drowned- and then the neighbour sued us as he lost his ANC payment from the Department, as his stocking units were wrong. This was a neighbour who didn't even ask- he 'assumed' it was fine to help himself. Even worse than people assuming they can help themselves- is the assumption that they can sue you if anything at all goes wrong- even if they didn't even ask your permission to enter the property.........

Large bottle small glass

The_Conductor wrote: »

Even worse than people assuming they can help themselves- is the assumption that they can sue you if anything at all goes wrong- even if they didn't even ask your permission to enter the property.........

From a legal perspective you might be better off with someone trespassing and stealing than allowing someone in to cut and lift wood. You would have a much higher duty of care to the latter than the former.

You would want to be off your head to allow neighbours/friends and family into your wood to take wood.

People have no regard for something they get for free. All risk for no reward

Get it out of wood yourself, stack and dry in yard. Give them plenty notice when the firewood processor is coming and let them be filling their trailer's at the going rate per cubic metre

Yep, you're crazy to think that you'd be in the clear were something to happen to someone while on your land. Get it cleared, sorted, ready for sale. You can always give some of it away to preferred customers or whatever.

893bet

Not worth the risk sadly. It’s a pity.

Remember it’s special insurance for chainsaw use. It’s unlikely your farm insurance covers you. If they had an accident......

finbarrk

893bet wrote: »

Not worth the risk sadly. It’s a pity.

Remember it’s special insurance for chainsaw use. It’s unlikely your farm insurance covers you. If they had an accident......

Yes, say the forestry company said not to let anyone in there due to insurance cover.