How to Find Free Wood Fuel for a Wood Burning Stove

Wood burning stoves are increasingly popular and represent a great way to be green and to reduce energy costs at the same time. The good news is we are going to explore how to get our wood for free!

Whilst buying wood is cheaper than oil, gas or electricity, the best solution in terms of cost is to burn free wood. Free fuel is a great way to save money.

If you are haven’t yet considered the benefits of installing a wood burning stove and why Winter 2011 2012 is the right time to do it, then check read on::

Credit Crunch, Energy Crisis and Ten Reasons to Burn Wood.

The easiest way to get wood, if you can afford it is to pay for it to be delivered. The price obviously varies according to where you live and local market conditions. A typical price in the UK for wood cut and split ready to burn is around £50 ($75) for a small truck load or £150 ($220) a ton.

In the US and Canada wood is often measured in 'Cords'. One cord is a pile of wood 4 ft by 4 ft by 8 ft (128 cu feet) which typically costs around $300.

A better solution, particularly in these recessionary times, is to find free wood for your wood burning stove and then chop and process it yourself. Free fuel is a great way to beat the downturn.

Well it depends where you live. Which continent and country. What is your local terrain and whether your surroundings are urban or rural? I live close to the ocean on the southern coast of England. So here is one radical suggestion.

Last year, a cargo ship shed its cargo of timber along our coastline. Of course, you would need a truck to pick it up. However, collecting cargoes from wrecked ships is an ancient tradition in the UK. To find out more read the following from BBC News.

Unfortunately, Ramsgate is around 100 miles from my home and I don't own a truck. On the other hand I live in lightly wooded suburbs and my house backs onto a wooded section of the local golf course.

Searching Woodland in order to Get Free Wood

I therefore scavenge the woodland for fallen branches. There is loads of wood of different sizes on the ground which I can carry or drag back to my house (luckily I have a back gate that opens onto the golf course).

There is a good variety of deciduous trees from oak (which is a hardwood and is long burning) to trees like birch which burn quicker and are better for starting the fire.

The great thing about this approach is the only energy expended in creating the fuel is my muscle-power and I can certainly do with the exercise!

Here are some more potential sources of free wood:

1. Tree Surgeons
2. Builders
3. Timber merchants and manufacturers who use wood, for example, furniture
4. Free Recycling websites plus Ebay and Craig’s list
5. Pallet Suppliers
6. The Dump, Skips and Recycling Centres
7. Spare wood at home

1. Tree Surgeons

Call up local tree surgeons and offer to take unwanted wood off their hands. Generally they will keep and sell on hardwoods such as oak but are happy to offload softwoods such as pine or smaller branches and may even be prepared to leave it in your driveway.

Otherwise they need to dump the waste wood and, in the UK, the local authority makes a significant charge for accepting trade waste. Also the wood will often end up in a landfill site; a tremendous waste of good fuel.

2. Builders

Builders when demolishing or refurbishing buildings, often have to dump or burn old timber in the form of joists, floorboards, cladding etc. Phone them or visit the site and offer to remove unwanted wood.

3. Timber Merchants and Wood Manufacturers

People who cut up timber or use it to manufacture things like furniture often produce unwanted offcuts. These have to be taken away and dumped. If you phone them you may find they have skips behind their premises where the public can remove the unwanted wood.

4. Websites

There are now lots of websites dedicated to recycling. These are often run by charitable groups or volunteers. Typically people advertise things they want to get rid of and either offer them for free or for a small payment. You'll often find either scrap timber or wood from tree pruning being offered free as long as you are prepared to collect it.

Sites like Ebay or Craig's List also offer timber for collection or delivery but typically there will be a price to pay.

5. Pallet Suppliers

Pallets designed for handling by fork lift trucks are often recycled. Businesses that do this will find a proportion of the pallets they handle are damaged and these get thrown away. These businesses are another potential source of free wood.

6. The Dump, Skips and Recycling Centres

If you visit your local dump or recycling centre you may encounter people dumping burnable wood. Why not ask if you can take some of it away to save them dumping it? If a neighbour or local business is having some building work done and there is a skip outside the premises then this is another useful source of fire wood. Ask if you can remove any burnable timber. Hopefully they say yes as it leaves more room in the skip for other waste.

7. Spare Wood at Home

If you're like me then you'll have lots of odd bits of timber in your garage, yard or garden. Why don't you sort out what you aren't going to use and them turn it into firewood. Old fencing burns well as does an old wooden shed. Perhaps your trees need a prune? get thinking and you'll probably find you have plenty of free wood in your own home.

If you then extend this search to family, neighbours and friends you'll find that your woodpile will grow rapidly. Some friends of ours rang me recently because they'd taken their old shed down and wondered if I wanted some of the wood.

From Cut Branch to Fire Wood

So how do you convert a huge tree branch into burnable fire wood? First you need to cut it into lengths that will fit in the wood stove. A chainsaw is ideal for this. If the diameter of the branch is more than around 4 inches then you'll also need to split the wood along the grain into 2 or more pieces using a splitting axe.

Finally you'll need to store the wood for around a year to allow it to 'season' or dry out. For more on this and managing a wood stove generally, then read:

How to Manage a Wood Burning Stove

So over to you. Get your thinking cap on and start searching for Free Wood for your wood burning stove. That way you can beat both the economic downturn and the energy crisis in one hit with free fuel!