Scrounging wood for burning

[rogerzilla]

Does anyone know if it's legal to take windfall branches from the side of a public road?  I've also applied to the owners of our local woods for scrounging permissions, but every gale brings a fair crop on all the roads in the village.

[Rollo]

That's what I do.  The council are always leaving loads of ash logs lying around after roadside thinning.  I go out collecting every so often, chop them up and season them for next year.  No idea about the legality of it.

[rae]

I have done this in my time - no idea of the legality.   Generally the main problem is finding somewhere safe to park up that is close enough to the wood for loading.  The police don't tend to like people leaving cars in awkward places on busy roads. 

Legality depends on owner of the land.  If it is council then you'll probably get away with it - until some jobsworth catches you and gets annoyed on health and safety grounds.  They certainly don't like you using saws on public land - and most bits of tree are bigger than the boot of an MX-5!

The best scores are big trunks that farmers have de-limbed and can't be bothered/don't have the kit to get rid of.   There aren't many people who can deal with a 4ft diameter trunk - I specialise in them.   Pissing about with small branches takes for ever, and without a saw horse they are a pain in the butt to cut up.    Slicing up 4ft rounds gets the Land-Rover full in about 15 minutes.

Oh, by the way, it is completely addictive.  Soon you will be doing this:



and this:



and you will own a Land-Rover and collection of saws.....

[rogerzilla]

The stuff I'm thinking of is typically no more than 4-5" thick and can be cut up with a handsaw and dumped in a wheelbarrow.  It's not far from home.

[Air Dancer]

I've no idea of the legality of it.

I just assume that whoever is responsible for clearing up branches etc from windfall would appreciate someone doing it for them. I carry a 24" bow-saw in the car boot for this.

Building sites are good for waste timber, albeit a lot of quick-burning softwood, I just speak to one of the people on site before taking.

[Ian H]

I think the same would apply as when a neighbour's branch overhangs or falls on your property: it belongs to him. However...who's going to bother.

Coming back to Chepstow along the Wye valley from Monmouth the other weekend there was a bumper crop of windfall wood in the gutter.

[Hot Flatus]

and you will own a Land-Rover and collection of saws.....

....and probably end up looking like THIS

[rae]

....and probably end up looking like THIS 

I prefer the hockey mask for formal occasions.  It is less itchy.

[Really Ancien]

I think the same would apply as when a neighbour's branch overhangs or falls on your property: it belongs to him. However...who's going to bother.

That is indeed the case, technically taking firewood without permission would be theft, unless you had some sort of commoners rights. I anticipate this sort of theft becoming a big problem. A lot of woodland is managed for conservation, one element of the management is leaving dead wood on the ground, the management plan will state that and it will be a condition of grants in many cases. Going and picking up the wood you can see will just require a certain boldness. You are unlikely to be caught, next you will start gathering fallen wood inside the wood, unless challenged you may progress to felling the odd tree with a bowsaw and then to a chainsaw. That's just what happens, don't get me onto the subject of encroachments. On the other hand contractors will leave small amounts of wood in excess of a full truck load cut up and in an obvious place to save an additional trip. On a Motorway contract we relied on the Police taking bits away in their Range Rover. So to summarise, take the wood, you are probably doing what was anticipated, but don't get carried away, because the landowner will give you a right bollocking to discourage the others.



Damon.

[numbnuts]

When I lived in the New Forest we had commoners rights which stated that one could pick up wind fall branches/trees, but you must carry them out by human power and no saw must be used, not too sure if that is still in force.

[onb]

This is something I have been mulling over for a while now ,even to the extent of considering purchasing a bike trailer to transport it in ,surely it cant belong to anyone if its by the roadside ,although my plans did include roadside woods just collecting windfall no felling or owt like that.

[Really Ancien]

The wood belongs to the owner of the tree. a lot depends on who owns the road verge, a lot of rural roads are rights of way that have been gradually upgraded and the adjacent landowner might own the whole of the road or up to the centreline. I've seen what happens in both times of wood abundance, Dead Elm, 1987 storm 1990 Storm and in times of energy scarcity. The most extreme scarcity event was the Miner's Strike, when miners stopped getting free coal and were fit, bold men with time on their hands. I taught a number of ex miners in woodland management techniques in 1985, they had been appalled by what had happened to Rossington Woods in South Yorkshire at that time. Much of the experience from these episodes is not available on the web and you are only likely to encounter it in workers over 40, they will seem to be overreacting to your relatively innocent forays, but they are just trying to forestall escalation.
Meanwhile as a Forestry Commission trained chainsaw instructor I shall maintain a diplomatic silence over other issues raised in this thread. 

Damon.

[rae]

Meanwhile as a Forestry Commission trained chainsaw instructor I shall maintain a diplomatic silence over other issues raised in this thread. 

1) They're my trees

2) I wasn't responsible for that stump.  I took over from someone else who was probably going to kill themselves, and yes, it landed exactly where I wanted it to 

[mrcharly-YHT]

When I lived in the New Forest we had commoners rights which stated that one could pick up wind fall branches/trees, but you must carry them out by human power and no saw must be used, not too sure if that is still in force.

...by hook or by crook . . .

[Zoidburg]

Try a builders merchant, they will have lots of timber battens that is used as packing and dead pallets as well

Chains like TP will try and ban the staff giving anything away fro free, even if its waste but independents will be glad to be shut of it

[Really Ancien]

The pallets used for Indian Stone and Brazilian slate are hardwood and burn well, however the ethical aspect is far from clear cut, unlike the areas they came from.
I'm keeping schtum about the PPE upthread rather than anything else.

Damon.

[rower40]

So, technically, if I ride over a hawthorn twig, and it embeds in my tyre (providing a habitat for the p*nct*re fairy), then I'm guilty of theft?  Talk about adding insult to injury...

[Really Ancien]

So, technically, if I ride over a hawthorn twig, and it embeds in my tyre (providing a habitat for the p*nct*re fairy), then I'm guilty of theft?  Talk about adding insult to injury...

Q&A from Cycle Magazine.
If a cyclist is injured as a result of hedge/verge debris being left on the highway, they may be able to bring a civil action for damages under the common law tort of nuisance.  Generally is it a nuisance at common law to hinder the reasonable use of the highway or create a source of danger.  However, there can be no compensation for mere inconvenience and delay.

Damon.

[Rollo]

I'm keeping schtum about the PPE upthread rather than anything else.

Why keep schtum?  If it sucks (as it appears to), why not say so?
(edit: although there's more PPE there than initially meets the eye, and IANAE)

[rae]

PPE?  Phew, I thought you were being rude about my stump!   (Note to people without a tree fetish: being critical of another persons stump is a classic jibe, and that one is a shocker)

Kevlar backed left glove.
-36 dB ear defenders
Kevlar trousers.   I've deliberately chosen climbing trousers because I can move in them, but they are Class C protection.   I find that the standard chaps get so hot you either don't wear them or you suffer from heat exhaustion.   Edit - I've just looked at them: Design C, Class II.  I always get confused with that stuff.
Boots with kevlar inserts and steel toes (but you can't see that)

Yes, I should probably have been wearing a helmet with a face shield - however I lent that to my friend who was cutting elsewhere.   I have found that the ear protection in a standard helmet combo is worse than those peltors in shot, so when I am using a loud old saw, I tend to go for the peltors.  I also wear glasses which keep the majority of the chips out of your eyes.    Clearly, if I was felling, I would be wearing the helmet.   

The most heinous crime in that picture (for a modern arborist) is that I am using a saw from about 1972, 108cc and no brake.    I would pick something more modern for difficult work. 

[andygates]

Bowsaw.  Bike trailer.  You big jessie.   

[rae]

Bowsaws are great, but many people rather underestimate the effort required to do 100 cuts or so to make a half decent pile of firewood.       Incidentally I have a bigger bowsaw scar than chainsaw scars.   

[Wombat]

I'll vouch for the bowsaw scars....  bugger, don't they bleed!  A bowsaw does need knowledgeable use too, as I found to my cost.  I'm very wary of the vicious sods now!

[andygates]

Bowsaws are great, but many people rather underestimate the effort required to do 100 cuts or so to make a half decent pile of firewood.

This is true.

It's also easy to underestimate the effort of towing a tree home behind a bike 

[rogerzilla]

Chainsaws scare me, but I might get one of those reciprocating electric saws and a splitter of some kind.