# Update on splitting wood for $$$



## Timberwerks (Apr 30, 2005)

Yesterday I did job where the home owner had three trees taken down over a year ago and saved the wood for burning. After stacking the logs she had every intention on splitting them but did not know how to go about it. As luck would have it she is a real estate agent and I met her at a home she was about to close on ( I was there doing carpentry repairs ) and I gave her one of my Timberwerks cards. She became excited and told me of the wood that she had but no way to split it. While splitting there, a police officer came up and I thought great he's going to issue me a warning because of the noise. Instead he asked about the splitter and want's me to come and split at his place. Awhile after that a guy just ridding his bike watched for awhile and asked for a card as well. His neighbor has a lot of wood in his back yard that needs splitting. This one job will hopefully bring me in more work by word of mouth. I charged the lady $100.00 and I was there 3.5 hours. She ended up with a cord and a half of wood and was very happy. I can split faster but there was more handeling involved on this job. I'm still thinking about placing an add in the local paper as well. I'm getting better at estimating the amount of time to split so this will help with quotes.

Dale


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## Chainsaw_Maniac (Apr 30, 2005)

That's pretty nice. That's about the level of $$$ I could get for a small job like that around here. I find that a job that's less than 6 hours long can be a pain because it takes you almost the whole day to get there, set up, and talk to the person.


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## Lawn Masters (Apr 30, 2005)

theres gold in them there logs.
I'd do log splitting myself, if I didnt already have a source of income. physical labor is my type of job.


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## sawzall71 (May 2, 2005)

100.00 for 3.5 hours isn't much when you factor in ware and tear on your gear not to mention your back. Next time try to get about $200, she would have paid to just to get rid of the mess she has. As for the policeman, stay away from him he's looking for something free, plain and simple. Make up some cards and place them around town. Never work for nothing less your worth. I have lrked he to see some people freelance, just show and go. You are using your own tools so charge them for it.


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## Bambodoggy (May 3, 2005)

Timberwerks said:


> She ended up with a cord and a half of wood and was very happy.



Can anyone tell me in very basic laymans terms how much wood is in a cord?

Thanks all...


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## Newfie (May 3, 2005)

Bambodoggy said:


> Can anyone tell me in very basic laymans terms how much wood is in a cord?
> 
> Thanks all...



A full cord is by definition 128 cu. ft. of stacked wood.

Of course then there are the regional interpretations and terms, but that's a whole different can of worms.


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## Bambodoggy (May 3, 2005)

Thanks Mike.... so are we talking a van load roughly...or shipping container, or double garage? I'm just trying to get a referance to visualise how much wood makes up a cord.

Thanks again Mate


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## tawilson (May 3, 2005)

A stacked pile 4' high, 4' wide and 8' long


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## Bambodoggy (May 4, 2005)

tawilson said:


> A stacked pile 4' high, 4' wide and 8' long



Bingo! Cheers Tom  

Reason I ask is I have the right to collect up to 5000cords of wood per year from my local forest free of charge but I didn't have a clue how much a cord was.... I now know that if I worked every weekend I'd still never hit my quota...which is nice


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## tawilson (May 5, 2005)

Timberwerks, I got a slogan for you. "I give good wood"


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## Timberwerks (May 5, 2005)

Funny thing is the lady who I just did that job for is recently divorced and made a similar comment (as a joke with her ex- husband as the butt of it).

Dale


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## Tree Machine (May 8, 2005)

A standard firewood length is 16", so that cord dimension of 4 feet wide is 16 inches X 3. You can think of a cord of wood as three stacks, each 16" wide, 4 feet high, 8 feet long. 

Each one of these thirds is called a face cord, or more oftenly (?) referred to as a 'rick'.


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## Ax-man (May 9, 2005)

Anyone know where the term face cord came from and how it became a measure for firewood??? I am guessing it comes from the front row of a three row cord cut at 16" lengths. When I got into firewood there were three measures, a full cord or a half, and another term used was a " jag " usually meant a small load like about a half of a pick-up load or a little more.

No one in our area including myself was cutting firewood at these 16" lengths when these face cords started getting popular. It was quite a change to go from cutting wood at 20" -24" lengths down to this 16" sissy wood stuff. 

Larry


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## Happyjack (May 9, 2005)

Good for you! That sounds like something I would do on the side if I had a splitter. Get some cards made up for yourself or a 1 page Flyer. When ever you see a stacked unsplit wood pile on someone's property, drop a card in their mailbox. I would try to come up with an hourly rate, and charge everyone the same price. Make sure you add in your travel and gas too.


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## fwf (May 9, 2005)

Ax-man said:


> Anyone know where the term face cord came from and how it became a measure for firewood??? I am guessing it comes from the front row of a three row cord cut at 16" lengths. When I got into firewood there were three measures, a full cord or a half, and another term used was a " jag " usually meant a small load like about a half of a pick-up load or a little more.
> 
> No one in our area including myself was cutting firewood at these 16" lengths when these face cords started getting popular. It was quite a change to go from cutting wood at 20" -24" lengths down to this 16" sissy wood stuff.
> 
> Larry



IMHO, the term "face cord" was popularized and is used by rip-off artists, because the term has no legal definition. If you sell someone a face cord, you are not legally bound by a specific quantity of wood.

Cord, 1/2 cord, 1/3 cord, 1/4 cord, etc. are all legal measurements of a quantity of firewood. Just about any other term just means a pile of wood.


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## ArtB (May 9, 2005)

Timely thread for me, as was just talking to wife about what I'll do in retirement (soon). Recently tore rotator cuff and used to swing th maul for exercise. Looking to get another cheap old 4x4, only this time put an arm with a splitter attachment (home built of course, heck, maybe patentalble?) on the end that can also be used to load the truck, no more rotator cuff tear risk? 
Anybody seen a backhoe type arm with a splitter at the end commercially?


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## Timberwerks (May 9, 2005)

Happyjack said:


> Good for you! That sounds like something I would do on the side if I had a splitter. Get some cards made up for yourself or a 1 page Flyer. When ever you see a stacked unsplit wood pile on someone's property, drop a card in their mailbox. I would try to come up with an hourly rate, and charge everyone the same price. Make sure you add in your travel and gas too.



I have the cards and 5,000 flyers, I got the flyers printed late last year. I fiqure I'll hold off on the flyers until fall and stick with running adds for awhile. The flyers did do very well for me last season. This year I'll get an earlier start.

Dale


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## Ax-man (May 10, 2005)

fwf said:


> IMHO, the term "face cord" was popularized and is used by rip-off artists, because the term has no legal definition. If you sell someone a face cord, you are not legally bound by a specific quantity of wood.
> 
> Cord, 1/2 cord, 1/3 cord, 1/4 cord, etc. are all legal measurements of a quantity of firewood. Just about any other term just means a pile of wood.


_________________________________________________________________


FWF, sounds good to me, honestly is was the last answer I expected to read, but makes sense. People have made comments to me when I dump wood off a truck like " That is more than we got from that last guy " or " This is twice as much as ( fill in the blank) gave us. You sure this is right, do you want more money for the extra wood. " Of course I have to say no because they getting what they paid for.

Larry


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## Timberwerks (May 10, 2005)

I get similar comments, or they will be surprised that the wood is actually dry and burns well. I think wood not being dry was the main compliant that people had with other sellers. That and wood that smelled (pissy) when burned.

Dale


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## Ryan Willock (Aug 21, 2005)

We get $40 a pickup load delievered and dumped here, it can be green or dry and thats for a standard size pickup (ie. 6' bed on a half ton).


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## spencerhenry (Aug 21, 2005)

i would doubt that the origin of "face cord" was because someone was trying to rip someone off. i am not saying it doesnt happen, i too experience the puzzled consumer who wonders why i left them more wood, or why my price is different. of all the customers i deal with, probably about 200/ year, very very few actually KNOW what a full cord is, but most of them know what a face cord is. 1 stack 4' high, 8' long. i also have very few people who WANT a full cord. probably 90% of my sales are single face cords. it is a quantity that the homeowner is familiar with, and wants. i have had the competition call me to find out what my prices are, they will pretend to be consumers. they always ask "how much for a face cord?", followed by "well, how much for a full cord?". they are astounded when i tell them that a full cord costs 3x as much minus a bulk discount. then they will argue with me about what a full cord is. i have been told "a full cord is 2 face cords", or "a full cord is 4x4x6". but no one in this neck of the woods advertises by the full cord, partly because the homeowner thinks a full cord is a face cord.


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## Timberwerks (Aug 21, 2005)

I no longer use the term face cord. I refer to that unit as a 1/3 cord now. From what I have read a face cord is not a legal term you can use for a unit of measurement http://oregon.gov/ODA/MSD/fuel_facts.shtml. I just found this out myself. Most of my customers are surprised by the true amount of wood in an actual 1/3 (face cord). This is mainly due to being shorted by other sellers. I also put the blame on face cord firewood racks you can buy at the home center. Some customers think I'm leaving extra wood because there is some stacked on the side of the rack. Seems previous sellers just leveled off the rack and charged for the full face cord.

Dale


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## turnkey4099 (Aug 22, 2005)

In states where firewood is part of the weights and measures enforcement, only cords or fractions of a cord are permitted. 

When I buy (rarely - I cut my own) I prefer to buy by the cord in the round. I get more wood that way as splitting will increase the size of a stack, i.e., a cord in the round will stack out to about 10% more than that. It's a bennie for both me and the dealer - I get more wood, he doesn't have the expense of splitting it.

Harry K


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## daveyclimber (Sep 16, 2005)

Around my area a "face cord" is called a teir . And as stated earlier in areas where there is code enforcment by wheights and measures , only a cord or fractions of a cord can be legally sold by a merchant .


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