Any body buying log truck loads of poles for firewood.

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saxono3

ArboristSite Member
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Ive been selling Firewood for about 15 years. Ive never made it through a winter without selling every stick I had seasoned. Some years only 30 or 40 cords. Some years close to 100 cords. Some years Ive lost track. Book keeping was never my strong point.
Now, I get most of my wood bringing it home a pickup load at a time from logging jobs, cut offs, drag a few tops out, as long as the company I'm cutting for is okay with it and most are. But this doesn't add up to fast. I don't get wood every day and the truck is full of equipment so I cant fit more than a few rows across the back.
I get some paying for it to land owners who have their land recently logged. But this is time consuming and its really only something to keep me busy between logging jobs.
I get some for free cleaning up storm damage trees and what not for people. I cut some on my own land every year but not more than two or three cords. Al this like I said gets me to between 30 and 100 cords a year.
I like to make a good part time business out of firewood. Id like to sell about 200 to 225 cords a year. Or more, maybe much more. I think I can move it.
Around here a cord of good seasoned wood sells for about $150 picked up and between $180 and $200 delivered. Ive seen hire, and Ive seen much lower. And what I have noticed is by about the middle of Jan. most of the ads selling firewood are pretty well dried up. The ones selling wood cheap seem to dry up first. Last year I ran a test. I cut out a bunch of ads in Nov. and Dec. I waited till the end of Jan and called them all. Some never returned my call, and the ones that did, very few still had wood and a few offered "semi" seasoned wood. Wonder what that is?
Id like to be the guy with wood ALL THE TIME. Sell it to campers in the summer, yes, I have a place I can do that. And the year round outdoor wood burner folks.
So, about the only way I can figure to get that much wood is to buy some of it in log truck loads of poles. They are going from $700 to $800 a load delivered.
If I charge a base price of $150 a cord, and get 6 to 7 cords of wood per truck (I think most loads are between 6 and 7 cords split and stacked) and pay $700 for the truck load that doesn't leave much. I guess between $300 and $400 per load. Or somewheres around $50 per cord profit. My wife (who is smarter than me) says that's not enough, with the added cost of bars,chains, fuel, splitter parts and fuel. And whatever else burns bends or breaks. I think its alright.
So, what do you guys think? Any body else doing this?
 
What is top dollar for a cord in your area?



Mr. HE:cool:
 
What is top dollar for a cord in your area?



Mr. HE:cool:

Highest Ive seen is $200. a cord with a $25. delivery fee on top of that. I have to wonder if they are selling much at that price.
 
Highest Ive seen is $200. a cord with a $25. delivery fee on top of that. I have to wonder if they are selling much at that price.



Reason I ask is that around here prices per cord are advertised from $135 up to $225 delivered in town and stacking is extra. With the price of a truckload of logs here a guy would make very little selling for $135 a cord. But, guys selling in the $175 to $225 range can make good money buying logs by the truckload and turning it into firewood. So far I've never had trouble moving wood at the higher prices. If people don't buy from me this year they will next year when the cheap stuff they got was full of rot, too wet to burn and left a huge mess where they stacked it.



Mr HE:cool:
 
I have seen more and more ads, more people seemingly trying to sell and few buyers because it has been so warm.

We also had some big storms a year ago and there is a lot down, there for free if you can collect.

Truckers seem to charge about $125 an hour so $700 seems a lot.

I did not measure the semi truck I had delivered, but a 40 ft trailer 8 ft wide is 320 sq ft or at least 2 cords per foot high. I am sure it was at least 8ft high. Now I am buying soft wood but even so.
 
Since you have some access to wood from jobs, why not do a little better planning and drag a trailer to work a few days a week and bring more home with you?
Get a dump bed so you can just drop a load and be ready for the next day with an empty trailer. You could haul a cord at a time with a good trailer each trip.
As for sales and trying to compete with others, I don't. I have a base price that is fair and if they don’t like what I have they are free to go elsewhere. There are so many wood sellers that pop up this time of year it get crazy on cl. The people that buy from me all seem to like what the are getting and refer there friends and keep coming back, even though there is a lot of cheaper wood out there.
 
Since you have some access to wood from jobs, why not do a little better planning and drag a trailer to work a few days a week and bring more home with you?
Get a dump bed so you can just drop a load and be ready for the next day with an empty trailer. You could haul a cord at a time with a good trailer each trip.
As for sales and trying to compete with others, I don't. I have a base price that is fair and if they don’t like what I have they are free to go elsewhere. There are so many wood sellers that pop up this time of year it get crazy on cl. The people that buy from me all seem to like what the are getting and refer there friends and keep coming back, even though there is a lot of cheaper wood out there.

x2
get a dump trl or dump bed truck. (i got both ) leave trl at work till full and you can use it at the end of the year to deliver.
there more money in season wood the green also if you can get a year ahead you can make more money just from the sun that what i do. But it takes up alot of space. As far as rot only wood thats sitting on the ground may rot depends on how much rain and ground. Anything i find black, rotted or ugly looking i burn it in my shop it burns well for me
 
You need to find a cheaper supplier. That is almost 2X what my brother pays in CNY. He has been using the same suppliers for over 15 years but he has gotten a great relationship from him and they can count on cash payments when they need it. One of them waits until just before hunting season and he gets his full payment all at once so the wife does not see the money. :laugh: At one to 2 loads per week that is a serious chunk of change, but then again, this guy goes hunting in Alaska for big game so he needs the $$$.

Go to your local chainsaw repair place that services the loggers and post that you need logs. You will find plenty of offers and you just need to sort through the good and the bad ones to find good suppliers that can keep you happy for a good price.
 
I'm in a similar position. I always sell out early and never find it very hard to move that amount of wood (50 cords or so a year). I'm to the point of seeing just how much can I sell a year. I can access 50 cords of wood pretty easily, but doubling that up to 100 or so will make me look into various sources for wood. I've never paid for wood and if I have to, then I have to look at raising my price as well.

I'm also entertaining the idea of buying a homemade processor. It needs some work, but is well built, perkins diesel powerplant, large chain driven deck that can hold at least a cord and a half at a time.

Lastly, a local firewood sales guy always buys his wood every year. $175 a cord delivered. $150 picked up. He's less than 10 miles away and I can haul 5 cords at a time with a 6 axle dump truck. Gonna look into that as well.

Decisions!
 
I too have been toying with the idea of buying a truckload of logs and processing into firewood. I can get 9 cord for $900, an figure I can sell for $175 per cord picked up, up to $225 delivered.

It doesn't leave much meat on the bone though. The benefits to me are I really enjoy the process, it is not so much work as it is a release from my everyday job. I also have a 8 year old boy that helps out quite a bit, and I think it would be a good opportunity to develop a work ethic in him.

Don't have any dreams of getting rich off it of course. If I can scratch together an extra $1000-$2000 a season that would make for an awfully nice Christmas or vacation fund.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2
 
We got out of the woods about 25+ years ago and since that time firewood selling has been much more profitable. The cost of getting wood in the woods is very high. Sure paying for logs delivered to your yard is expensive, but considering the costs of doing it one's self, it pays back in dividends. It was ~25 years ago that my brother started buying logs by the truckload and it has been much better for him ever since.
 
In my area, cords of SPLIT wood can be had for $100 if bought in bulk (3+) and shopped around. Paying someone $100/cord for log length just sounds crazy to me.

To go from logs to split wood costs a fair amount. Gas/oil/chain/maintenance for 1 cord is probably ~$10 all said and done? How much time is that? ~2 hours working HARD?

ac
 
In my area, cords of SPLIT wood can be had for $100 if bought in bulk (3+) and shopped around. Paying someone $100/cord for log length just sounds crazy to me.

To go from logs to split wood costs a fair amount. Gas/oil/chain/maintenance for 1 cord is probably ~$10 all said and done? How much time is that? ~2 hours working HARD?

ac

The capital depreciation on your equipment is the biggie.
Gas for splitter - 40c
Gas and oil for chain saw - 80c
Never costed chains.

But the equipment has to be replaced, paid for.

I agree with the premise, I have seen adverts from people offering free logs, blow downs from last year.
 
Your results may vary

I got a log supplier up here that deliveres a full load of logs for a grand. It works out to $50 to $55 per cord depending on how righteous he loads the truck. This is by far the cheapest way that I can get wood here. working a cut always seems to be higher in cost.

My cord price is about the same, and 50 for the wood makes it tough to make any profit. The numbers will be crunched tonight!! (where I find out just how stupid 2012 has been for me) Watch your loads, and see how well they loaded the logs. If they are not nice and straight and laid in tight you are probably getting screwed.

Good luck!
 
I keep seeing people post up that they can split a cord of wood in a few hours.
Without knowing the details, its hard to know how that can be done.
I have a single stroke hydraulic splitter and with cut rounds stacked next to it, I can barley split a cord a day.
How can one split a cord in 2 hours?
I know the variables can have a great deal to do with it, but damn, I sure wish I could split a cord in 2 hours.
My wood comes from tree companies, (mostly red and post oak)so I get what they bring me, and most of the time, it’s big tree trunks that cant be shredded.
If I start early and noodle up some rounds, then split and toss into a pile, then stack it. I can barley get a cord a day done.
It goes a little faster when the wood is around 18” in diameter and in long strait logs and I split into large pieces.
Splitting it into smaller pieces takes a lot more time, some like the bigger split wood and some like the smaller stuff.
 
Your splitter is probably on the slow end of the spectrum. A Supersplit can really whack the wood and I have been using a friend's for a few years now and I am blown away how fast it is. I can split about as fast as a person with an axe on a below zero day can do. It is literally so fast that I cannot run one more than 4-6 hours max before I am totally wiped out.

A 4-Way splitter can really up the production. 4-5 Full cords per day if the blocks are ready is possible for a single person splitting.

A firewood processor can up the production. My brother gets consistent 7 face cords out of his Timberwolf processor in 1:45-2.5 hours depending on the quality of the logs. He has one person running the processor and a helper feeding logs, and helping with splitting the big stuff that misses the main splitter. He is selective in the logs he buys and that helps a lot. He also has a small single splitter set at the end of his processor splitter and the helper that is loading the deck with logs uses that single splitter to resplit the big stuff that escapes the 4 way or 6 way splitter of the Timberwolf. So if he sees a big chunk not get split he just flings it out of the split zone and the helper gets it when he gets a chance.

He has been running his Timberwolf for over 15 years and it has gone through one rebuild of the beam. All totaled his business is very large scale and he has well over $250K tied up in equipment and another $30-40K in logs alone.
 
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