fire wood prices

[Keener]

Gypo, the two types of cherry I am familiar with and burn myself when I can get it are wild cherry or bitter cherry which gets it's name from the fact if you eat one they are so bitter your lips fall off.
The other is the culivated fruit tree variety which we remove on occasion when they out grow the site or get diseased.

 

[buckwheat]

I've had friends look into the outdoor stoves, but they are turned off by the initial outlay and the amount of wood needed to keep them burning....not very efficient compared to an indoor unit. If I were building new, I'd take a serious look at the wood/oil or gas forced air combination units. The challenge is building an efficient system for getting the wood to the unit with minimal work and dirt. One of my friends is going that route and converting an old "cold cellar" into a basement grade wood storage room. He'll just open a door in his basement and have about 4 cords no more than a few steps from his burner....sweet!

 

[chipslinger]

I sell it by the pick-up truck load for $60 delivered with in 20 miles. I put around a rick and a half on it. Seasoned red oak and ash. It is easier to sell by the truck load for me.

 

[Chainsaw_Maniac]

Originally posted by chipslinger
I sell it by the pick-up truck load for $60 delivered with in 20 miles. I put around a rick and a half on it. Seasoned red oak and ash. It is easier to sell by the truck load for me.

I understand that. I've been thinking the same thing for a long time, and every other comercial firewood guy I know thinks the same thing.

The big problem is that costomers are increadably suspicious of measurements that are not cords. They always think they're being ripped off, and they want to be able to compare prices using a standard measurement.

Measureing by something like "100 cubic feet, thrown loosly" would save me a lot of agrivation, cuz measuring off a cord by piling in a square takes extra work.

 

[TonyM]

I haven't had that problem. My trailer measrues 6-1/2 ft by 16 ft with 4 ft sidewalls. I load it level to the top loose and call it 2 cord. I know that it actually stacks out a little more than that, so my customers always get a little extra wood, and I can just scoop it out of a pile with my crawler loader and dump it in, or carry it from the woods in the bucket and dump it in. Now, if I could just get that trailer to unload itself!

I've often pondered the idea of using stackable wire baskets that would hold 1/2 a cord. Carry the basket into the woods on forks, stack it full, drop it on the trailer. Later you could fork it off (even store it in a barn and rotate the supply to always have seasoned wood.) Then, offer your customers the ability to rent the basket, drop off the wood, and they have a way to handle it easily (with the proper equipment). You could even build a hydraulic crane on the trailer to load/unload the baskets. If selling firewood was all I did, I could concieve of recovering the initial cost of the baskets, but as someone who cuts more for fun and has a full time job, it really isn't economical.

 

[Chainsaw_Maniac]

You'd need a lot of wire baskets though, and they'd have to be sturdy. It would cost a lot of money and they'd be hard to handle without the proper equipment and you'd still have to stack the wood in them.

I like what you're doing with "scooping" with a crawler though. My tractor wont easily scoop wood, so I have to either stack it or throw it in the bucket.

I have a bucket for my tractor that will hold half a cord. It was made to my specificatons out of a normal bucket by a welder. He just made it bigger. When I deliver the wood I measure it that way, but I still have to stack it in the bucket. I have squares made of 2x8 lumber that I always keep stacked full for people that pick their wood up.

Saying that 200 cubic feet thrown loosly is equal to 128 feet (a cord) stacked is a good way to do it, then adding the extra 10 cubic feet for good measure. It works best with a high walled truck bed, or trailer though. On a large area, low depth trailer, it's hard to keep the surface consistantly level.

You need a dump trailer TonyM.

 

[Ryan Willock]

I saw a guy today parked on the side of the rode with a sign that said firewood for sale $75. the truck was a toyota tacoma regular bed

 

[Chainsaw_Maniac]

Originally posted by Ryan Willock
I saw a guy today parked on the side of the rode with a sign that said firewood for sale $75. the truck was a toyota tacoma regular bed

Hmm. So asuming he wants to sell by the pickup truck load, he's over priced a little. But maybe that's just his work truck, that he puts his advertising around and drives around with it. Maybe he sells by the cord out of a bigger truck or trailer. (But $75 would be way under priced for a cord of hardwood).

 

[Weatherby]

I have a tacoma and let me tell you that $75 is crazy. The bed is very shallow and the fender wells are large. Just a quick calculation gives the total bed area in a tocamo is a little under 40 cu. ft. without the wheel wheels. With them I would esitmate your down to around 34 cu.ft. So that gives us about $2.20 per cu. ft. for firewood, this is assuming that it wasnt stacked above the bed, even if it was it wasnt stacked tight anyway. Well this was all pointless, but I was bored. If he can sell it I guess he can make some good money.

 

[Harley]

I had the same type of idea as TonyM the other day.

My idea was to use a disposable pallet and band the wood to it with that metal tape. You probably couldn't get more than a rick on one pallet. However you would still gain the time savings of only stacking once, and the transportation ease.

Firewood goes for anyware from 125 to 175 or more a cord here delievered and stacked. The higher prices are if you order only oak. People in my immediate area only burn around 40 to 50 cu ft a year.

I was wondering if anybody here sells wood to restaurants or other type of business. Some Italian brick oven type restaurants around here seem to go through a cord or two a week.

 

[buckwheat]

I've noticed a couple guys in my area have "firewood drive-ins". Out along the road they have 4X4X4 wooden bins lined up with split wood dumped (not stacked) in. The customer then pulls in with his truck or utility trailer and fills it up himself.
I never stopped to check the prices.

 

[johncinco]

I think I said this already on another thread, but I got a new toy so thought I would mention it. I sell firewood delivered to the city south of me, Grand Rapids, for $65 a rick and $180-195 a cord. I take it to mainly some nice house with open fireplaces that want to have a nice looking fire. I have been doing this with my pickup for several years. Now I just bought a dump trailer, so it is way easier to deliver a full load. I have a couple neighborhoods and I keep asking them to ask around. I can pull in and dump a full load and the mighty men show up with their wheelbarrels and split it up amongst themselves and settle the bill over a couple heinees. I dont evenb have to change out of my work clothes any more! I was cutting the wood myself, but a local tree guy has piles of cut and stacked wood sitting around and will load my trailer with his loader for $60. He wants to get rid of it all and does not want to waste time with it. Fortunately for me I drive into town almost every day so it works out great. It also makes up for the loads I drop to the widows and elderly for fun and talks.

 

[woodsjunkie]

Boy it sound like I am in the wrong part of the country.
Around hear I have a Hel! of a time getting $50.00 a pickup load. Their are guys that sell for $30-$35 a load hear ( all hard wood)I don't see how they can justify their trucks and saw's gas & oil for that price let alone their back's........

 

[Chainsaw_Maniac]

/\/\ I betcha some of the wood fell out on the way home.

 

[kev]

A big ice storm came thru this area last weekend (2-14) and knocked a lot of hardwood down in very accessible areas. Basically, you can't give a load of firewood away here right now.

I have happened across several nice logs that people want taken away, so I guess it all evens out.