Firewood times for processing

[sand sock]

At one time I could cut split and stack 1 cord of ash in 2 hours. I drop the dead ash the direction it need to travel. I run a heavy rope to it and pull it out with my truck. Then carry out the limb wood is sections. I cut it and back the truck up tossing it in the bed. I hook up the splitter and pull up to the ibc tote or box and split it and toss it in the stack for sale. I handle it twice and they haul.

Ash was $200 a cord last year. It may be 220 this year..

Mixed hardwoods is 255 measured off the stack and you get that. A little ash, hackberry,elm,cotton wood, mulberry,Osage.

Straight maple or oak is $300 a cord.

 

[djg james]

Good thread. I just saw it. I was wondering what price firewood goes for in other parts of the country. Here in St Louis area, I think it averages about $300 a cord. That's what I've seen. Some wants $195 per truck load. Don't know if they get that.
I sell a few 6' truck loads (1/3 cord) of Cherry for BBQing a year for $100 and a couple of buyers have commented on that being a good price. For me, the price is mainly the labor involved.
I too, like the OP have similar processing times. I cut from a log pile that the arborist dumps off at his log yard. Load the rounds onto the trailer, drive home, unload onto driveway/splitting area, go get another load.... Then split, re-stack in trailer, go down to the wood stacks and stack the splits. As someone said, it's good exercise.
I now try to get one load of rounds, drive down to the stacks and split off the trailer. Te tree guy continually burns his piles, so sometimes I have to get several loads a day before it gets burned up. So, then I drive down to the stacks and dump the rounds. Split it later right next to the stacks. If its too wet to drive down to the stacks, I revert back to using my driveway as a splitting area. I want to get a roller conveyor to transfer the splits from my splitter to my trailer. Will save a step.

 

[sean donato]

If he was closer I'd be buying all he had and making money at his prices.

I didn't try too hard to find more prices, just a quick marketplace search yields dozens of people selling wood. I know there's a few guys that have mills around here that sell their reject logs/tail ends and whatnot for cheaper prices. Used to be able to get that stuff from weabers for free, but from what I've been told they sell it to a pulp wood guy for money now.

 

[link]

Wondering, how long does it take? I just finished moving the last cord of split wood to my sheltered area and it took me an hour. Takes about an hour to split it, took an hour to cut it, takes an hour to load it in the the trailer while in the wilderness, and more time to unload it when I get home, and more time to clean up all the waste from the splitting. Just hours and hours and hours per cord and every year it is 6 or more cords. Yeeeesh....

I'm starting to think buying firewood is sounding kinda cheap. Nah, not really, but close. I was thinking about cutting several extra cords this year to sell. At $200/cord that buys a lot of groceries, or use to. That idea never came about, just dealing with my own firewood usage.

I like to think there is some trick I haven't yet figured out to save more time. I know a lot of peeps here claim porting a saw is the answer. LOL, yeah, one of those hours might actually be 58 or 59 minutes rather then a full hour.

2 or 3 weeks helping my neighbor clearing out vegetation in early spring / late winter.
2 or 3 weeks to process it, 2 or 3 weeks to stable it in to nice drying collumns. I need good weather yeas?

 

[Wood Doctor]

When I said $300 a cord, that was a full cord. Most of what I sell are 1/4 cord bins. Picked up. The lower price sounds better. $75 vs $300. Sorry for the derail MR.

I believe these bins are also called totes. Today I decided to see if my truck held two of them when packed tight. These bins were full when I started to pack the truck and I emptied them. Then I racked the wheelbarrow on top and added a few more retaining logs. No customer has ever complained about my delivering a partial truckload.

 

[OM617YOTA]

There's a place nearish me selling sawmill slab wood for $20/bundle. They're saying each bundle is roughly 1/2 cord, and very green.

If I needed wood, I'd be all over it.

 

[delooper]

We stocked up on around 4 cords of firewood for the winter. From cutting the wood down to transporting it home, cutting to length and splitting, it must have taken the bulk of 3 days. That said, I don't do this very often and I was building the storage rack at the same time. So I could likely be a bit quicker in the future.

Splitting time is highly variable. The white oak around here has curly fibers, making splitting a bit of a chore. Often I give up and just quarter the wood with a chainsaw.

 

[farmer steve]

I believe these bins are also called totes. Today I decided to see if my truck held two of them when packed tight. These bins were full when I started to pack the truck and I emptied them. Then I racked the wheelbarrow on top and added a few more retaining logs. No customer has ever complained about my delivering a partial truckload.

Mine are apple type bins.

 

[wardog]

Interesting thread as I have burned wood in my outside wood boiler for about 6 years now. We had a new heat pump installed after our original electric furnace took a crap and we nearly froze to death. Added another room to our home and had to install a new bigger furnace and heat pump which was more efficient but still NOT warm and toasty. Being total electric our electric bill was going to $600.00 per month in the winter and that prompted me to consider a wood fired water boiler. First one I bought was supposed to be a gasification boiler and it ATE half a barn full of wood that winter. After I researched it more, it was apparent that the guy making them was ripping people off as it wasn't close to a gasification unit. Got rid it that piece of junk and bought another brand wood boiler. This one is what we have used for the past several years and it heats our 1680 sq. foot home nice and toasty as well as our domestic hot water. It burns much, much less wood and it doesn't really matter what I put in it as it heats the water that heats the home. The guy I bought this unit from had it stored at his nephew's house who was also using one and it was running in the summer heating his domestic hot water with leaves! THAT blew my mind and I would not have believed it had he not showed me it in action. All this said my point is that I have never bought a single stick of firewood as I have plenty of downed trees on my property that I cut year around and the prices for wood shocked me. I will say that we paid for this wood boiler in a couple years of using it as it cut our electric bill in half during the winter. I actually shut the electric hot water heater off and we are all nice and toasty. The problem is going out to fire the boiler as my wife and I have shifts. I stay up late to fire it before going to bed and she gets up earlier in the morning to stoke the boiler. I will also agree with a lot of what others have said this getting old is for the birds as I seem to be looking for a place to lay down anymore rather than try to stop a fall! It's the old drop and roll as I can't seem to be able to stop them anymore AND it takes me several days to heal up the muscles, I forgot I had. LOL

 

[Wood Doctor]

Mine are apple type bins.

View attachment 1022740

The ones I was referring to are metal and look like giant bird cages with an open top. Much lighter, but they work:

 

[OM617YOTA]

IBC tote cages. Great idea.

 

[djg james]

I've posted this before. I have two totes setting alongside my driveway for cutoffs. One for burning this year and one for drying for next year. Made some roofs for them out of scrap lumber.

 

[user 122190]

I've posted this before. I have two totes setting alongside my driveway for cutoffs. One for burning this year and one for drying for next year. Made some roofs for them out of scrap lumber.
View attachment 1022953

I just throw my cutoffs up on top of this 5 column, >6' tall, 18' long stack. I'm still hand splitting wood for daily fires when it's cold, and saving this stack for the start of Nov. Each is a cord+, and each lasts a month.

 

[SteveinUT]

Man, guys are selling split aspen and pine delivered for $400 here this year. That is for a full, legit cord, dumped in your driveway. I would love to get hardwoods for $200. I would probably quit cutting my own if I could get hardwoods for that.

 

[Seachaser]

Gas logs and never looked back.
I cut a bunch every year just managing the property. I burn most of it in my fire pit. I tried to give some Oak away after Hurricane Michael. No takers. Finally burned it all outside. That’s living in the South.

 

[user 122190]

Gas logs and never looked back.
I cut a bunch every year just managing the property. I burn most of it in my fire pit. I tried to give some Oak away after Hurricane Michael. No takers. Finally burned it all outside. That’s living in the South.

There use to be a fire place channel. Just a loop of a nice big fire in a nicely decorated fire place. Not a lot of heat, but maybe my TV is to small. LOL.