Rich around the world snapping up Minnesota firewood at $40 a box
By Richard Chin [email protected]
Updated: 12/08/2011
Rich around the world snapping up Minnesota firewood at $40 a box - TwinCities.com
We Americans might depend on places like Saudi Arabia for the gas we burn in our cars. But guess where a well-heeled Saudi goes if he wants some white-barked birch logs, like the kind you see in designer magazine layouts, to burn in his fireplace.
Right here, baby.
The arrival of winter means firewood vendors from outstate Minnesota aren't delivering stacks to just Twin Cities homeowners.
They're also boxing up their prettiest hand-cut logs and FedExing them to Middle Eastern sheiks, Hollywood stars and Manhattan sophisticates who are all looking for a whiff of fragrant North Woods fireplace smoke.
That may be why a holiday gift guide article in the Wall Street Journal last weekend suggested a box of firewood from J.N. Firewood, described as "from the area where 'Fargo' was set."
"Ask for Angie, who says 'youbetcha' (no kidding!)," the article said.
"My phone did not quit ringing yesterday. Holy jiminy crickets," said Angie Nelson, owner of the firewood company in Fort Ripley, Minn.
Nelson said several new customers who saw the article made her say "you betcha" before they hung up.
Compared with other gifts suggested by the Wall Street Journal - a $310 bra and panty set, a $3,400 cashmere robe, a $19,900 wrist watch - a gift of firewood seems pretty affordable.
The newspaper noted that a 30-pound box of split hickory, oak and birch, enough for a couple of fires, costs about $40, plus shipping, which Nelson said usually runs about $25.
But if you live in Minnesota, J.N. Firewood trucks will deliver a rack of about 1,100 pounds of firewood to your door - for only $155.
That works out to a mere 14 cents a pound, compared with well over a couple of bucks per pound if you buy it by the box delivered by FedEx.
But customers from Hawaii to Florida apparently are willing to pay extra for real Minnesota wood.
"We ship a lot to New York and Manhattan," said Joe Nelson, Angie Nelson's husband.
Local firewood venders say a lot of the hardwoods available in Minnesota burn well and have nice-smelling smoke. But the wood is difficult to find in other parts of the country.
"In Colorado, all they have there are pine trees," Angie Nelson said.
Dennis Tretter, owner of Minnesota Firewood near Little Falls, said he just filled a rush order of about 1,500 pounds of "decorative red oak" to a hotel on the East Coast.
Tretter said he charged $270 for the wood, but the shipping costs, including airfare, put the total bill close to $2,000.
Angie Nelson said her company has shipped rail containers filled with birch, oak, hickory and apple firewood to the deserts of the Middle East.
Fireplace aesthetes especially seem to want white-barked paper birch logs in their hearths.
"I've had a lot of women consider this romantic firewood. It burns in a blue flame. It crackles and pops. It's got a real pretty smell," Tretter said.
But some birch buyers don't want to burn it. They just want to look at it.
"Some people put it in their fireplace just for cosmetics," Joe Nelson said.
"We call it the Cadillac of firewood," said Sharon Wilczek, owner of Paul's Fireplace Wood in Little Falls.
Her company sells boxes of six to eight decorative birch logs, costing from $53 to $83 per box, depending on the thickness of the log.
Wilczek said her company's wood has been recommended by Town & Country magazine and her logs have appeared in a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot.
Customers have ranged from the Playboy Mansion to a movie star in Beverly Hills.
"I can't tell you who it is," Wilczek said.
An operating manual of sorts is included for those who actually might like to try burning the wood.
Instructions are included for those who might actually like to try burning the wood.
"When you order our holiday sampler," Wilczek said, "that comes with instructions on how to build a fire."
By Richard Chin [email protected]
Updated: 12/08/2011
Rich around the world snapping up Minnesota firewood at $40 a box - TwinCities.com
We Americans might depend on places like Saudi Arabia for the gas we burn in our cars. But guess where a well-heeled Saudi goes if he wants some white-barked birch logs, like the kind you see in designer magazine layouts, to burn in his fireplace.
Right here, baby.
The arrival of winter means firewood vendors from outstate Minnesota aren't delivering stacks to just Twin Cities homeowners.
They're also boxing up their prettiest hand-cut logs and FedExing them to Middle Eastern sheiks, Hollywood stars and Manhattan sophisticates who are all looking for a whiff of fragrant North Woods fireplace smoke.
That may be why a holiday gift guide article in the Wall Street Journal last weekend suggested a box of firewood from J.N. Firewood, described as "from the area where 'Fargo' was set."
"Ask for Angie, who says 'youbetcha' (no kidding!)," the article said.
"My phone did not quit ringing yesterday. Holy jiminy crickets," said Angie Nelson, owner of the firewood company in Fort Ripley, Minn.
Nelson said several new customers who saw the article made her say "you betcha" before they hung up.
Compared with other gifts suggested by the Wall Street Journal - a $310 bra and panty set, a $3,400 cashmere robe, a $19,900 wrist watch - a gift of firewood seems pretty affordable.
The newspaper noted that a 30-pound box of split hickory, oak and birch, enough for a couple of fires, costs about $40, plus shipping, which Nelson said usually runs about $25.
But if you live in Minnesota, J.N. Firewood trucks will deliver a rack of about 1,100 pounds of firewood to your door - for only $155.
That works out to a mere 14 cents a pound, compared with well over a couple of bucks per pound if you buy it by the box delivered by FedEx.
But customers from Hawaii to Florida apparently are willing to pay extra for real Minnesota wood.
"We ship a lot to New York and Manhattan," said Joe Nelson, Angie Nelson's husband.
Local firewood venders say a lot of the hardwoods available in Minnesota burn well and have nice-smelling smoke. But the wood is difficult to find in other parts of the country.
"In Colorado, all they have there are pine trees," Angie Nelson said.
Dennis Tretter, owner of Minnesota Firewood near Little Falls, said he just filled a rush order of about 1,500 pounds of "decorative red oak" to a hotel on the East Coast.
Tretter said he charged $270 for the wood, but the shipping costs, including airfare, put the total bill close to $2,000.
Angie Nelson said her company has shipped rail containers filled with birch, oak, hickory and apple firewood to the deserts of the Middle East.
Fireplace aesthetes especially seem to want white-barked paper birch logs in their hearths.
"I've had a lot of women consider this romantic firewood. It burns in a blue flame. It crackles and pops. It's got a real pretty smell," Tretter said.
But some birch buyers don't want to burn it. They just want to look at it.
"Some people put it in their fireplace just for cosmetics," Joe Nelson said.
"We call it the Cadillac of firewood," said Sharon Wilczek, owner of Paul's Fireplace Wood in Little Falls.
Her company sells boxes of six to eight decorative birch logs, costing from $53 to $83 per box, depending on the thickness of the log.
Wilczek said her company's wood has been recommended by Town & Country magazine and her logs have appeared in a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot.
Customers have ranged from the Playboy Mansion to a movie star in Beverly Hills.
"I can't tell you who it is," Wilczek said.
An operating manual of sorts is included for those who actually might like to try burning the wood.
Instructions are included for those who might actually like to try burning the wood.
"When you order our holiday sampler," Wilczek said, "that comes with instructions on how to build a fire."
