What kind of wood to sell?

[avalancher]

I had a guy that is logging nearby offer me a bunch of wood, and I mean a lot. the catch is simple, I can take every last stick of wood off of the end of their processor, all the butt ends before they load the trucks. I went over there yesterday, and was disapointed to find a lot of the wood is Poplar with some red oak mixed in. Most of these pieces are huge, my 24 inch bar will make a pass down each side of most of them to take them apart. The wood is nearby, just over 2 miles from the house but I am wondering if wood sale will be that good for junk wood like Poplar. Should I just mix it in with the oak and sell it as mixed hardwood, keep it sorted out and sell it cheaper, or what?
I have plenty of good places to cut right now of all oak and hickory but it is a lot further with a lot of brush to pull.
What would you do?
With wood getting harder to get, I hate to pass up an opportunity, but I also hate to spend my time hauling wood home that I can sell off.

 

[olyman]

burn the poplar--sell off the hardwood--its worth much more--use only hardwood at night---

 

[Wood Scrounge]

I don't know if you could market it this way but I work with a lot of people from the city. Some of them have fireplaces and even woodstoves after I am sure they have had their setups checked out by a pro I give them wood. The thing I hear from the fireplace people is that the dry poplar gives off a larger "prettier" flame which they want. Maybe you could sell it as fireplace wood?

 

[avalancher]

burn the poplar--sell off the hardwood--its worth much more--use only hardwood at night---

I will burn a lot of it in my shop stove, but my wife wont hear of being in the house. I cut 6 cords of hickory, and she loves the smell. Wont even let me bring oak if she knows I have hickory out behind the shop.
Women! Cant live with em, cant shoot em.

 

[avalancher]

I don't know if you could market it this way but I work with a lot of people from the city. Some of them have fireplaces and even woodstoves after I am sure they have had their setups checked out by a pro I give them wood. The thing I hear from the fireplace people is that the dry poplar gives off a larger "prettier" flame which they want. Maybe you could sell it as fireplace wood?

Hmm, hadnt either heard of that, or thought about marketing the wood as "prettier".
As I figure it, there must be in the neighorhood of 20-25 cords of the stuff sitting there. I hate to spend my time dragging this stuff home if it wont sell, or just to a limited crowd if I would be better spending my time going after the good oak.

 

[Zackman1801]

I will burn a lot of it in my shop stove, but my wife wont hear of being in the house. I cut 6 cords of hickory, and she loves the smell. Wont even let me bring oak if she knows I have hickory out behind the shop.
Women! Cant live with em, cant shoot em.

so then keep a cord or 2 of the oak and sell the rest of it.

 

[ulyssesjones]

I think it is worth taking just to establish the relationship. The next lot of wood he gets may be all oak. If you tell him the poplar isn't good enough he may call someone else to take the oak.

My 2 cents

Jones

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Should I just mix it in with the oak and sell it as mixed hardwood, keep it sorted out and sell it cheaper, or what?.

I try to keep different wood stacked separately. If anyone wants mixed wood we throw on some of each till it is a full load. If they want just oak we put on just oak. They want the cheapest stuff thats what they get.

Before the middle of Winter the grocery stores here will sell their bales of recyclable cardboard before someone backs up to them and pulls a couple onto a flatbed trailer. It takes only a few minutes to grab a couple (3000+ pounds) and be gone. In the coldest part of the year nearly any wood will sell if thats all there is left.

If it is free and less work than clearing brush take it and the oak, the standing timber will still be there.

 

[wdchuck]

burn the poplar--sell off the hardwood--its worth much more--use only hardwood at night---

I think it is worth taking just to establish the relationship. The next lot of wood he gets may be all oak. If you tell him the poplar isn't good enough he may call someone else to take the oak.

My 2 cents

Jones

That's what I do.

Had to take down a willow once, it was the gateway to the many oaks.

The worst thing that can happen, is you have plenty of wood.

 

[stihl025]

That's what I do.

Had to take down a willow once, it was the gateway to the many oaks.

The worst thing that can happen, is you have plenty of wood.

I agree 100%. A friend of mine and myself work solely with a small tree service who has a huge reputation. He does not have the man power or the trucks to remove the wood from his jobs, so we remove it for him. Kind of a trade off. He gets two experienced cutters who help on the site, and he doesn't have to bother with the wood. At the same time, he has better prices than the competition because he doesn't have to charge a removal fee. He is not hurting for work and we are not hurting for wood. We even take the pine for him, even though we don't really want it.

 

[oldchuck]

Around here poplar wouldn't sell. People expect and get hardwood. Tennessee is also hardwood country but I suppose it might depend on how picky your potential buyers are. In relatively treeless neighborhoods people apparently will burn anything but not in hardwood country. Perhaps you would be setting yourself up for a lot of hard work for nothing?

 

[aandabooks]

Women! Cant live with em, cant shoot em.

You can shoot em, but you won't be living with em for a long while.

 

[avalancher]

I agree 100%. A friend of mine and myself work solely with a small tree service who has a huge reputation. He does not have the man power or the trucks to remove the wood from his jobs, so we remove it for him. Kind of a trade off. He gets two experienced cutters who help on the site, and he doesn't have to bother with the wood. At the same time, he has better prices than the competition because he doesn't have to charge a removal fee. He is not hurting for work and we are not hurting for wood. We even take the pine for him, even though we don't really want it.

So what do you do with all the wood that is undesirable? Burn it yourself?
I had an agreement a year or so back with a tree removable company just like you do. Take it all. After six months of having wood dumped on the place I discovered that his employees where carting off all the good stuff to sell, and they were just dumping the trash at my place. I finally caught them in the act. I happened to see them taking down a large pin oak in town one day, but nothing got dumped at the house that afternoon. When I asked him about it, he admitted that a couple of his guys had carted it home. I dropped that relationship like a bad habit. Then the guy got kinda peeved when I told him that he needed to find somewhere else to dump at!

 

[avalancher]

You can shoot em, but you won't be living with em for a long while.

Your right there! But on some days, I have wondered if it wouldnt be a whole less of a hassle. Three squares a day, cable tv, rec room, and no honey do lists.