myzamboni - 09 May 2008 07:35 PM

njtomatoguy - 09 May 2008 07:02 PM

Local family owned garden center

$195 cord oak split and delivered $8 delivery charge, less than 5 miles.  No discount on multiple cord purchase. 6-15 miles delivery $15 delirery charge

Not too bad for oak split and delivered to my driveway, in my opinion. Probably go with the monce I get a new car.

Got a nice load of elm last night. FREE

Pine is more than that out here for a cord.  Oak is 350-400

ya, but you`re already getting lots of free heat and sunshine

savageactor7 - 09 May 2008 07:23 PM

I’ve been burning (and cutting my own wood) wood since ‘77 and having a lot of work experience I can tell you there’s no harder work than harvesting, cutting, and splitting wood.

Amen brother. I wouldn’t sell this stuff I lugged out of the woods, split and stacked for a grand a cord. But I am eying the guy down the road with a professional processing operation and if he is selling for $160 a cord again this year I am real tempted.

I started in ‘77 myself and the bones be getting old. That wood he sells is starting to look real nice.

Joseph - 09 May 2008 09:03 AM

Well… The local wood suppliers have caught on in western mass. I guess demand is up for wood and delivery costs keep going higher to due gas prices. I’ve been quoted between $200-300 / cord for hardwood by the common suppliers in western mass. I almost swallowed my phone. Luckily I found a farmer that can get me 3 green cords of oak for $130 bucked to 16” and split. These are crazy times!

Your farmer is the key.  Dealers are going to charge what the market will bear.  Local guys with a woodlot who sell their extra to a few neibhros in the area are much less inclined to squeeze every last dollar they can out of you.  That said, just the cost of operations has gone up significantly and I would expect to pay more as gas/diesel keeps going up.  Still, I got several well-split cords in this spring for the same price I paid last fall, at least.  (Yeah, it only took me once to get smart and understand I had to get my wood in the spring.  Now I’m having *loads* of fun trying to stack the stuff on uneven ground without having it fall over sideways in a good wind or when one of the cats jumps up on it.  With luck, I’ll be finished by the time I have to bring it into my attached woodshed this fall...)

Joseph - 09 May 2008 09:03 AM

Well… The local wood suppliers have caught on in western mass. I guess demand is up for wood and delivery costs keep going higher to due gas prices. I’ve been quoted between $200-300 / cord for hardwood by the common suppliers in western mass. I almost swallowed my phone. Luckily I found a farmer that can get me 3 green cords of oak for $130 bucked to 16” and split. These are crazy times!

Where the Heck do you live in western mass???
I gotta guess out by the ny line ......  call those people back and ask for green they are selling you seasoned prices!.. (which people do have)
i am in springfield area and seasoned is still around 185-200 but 300 is crazy i have called for green and its 130-150
but i am hearing this fall will be 200-225 at least...for seasoned

and who is the local farmer???  130 i have some friends who would love that price.......

PM me you name(s) and number(s), and I’ll give it to the guy dropping off my load in 2 weeks. I’m sure he would be happy for more customers.

iceman - 09 May 2008 08:47 PM

Joseph - 09 May 2008 09:03 AM

Well… The local wood suppliers have caught on in western mass. I guess demand is up for wood and delivery costs keep going higher to due gas prices. I’ve been quoted between $200-300 / cord for hardwood by the common suppliers in western mass. I almost swallowed my phone. Luckily I found a farmer that can get me 3 green cords of oak for $130 bucked to 16” and split. These are crazy times!

Where the Heck do you live in western mass???
I gotta guess out by the ny line ......  call those people back and ask for green they are selling you seasoned prices!.. (which people do have)
i am in springfield area and seasoned is still around 185-200 but 300 is crazy i have called for green and its 130-150
but i am hearing this fall will be 200-225 at least...for seasoned

and who is the local farmer???  130 i have some friends who would love that price.......

I got at least a cord combined of elm and oak in the past couple days.  Easy pickings, one guy even helped me load. He paid to have the tree cut down and removed. They cut, shredded the branches, and took some small stuff, but left him with oak rounds 3 ft in diameter. He’s pissed, so I offered to “help”.  My buddy has a Gas splitter and a truck, and this guy wants it gone.

Gave him my cell, he gave me his, and told him to give me till mon or tue to round up the troops.  I also asked him to please let us help him and stop wheeling stuff to the curb.

We’ll take care of it!

Savageactor7 is absolutely right, wood cutting is difficult brutal work, hard on people and equipment. I’d add it’s also among the most dangerous occupations there is. Anyone who thinks even $250-300 a cord for split, reasonably dry wood is too much needs to spend a day or two in the woods - preferably when its at least 80 and the mosquitos and blackflies are out in force. Second choice would be a windy January day with temperatures below 10 degrees. No more complaints about the price, I guarantee.

These prices are crazy. Here in upstate NY I am paying $60-$70 a face cord cut and split. we have lots of trees here and I am sure the cost of living is less but that is a big diference in prices.

Still $150 cord for oak here, but I bet the price will go up next fall. http://www.mid-westfirewood.com

At those prices it’s tempting for me to buy 3 cords and get myself 3 years ahead. But it seems that I always fall into a free scrounge pile or two during the summer. Right now I know where I can get 3 or 4 cords of free pine, but I’m spoiled and will hold out for good hardwood.

les - 12 May 2008 08:01 AM

These prices are crazy. Here in upstate NY I am paying $60-$70 a face cord cut and split. we have lots of trees here and I am sure the cost of living is less but that is a big diference in prices.

Face cord is much smaller, about a third of a full cord, which is what we’re talking about.  If you’re paying 60-70 for a face cord, that’s about the same or more than I’m paying for a full at 180.

Prices are definitely going up for next year.  Home heating oil just hit a new all time high at $3.60/gallon wholesale (compared to an average of $2.60 last year - and remember how many people got squeezed then).  Natural gas prices are also significantly higher.  If current prices hold (I actually think they will go down) next winter is going to be a real “duzzie”.  Still not sure how many people will flock to stoves like they did during the oil crunch of the 70’s - you didn’t see any of that this winter, but maybe people are finally approaching a breaking point.  Consumer debt to income ratios is at an extreme.  Credit card debt near extremes.  Home prices declining nationwide for the first time since the great depression, people can no longer tap that equity… one more really cold winter could be the straw that brakes the camels back for a lot of people.  But since you don’t save any money heating with wood in the first year or two (after all expenses) I don’t really see wood burning as a “go to solution” for a cash strapped American.  Then again, it would be perfectly expected that a big industry name like Vermont Castings goes bankrupt at the very bottom of the market, just before it kicks into high gear.