Why do people wait so late to buy/cut wood

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lopiliberty

Minister of Fire
Oct 7, 2011
961
WV
If I had 20 dollars for every load of wood that I have seen go past my house since the first of october I would be very rich. I sit back off the road not far and every load that has went by I can tell its green. I'm sure those are some of the trees that sandy knocked down. I have cut and been around enough dry wood to know what it looks like even from far away. Sure would hate to be on the receiving end of all that wood.:mad: I guess people don't realize the benifit of truly dry(seasoned) wood
 
Hopefully not all that wood will be burned this year but I still feel the main reason folks get their wood so late that is does not have time to dry is laziness. The other reason is ignorance. This is a story that is told year after year after year and is even printed in some books; cut the wood in the fall and burn it in the winter. There are many out there who have been told this and believe it.

To back this up somewhat, just do some searching in the Hearth Room and look at new wood burners. They can't figure out why they have so much creosote. Why they have the smoke smell. Why they can't get a good fire going nor can get the stove top temperature above 200 or so. Many will give up and stop trying to burn wood. Others will blame everything except the wood. After all, we bought seasoned wood.....
 
Why do folks wait?

1) It's the American way . . . I mean when we get hungry, we go out to eat . . . when we want heat, we turn up the thermostat . . . planning ahead is so, so,so very hard. ;)

2) Folks believe the dealer when he reassures them that the wood is "seasoned" . . . and in his mind with his definition it may well be.
 
Jake is right, we tend to believe the wood dealer when they tell us the wood is dry.
Folks who have to depend on the wood seller are at their mercy. I have had many a dealer swear his wood is seasoned, and comes in at about 25-35 percent. Now, what I do, thanks to all of your suggestions, is have my guy deliver two to four cords in November and stack it up for two years or more from now. That way I am not giving myself a coronary trying to move it to the back, cut the long pieces, split the big pieces, and stack everything in the spring when it is muddy, the summer when it is sweltering. I usually get some more in February before the rains come and planting season starts.
 
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"Hey, I don't want my wood too dry, it will burm quick"::P
 
I'm sure members of this forum never procrastinate. In fact, I believe all of us prepare and submit our income tax returns by the first week in February...
 
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It's the way it's been done for years.
Don't know that it better to do it another way & have dry wood saves money & burns cleaner.
Don't take the time to educate themselves on something so simple as fire wood.

Some are so set in their ways, that learning something new is impossible.
Try to explain it to them, they get huffy & done it that way forever, not going to change now :)

Why?
Most don't know that there are several benefits to burning dry wood.
Don't know that wood cut in Sept/Oct is not dry.
If they knew & understood, most would change. Then wood sellers would have to change too ;)
 
We had to last year because we didn't even close until late September. Now if we were to buy, this is the time when you can find it for sale everywhere, so we'd pick it up now and stack it for the future.

But most people probably just don't know any better.
 
You must know my BIL! As he shoves in another huge rournd that we cut last week into his OWB.

I have a friend who loves to cut ash this time a year because he can stack it in his basement to burn this winter
 
I cut a lot of wood in the fall and I sweat like a hog when it's 50 outside.I dont cut in the summer. i cut a few cords this week. All downed trees. Some dead enough to burn now. Most of it will just sit stacked until seasoned.
I'm sure you see a lot of not so seasoned wood going to someone who will have a frustrating time burning it this year.
 
So how do we educate the "wood dealers" that there wood is not dry enough to burn in the newer epa stoves?

Last year I called large local dealer and I asked him if he had any 2 year seasoned wood (In massive piles, of course), and explained that these new stoves need 2 year seasoned wood. His reply; Well I got one of those stoves too. I have 18 month seasoned I can send you. Just stack it and it will be fine. I bought a cord. The size of the splits were massive from the wood processor. And mostly oak.

It's still stacked drying. On to the next dealer:(. (until my processed wood is dry).
 
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When someone is living paycheck wheter by choice or by cicumstances, buying wood isnt important until they start getting cold and realize they cant affrod to fill the oil tank. I my area, there was only one dealer listing firewood until things started cooling down. Now there are three advertisers and at least they are all honest and selling it green. The other reason is that some of the dealers work seasonally and once the tourist head out of town they are out of work until ski season starts up so fireqood is a cash job to add to their weekly unemployment checks.

I do a lot of cutting this time of year, the leaves are off, no bugs and the ground is dry, of course its for next year but to someone who didnt know they would think I was filling up this years pile.
 
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So how do we educate the "wood dealers" that there wood is not dry enough to burn in the newer epa stoves?

Last year I called large local dealer and I asked him if he had any 2 year seasoned wood (In massive piles, of course), and explained that these new stoves need 2 year seasoned wood. His reply; Well I got one of those stoves too. I have 18 month seasoned I can send you. Just stack it and it will be fine. I bought a cord. The size of the splits were massive from the wood processor. And mostly oak.

It's still stacked drying. On to the next dealer:(. (until my processed wood is dry).


I don't think we educate them. I think they know. I think they want to sell. We just use our knowledge . If you buy would treat it as freshly cut. I like cutting my own and splitting it to a usable size and not huge hunks of wood that are a pain to handle and take longer to season.
 
I don't think we educate them. I think they know. I think they want to sell. We just use our knowledge . If you buy would treat it as freshly cut. I like cutting my own and splitting it to a usable size and not huge hunks of wood that are a pain to handle and take longer to season.

I agree, and until the "majority of wood burners" not in the know learn that they need 2 year dry wood, the dealers will continue to sell sub par wood.
 
See a lot of green wood being hauled here, too.
I hate procrastinators.
Gotta go, rifle season opens tomorrow and orange coat is somewhere in the attic, and I gotta find my .308 shells or the bag with all the winter gloves / hats...<>
 
If I had 20 dollars for every load of wood that I have seen go past my house since the first of october I would be very rich. I sit back off the road not far and every load that has went by I can tell its green. I'm sure those are some of the trees that sandy knocked down. I have cut and been around enough dry wood to know what it looks like even from far away. Sure would hate to be on the receiving end of all that wood.:mad: I guess people don't realize the benifit of truly dry(seasoned) wood
Hey whoa....The green wood that went by someones house a month ago was mine, cause I ordered some to make sure I had 2 year seasoned wood for 2015 season and when I freed up the space for more wood I then ordered a couple cord....
 
I think folks wait until now to get wood is because it's too hot to get wood in the summer :cool:
That's true, talked to a tree service about that last summer. He said " man you can't give this stuff away in the summer, but come winter it disappears overnight" He has dropped off a few loads for me.
 
I don't think we educate them. I think they know. I think they want to sell. We just use our knowledge . If you buy would treat it as freshly cut. I like cutting my own and splitting it to a usable size and not huge hunks of wood that are a pain to handle and take longer to season.

I do know .
24 years in the business and I could never get enough wood ahead to season. It sold green (and still does) 365 days a year .

7 years ago I added an extra crew for a year and a half and put up 3500 cord to sell as seasoned. No one wood pay the extra $ for seasoned. I sold maybe 10% at seasoned price in the dead cold of winter, 70% at around green price and I lost 20% to rot and it all went through the grinder for mulch at a loss.Lost my azz, NEVER AGAIN !
The firewood business is only profitable on efficiencies. The less you handle it the more you make. That's why less than favorable wood is the norm.
 
Jake is right, we tend to believe the wood dealer when they tell us the wood is dry.
Folks who have to depend on the wood seller are at their mercy. I have had many a dealer swear his wood is seasoned, and comes in at about 25-35 percent. Now, what I do, thanks to all of your suggestions, is have my guy deliver two to four cords in November and stack it up for two years or more from now. That way I am not giving myself a coronary trying to move it to the back, cut the long pieces, split the big pieces, and stack everything in the spring when it is muddy, the summer when it is sweltering. I usually get some more in February before the rains come and planting season starts.

Hey, just an idea if you are buying wood years ahead is to buy around March or April, prices drop down a bit with the whole supply/demand thing. Or you can join the ranks of us scroungers, plenty of free wood in and around our neck of the woods. ;)
 
Why do folks wait?

1) It's the American way . . . I mean when we get hungry, we go out to eat . . . when we want heat, we turn up the thermostat . . . planning ahead is so, so,so very hard. ;)

2) Folks believe the dealer when he reassures them that the wood is "seasoned" . . . and in his mind with his definition it may well be.
So I was surfin Craigslist recently. I found an ad for firewood. He's local, I would be inclined to buy from him, or at least check him out. He goes through the whole story of how the company processes wood, where it comes from and the ins and outs of how to find your supplier if you choose to go elsewhere.

The prices seem steep, but if you know what you are looking for it's prolly not an unsatisfactory deal. Jake's post reminded me of this CL find.
 
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I do know .
24 years in the business and I could never get enough wood ahead to season. It sold green (and still does) 365 days a year .

7 years ago I added an extra crew for a year and a half and put up 3500 cord to sell as seasoned. No one wood pay the extra $ for seasoned. I sold maybe 10% at seasoned price in the dead cold of winter, 70% at around green price and I lost 20% to rot and it all went through the grinder for mulch at a loss.Lost my azz, NEVER AGAIN !
The firewood business is only profitable on efficiencies. The less you handle it the more you make. That's why less than favorable wood is the norm.
That goes back to people just not knowing about how much better seasoned wood burns. How long did that stuff sit around before it went to rot? I'm guessing with that kind of volume it was in piles on the ground.
 
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While you see loads of wet wood being delivered lately, we live out in the boonies and this time of year some properties we drive past have put out stacks of splits with signs ($55 or $60) for what at a glance looks like about 1/3 cord. And like you noted, it looks like just processed. Some of those stacks-for-sale usually disappear by snowfall most years. Likely gone to the burners that use it right away.
 
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I'm sure members of this forum never procrastinate. In fact, I believe all of us prepare and submit our income tax returns by the first week in February...

I'm sure that is a typo. I believe you meant October 15th. ==c

Or October 16th or 17th if the 15th falls on a weekend (or a weird DC holiday). ::-)
 
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