Ordered A Cord - Highly Disappointed in Mike's Blue Wheels

This is our first winter in our new home after moving from Northern California. I installed a new wood burning stove insert into our masonry fireplace to reduce the dependency on (and cost) of fuel oil for heat. (And I just love burning wood.) A lot of what I've already cut on my property won't be ready until next year so we decided to order a cord of wood from Mike's Blue Wheels Landscaping in Mahopac, NY to supplement.

I was pleased by the nice review that I saw on Yelp, stating that they always receive a full cord and the quality of wood is good. Well, maybe two years ago that was the case but it certainly wasn't what I got. First, I was short 1/2 of a face cord once I stacked my wood up. I stack in single rows that are 99" wide and 48" high. The wood appeared to be "seasoned" and I found that on a couple of fresh splits that moisture content was below 20%. However, I've been burning some of his wood the past couple of days and I don't think it's all in that shape. Granted, we've had a fair amount of rain lately and it rained on the Friday night after the wood was delivered. I was bringing wood in last night and picked up a heavy piece of oak which I was suspicious of. Split it and checked it with my MM and it pegged at 50% - although I knew it as soon as I split it as it was visibly wet.

The wood was delivered a week ago Friday and I called their office on the following Monday to let them know I was short on some wood. The woman on the phone was very nice and helpful and asked if I could send some pictures and that they would make good on the full cord. On Tuesday morning I had sent them some pictures of my 2 1/2 stacks to show them I was short. (And at this point I hadn't burned any of the wood either.) I didn't hear back from them so I called them this Friday to follow up and the woman said that she would make sure the owner (Mike) called me before the end of the day.

Mike called, but said that he didn't really feel that I was that short and that if I wanted the additional wood I would have to come get it myself or order another cord for delivery and they would add that to the delivery. Really disappointed in this as I paid $220.00 for a cord of wood that's been split and supposedly seasoned and I get wet wood and a short delivery. I would expect for that premium price that I would have gotten much better service than what I did. Needless to say I won't be recommending them to anyone and I don't even want the additional wood at this point because it will likely be more wet wood that will be hard to burn.

The pics below were right after it had all been stacked. I know you run the risk when buying firewood, but it still doesn't make it any less disappointing.

Stacks are single row, and average split size is 16". There was some 10" and 12" as well as some 18" and 20" but it averages out to 16".

Yeah, I suspect that he is seasoning in piles and that's why I have some dry and some wet. But this is why I am cutting and splitting like crazy now - if I control the process, I know it will be right. Sometimes it's better to do things yourself.

48" x 99" x 16" comes out to 44 cu ft. x 2.5 = 110 cu ft or about half a face cord. If the average split were 18", then the above would be true and I wouldn't be disappointed. But the avg split size of what I got is 16".

FIshing_Fool said:

What are those tie downs on your tarp? They look slick.

IMO a cord is a subjective measurement I imagine one of their employees could re-stack the pile loosely and come out to a full cord. Not saying its right but a cord to you and a cord to me might stack out differently.

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Thanks! The tie downs are from Home Depot and are Canopy Tarp Ties. They have a plastic ball on one end and a bungee loop on the other. I fold an 8x10 heavy duty tarp in half and run the bungees through the eyelets on the corners on one side and then I bought a pack of tarp clips and use two of those on the opposite side (folded edge) with the bungees since there are no eyelets there. Then I just fold the corners in and hook the loops on an end of a split to hold it in place. We've had some 40 MPH winds and the tarps stayed right where they were supposed to.

Tarp Clips: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Homax-CinchTite-Multi-Purpose-Tarp-Clip-4-Pack-2615/203495590
Bungees: http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-12-in-Canopy-Tarp-Ties-8-Pack-JB3V430N/100401411

About the wood, you're absolutely right that it's a bit subjective. Being new to living in this part of the Country, I'm used to much cheaper pricing for a cord of wood and if I had paid $150 I wouldn't have my nose out of joint over it. Part of my problem is that I think that the way I stack is fair and therefore the guy should see it that way too. And I've never been accused of being stubborn...

pen said:

Pretty sure that's exactly what I said.

Point is, you are right, you are short. My point is, sadly, this is the norm. So, either deal with it from them and hope they will do better next time, or else find a different way to find the product you need.

In general, if you can't procure your own fuel, then perhaps try finding a source for the man made fuel that I mentioned, at least then you know how much is on a pallet, and it's dry. Otherwise, maybe you'd do better trying to by green wood and doing the seasoning yourself, but it sounds like you have that covered for the future.

Buying wood is tough. Hope you make out better next time.

Good luck,

pen

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Thanks Pen. Yes, it's unfortunate that this is the case too that so many suppliers deliver short - I was hoping it wouldn't be the case. I typically don't buy firewood, but since this is our first winter since we moved in I just needed a bit of a supplement to get me going. I've got some red oak that was standing dead and I cut it in late summer - it's around 23-24% on a fresh split so I want to hold out on that until next year. I've got plenty of thinning to do on my property, so I'll have plenty of firewood for the years ahead and I just scored 7 standing dead from a friend last weekend that I have to finish getting this weekend.

I have a touch of OCD here and there and that's certainly not helping in this situation. But I will have to say that as Chimney Smoke pointed out above, it's probably the most seasoned I've ever seen firewood from a supplier - even though some of the pieces are still far too wet to burn.

gzecc said:

Lets not forget to discuss the gorilla in the room. You had to move to upstate NY from Northern California. Now thats something to be P#*&% off about!

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Honestly, I'm happier here. I grew up in SW Missouri, and NY is much more like home than CA ever was. Also, the CA Air Resource Board (CARB) dictates days that you can burn... although I always ignored them. I also like having more room to spread out, which you won't find in CA unless you are in a more remote area or have a lot of money. Nothing against California, but I don't really miss it all that much.

Thanks again to all for the replies. They told me that their wood is seasoned for a full year, which is hard to believe if I'm finding splits at 50% still. But I suppose it could still be possible if he's just piling it up and leaving it. Aside from his stuff, I've got red oak, birch, balsam fir, and black locust in my other stacks seasoning right now. I scored 7 standing dead trees from a friend's place last weekend, of which 5 I felled, limbed, and bucked last Sunday. I'm going back on Saturday to fell, limb, and buck the other two this weekend as well as pick up all the wood. I'm estimating in total somewhere between 3.5 and 4 cords. The tops were fairly dry so I'll check MC and hopefully there will be enough dry stuff in there to get me through this winter among what I have already. Once I get through this winter I will be set. If I buy anything else this year, it's likely going to be Eco Bricks or something of the sort. I'll probably have to go to CT to get those though, as I haven't found any dealers around here yet that carry them.