Anyone near Marlborough MA interested in Kiln dried wood for next season?

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maytrix

New Member
Jan 27, 2009
12
Marlborough, MA
We have friends that own a kiln dried firewood business in VT. They deliver to MA, but only in large volumes. I'm looking to find someone who would like to split 6 or 7 cords. 3 or 3.5 each - I forget what the minimum is. I'm just not sure I'd be ready to order this season since we have a cord of partially seasoned and a pallet of bio bricks right now. I'm just putting out the feelers to see if anyone would want to do this for next season.
 
Whats the price ? Will they deliver ? All Hardwoods ?
 
Their current price is $280 a cord. They can do a split delivery, since their normal delivery to this area is 6-7 cords though, there would be a split delivery charge, since they can split the delivery out. That's why I'm looking to see if anyone might be interested as I don't need 6-7 cords, but closer to 3 probably.

And it is all hardwood. Here's the website: http://www.coltonenterprises.com/
 
how does Kiln dried work? They dry it there but when we stack it outside doesn't it just pick up moisture? Does Kiln drying just "season" wood? instead of it taking a year?
 
Yeah, instead of it sitting for a year or two, it goes into the kiln for 2-3 days. It reduces the moisture content to 15-20%. It burns very well.

I'd buy locally, but I have yet to find anyone that has decent wood around here.
 
Maybe.
I know kiln dried costs more, as far as I know I can still get decent wood for less then 280.
I couldn't commit to anything until late Spring. I only need 1-2 cords of seasoned for next year too.
 
$280 cord for kiln dried wood is an extremely good price. If it is all hardwood and has been dried to 20% or so moisture content, it is superior to air-died wood no matter how long the seasoning process. Unless you live in an extremely humid area, this wood will not pick up substantial moisture from the atmosphere before next season as long as it is under cover. Nothing can beat kiln dried hardwood for the portion of the year when temperatures are sub-zero - just be careful of overfiring, just as you would with Biobricks or similar products.
 
fraxinus said:
it is superior to air-died wood no matter how long the seasoning process.

Hey Frax - why would this be? If I have air dried wood at 20% and kiln dried at 20%, whats the advantage?
 
Jags said:
fraxinus said:
it is superior to air-died wood no matter how long the seasoning process.

Hey Frax - why would this be? If I have air dried wood at 20% and kiln dried at 20%, whats the advantage?

No bugs....
 
Oh yeah...bugs... that has become somewhat of hot topic.

Wasn't there an thread floating around here announcing a NY law that any fire wood transported X # of miles be heat treated or klin dried? Almost forgot about that.

But at 280 a cord we'd be burning coal before paying that insane amount.
 
Define "near" :)

(20 miles south probably isn't "near", I'm thinking, but maybe it is if they're driving 100+ miles to begin with)
 
Would you be interested in going with unseasoned wood in the spring. It would be a lot cheaper. If you stack the wood early in the spring it should ready in the fall. I am looking for a lot of firewood for the next heating season
 
You know, at 280/cord that is right at the line for cost for me. I wonder if in bulk they would come down - perhaps during the summer their prices would come down a bit. BB etc get down to around 250 or so during the summer it seems and although one can argue the cord/ton exchange rate, it does seem somewhat close to me and once you consider the storage space involved... With that said, I did pay over that for my "seasoned" wood this year and would have done a LOT better with kiln dried!

So - put me on your list if you go forward with this project and let me know the final cost. Perhaps if you get enough volume you can negotiate a lower cost/cord. I'm looking at next year's supply so I can take delivery anytime this summer into the fall. If price is right, then I could go for up to 4 cords.
 
Jay777 said:
Define "near" :)

(20 miles south probably isn't "near", I'm thinking, but maybe it is if they're driving 100+ miles to begin with)

20 miles is probably not so "near", but I'll find out. The further apart we are, the more expensive the split delivery charge would be. I think there is a delivery charge on top of that too, but I'll double check.

One reason I want to go with this wood is 1) As stated, no bugs 2) I know its good quality wood and they stand behind it. If I could find a similiar price for seasoned wood nearby, I'd probably consider it, but I've only found a few places, one of which was $200 for 6 month seasoned and delivered with snow all over it..etc and another was $295 and they never called me back. Then some other place wanted $395 for unseasoned?!?!?

I really like the no bugs factor though since we store as much as possible in our garage and would stack the rest outside.

I'll keep tabs on this and PM everyone who is interested as we get closer to the summer. Perhaps if it doesn't work out for me, 2 others who are interested might be close enough to split a load. My wife and I have also toy'd with the idea of getting 6 cords ourselves - I just cringe thinking about stacking it all, plus the space it would take up.
 
Slow1 said:
You know, at 280/cord that is right at the line for cost for me. I wonder if in bulk they would come down - perhaps during the summer their prices would come down a bit.

I don't think the price would change - when talking with them, that was the price per cord for 6 cords. I just need to clarify if thats delivered. I know there's another charge for splitting the delivery.

And I doubt the prices would change in the summer. They can't seem to keep it in stock, so even if it gets slower in the summer, they can store it for the winter. Its quite a neat setup they have. The owner designed and built everything himself, from the sawmill to the kilns. They're replacing their kilns this summer too.
 
Maytrix said:
We have friends that own a kiln dried firewood business in VT. They deliver to MA, but only in large volumes. I'm looking to find someone who would like to split 6 or 7 cords. 3 or 3.5 each - I forget what the minimum is. I'm just not sure I'd be ready to order this season since we have a cord of partially seasoned and a pallet of bio bricks right now. I'm just putting out the feelers to see if anyone would want to do this for next season.

Id be interested, pm me the time frame
 
I wish. I'm even sorta on the way from VT to Marlborough, but Mason is pretty far from Marlborough. I wish my local kiln-dried guy would call me back. I was quite happy with the stuff I got from him this summer, I just didn't buy enough.
 
I remember in the 1970s when they used to cut and split everything behind the old farmhouse down the road, and stack it all in the small pole barn. The operation sure has gotten automated and more efficient since then!
 
Maytrix said:
I'll keep tabs on this and PM everyone who is interested as we get closer to the summer. Perhaps if it doesn't work out for me, 2 others who are interested might be close enough to split a load. My wife and I have also toy'd with the idea of getting 6 cords ourselves - I just cringe thinking about stacking it all, plus the space it would take up.
Thanks! I'm obviously not in a big hurry (for next year).. heck, you could eventually end up with a 20 cord order if there are a half-dozen people looking for this stuff.

The "I could store it in my garage" factor is the winner for me.. I'd rather have kiln-dried wood than biobricks or something.
 
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