Splitting wood on shares

If he is doing all of the bull work, sounds pretty fair.

KC

As we all know processing firewood is a great deal of work. I think you are going to half to trust him that he is paying you your percentage. If you get yours first how will he know how much is left?

Do you know him? If not, why not ask him for references since he has likely done this service for other folks too. You could always limit what he takes out and check up on him. Trust but verify.

Because this is a business deal where there is payment (in firewood), you likely retain some liability in case he gets hurt or if he hurts someone else or causes damage in the process. Cornell Cooperative Extension has a great article on landowner liability when it comes to firewood. It is a 3MB file so be careful with dialup internet service. Use the following link and scroll down to the section on Liability. Choose this article: Liability Considerations for NY Woodland Owners from the list.

Cornell Publications for Woodland Owners

Edit: These articles are free. Not sure why there is a link at the top of the Cornell page that says something about purchasing....

Sound fair to me , what other plans do you have for the wood ? Get a reference or two and some type of release of liability before starting. With the split of the wood one guy I know would cut a pile for the land owner about one days worth of work and then cut three piles for himself one days work at a time and haul it out each day then the guy would haul the landowners over to his place and drop it off. Then would start the series of loads, you will have to find a reasonable way to split and getting all your wood up front is not reasonable remember he is doing all the work and could certainly find some ways to cheat you if he really wants to.
I remember a CL ad where the guy had a couple of down trees and wanted me to pay him to cut and haul it away , when I countered knowing what a tree service would charge he seemed offended what the #$%%^ its a lot of work to cut and haul wood.

I've always heard 50/50 but never participated in such an arrangement. 25/75 seems more fair to the guy consuming time and equipment as long as he is dumping your share by your shed.

I think I would do it.

I think 25/75 is fair. It's a lot of work to convert tops to firewood.

I'm going to agree its fair. I was once offered to cut wood off of a gentlemans property for my own firewood......... deal was I gave him one cord cut / split for every four of my own. I didn't do it, but i probably would have if he were close by.

Two years ago my neighbor had a big maple cut down and blocked up. All I had to do was split it and we would each get half. I would not go through that much work for someone else. I had to noodle the blocks into quarters or more to get them on the splitter. I would not do it for someone else.

I feel the 75/25 split is fine as you do not have to do anything. If I was cutting I would not do it for less.

Billy

Welcome to the forum I Stand Alone.

A 25/75 split for firewood is very good and that is exactly what we did a few years back. 1/3 vs 2/3 is more common on most things but firewood I feel 25/75 is a more fair deal for all. When I did it though, I did make sure to count the loads and at the end they tried to get away without giving me the last load. That load I got paid in cash simply because I had to chase them down (not far as they were on a neighbor's place!) Naturally, if they had not made good they would have been kicked out of the neighbors place and they knew it. The pot lickers still got away with my old cant hook though..... Sometimes things just work out that way. It if funny though because a few of his customers somehow learned exactly how much wood they were paying for when they bought from him and it turned out he was shorting everyone. I have no idea how those people found out.....but they did. Strange how things work out sometimes.

Never worked a deal like this . . . but seems pretty fair to me . . . processing the tops with all of the branches and in general, smaller sized wood usually means it takes longer to get a load of wood (i.e. I can fill up my cart or trailer pretty darn fast if I'm just hauling the main trunk of a tree . . . but it takes a lot longer if I'm cutting up tops and branches -- although it is easier on the back). If he is trustworthy and is doing all of the work and all of the labor and all you have to do is provide the tree tops which are there already . . . . unless you plan to go up there and cut them it seems like a half decent deal.

The first thing you need to decide is if you are willing and able to cut them up yourself. The second thing to think about is how long will the tops last. If they are oak they will last a long time, if they are something like cottonwood they will rot and you may as well use them. The going rate for something like this is 25-50%. I would work out a deal where he drops off the first load for you, then he takes three loads, repeat as necessary. Don't try and barter with him too much because it is easy to cheat on a deal like this if you irk him too much. However i think you mentioned he is a logger? If that's the case he probably has access to lots of wood and maybe lowball's a bunch of people and takes the best deals.

Someone help me out with the old-timer's saying " A cord of wood split and stacked in the woodshed is worth ?? in the bush"

Ramon Bow said:

Someone help me out with the old-timer's saying " A cord of wood split and stacked in the woodshed is worth ?? in the bush"

Click to expand...

Depends on what time of year it is and how much more is in the shed.

How is he going to get the wood out?
If he is going to skid the tops , you're going to end up with alot of stand damage from those wide tops scabbing everything up.
If he's going to drive to each top hes gonna cut alot of saplings to get there. Being a logger myself I can tell you that it wood not happen on my property unless I was doing it myself. I'd let them rot before someone else trashed my woods.

Another way to think about it:

Current firewood stumpage price here is about $15 per standard cord, more or less. Current green firewood price delivered here is about $150, more or less. Given that the wood is on the ground already would increase its value, but it's tops, not logs, so it's a push at best.

If the logic is ok so far, a firewood dealer would pay you $15/cord for the tops and you would have to pay him $150/cord if you wanted cut/split/delivered firewood. In a trade, that is a ratio of 9:1 (he cuts 10 cords and gives you one). Your deal at 3:1 with your reputable vendor seems to be very good.