Log Length via a tree service - how much?

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ColdNH

ColdNH

Minister of Fire
Oct 14, 2009
599
Southern, NH
So I found a tree service selling green log length hardwood on craigslist for cheap money (in these parts) (65 a cord if your within 10 miles of him) 85 a cord delievered for me since im 20 miles from him.

So i had him drop off 2 cord tonight, wood looks good, ranges from 6" diameter to 12" diameter, all red and white oak, very few knots and odd ball pieces. I counted about 20 sticks ranging from 8-11 feet long and a few shorties

The driver stated he was a little light so he gave me a 10$ discount (80 bucks a cord)

The truck was about as big as the on in the picture, although it had sides as high as the dump bed and the wood was about 10" below the top.

1923gch_27.jpeg


Its hard to tell at night and in log length form, but how much wood does it look like I ended up with? There is a break even point where I would rather scrounge. i figured at 85$ a cord, delivered to my processing area(without having to buy 10 cord at once) it was worth it, but if I only got a cord here, 160 a cord is a little steep!

I guess I will know when i cut split and stack it all.

problem is the guy has a cord and a half of cherry he is willing to deliver to me tommarow for the same price (85 a cord) so i need to let him know asap!

I guess worse case scenario its cheaper then buying wood and he is delivering me good quality stuff.
 

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Hopefully reasonable SWAG for first load: 1.5 cord. You'll never know very accurately, for a bunch of reasons.
Assuming you know that the oak will not be dry enough for at least two years.
Cherry is so-so fuel wood, with big selling-point (to me) that it smells nice to neighbors. If you like the approximate price of $110/cord, I'd suggest that you go for it now and get it out of the way of scrounging operations. (Get some skids quick to stack it all.)
Why is it that so few vendors price honestly?
 
CTYank said:
Why is it that so few vendors price honestly?
Click to expand...

Because they don't have to. You make more money that way, and there are more than enough dupes out there who will take it.

With that said, you don't look terribly far off here. I agree with CTYank that you seem to have about 1.5 cords there (I had a similar 2 cord log length delivery back at the end of September, so I'm doing a quick visual comparison here), but, since that's an approximation of "slightly under 2 cords" and the guy at least admitted that he was short, I wouldn't right him off as a trickster or a cheat just yet. $110 a cord is still pretty cheap in NH (and, like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if it fell down to $100 a cord), so, if you have the space and the inclination, I might take him up on that cherry offer if I were you.

Out of curiosity, where is he based out of? If he's close to me, I might just give him a call!
 
Well, I didnt get the impression he was trying to screw me, He is just trying to make a buck and he did mention he was a little light, so ill probably buy the cherry off of him, cause even if it is 110 a cord, thats still a decent price for log length delivered around here, the going rate seams to be 1000$ for a 10 cord load a little more for half a load, clicky
I just wish I could find one of those tree service companies that would dump it at my house for free!

He is out of bedford, so the seacoast may be a bit out of his range!

It sure beats the annoyances of scrounging and the wear and tear on my truck. although there is a guy in Concord selling wood for 55 a cord, you cut and haul at your own leisure.
 
I have not gone down this path but from what I have looked into here in NH and what a few friends of mine that have outdoor furnaces that get large loads have experienced it seems most of the "grapple" loads delivered here have about 8 cords of wood and sell for $800 so if your quantities are right I'd say you got a good price and I like the smaller and easier to manage diameters you got also. Some of my friends that got grapple loads have had to deal with suckers 2 ft in diameter and I can tell ya those suckers are brutal on us light weights with 18" saws and sorry ars backs:)

Hope it works out for you.
 
Seems kinda like a bad deal to me, that's wood that he'd have to pay to dispose of normally, he should be happy to dump for free maybe a little gas money, you still have the bulk of the work ahead of ya.
 
Redbear86 said:
Seems kinda like a bad deal to me, that's wood that he'd have to pay to dispose of normally, he should be happy to dump for free maybe a little gas money, you still have the bulk of the work ahead of ya.
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Except theres probably enough people that will buy it so either you take it or someone else does. Its easier than scrounging but not as fun, if you have room and are looking to add to your stacks Id buy it at those prices.
 
I guess if theres a demand for it, around here they'll drop it off for free, usually better stuff than you can buy a permit for, i can mainly get pine and aspen here with a permit but they bring more ash and elm (because thats whats planted in town)

PS. Rus are those "grapple loads" a logging truck load? some guy was adertising a logging truck load around here for $1600- just wondering how many cords a load would equal
 
Redbear86 said:
Seems kinda like a bad deal to me, that's wood that he'd have to pay to dispose of normally, he should be happy to dump for free maybe a little gas money, you still have the bulk of the work ahead of ya.
Click to expand...

Yea, Heaven forbid that anyone would want to make any money! That would be just un-American.

Gary
 
If you do a search, you'll see that quite a few of us do log loads. I've only done 2 since we started burning, first was 10 cord and the other was 20.
All logs are a little over 8' and loads were VERY close to spot on for amount.
The logs are all manageable sizes (most around 6-10").
From processing all that (I'm down to processing the last 2/3 cord), it usually works out to 20-25 logs per 1/3 cord or 60-75/cord.
When I first started, I just split until the trailer was full, then decided to count logs. 5'x10' trailer. It's VERY consistent. YMMV
 
Looks like a good deal it if works out to be 2 cords. c/s/d is running $180-$200 here for green, so I hope you get the full 2 cords.
Plus, I like to work outside, and not having a ton of equipment at hand something like this would be great for me as the logs appear to be at a managable size.
Let us know how you make out from your neighbor to the south.
 
I have yet to find someone up here who will drop it off for free, There are alot of wood burners up here and for the most part, most tree companies are well aware they can make money off good wood and will truck it back to thier woodlot and process it and sell it as firewood or do like this guy is doing and sell it in log form.



Redbear86 said:
I guess if theres a demand for it, around here they'll drop it off for free, usually better stuff than you can buy a permit for, i can mainly get pine and aspen here with a permit but they bring more ash and elm (because thats whats planted in town)

PS. Rus are those "grapple loads" a logging truck load? some guy was adertising a logging truck load around here for $1600- just wondering how many cords a load would equal
Click to expand...
 
Redbear86 said:
Seems kinda like a bad deal to me, that's wood that he'd have to pay to dispose of normally, he should be happy to dump for free maybe a little gas money, you still have the bulk of the work ahead of ya.
Click to expand...
You are out of touch with reality. Why would he have to pay to dispose it? It is a free market. $85 is not a bad price to pay for a cord delivered. I pay $1200 for a 12 cord grapple truckload delivered and yes, it is roundwood logs, not firewood.

BTW, my wood monger's truck has a few more wheels than that little thing.
100_0298.JPG
 
Redbear86 said:
Seems kinda like a bad deal to me, that's wood that he'd have to pay to dispose of normally, he should be happy to dump for free maybe a little gas money, you still have the bulk of the work ahead of ya.
Click to expand...

You pay to dump what no one wants.
Around here that's pine. You charge the customer to dump that.
Hardwood people want. You don't charge the customer to dump that. Because you can dispose of it relatively inexpensively. maybe even charge the customer a bit less because of it.

That's how it has worked when I've paid a tree service to come take trees down that I don't have the equipment to handle. Slew of different prices depending on what I want. From just get it on the ground and leave, to gone and not even a visible stump when you are done.
 
I just found a landscape company who'll drop off for free. They said they don't do many trees but was certainly interested in not paying to drop it at landfill. Who knows what I'll come home to one day - could be lots of pine, poplar and manitoba maple (very typical around here) - but there might be a few gems as well. We'll see... the junk wood is easy enough to get rid of later, my daycare provider runs an outdoor wood burner and he'll take all the softwood I can feed him. Probably keep a cord or so for shoulder season and the shop and offer up the rest.
 
ColdNH said:
Well, I didnt get the impression he was trying to screw me, He is just trying to make a buck and he did mention he was a little light, so ill probably buy the cherry off of him, cause even if it is 110 a cord, thats still a decent price for log length delivered around here, the going rate seams to be 1000$ for a 10 cord load a little more for half a load, I just wish I could find one of those tree service companies that would dump it at my house for free!

He is out of bedford, so the seacoast may be a bit out of his range!

It sure beats the annoyances of scrounging and the wear and tear on my truck. although there is a guy in Concord selling wood for 55 a cord, you cut and haul at your own leisure.
Click to expand...

Big key there. You don't have to haul it and that can be worth a lot.

Not sure though how he gave you a $10 discount from $85 and came up with $80.
 
Not sure though how he gave you a $10 discount from $85 and came up with $80
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10$ discount was on two cord. (5$ off each cord)
 
Got ya. It will be interesting to see how much you get. It does not look like more than a cord but I surely can be wrong. In this case, I hope I am wrong.
 
Just keep in mind, this is probably "urban wood". Most mills will not touch it as it may have hardware in it. If you see any blue stains on the butt of the cuts, that usually a good sign that there are nails in it. Not a major issue if you use a metal detector, but otherwise just keep an eye out.

By the way up in the north country finding delivered wood is darn near impossible these days. Whatever is cut is going to the pulp mill in Rumford ME. We didnt have the recent tree damage during rhe October storm. The last cut and split green cord I saw was $235 with no delivery.
 
peakbagger said:
By the way up in the north country finding delivered wood is darn near impossible these days. Whatever is cut is going to the pulp mill...
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IKWYM. We have to compete with the prices the mills will pay. That and the wood mongers only do firewood as a side line. Most of them don't have grapple loaders and the few that do are busy. The Ash I buy grows in swamps that are harvested in Winter and hauled on ice roads. Most loggers just set aside the Ash they cut when they are logging Spruce/Pine/Birch/Poplar for the mills and sell the Ash to the grapple truck guys who might have to scrounge up a little here and there to make a load.

I need to put my order in months in advance and if I don't get my load by early March, I get worried as the truckers scramble to get their wood to the mills before the roads get soft and don't have time for firewood that doesn't pay as well.
 
Well the log guy came by again. Didnt have a choice really, he just showed up and started dumping it. I was able to pick my price this time. he had a cord and a half of cherry and oak, i told him 140 and he said ok.


all in all, i think he brought me 3+ cord for 300 bucks, so im happy. Have a nice start to my stash. just need a stove now! also managed to scrounge 1/3 a cord of maple for free. guy had it all cut to 3-4 foot lengths and stacked by the end of his driveway. cant beat scrounges like that!
 

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i pay $200.00 for this load

IMAG0011-1.jpg
 
Stevebass4 said:
i pay $200.00 for this load

IMAG0011-1.jpg
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Nice

Hows the s2ki forum? still hanging out there? havent been over there in a long time!
 
small world - dont really hang out there much anymore either

firewood is my hobby now ;-)
 
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