SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
smokinjay said:
Its all in the production expectations and the time you have available to get things done right?
How free is free?????????????
- Thread starter woodchip
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Its all in the production expectations and the time you have available to get things done right?
smokinj
Minister of Fire
SolarAndWood said:
With the snow and heavy heavy rains and standing water made this year very tough!
Wood Duck
Minister of Fire
How free is free? If you factor in the equipment plus your time, plus maybe the cost of the land, vehicle depreciation, and other hidden costs, I think buying wood is cheaper than free wood is.
However, when I see a pile of rounds by the roadside waiting for somebody to haul them away, I feel like free is free.
However, when I see a pile of rounds by the roadside waiting for somebody to haul them away, I feel like free is free.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
CTYank said:
Shame?! I fully admire the man who uses hand tools. Sadly we had a man not too far from us who passed away but I must say I always admired him. He lived in a small house and we nearing age 90. Every year he put up his own wood. He did not own a chain saw. He did not own any power equipment to haul his wood to the house. He hauled wood on a 2-wheeled cart and then he had a sawbuck near his cabin where he cut it up using the one man crosscut saw. Yes, I admired him and have to say he was a very happy man. No, there is not shame in that.
Flatbedford
Minister of Fire
My "homeowner" 029 has been in the family for 15 years, my father bought it with insurance money from a fallen tree at the house. I spent $100 on an MS180 a few years ago. I have about $300 in axes, mauls, and other hand tools. I might spend at most about $200 on expendables yearly. I would own the trucks anyway. The stove upgrade cost about $2000. I save about $2000 per year in propane every year and have a more comfortable house too. My free wood is pretty cheap. Or, my firewood hobby is about the only hobby I could have has a net cost under zero.
If I had a hydraulic splitter, and multiple pro grade saws, my hobby might cost a few bucks yearly. I do my best to work efficiently and smartly in order to keep costs down and savings up.
If I had a hydraulic splitter, and multiple pro grade saws, my hobby might cost a few bucks yearly. I do my best to work efficiently and smartly in order to keep costs down and savings up.
Wood for me isn't free...it's better than free...I actually I make a pretty good paycheck doing it!
Capital Items:
1.) Huskee 22 Ton Splitter - $1,150 purchased new. Useful life of at least 10 years? Resale value of $300. So over 10 years I'm spending $80.
2.) Stihl 361 Saw - $300 purchased used. Useful life of at least 10 more years (my dad has been using the same saw for 30 now)? Resale value of $150. So over 10 years I'm spending $15.
Expense Items (per year):
1.) Fuel for saws and truck - $100
2.) A new chain every year - $18
3.) Upkeep and maint - $50
Total per year = $263 for about 5 cord, or $53/cord.
I don't factor in my time because I'm salaried and can't pick up OT for extra $$...and I enjoy doing it...and I'd spend at lot of that time doing exercise if I didn't cut. I need a truck regardless of whether I cut wood...and my house already had a stove installed...and I need a trailer anyway.
Total cost to heat with propane = ~$2,000. Divide that by 5 cord and wood is worth $400/cord to me. At a the rate I can process wood (1 cord in 8 hours conservatively) I'm paying myself $43.43/hour tax free! Not bad.
Capital Items:
1.) Huskee 22 Ton Splitter - $1,150 purchased new. Useful life of at least 10 years? Resale value of $300. So over 10 years I'm spending $80.
2.) Stihl 361 Saw - $300 purchased used. Useful life of at least 10 more years (my dad has been using the same saw for 30 now)? Resale value of $150. So over 10 years I'm spending $15.
Expense Items (per year):
1.) Fuel for saws and truck - $100
2.) A new chain every year - $18
3.) Upkeep and maint - $50
Total per year = $263 for about 5 cord, or $53/cord.
I don't factor in my time because I'm salaried and can't pick up OT for extra $$...and I enjoy doing it...and I'd spend at lot of that time doing exercise if I didn't cut. I need a truck regardless of whether I cut wood...and my house already had a stove installed...and I need a trailer anyway.
Total cost to heat with propane = ~$2,000. Divide that by 5 cord and wood is worth $400/cord to me. At a the rate I can process wood (1 cord in 8 hours conservatively) I'm paying myself $43.43/hour tax free! Not bad.
Lumber-Jack
Minister of Fire
I think its all about time. How much do we as individuals have to devote to any one project. Just for me to drive to work and back is 3hrs. Could I do it on a bicycle, sure, but who has the time. I could probably put up enough wood for just myself with hand tools, but I don't have nearly enough time. Course if I had the time I would need to use the hand tools cause I wouldn't have the money. What a vicious circle.Backwoods Savage said:
smokinj
Minister of Fire
Got Wood
Minister of Fire
lukem said:
I followed the used market for a couple years around here and never saw a used splitter (that worked) in the $300 range. I found they barely depreciated at all. This actually was one of the reasons I purchased a new splitter (Huskee 22 ton).
Thistle
Minister of Fire
Bought my Speeco 20 ton with 8HP Tecumseh new in Apr. 96 for $950, always stored inside garage when not being used.Never used a drop of oil or hydraulic fluid.Sold it in Dec. 2005 for $650 when needing quick cash due to pre Christmas temp layoff.I was sorry to sell it but pleased with what I got.
Lumber-Jack
Minister of Fire
Yep, Dick is gone, but I believe park sercives and volunteers take care of the cabin and try to preserve it pretty closely to the way it was when dick lived there.wkpoor said:
This video was taken in 2009
This morning a big ol oak fell about 2 blocks away onto the power lines, the power company said I could have the wood, but asked that I take it from their lot (in the ghetto). I went out to get some and after 1 big ol round started feeling sick, dehydrated. I ended up getting REAL sick and realized it was time to go. On the way home i hear pssssssssst. The city lot is where all the storm damage gets put up before its hauled to the dump. I apparently ran over a razor blade. So today my free wood cost me a new tire for roughly 1 wheelbarrow worth of wood. I did just notice they left all the wood laying in a guys yard, so Im going to see if hell let me cut it tomorrow, pretty sure he will. Maybe theres an upside there, Im starting to think that wood is cursed!
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Gasifier
Minister of Fire
Nothing is free. I have saved some money over the years burning with my wood stove(s). I bought a newer, more efficient model five years ago. Went with a Pacific Energy Super 27. If I remember right it is suppose to be in the high 70 percentages for efficiency. Has a baffle in the top that sends the gases back down to be burned again. Seems to work well. I also like the glass door, nice to watch the fire with a cold beer or two every once and a while. It is keeping everyone warm. Have had good luck with it. With the size of my house I figure I save somewhere around 1600-2000 gallons of oil a year. At $3.80 cents a gallon, that is a lot of money saved. And I still am going through 500-600 gallons of oil a year. I burn anywhere between 16-20 cord a year. Each year the savings goes up because of the price of oil of course. The wood stove cost me 1400 and the s.s. double wall insulated pipe cost me 1300 when I bought that. But that cost was paid for in less than two seasons with the cost of oil now. Now I made the really big plunge into the deep end of the pool. I just bought a wood gassification boiler at $8000. The wood stove could only heat 60-70 percent of house and no hot water or the garage with in floor heat. The gassification boiler will heat it all, domestic hot water, existing baseboard that is through the entire house, and pex tubing running through the attached garage floor.
I have been lucky to get some wood for free over the years, off of downed trees on friends property and cutting myself. Sometimes I also get to busy(wife and 4 kids), or sometimes a little lazy, and end up buying some. I got lucky last year and found a pile from a local Amish fellow and he sold me the pile for $180. By the time I got it all home and stacked it was 7 cord. That's about $25 a cord. Only moving it 7 miles on the trailer and stacking. Not bad.
Do any of you guys buy loads of logs to cut up yourself? I have been thinking of having a load of logs dropped in the yard this year for next year's wood. Cutting, splitting, and stacking it by fall. But I know I am also going to look around for more Amish wood. If I can get it that cheap and not have to cut and split it, it is hard to pass up. What can any of you tell me about your luck with loads of logs?
I have been lucky to get some wood for free over the years, off of downed trees on friends property and cutting myself. Sometimes I also get to busy(wife and 4 kids), or sometimes a little lazy, and end up buying some. I got lucky last year and found a pile from a local Amish fellow and he sold me the pile for $180. By the time I got it all home and stacked it was 7 cord. That's about $25 a cord. Only moving it 7 miles on the trailer and stacking. Not bad.
Do any of you guys buy loads of logs to cut up yourself? I have been thinking of having a load of logs dropped in the yard this year for next year's wood. Cutting, splitting, and stacking it by fall. But I know I am also going to look around for more Amish wood. If I can get it that cheap and not have to cut and split it, it is hard to pass up. What can any of you tell me about your luck with loads of logs?
I'm just arranging for a local tree surgeon to drop off a load of rounds for me to split. It's easier for him to do that than take them home, split them, store them, and then load them up for delivery.
A cord will be costing me about $100 instead of $300 c/s/s. I reckon that's a good deal for me round here (UK).
Cheap still isn't free, but after seeing other people's oil bills for last winter, it almost feels like free
A cord will be costing me about $100 instead of $300 c/s/s. I reckon that's a good deal for me round here (UK).
Cheap still isn't free, but after seeing other people's oil bills for last winter, it almost feels like free
Lumber-Jack
Minister of Fire
Gasifier, your $25 a cord Amish wood probably works out cheaper than my free wood. Mainly because I drive a lot further to get my wood and because I have to fall and buck the trees myself (plus my sons) so there’s a lot more labour involved. However our annual treks into the mountains are something I look forward to and would miss if I was to have our firewood delivered.
I know of a few people around here who have their wood delivered in logging truck loads (mostly loggers) and process the logs on their property, they say it works out to about $50 per cord, which I guess isn’t bad price since you’d save a lot in convenience of not having to travel for the wood, For me it’s not an option though, because I live in a small lot and just don’t have the space to drop a logging truck load of wood in my yard.
The way I look at the cost of heating with wood is, my wood is free, but it “cost†me 4- 5 days a year in the bush with my boys (sometimes the wife comes along). Somehow to me that just doesn’t seem like a bad thing. The cost of installing the hearth itself has more than paid for itself which is a lot more than I can say for my $12,000 heat pump and ducting system I had installed that only really gets used in the summertime as a glorified central air-conditioning system. Perhaps one day, when my boys are long gone and I’m too old to use a chainsaw, I’ll flip the switch and let the heat-pump kick in all winter. For now it’s just an expensive back-up.
I know of a few people around here who have their wood delivered in logging truck loads (mostly loggers) and process the logs on their property, they say it works out to about $50 per cord, which I guess isn’t bad price since you’d save a lot in convenience of not having to travel for the wood, For me it’s not an option though, because I live in a small lot and just don’t have the space to drop a logging truck load of wood in my yard.
The way I look at the cost of heating with wood is, my wood is free, but it “cost†me 4- 5 days a year in the bush with my boys (sometimes the wife comes along). Somehow to me that just doesn’t seem like a bad thing. The cost of installing the hearth itself has more than paid for itself which is a lot more than I can say for my $12,000 heat pump and ducting system I had installed that only really gets used in the summertime as a glorified central air-conditioning system. Perhaps one day, when my boys are long gone and I’m too old to use a chainsaw, I’ll flip the switch and let the heat-pump kick in all winter. For now it’s just an expensive back-up.
Gasifier
Minister of Fire
As with everything, wood is getting more expensive to buy. I can get seasoned wood, cut/split/delivered for $55 a face cord right now. Not bad for what I see it selling for around the more populated areas. I have seen $80 a face cord delivered.! So to get it for about $25 a face cord and only have to haul and stack it, it almost is not worth the felling, blocking, splitting and all that fuel and time.
I certainly agree with you on spending time with the family. Keep doing that. That is truly priceless. I have 4 kids of my own. 3 are little ones, 4yrs and twins at 7yrs, and the oldest is 20yrs in their second year of college and working a job. So sometimes I get so busy between work, working on the house, and getting around to visit my immediate family and their kids, that I buy some wood just to save time and spend that time with my little ones. They are only young once. My little ones are already helping Mom and Dad stack wood. That is great for any kid. Work, and spending time with the family. I did that with my brothers and sisters for my parents. We had 10 kids in our family. Can you imagine trying to afford that now? :ahhh:
I certainly agree with you on spending time with the family. Keep doing that. That is truly priceless. I have 4 kids of my own. 3 are little ones, 4yrs and twins at 7yrs, and the oldest is 20yrs in their second year of college and working a job. So sometimes I get so busy between work, working on the house, and getting around to visit my immediate family and their kids, that I buy some wood just to save time and spend that time with my little ones. They are only young once. My little ones are already helping Mom and Dad stack wood. That is great for any kid. Work, and spending time with the family. I did that with my brothers and sisters for my parents. We had 10 kids in our family. Can you imagine trying to afford that now? :ahhh:
Gasifier
Minister of Fire
I’m just arranging for a local tree surgeon to drop off a load of rounds for me to split. It’s easier for him to do that than take them home, split them, store them, and then load them up for delivery.
A cord will be costing me about $100 instead of $300 c/s/s. I reckon that’s a good deal for me round here (UK).
Cheap still isn’t free, but after seeing other people’s oil bills for last winter, it almost feels like free
Nice. That is a full cord, correct? So you are getting a face cord for about $25. I will have to see if I can find anyone around this area that will deliver a load rounds that is "blocked" like that. I don't mind splitting with a maul, good exercise to burn off those beers. How is the weather where you live? I see you are from across the pond.
A cord will be costing me about $100 instead of $300 c/s/s. I reckon that’s a good deal for me round here (UK).
Cheap still isn’t free, but after seeing other people’s oil bills for last winter, it almost feels like free
Nice. That is a full cord, correct? So you are getting a face cord for about $25. I will have to see if I can find anyone around this area that will deliver a load rounds that is "blocked" like that. I don't mind splitting with a maul, good exercise to burn off those beers. How is the weather where you live? I see you are from across the pond.
Bigg_Redd
Minister of Fire
woodchip said:
Nothing is free, but I'll be goddammed if I'm going to pay some meth smoking derelict $150-$200 per "cord"
Lumber-Jack
Minister of Fire
Funny you mention that, last year a couple guys came driving down my road try to sell the load of wood they had in the back of their truck. They saw my woodshed full of wood and stopped and asked me if i wanted to buy some more wood from them. The guy in the passenger side was obviously very wasted, his eyes were glossed right over and he could hardly speak coherently. I politely explained I had enough wood and encouraged them to keep asking around. I guess there are worse ways they could be out making their money. :-/Bigg_Redd said:
[quote author="Gasifier" date="1305489351How is the weather where you live? I see you are from across the pond.[/quote]
It's been an unusually dry Spring here, our farmers and growers are struggling with low rainfall. Our own area has been hit badly, we usually get about 3 inches of rain in an average March, but this year we got barely half an inch. April was worse, with 3 - 4 inches average, and less than 1/10th of an inch. We had a storm here last weekend with an inch of much needed rain, but it's gone dry again now and nothing forecast for the rest of the month. Good weather for drying wood, and it's been warm enough (60f days - 45f nights) to just get away without burning, but cool evenings mean I get a chance to light up. £65 ($100) for a full cord means I don't have to be frightened of keeping warm.
And I enjoy splitting, it's lovely satisfying sound. It doesn't seem like work when you're doing it for yourself. Best bit is cracking open a beer at the end ;-)
It's been an unusually dry Spring here, our farmers and growers are struggling with low rainfall. Our own area has been hit badly, we usually get about 3 inches of rain in an average March, but this year we got barely half an inch. April was worse, with 3 - 4 inches average, and less than 1/10th of an inch. We had a storm here last weekend with an inch of much needed rain, but it's gone dry again now and nothing forecast for the rest of the month. Good weather for drying wood, and it's been warm enough (60f days - 45f nights) to just get away without burning, but cool evenings mean I get a chance to light up. £65 ($100) for a full cord means I don't have to be frightened of keeping warm.
And I enjoy splitting, it's lovely satisfying sound. It doesn't seem like work when you're doing it for yourself. Best bit is cracking open a beer at the end ;-)
- Status
Similar threads
