Lucked out...maybe.

[gibson]

Only have 1-1/2 cord on hand for next year. Need another two to get me through the winter. I love the heat and I love to burn it, don't even mind stacking it, but just don't have the equipment, time, or energy to go and find it. So...on Craigslist, 2 cord, 18 month seasoned red oak, for $340. Called for delivery today and told the guy it was on the condition that I would check with a moisture meter. If it didn't pass, I will send him home. "No problem", he said. So we'll see.

If you have the time, a truck, and have property full of trees or access to firewood, I totally get it. But $340, for 2/3 of my fuel for the winter, not a bad deal right? I have bought most of my wood through Craigslist and have done pretty well.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Sounds like a darned good deal for your part of the country. If it gets thrown in one big pile, you do have the problem of verifying the amount. But there is the method of assuming 180 cubic feet per cord in a loose pile. Use the formula for a cone. I can give you that formula if you don't know it offhand. Either that or you are trusting the guy to give a full count. I assume he does not stack it as part of the deal? Then you could estimate based on 128 cubic feet per cord for stacked wood.

Heck that's a darned good deal for my part of the country. We have a local, gives an honest count, and he gets 200. to 220. thrown (dumped), not stacked. For 100 percent Red Oak.

All to often we see posts on here where a wood burner got the guy to say "sure, buddy, if it's short I'll come back and make it good." Mostly those guys never show up and never answer the phone after that, and they have shorted the customer. Personally, I'd want to at least have my own calculations and see that my estimate is close enough. *Then* I would hand him the money, not before.

 

[Battenkiller]

Only have 1-1/2 cord on hand for next year. Need another two to get me through the winter. I love the heat and I love to burn it, don't even mind stacking it, but just don't have the equipment, time, or energy to go and find it. So...on Craigslist, 2 cord, 18 month seasoned red oak, for $340. Called for delivery today and told the guy it was on the condition that I would check with a moisture meter. If it didn't pass, I will send him home. "No problem", he said. So we'll see.

If you have the time, a truck, and have property full of trees or access to firewood, I totally get it. But $340, for 2/3 of my fuel for the winter, not a bad deal right? I have bought most of my wood through Craigslist and have done pretty well.

That's an excellent deal if the load size is true to the claim. I pay almost that much for green wood.


I wouldn't pass on it because a few splits fell in the mid-30% range on your meter. Oak starts out at about 80% MC, so don't expect it to be all the way to 20% in 18 months. Oak dries relatively slowly compared to some other hardwoods. You have about until the middle of January before you'll run out of the wood you have, estimated on the amount you say you burn per season. That's almost 6 months more seasoning time before you'll need it. Stack it loose in a windy spot to help it dry better and I think it may be OK.

Yeah, if you don't have the trees, space, equipment, time, and inclination to cut your own, I think you can still consider yourself to be well ahead of the game if you can heat your home for a little more than $500/year. I've been buying almost all my own wood for many years now, and I'll be perfectly honest, I don't miss driving my truck all over the countryside scrounging for free wood one bit. Now that I have a bigger stove, I expect to use close to 6 cord in a typical winter, so I plan on trying to supplement the bought wood with maybe a couple cord of my own, just to be back in it a little. Really, just an excuse to buy a new saw. ;-)


CM, I use the same method to roughly estimate how big a dumped load is, with a small twist. Formula is 1/3 pi r^2 x height of cone = volume of the cone. Since pi is close to 3 (3.14), I just take it as 3 and then let 1/3 x 3 = 1 That leaves just the radius (half the diameter of the base) squared times the height of the pile. Given the difficulty in accurately measuring the base and height in the first place, I feel this is close enough, and something I can do in my head without having to run for the calculator. Of course, the easiest thing to do is to compute the volume of the truck that delivers the wood, and then divide by 180 to get the true stacked cord count. However, that's only possible with a level load in the box.

 

[BucksCoBernie]

Called for delivery today and told the guy it was on the condition that I would check with a moisture meter. If it didn't pass, I will send him home. "No problem", he said. So we'll see.

I tried that last winter when I ran out of wood and the guy selling it stopped taking my phone calls haha. I offered to drive to his holding area and test it there so he wouldnt waste his time loading it up if it was not ready to burn.

$340 sounds like a good deal to me.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

CM, I use the same method to roughly estimate how big a dumped load is, with a small twist. Formula is 1/3 pi r^2 x height of cone = volume of the cone. Since pi is close to 3 (3.14), I just take it as 3 and then let 1/3 x 3 = 1 That leaves just the radius (half the diameter of the base) squared times the height of the pile. Given the difficulty in accurately measuring the base and height in the first place, I feel this is close enough, and something I can do in my head without having to run for the calculator. Of course, the easiest thing to do is to compute the volume of the truck that delivers the wood, and then divide by 180 to get the true stacked cord count. However, that's only possible with a level load in the box.

BK that is a great idea! Yes, the 3 and the 1/3 cancel. Sure, that's close enough. We won't make you use pi out to 10 decimal places, we'll let you slide on that. %-P

In an otherwise perfect world, you'd underestimate by less than 5 percent, going that way.

Definitely close enough for me. I'll have to remember that one. Great post!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It is best if one takes care of his own wood but sometimes a deal comes up that is hard to resist. I admit that if I had to haul my wood from some place other than my own, I would grab a real deal like that. It is cheap when compared with buying oil too.

 

[Battenkiller]

We won't make you use pi out to 10 decimal places, we'll let you slide on that. %-P

In an otherwise perfect world, you'd underestimate by less than 5 percent, going that way.

:lol:

I was in my 40s when I finally finished my Bio degree. I was in Physics class with a bunch of 20 year olds who knew just about everything in the world. The Physics prof was a brilliant man of Indian decent. He could do all the calculations for the kind of simple formula-based problems we were solving all in his head. It's something that I guess most countries (besides us) teach kids at an early age. He was always right, but to two decimal places. He'd look insecure (a ruse), and then ask if anyone got the correct answer on their calculators. TI-85s would be clicking away like a swarm of locusts, then a few minutes later some kid would eagerly raise his hand and blurt out, "7.09767387623 x 10 ^ 1/3." He'd try to conceal his smirk, wink at me and say, "Yes, that's much better." :coolsmile:


BTW, I have found that most dump trucks and all dump trailers have to move forward to get the last of the wood out, especially on a big load. You end up with an oval base. I just take both diameters and average them. All in all, I've gotten good enough at it that I can usually guess within about +/- 10% of what it stacks up to be. It's firewood, that's close enough for me.

 

[PapaDave]

Just about the going rate around here for c/s/d, and it sure isn't 18 month seasoned. That price would be for oak.

 

[oldspark]

Knowing how long it takes to do a cord of wood I would say that is a very good deal.

 

[gpcollen1]

This is probably the best year ever for buying 'seasoned' wood. I just ordered 4 cords for $800. I used this guy 3 or 4 years ago when I was trying to get a year or so ahead and the wood was decent. Was just getting there last spring when my back troubles started. Had surgery in January. I have about 3 cords nicely seasoned ash, chestnut oak and beech as well as about 6 cords of unsplit red oak and norway maple with some black birch and cherry mixed in.

I think I will be ok with his wood and mine. I am hoping to get the maple split up soon just in case. That has been in rounds for 2 years so it should be ok if split soon. The oak does not have a shot even though it has been in rounds just as long.

 

[jharkin]

All to often we see posts on here where a wood burner got the guy to say "sure, buddy, if it's short I'll come back and make it good." Mostly those guys never show up and never answer the phone after that, and they have shorted the customer.

BINGO. This just happened to me last week (see my thread where everyone gave me the same warnings). MA div of standards has a firewood fraud complaint dept and I reported the guy - but I doubt they will do anything..

Sounds like a good deal - but so did the guy I talked to so beware. If it works out congrats.

 

[gibson]

I haven't been shorted significantly yet. I have always ordered 2 cord quantities and it usually comes in the same size truck. When I stack and measure it is always close to two cords. At the price that I pay, I am not going to bust anyone's chops.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Well, then you definitely got yourself a good deal. Enjoy it
(Don't tell too many locals so he doesn't run out of wood for you each year) ;-)

 

[Big Chris]

How did the wood test?