Ordering wood

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RoseRedHoofbeats

Feeling the Heat
Oct 7, 2010
374
San Antonio, TX
So tell me what you guys think of this... My father in law has worked with this tree cutting service for years and years, and they sell firewood. $600 for four cords of 60% hardwood (mostly oak and maple), 20% softwood (pine and aspen), and 20% fruitwood (apple and cherry), seasoned for two years, price includes delivery.

Good deal??

~Rose
 
Not really being that it's your father in law. I would expect to pay around that from someone I didn't know/had no ties with.
 
Oh- I don't mean that he worked AT the tree service- he's been a client of theirs, they take care of the trees on his small acreage (pines and some apple and cherry trees).

~Rose
 
Not a bad price, if you can get splits cut to the length you want them, and the wood is "truly" seasoned. (At least not a bad price for around here in CT). I personally wouldn't want the Pine and Aspen, but..........

-Soupy1957
 
that's not a bad price if it's truly "seasoned"
 
There's no getting away from the softwoods around here. Stupid Utah. =P

I will definitely check on the moisture content and dig to the bottom of the pile for it. They're going to loosely pile it for me, and I'm planning on testing one log from the top, middle and bottom. So hopefully it'll be okay!

~Rose
 
Rose, as has been posted many times on here, "seasoned" seems to be a very relative term. How was it "seasoned? In log form, until just before you get it, or c/s/s for the full 2 years?
That last one seems to be a rare commodity in the wood selling biz.
That price isn't too bad, either, even if it's green. A cord of all oak, around here, c/s/d, is between $165-$195. Green. Sopping wet, yet "seasoned".
 
It is a good deal.
 
Well, the tree people don't know me from Eve, and if it's actually seasoned wood, I will be HAPPY to pay $600 for four full cords. Still cheaper than paying for my old gas furnace.

I just don't know what the hell I'll do if it's NOT seasoned (besides rip these people a new one). I'm in a real pickle here- what was originally going to be a leisurely sort of process of looking into firewood over the rest of the month before it gets really cold while I wait for the home remodel and the stove delivery/install has turned into OMG MUST FIND WOOD NOW since I'll be leaving on the 25th to go care for my dad during his first round of chemo. I won't be back until the 1st of December, and I do NOT want to wait that long- the price will have gone up astronomically.

What I've managed to glean on how to buy firewood is:
1. Don't let them short you on the cords, get out your measuring tape for a TIGHT stack not a loose pile
2. Test at least 3 splits for moisture content
3. If it's not to your satisfaction, don't accept it

So basically I've got first year woodburner's syndrome and don't have any wood and it's getting cold and I wish I had a time machine to last spring so I could start my freaking wood pile like a smart person. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that 25% MC is probably what i'm going to wind up with, here. I will schedule a chimney cleaning for very shortly after my stove is installed and hopefully he won't mind showing me how to do it so I can check on it 3-4 times during the season.

My stove is going to be installed RIGHT before I leave, and my husband has trouble with a barbecue fighter with matches and lighterfluid and easy-start charcoal. Needless to say, he is not allowed to try and light the stove, let alone deal with the break-in fires and all that. So he's just going to hole up in the bedroom with the space heater (which does a fine job, we did this for months last year when our furnace first went kablooey) and on Dec. 1st when I get back, the stove'll be ready for me.

I live in Utah, as previously stated, and so far we are having a very mild fall- they aren't calling for a hard freeze until late November, and hopefully that means not very much snow (please God I am begging you) and we normally get less than 5 inches of rain this time of year. Even when it's been drizzling for days like it has been, the humidity stays around 50%. On a dry sunny day, it'll be less than 20%. If I end up with not-really-awesome wood (which is likely, it seems like), would I be better served stacking my wood outside in the sun along my fenceline (which gets very nice afternoon sun), or in my open-sided woodshed until the snow starts? It would be a month out in the sun tops, maybe five or six weeks if I'm ridiculously lucky. Would it be worth the hassle of stacking it on the fence and then in the shed for just one month?

So, if you have less than perfect wood, the basic plan is to clean your chimney to within an inch of its life, and be prepared to burn more wood for less heat. I think we'll still be okay with four cords if we supplement with the space heaters, especially since we aren't starting until December. I'll probably want to burn through March, but it usually starts to lighten up by then, so maybe just some overnight fires by then?

Man, I tell you. Some days I wonder if my grandparents look down on me from the great beyond, and see me bitching about not wanting to wash dishes with my running hot water and not wanting to do laundry with my automatic washing machine and electric dryer or because the Internet isn't working and just want to SLAP me. This is one of those days. =P

~Rose
 
I don't know about Utah, but I gather that $150 per cord for splits is a decent price in most places, especially if the wood is seasoned two years. I would think wood would season really fast in Utah, so there may be a decent chance that the wood is actually as dry as you'd like.
 
That's what I'm hoping- even if it was cut as recently as last fall, we had SUCH a hot and dry summer that it shouldn't be too awful bad. *crosses fingers*

Hey, if they screw me over, I can pull the "MY DAD HAS CANCER" card and turn on the waterworks and DO YOU WANT MY TWO YEAR OLD DAUGHTER TO FREEZE TO DEATH, what kind of monsters ARE YOU?

I fight dirty. =P

~Rose
 
Price sounds okay to me. Good luck. I do hope it has been seasoned properly.
 
Ya burn what ya have to burn. The important thing is that the stove and chimney are installed right. I heated this barn with "wet" wood for twenty years before I got dry wood religion. Spent a lot of time with a chimney brush but we stayed warm and we are still here.

But get that wood protected from the rain and snow. Then go take care of your dad.
 
I agree with Soupy, not a fan of the Pine and Aspen. But I'm sure that would be typical around the Utah area. And yeah, I would expect wood to dry much quicker than say the northeast, so maybe burning some of the softwoods mixed with hardwood would be ok. Good price for 4 cord....I feel fortunate being in the NE that we have all hardwoods in our firewood.
 
Price is fantastic for 2 years split and stacked. Think about it. The guy had to cut, split, stack and store that wood for two years before he made a penny on it. Look how much extra they charge for tequila that's been aged for two years? :cheese:

BTW, I just paid $185/cord for white ash that was recently cut and split.
 
Oh thank God. My wood was delivered today. It DOES look seasoned- the ends are grey and have some splits, the bark is peeling off, sound hollow when you thunk them together and they feel light and dry. When I measured their truck bed, 4x6x8, so about a cord and a half. When I called the company about to have a panic attack, he said that they'd bring me a THIRD truck load. I ended up with almost another whole half-cord free!! Which is exactly what my woodshed can hold. This is such a literal load off my mind. And it does look like a lot of hardwood and fruitwood and only about 20% pine like he said. I am really really happy. I will take pics once it's stacked in my shed, right now it's in a massive pile in my yard (which at least made it easy to check all at once!) Fortunately it's not going to rain until next Sunday at the earliest so I have time to move it in.

One last question about wood. My woodshed is on a concrete pad. How important is it that the wood be stacked on pallets? I was supposed to go get some off Craigslist today, but someone got there first. I can probably scrounge some up by Monday, just wondering.

~Rose
 
No need for pallets if on concrete that stays dry. You got a great deal........the impossible deal for many on here.....if you think any is a little damp just burn it hot and don't choke the fire........burn safe.
 
Okay, cool, I will start stacking tomorrow then!

So awesome. I really did just roll a lucky number with this place. Nice having companies around that do what they say they will.

~Rose
 
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