Too Good To Be True?

[PAJerry]

Saw an ad in a small paper that comes to the house every 2 weeks that has a tri-axle dump truck load (35 cubic yards) of 16"-18" cut heavy hardwood slabs for $400 delivered. If I'm figuring this right, it comes out to about 7 cords at $58 a cord. I'm going to call when I get home today, but this stuff should be just right for my small stove and we have already determined that slab wood works best in it. Is this a common price for this stuff in other areas? Probably will heat my house for 2 winters.

 

[webbie]

Cubic measurement if always tough for large loads like that - in other words, we don't know how much air is involved. Maybe Eric or another logger can guess at the amount, but my experience is that it usually turns out to be less than more.

Perhaps the person can allow you to contact a former customer who may have stacked it - this way you can get a more accurate take

 

[Eric Johnson]

A standard triaxle with a loader should have about 6 cords on it. If it's a dump bed, you might get as many as 7.5. In my experience with roundwood, you'll get about as many cords cut, split and stacked as was on the load in log form. That goes against conventional wisdom, but I always found it to be true. I don't know if that's true with slabwood, though you will get more bark than you would with logs. So, you're probably looking at between 6 and 7 cords of processed wood when it's all said and done.

 

[sgcsalsero]

Saw an ad in a small paper that comes to the house every 2 weeks that has a tri-axle dump truck load (35 cubic yards) of 16"-18" cut heavy hardwood slabs for $400 delivered. If I'm figuring this right, it comes out to about 7 cords at $58 a cord. I'm going to call when I get home today, but this stuff should be just right for my small stove and we have already determined that slab wood works best in it. Is this a common price for this stuff in other areas? Probably will heat my house for 2 winters.

Eric J. has some good posts on this subject. I think if memory serves, and using some gorilla math . . a 8x8x16 truck can hold a max of 1024 cu. ft. (assuming an unachievable 100% capacity). 35 cu. yds. x 27 cu. ft. per yd. = 945 cu. ft. or 7.38 cords (assuming 92% capacity). To an amateur, sounds like a pretty good deal, but wait until one of the pros weighs in . .

Thanks, interested to see if it works out for you . . .where is this co. (assuming it may be a sawmill) and do they deliver to OH.

 

[elkimmeg]

IT is still a good deal but one has to factor in bucket loading vs stacked loading. Since I own a dump truck loaders and have processed loads dumped in
My mack Dump will hold 228 cu ft that converts to 1.75 cords When processed stacked split reality it is closer to 1.25 cords. If I stack the dump truck I will get closer to the vollume it will hold
always split and stacked wood will occuply less then loosly thrown in logs/ rounds

sorry this post does not address the subject the wood is not ariving in a dump truck but a log carring tri axel trailer I miss read the mode of delivery

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm really out of my element when it comes to slabwood. When you load a conventional triaxle log truck, the logs are stacked pretty tight and high. I'm not sure you could get as much volume loaded with slabwood, though it's theoretically possible. After thinking about it, I'd say don't expect more than 5 cords cut and stacked. That would still be a good deal if it was a load of logs. Not sure with slabwood, since it's all bark and sapwood.

 

[carpniels]

I dunno.

I would ask the guy if you can come over and see the wood first. Slabwood is different from firewood and I am concerned about the bark.

I would hate for you to end up with 2 years of wood you don't like.

carpniels

 

[Roospike]

An actual "CORD" of wood with no air gaps is around 78 cf - 84 cf , when all the air space is figured in with round / split wood stacked it comes out to 128cf . So its all going to depends on how tight the load is to figure.

 

[Sandor]

I'm really out of my element when it comes to slabwood. When you load a conventional triaxle log truck, the logs are stacked pretty tight and high. I'm not sure you could get as much volume loaded with slabwood, though it's theoretically possible. After thinking about it, I'd say don't expect more than 5 cords cut and stacked. That would still be a good deal if it was a load of logs. Not sure with slabwood, since it's all bark and sapwood.

Eric, when I was in Md I ordered a load of "slab" wood. It was all oak cut-offs from a sawmill. There was very little bark. Like 3" thick and all kinds of different widths... I had to split some.

Kinda odd... it was difficult to stack for drying, since it stacked like dimensional lumber. All in all, it was good stuff.

I guess if I did it again, I would inspect the load before accepting delivery.

I imagine there is no universal definition of "slabwood".

 

[Eric Johnson]

It really depends on whether or not it has been debarked and what species it is. If it was something like beech with very thin bark, that would be very different from oak, which tends to have very thick bark. If it's from a sawmill it's probably all one species (they like to schedule their cutting by species), so you might want to find out what kind of wood it is. I would stay away from soft maple and black cherry, since neither is very good firewood, relatively speaking.

 

[webbie]

Good point, folks have to remember that hardwoods can vary vastly as to density and therefore BTU content per cord. As Eric says, ask about the species! If it's oak or hickory, etc - that's a lot better than poplar!

 

[reaperman]

Even if it only heats the house for one season its not a bad deal!

 

[PAJerry]

Placed a call to the guy but just got his voice mail. It is a trucking company. Hope to hear from him Monday and ask some questions. Thanks for the advice!!

 

[sgcsalsero]

Wow, and I thought I was up early this morning, interested in how it works out . . I may try the same here with local logging co.s

 

[Bob512]

Should be a good deal if not too much bark. Are you in East Waterford off rt. 75? Nice area, Quick