For me, I buy 100% of my fuel. Due to the quantity that I require I can get my price per cord much lower than if I were buying in smaller quantities. At this point I am looking at going through 7-8 cords of wood a season.
8 cords puts me at about $1,000 split and delivered.
The local lumber yard will deliver 8 cords of uncut logs for $800. When you factor in the cost of a good chainsaw, splitter, maintenance, and time, the $200 "savings" does seem like much of a savings.
Scrounging, for me, took a very long time and a lot of work. I did it the first two and a half years of burning and for the quantity that I needed, it seemed like the time to acquire was rather extensive. And then there was the time and cost of splitting it myself. The amount of work wasn't the issue. It was the time that it took to gather and split and stack that was the real deal breaker.
Down the road I could see buying uncut logs, but right now, and for at least the next 5+ years I will be buying 100% of my fuel. Oddly enough, if I burned less, I would probably be more apt to scrounge since scrounging for three to four cords a year is a lot easier than scrounging for two to three times that amount.
I know there are a lot of folks that scrounge their own wood here, but I am wondering how many scrounge and how many buy on this forum and how you came to the decision.
8 cords puts me at about $1,000 split and delivered.
The local lumber yard will deliver 8 cords of uncut logs for $800. When you factor in the cost of a good chainsaw, splitter, maintenance, and time, the $200 "savings" does seem like much of a savings.
Scrounging, for me, took a very long time and a lot of work. I did it the first two and a half years of burning and for the quantity that I needed, it seemed like the time to acquire was rather extensive. And then there was the time and cost of splitting it myself. The amount of work wasn't the issue. It was the time that it took to gather and split and stack that was the real deal breaker.
Down the road I could see buying uncut logs, but right now, and for at least the next 5+ years I will be buying 100% of my fuel. Oddly enough, if I burned less, I would probably be more apt to scrounge since scrounging for three to four cords a year is a lot easier than scrounging for two to three times that amount.
I know there are a lot of folks that scrounge their own wood here, but I am wondering how many scrounge and how many buy on this forum and how you came to the decision.