Do not have seasoned wood ready for this winter and I found split Black Locus for $135.00 for three cords. Any thoughts on the wood and price?
Black Locus???
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JUMP JUMP JUMP. I am assuming that is for three face cords (4' x 8' x 16") and $135 is the total price. that is quality wood and if you need three full cords see if the guy will deal on a bulk purchase. If the price is per face cord balk squawk & search elsewhere. Welcome to the forum. (Where about in MI. Blue had a great game Saturday.) There should be some wood guys around with stuff that has been split for a while but it would probably be best to take a moisture meter with you when you go to look at the wood. A fairly ready source is some of the dead standing elm in the area as the top half is usually dried enough to go right in to a stove.
Here is a link to give you some wood btu per full cord ratings (broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm). Black locust is very good wood (but it pops a bit), has a tendency to dry quicker than oak and if it has been split for a few months and stored where it can get wind and sunshine would probably do you well in the pinch you are in. If your wood guy can supply enough for a year in year out basis I would suggest you try to get enough now to season well for next year too. Price wise it is not uncommon to find $50 or $65 per face cord advertised but I am currently buying in the $120 to $135 per full cord range. If you are close enough maybe I can get one of my suppliers to talk to you.
Here is a link to give you some wood btu per full cord ratings (broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm). Black locust is very good wood (but it pops a bit), has a tendency to dry quicker than oak and if it has been split for a few months and stored where it can get wind and sunshine would probably do you well in the pinch you are in. If your wood guy can supply enough for a year in year out basis I would suggest you try to get enough now to season well for next year too. Price wise it is not uncommon to find $50 or $65 per face cord advertised but I am currently buying in the $120 to $135 per full cord range. If you are close enough maybe I can get one of my suppliers to talk to you.
Yeah the $135 os for all three face cords and I think I might try to stock up on some of this wood maybe six face cords or so. He cut the tree's down last year but has only just now gotten around to splitting it and putting it out to sale. Kinda worried about it being dried enough, I looked at some of it and it has small hairline cracks running from the center to the outside. Where can you find and how much do moisture meters cost usually? I guess he will be raising the price on it in about a month. This will be my first year with a wood stove heck I don't even have my stove installed yet but I am planning that I will need at least 12 face cords to get through winter and a good chance it may be more than that. I guess the stove I have might be a bit of a wood hog. Just don't wanna get it all from one source in case I start burning it and don't like how it performs. Although I read that Black Locus will burn even if it's slightly green. I am in between Flint and Lansing and should only need to worry about this winter as I am hoping to get a stockpile built up and dried out. If my thinking is correct three face cord equalls out to the same amount of wood as a full cord? If any of your suppliers are in the area I sure would appreciate some help with this. I kinda want to get some oak and that locus and maybe some other kinds just to see how the different wood burns. Thanks for all the info and how bout them Wolverines that game just about gave me a heart attack.
Black Locust is a good, high BTU wood, but it sounds like the stuff you're looking at won't be dried enough. Wood doesn't dry much in log form. I know a few friends who think Black Locust needs two years to season well. Havent really tried burning year old locust myself, but you're talking about locust seasoned only a few months.
I had to listen to the game at work and it was hard to concentrate on the work and I don't usually watch football but that game was moving around so much it was hard not to listen.
I burned some black locust the same year it was cut down. If the moisture is a little high you may have some creosote problems so be sure that you can clean your chimney iff you need. The locust burned so hot I didn't have a problem. If you have large sized splits, say 7" or wider, you should probaly split them again. Locust does dry fast compared to oak and will continue to season in the winter if it is kept dry.
Harborfreight.com has lower priced moisture meters. Ebay has some but they also have some that are very expensive beyond what the average wood burner joe needs.
3 face cord does equal a full cord. While using an add on wood furnace I usually burned 7+ cord in a winter.
I burned some black locust the same year it was cut down. If the moisture is a little high you may have some creosote problems so be sure that you can clean your chimney iff you need. The locust burned so hot I didn't have a problem. If you have large sized splits, say 7" or wider, you should probaly split them again. Locust does dry fast compared to oak and will continue to season in the winter if it is kept dry.
Harborfreight.com has lower priced moisture meters. Ebay has some but they also have some that are very expensive beyond what the average wood burner joe needs.
3 face cord does equal a full cord. While using an add on wood furnace I usually burned 7+ cord in a winter.
thavg said:
Welcome to the forum thavg.
$135 is a good price for 3 face cords of locust. I would worry about it not being dry enough though. Other than that, locust is great wood to burn. I would not try to buy any oak to burn this year though as it certainly would not be ready to burn no matter what the sellers try to tell you.
Also a warning here. On hearth.com you will find that almost everyone that states a cord of wood are talking about a stack 4' x 4' x 8' or 128 cu. in. The idiots in Michigan seem to think a cord is just a 4' x 8' stack. I do not know how that got started but think it may have been during the oil crunch in the 70's. It was not always that way. A cord used to mean a cord and not a rick or face cord.
You and I are probably not that far apart as we live west of Chesaning, so a little north of you.
thavg said:
Another Michgan guy! Welcome! Hey, don't forget about the MSU/CMU game
! Ole' CMU alumni here; was attending CMU when we beat em last time...twice ANYHOW, I got my moisture meter from Harbor Freight. I have access to their store locations around here in Oakland county so it made sense to go there and get it. Paid just over $9 after a coupon and sale! Works great, no complaints at all. You mentioned about how much you'll burn this year; I too am in a similar boat as this will be the first full season of burning and we have just about 4 cords (Yes, Backwoods, they are REAL cords... :lol
Don't know if that will be enough, but by the end of last season, we had a pretty good handle on how the stove acts and reacts so we are further on up the learning curve for what to do this year. Type of stove, house configuration, install location, etc all will play a part on how much you will burn as well as it being the first time. Starting off with a well insulated house will greatly affect the wood usage as it does with any other utility usage, but one good day of insulating beats a month of scrounging for more wood!...wait a minute...what I ment to say was beats a month of scrounging for more wood THIS season....never stop scrounging! ;-P WHEW! that last statement could have banned me from Hearth.com! :lol:
Locust will dry pretty fast the top 1/3 or the tree will be ready to burn in a few months the middle probably by Feb /march and the bottom next season
if he has a bunch of tree's maybe you can get him to cut to your needs.
if he has a bunch of tree's maybe you can get him to cut to your needs.
I figure I will pick up some of that Locus withing the next few days. To bad I guess last week he was selling it at $100 a cord. I took a look at Harbor Freights web site and see they have a couple different moisture meters for cheap, think I may have even seen one at my local Ace Hardware. Yeah Backwoods we are practically neighbors as I'm just south of the Showboat. Think I'm gonna really have to start searching as I do not want to end up short for the winter and would rather get my stacks in order before there is freezing temps and lots of snow.
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