Buying wood. Picture please look.

[Niko]

So im gonna be buying around 20 cords of wood so i can keep a good turn around supply every year. Looking around and a gentlemen is selling the wood in a 4x4x4.5 bag loaded on a pallet. Want to ask your opinions on if its a good idea to put wood in something like this, especially if it will be sitting in the bags for a long time. He also stated each bag is half a cord in one bag based on those dimension could he be right? What do you guys think? So roughly I will be ordering 40 bags. I have 3 cords of seasoned wood left from last year that will start me off for this year winter. He also states the moisture for this wood is around 15%.

 

[Jags]

Hmmm...the sight of 40 of those bags sitting around doesn't really appeal to me, but that is just personal pref.

4X4X4 is half a cord - stacked. Tossed in has less volume/value. By how much can be debatable.
How well do they breath? Do they let rain out effectively? Do you have the ability to move these around? These are questions I would want answered.

(gonna slip this into the wood shed).

 

[tigger]

That looks like it is going to stack out a lot less than a half a cord.

 

[bobdog2o02]

I would guess each bag is probably 1/3 of a cord. I would say the only way to know is to buy and then stack it out. Are they cut to the right length for your stove. It looks like a convenitent delivery method but i would want it in stacks not in bags, no airflow there. I had a loose thrown pile that had NO drying in the middle last year. My pile was 4 ft high and about 8 ft wide. First two layers were ok but below that it was wet and moldy............ i think you might have that heppen with these sacks.

 

[Tommytman]

Definitely a strange way to sell wood. I have never seen bags like that before. I would be concerned they hold rainwater or at the very least moisture. The only side that really needs to be covered (the top) is exposed. I think a smarter approach would be to stack the wood and put the bag on inverted. As this method wasn't chosen, I would think that is because the wood is not actually stacked, rather heaped into the bag. Also I would have to do a walk around, but as others have said I would find it hard to believe that is 1/2 cord. Just out of curiosity are you leaning towards this dealer because the bags are priced good?

 

[Niko]

Sorry for the wrong forum post. I had the same sense of 1/2 cord vs 1/3 cord. The appealing part is not having to stack 20 cords of wood and not having the mess of the debree of the wood when dropped off in my yard. But none of that matters if the wood is not gonna breathe and the volume is way off. The price he give is 150 for 2 bags deliverd to me as he is not far away. What can i do to help me insure breathability and volume is good?

 

[Niko]

I found him on my local craigslist in Ny under hudson valley if anyone want to look it up.. Seems like a good guy but then again everyone does from afar.

 

[Jags]

Take one bag and stack it out (even if it is on his lot). Bring your tape measure and measure the volume. Now you know.

 

[Niko]

Roger doger.

 

[bobdog2o02]

I found him on my local craigslist in Ny under hudson valley if anyone want to look it up.. Seems like a good guy but then again everyone does from afar.

I would explain the volume concern and offer $100 for the two bags. That would probably be $150 per cord that way. Plus it's craigslist, it was made for haggling.

 

[bobdog2o02]

Take one bag and stack it out (even if it is on his lot). Bring your tape measure and measure the volume. Now you know.

If you do this take a moisture meter with you and make a fresh split to measure, I would be flabbergasted if it was actually as low as 15%.

 

[begreen]

Take one bag and stack it out (even if it is on his lot). Bring your tape measure and measure the volume. Now you know.

Those bags are no where near 4.5ft tall. I'd say they're more like 3 ft tall. If so, and they are truly 4x4' (which I also question), then they would contain 48 cu ft of wood or 3/8 of a cord. Still $100 for 3/4 a cord is not bad, especially if it is reasonably seasoned. In our area they would sell for twice that price. But wood locally is a rip-off market here.

 

[paul bunion]

A standard pallet is 40" x 48". If those bags are on standard pallets they are far less then 4' square and 4.5 high. Probably more like 3x3 bags bulged out a bit. I bet they are at most 1/4 cord and wouldn't be surprised if that was on the high side, it could take 5 of those bags to make an honest cord.

 

[Niko]

Im going to do a pre inspection and bring my Moisture meter with me. Ill bring a tape measure also. Do my negotiating when see I them. Thanks for the heads up! Gonna look up now how to tell the difference between wood species.

 

[bobdog2o02]

Gonna look up now how to tell the difference between wood species.

GOOD LUCK

 

[privatejoker75]

Have you tried contacting a log company yet (if they exist there)? Around here I can get a truckload of pine/fir/tam for $1000 ($1300 delivered) and there's about 12-13 cords on it.

 

[Niko]

Hmm ill look into that. But I dont think their any around my area.

 

[cptoneleg]

Buy one and open it up I want to look>

 

[Jon1270]

The State of Maine's law puts a loose-thrown cord at 180 cubic feet for splits 12-16" long. So, if the bags were actually 4x4x4.5 feet, magically retained their rectangular shape and were completely full, Maine law would call them 0.4-cord bags.

There's no way I'd store the wood in those bags long-term unless it was in a barn, and then only if I knew the wood to already be very dry.

My concerns are the same as everyone elses; not as much wood as he's promising, and not as dry either.

 

[Niko]

Here is the link to the craigslist ad. Someone please call and find out is this guy is good or not and then post back up. If i had to guess hes not a member of the forum boarwd or he would of responded based on the picture i put above.

(broken link removed to http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/grd/4398844689.html)

 

[Tommytman]

The moisture meter technique seems a little sloppy in the picture (the end of a cut, not a fresh split and cross grain), so 13% is doubtable. Some wood dealers seem to be the "know it all" types and rather than trying to educate them on moisture meters, proper stacking and cubic feet it may be worth it just to find a different guy. Just my 2 cents.

Plus it's craigslist, it was made for haggling

But as others have said it's the nature of craigslist...haggle away.

 

[Jon1270]

The moisture meter technique seems a little sloppy in the picture ...

It's not a little sloppy, it's totally wrong and pretty much meaningless.

 

[Tommytman]

It's not a little sloppy, it's totally wrong and pretty much meaningless.

lol I have no personal experience with a MM so I was trying not to be too bold with my statement ...yet still point out a possible flaw. I was hoping someone more knowledgeable would pounce on it so thank you!!

 

[Jon1270]

For fun I just went and stuck my meter in the end grain of a cherry split from a tree I bucked a few weeks ago. It's been stacked in a breezy area and top-covered but only gets a couple of hours of direct sun a day. The end of the split measures at 9%, even though the interior would be so wet that it would exceed the meter's functional limits.

 

[Jon1270]

To be fair, it's normal for even ready-to-burn firewood to be wetter on the inside than on the outside. A split that averages 20% throughout will almost always be higher than 20% inside and lower than 20% on the outside. 20% is the target MC recommended by the EPA, but around here standards are generally higher. Most people here will tell you that you want the wood to be 20% or lower throughout.

Also, you've got a whole summer ahead of you so even if the wood is at 30-40% inside it may be in good shape by the time Halloween rolls around. I don't know what firewood costs in your area. It may be a good deal despite the misleading sales pitch.