Feeling the burn: Firewood sales, prices are blazing

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armanidog

Minister of Fire
Jan 8, 2017
501
Northeast Georgia
I'm glad I have sources to local free firewood.
"Amid the inflation surge that's rippled through the U.S. economy and touched thousands upon thousands of products, one of the more obscure items on the list is firewood.

It's a fuel from earlier times, so niche an industry that no one appears to even try to track pricing on a national level.

Talk to firewood vendors in state after state, though, and they'll all tell you the same thing: Sales are booming on the eve of winter, and prices are soaring.

At Firewood by Jerry in New River, Arizona, a cord of seasoned firewood -- roughly 700 pieces or so -- goes for $200 today. That's up 33% from a year ago. At Zia Firewood in Albuquerque, the price is up 11% since the summer to $250. And at Standing Rock Farms in Stone Ridge, a bucolic, little town in the Hudson Valley that's become popular with the Manhattan set, the best hardwoods now fetch $475 a cord, up 19% from last year."
"Some of this is a work-from-home thing. White-collar workers cooped up in their suburban homes or country escapes are re-discovering the joys of an evening by the fire. This is the typical Hornbeck client.
But there's a grimmer economic force driving the surge in demand, too: Soaring prices for heating oil, natural gas and propane -- key parts of the broader inflation surge -- are pushing many Americans to try heating their homes at least partially with firewood."

 
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Interestingly I've read some comments that wood burning has been banned in Europe. I don't know the validity of this though.
If we have any members from Europe, or if anyone knows, please pipe up.
I don't think it would be too long before it came here to the states, if true.
You know ..... climate change and all.
 
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Interestingly I've read some comments that wood burning has been banned in Europe. I don't know the validity of this though.
If we have any members from Europe, or if anyone knows, please pipe up.
I don't think it would be too long before it came here to the states, if true.
You know ..... climate change and all.
 
Europe has not banned burning. At this time.
 
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In a while we'll (those not buying firewood) will all be millionaires :-D
 
Interestingly I've read some comments that wood burning has been banned in Europe. I don't know the validity of this though.
If we have any members from Europe, or if anyone knows, please pipe up.
I don't think it would be too long before it came here to the states, if true.
You know ..... climate change and all.
Sort of off the topic sort of on but, I do find it funny that particulates from open fireplaces are entirely unregulated but stoves are subject to emission regs. Not that I don't agree with the benefits of EPA stoves but it does seem silly.
 
around me the cost of a cord of hard wood went from $325 last year to $350 to $375
 
everything is up. filled my truck last week i still had almost a quarter it cost me $100.00
 
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everything is up. filled my truck last week i still had almost a quarter it cost me $100.00
With tolls I’m now at 200.00 round trip to Maine. LP delivery tomorrow and I just can’t contain myself.
 
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i would have like the post bad lp but i don't like to hear that. 200 and you stayed within maine. yikes. just heard the news say that this may continue thru next summer and gasoline might be up around low 5 dollars a gallon. thats after last week saying that it should start coming down shortly after it hits 3.75 a gallon. i guess one hand doesn't know what the other is doing
 
Prices getting serious now and will get worse--bucket your belts...They are putting tariffs on Canadian lumber and the housing market will reel further---plus other things that would be too political for this forum...getting weird...old clancey
 
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$300 a cord for advertised "dry wood" about 30 miles south. Local wood dealer who does not market very well still has few cords. It was log length in the summer and was processed early fall. He has a device that knock the loose bark off so its nice looking but its not going to make it for EPA stoves.
 
Sort of off the topic sort of on but, I do find it funny that particulates from open fireplaces are entirely unregulated but stoves are subject to emission regs. Not that I don't agree with the benefits of EPA stoves but it does seem silly.
Well we as an industry convinced EPA that fireplaces are not heaters. In 2015, EPA defined "fireplace" to differentiate heaters that look like fireplaces. If the product is marketed with BTU'S, efficiency number, ability to regulate air (burn rate), it is considered at heater and is subject to same testing requirements as wood and pellet stoves. I have a friend that makes fireplaces. He promoted heat output, efficiency and had air control. EPA paid him a visit! 24 hours later the website, literature etc was all changed to be compliant.
 
I’ve seen prices as high as 85$ a face cord for “seasoned” wood around here. I’m not sure if people are actually paying that, but the ads are there on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace.

A lot of people around here consider wood seasoned if it was cut in the spring, left in logs until the fall, and then split right before winter. I don’t know how well it burns, but I guess once the fire is good and hot anything will burn.
Job security for the chimney sweeps I guess.
 
I’ve seen prices as high as 85$ a face cord for “seasoned” wood around here. I’m not sure if people are actually paying that, but the ads are there on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace.

A lot of people around here consider wood seasoned if it was cut in the spring, left in logs until the fall, and then split right before winter. I don’t know how well it burns, but I guess once the fire is good and hot anything will burn.
Job security for the chimney sweeps I guess.
See it around here too. Piles of fresh split wood in the fall laying in the yard all winter and being shoved into the stove.
 
I am selling some wood here and there to people I know. I called around for pricing to see what wood was going for the begging of november. Most places were already out of wood and said that due to labor the supply was already low. He said to me that they normally run out mid to end of January. He said that he had a couple cords one was a mix of white oak and cherry for 450 per cord

I see so many new burners now..
 
It’s been pretty warm here in Iowa, so prices haven’t jumped much. Most people who rely primarily on wood for heat have their own land anyway.
 
if the wood is not dry and you have to stack it to dry might as well buy green wood and save the money. here in mass so called seasoned wood is 350 to 400 green wood is 200 to 250 and kiln dry is 450 to 550 a cord
 
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I was thinking back to the 85$ per face cord I posted. Which is 255$ per full cord. I hardly ever see it posted as full cords around here, usually just face cords.

Anyways, reading some of the other prices man that’s expensive. When I sell firewood to friends and family I’m still charging 55$ a face cord. So 165$ a full cord. Typically it is green, since they season it at their place, but still.
I remember when I first got into burning wood about 10 years ago firewood was 55$ a FC for seasoned wood, delivered. I thought that was expensive so I started cutting my own firewood shortly after. I haven’t bought firewood since, and can only watch prices by looking at the ads online.
 
Hopefully despite my busted ankle and rehab I can get out drop another years worth of firewood before the snow melts this spring. I really do not want to buy any when I have 85 acres of woods that need big time thinning. I got into the 2 year cycle and really do not want to go back to worrying about rushing to season wood. I am strongly considering trying the bulk bag method of drying to avoid stacking.