Firewood dude screwed up = major score for me !

[patch53]

Decided to buy 20 cords red oak from a local guy who is a logger. $90/ full cord delivered ( $1800). So, the guy shows up here about noon yesterday and the first thing I see is this massive load of wood, and I said to myself, "thats a lot more than 20 cords" !

My brother and I used to cut timber for about 10 years as a side job for extra cash when we were in our youth, and I loaded lots of trucks and pup trailers so I got a pretty good idea right off the bat how much wood is on a load.

When the driver got out of the truck I handed him the check for $1800 and he said "yup, thats the total, where do want it piled?" I was wondering if he was going to come up with a higher total based on the amount of wood he had, but he didn't.

As he got the truck into position to start unloading, I got out the tape measure just to double check the length of the truck and trailer. The truck bed was 24' long and the pup trailer was 22' 8". The wood was stacked very high, all of 8 feet on average, probably closer to 9'. Soooo, 46.66' length X 8.33' ( 100" sticks) X 8' high = 3109.44 cu ft of wood divided by 128 cu ft/cord = 24.29 cords. I actually think it was probably all of 25 cords, but thats close enough. That comes out to aout $74/ full cord !! :cheese:

With the 7-8 cords I still have in the woodshed for next year, I should have enough for about 5 years now, plus I have lots of birch and maple to cut down around here on my property. I'll start cutting it up tomorrow. I had him deck up about 6 cords by the woodshed and the rest in a nice open spot on the side of my yard where it can bake in almost full sun for years before I need it. Its a good feeling indeed to know my firewood needs are met for a loooooonnnngggg time.

Pat

 

[Archer39]

nice, looks like you will be set for a long time.

 

[ColdNH]

Thats alot of effing wood! wish i had the space to get a load that big.

 

[PapaDave]

Hey Patch53,
That's a good lookin' load. Looks like this one I got in fall of '07. Just about 7-7.5 ft. tall, 26-28 ft. long, and about 100" logs. doing the math, I came up with 24.5-25 cords from that, but when all the cutting was done, 20 cords. Go figure.
I know darn well I didn't lose 4.5 cords to kerf cuts and lost bark.
Got another load last May, same guy, same truck. I'm about 1/2 through and I've got 10 cord c/s/s. I'll know better when I finish this load, but looks like all I'm gonna' get c/s/s, is 20 cords. Color me confused, but that is actually what I paid for, so it's all good.
Last load was $1500. So, $75/cord. After all the chainsaw fuel, splitter fuel, and tractor fuel, I'm at about $80-85/cord. Still happy.

 

[patch53]

Hey Patch53,
That's a good lookin' load. Looks like this one I got in fall of '07. Just about 7-7.5 ft. tall, 26-28 ft. long, and about 100" logs. doing the math, I came up with 24.5-25 cords from that, but when all the cutting was done, 20 cords. Go figure.
I know darn well I didn't lose 4.5 cords to kerf cuts and lost bark.
Got another load last May, same guy, same truck. I'm about 1/2 through and I've got 10 cord c/s/s. I'll know better when I finish this load, but looks like all I'm gonna' get c/s/s, is 20 cords. Color me confused, but that is actually what I paid for, so it's all good.
Last load was $1500. So, $75/cord. After all the chainsaw fuel, splitter fuel, and tractor fuel, I'm at about $80-85/cord. Still happy.

$1500 for that much wood is an awesome price anywhere. The load I got was cut almost a year ago. There is an area south and west of here where a fungus is killing a lot of oak. It's called "oak wilt". The guy who has the contract to cut all the dead oak from State property has hundreds of cords decked up at his yard, and they can't sell it for a minimum of 6 months after cutting to insure the fungus is dead and won't be able to spread to live trees. I have quite a bit of oak on my property but I'm not cutting any of it, only the birch and some maple. I hope that fungus is contained where it is. I live next to a large tract of state land that is loaded with beautiful red oak, would be a shame to see it all die. Hmmm, wait a minute, If it dies, I can get a permit to cut it ! LOL

 

[Nonprophet]

Dang! That is a LOT of wood, and all hardwood too! I've still got 7-8 cords laying around, but 25?!?!?! Wow, that would be nice! Of course all of mine was free/scrounged, so I've got that going for me......lol!


NP

 

[patch53]

Dang! That is a LOT of wood, and all hardwood too! I've still got 7-8 cords laying around, but 25?!?!?! Wow, that would be nice! Of course all of mine was free/scrounged, so I've got that going for me......lol!


NP

Scrounging is the way to go without a doubt. I used to go thru almost 10 cords a year in the old Aquatherm "wood gobbler" and scrounged all of it. I wanted to get ahead of the game and ensure I have good dry wood for my Seton. Now I can kind of coast a bit. I'll only be using about 6 cords a year with the Seton, so if I can just scrounge up 3-4 cords/year I shouldn't have to buy any wood for 8-9 years, maybe longer.

Pat

 

[wsorg]

Nice. That's a big load!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Patch, I've always thought that this would be a good way to get wood for someone who didn't have his own woodlot. I too thought at first glance it was more than 20 cords but no doubt he is talking about after being cut and split. Either way, you have some work cut out for you. I hope that fungus does not spread. It is a shame to see so many trees dieing and now the oaks too.

 

[gorrie16]

When in log length I usually use 160cu ft to make up 128 cu ft when cut, split, and stacked. Using that number you'll be a lot closer to 20 cords. Nice amount of wood though, I'd be set for a good 5-6 years with that.

 

[Danno77]

my neighbors already think I'm crazy. can you imagine that pulling up to my house in town and dropping off those logs? Have fun processing that!

 

[70marlin]

That's a realllly nice pile! I was chatting with that fellow from Gladwin. He had almost the same deal for me. But I ran across a gentlemen farmer expanding his tillage so all his fence rows and a real big woods has to go. He's selling it off by the pick-up truck load. $20 oak red & white, hickory. $15 for cherry and a mix of hard woods. Free for all soft wood plus walnut. My pick-up is an old short box and will only hold about 1 1/2 face cord of wood and round trip cost me about $10 in fuel. It's still better than market price in my area. I average two to four loads a week.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hmmm . . . now Patch if that is more wood that you agreed to buy you're going to call up the guy and demand he take the wood back, right? I mean folks always call the dealer and demand that they get more wood when they're shorted. And yes, I am just kidding . . . nice load of wood.

 

[patch53]

Hmmm . . . now Patch if that is more wood that you agreed to buy you're going to call up the guy and demand he take the wood back, right? I mean folks always call the dealer and demand that they get more wood when they're shorted. And yes, I am just kidding . . . nice load of wood.

Well, now thats its decked up on the ground I went and re-measured again. I had the guy unload it into a long pile about 6 ft high so it was easier to work on. I came up (conservatively) with 3,560 cu ft. If you use 128 cu ft/cord, that equates to 27.81 cords. Using the 160 cu ft/cord for c/s/s wood that equates to 22.25 cords, so either way I think I got a good load.

I will admit, I've never really heard of logging companies loading their trucks based on c/s/s wood, it's always based simply on log length wood sitting on a truck/trailer stacked to a certain height.

Pat

 

[Danno77]

Hmmm . . . now Patch if that is more wood that you agreed to buy you're going to call up the guy and demand he take the wood back, right? I mean folks always call the dealer and demand that they get more wood when they're shorted. And yes, I am just kidding . . . nice load of wood.

Well, now thats its decked up on the ground I went and re-measured again. I had the guy unload it into a long pile about 6 ft high so it was easier to work on. I came up (conservatively) with 3,560 cu ft. If you use 128 cu ft/cord, that equates to 27.81 cords. Using the 160 cu ft/cord for c/s/s wood that equates to 22.25 cords, so either way I think I got a good load.

I will admit, I've never really heard of logging companies loading their trucks based on c/s/s wood, it's always based simply on log length wood sitting on a truck/trailer stacked to a certain height.

Pat

wait, you are saying that unsplit it's 27.81 cords, but split it shrinks down to 22.25? I've been operating under the assumption that you gain ~10% by splitting it. where'd you get that 160 ft³ calculation.

 

[LLigetfa]

Numbers can vary. Logs can be crooked resulting in more air space. The longer the logs, the more potential air space. The ~10% number is based on bucked rounds, not tree length or 8 foot logs.

 

[Wood Duck]

Maybe the firewood dude meant to give you some extra wood. you know, a good deal for a big customer? Maybe he wanted to make sure it was enough, and doesn't mind giving away a few extra logs to be certain. All I am sayin' is maybe he didn't screw up. Still a nice deal for you either way.

 

[patch53]

Maybe the firewood dude meant to give you some extra wood. you know, a good deal for a big customer? Maybe he wanted to make sure it was enough, and doesn't mind giving away a few extra logs to be certain. All I am sayin' is maybe he didn't screw up. Still a nice deal for you either way.

I'm not sure, but about 3 weeks ago I called them and asked what the price of the oak was . The secretary told me it was $110/cord delivered. I asked her if I got a full load (~ 25 cords) would they offer a break on the price. She said yes, it would be $100/cord. I told her I would think about it. Then, about 10 days ago I called back and asked what the price was and she said $100/cord, so they had dropped the price by $10/cord. So I asked if she would take $90/cord for 20 cords and she said she would ask the boss and get back to me. She called back 2 hours later and said yes, they would take $90/cord.

So, I'm thinking she just told the driver to load up a full truck/trailer load and deliver it, and to collect $1800. The driver told me he was supposed to be off that day but got called to deliver a load of firewood. he didn't say anything about how much he was supposed to load. She may have forgot that I only wanted 20 cords instead of the 25 cords I originally discussed with her. Not sure, but thats a possibility. All in all, I'm happy with the wood I got. I think its all of 20 cords, even c/s/s.