Guestimate on how much cordwood

[MnDave]

I just bought some unsplit wood. Most pieces are 18 to 22 inches in diameter. Very straight pieces so they fit in my trailer and truck very efficiently.

My utility trailer is 8 foot long by 4 foot wide and I could stack the rounds at least 2 deep and mounded it up to 3 deep toward the center.

My truck is a Ford Super Crew (makes for the shorter bed). Same layering and mounding as the trailer.

Can someone give me an idea how much this will split out to be in cordwood?

Is this close to a full cord once it is split?

Thanks
MnDave

 

[tigeroak]

It will close , real close to a cord. Maybe a hair over.

 

[MnDave]

It will close , real close to a cord. Maybe a hair over.

That's cool. I hooked up with a logger. He has been working a 700+ acre site for over two years. It's about 20 miles away.

Super nice guy. He had a bad logging acident 15 years ago. A branch fell 65 feet. Hit the ground then hit him sideways. Sent his ribs into his spinal column. He lost the use of his legs. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. What a heart and we shot the breeze while my wife and I loaded and he sat in his truck.

I asked him what I should take away from his accident. He said that the worst accidents happen from above. So alway look up top for dead limbs.

I plan to get as much wood as I can fit on my land. I'll take a picture of my pile when I get going.

It was from reading posts here that I decided to get ahead by 2-3 years at least.

Peace,
MnDave

 

[tigeroak]

I am 3 years ahead right now and where I get my wood there is another year there waiting to come home. I will have to build a building next year to put my dried wood in.

 

[MnDave]

I am 3 years ahead right now and where I get my wood there is another year there waiting to come home. I will have to build a building next year to put my dried wood in.

In all the years I have been burning I have never really been ahead. Every once in a while you see a big pile and I always thought the guy maybe works for a tree service. I sincerely did not know that the wood would burn better the longer it dried. I thought dry was dry.

I bought a 2 acre wooded lot for a home site in 1983. I cleared the area for the home. I stacked all the wood under a bunch of trees and split it as I needed it. I didn't even know back then that something about what I was doing was wrong. I had fungus growing on my wood. Nobody talked about wood quality. Wood was wood.

MnDave

 

[bogydave]

Easy to overload a single axle trailer with fire wood.
Truck & trailer full will be over 2 tons of green fire wood. Drive accordingly

Getting & staying ahead 2 to 3 years will be sweet & give you good dry firewood
How many cords do you burn per year?

The Bobcat UTV, is it the one with the dump bed?

 

[MnDave]

Easy to overload a single axle trailer with fire wood.
Truck & trailer full will be over 2 tons of green fire wood. Drive accordingly

Good advice. I have been hauling fieldstone for a waterfall project. Obviously I do not fill the truck or trailer. But this load of wood felt heavier that any of the dozen or so rock loads I hauled. Needless to say I try to keep it below 55 mph. The trailer is rated 3500 lbs even though it is smaller.

Getting & staying ahead 2 to 3 years will be sweet & give you good dry firewood
How many cords do you burn per year? ?

In the past I have used around 3 cords a season. I am thinking that if we can get more ahead we are likely to keep the house warmer than in the past. That has my wife even more into heating with wood. She is as excited about stockpiling wood as I am. This morning we blew off a planned Saturday of Christmas shopping because the logger called. I told him that I am in for 6 full cords minimum.

I have this seasons wood. I have 2 cord unsplit on the ground. I got a chord today. I will get a chord tomorrow just before a predicted 7-8" snow fall. Thankfully, Jim (the awesome logger), drags out the logs that are too short to ship to the mill. He has a nice flat place where his "boys" cut them into 16-22" lengths.

The Bobcat UTV, is it the one with the dump bed?

Yep. We bought our Bobcat UTV in 2008. At that time Bobcat was using (i.e but their name on) a UTV made by an Ingersoll Rand subsidiary (Club Car).
Now Bobcat uses the Polaris Ranger. Ours has a 3 cylinder Kubota diesel engine. It is a powerhouse. I am still amazed at what this machine can do. In 4 plus years it only failed one time to do what I needed it to do.

MnDave