Help! Is this worth it?

[chazcarr]

The tree service in my town is selling a wood-truck full of hardwood logs for $800.
They claim it is between 6-7 cords total.

That is $125 per cord about.
I know the owner, and he is a good guy, and his $250 per cord of split wood is always a full cord (if a bit green).

I am getting a lot of tools delivered for Christmas and want some wood to work on, do you think I should jump at this?

**UPDATE** Because of the bad news in my area I decided I needed some wood to work out my frustrations on. Ordered the small grapple truck of wood. Claims to be 3-4 cords of dry logs for $450.
Here is what I got:

You can see the one bad piece of the bunch on the far right of this first pic. A gnarly 4-way splitting trunk.

The are all hardwoods, and very dry.

How many cords you think I have?

I am not looking forward to cutting and busting this huge cherry trunk. Luckily it is straight with no branching.

All local CT trees.

 

[basod]

Sounds high for you doing the jist of the work

Are these yard trees or mill rejects?

 

[cptoneleg]

Wow firewood is high up your way

 

[TreePointer]

Yeah, that's high in my area.

 

[Bacffin]

It's the going rate for Southern New England.
(broken link removed to http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/for/3428423714.html)

 

[chazcarr]

It's the going rate for Southern New England.
(broken link removed to http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/for/3428423714.html)

Thanks for that link, yes this seems a bit high but it is the going rate in our area. I think a lot of people installed wood burners in 2010 when there was the tax rebate, so now there is a premium on wood.

There are almost no scrounges around here.

These are all yard trees.

I don't really think I could convince the wife on $800 right now anyways. It is just pretty damn hard to get any wood around here lately.

Thanks guys.

 

[fire_man]

It's the going rate for Southern New England.
(broken link removed to http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/for/3428423714.html)

Hey those are the guys that delivered my last Grapple Load! The price has not changed much.

 

[chazcarr]

Hey those are the guys that delivered my last Grapple Load! The price has not changed much.

Was it a good amount of wood? Would you consider it worth it? I am thinking of pulling the trigger. My wife gave me permission and I have a week off between Christmas and New Years.

These are pretty green logs I imagine, but are they good hardwoods?

Thanks for letting me know.

 

[bogydave]

Few good things about having a log load delivered:
Save on travel to & from
Can work on it when you want
Be a little selective on wood type.
Stay busy thru the year
Sell some for enough profit to buy some new toys.

So if the advantages are there for you , it's worth it

 

[fire_man]

Was it a good amount of wood? Would you consider it worth it? I am thinking of pulling the trigger. My wife gave me permission and I have a week off between Christmas and New Years.

These are pretty green logs I imagine, but are they good hardwoods?

Thanks for letting me know.

I apologize. I just checked my records and I did NOT use the service company in your link. I wanted to be sure before I bad mouthed anyone.

Be clear you are not interested in Poplar or Cottonwood trees. Half my Grapple load was a giant 4 ft diameter Cottonwood tree.

My contract said "hardwood only" and Cottonwood is technically a hardwood but has fewer BTU's than Pine.

They also delivered many twisted soft maple trees, but threw in a couple scrawny Oak just as a bone. Also be clear on expected maximum tree diameter if that matters to you.

If the load is good hardwood: Oak, Hard Maple, Beech, Cherry, even some soft maple is ok, then I think around $100-$125 is fine in Southern New England.

There is nothing like getting a good Grapple load of wood delivered to your house - you see all those BTU's and anticipate all that fun work using all your toys - You gotta love it!

 

[albert1029]

it'd be cool if was all nice, straight logs...

 

[Thistle]

It costs me close to $80/cord to process the wood where I get it from,counting gas,2hrs round trip travel,fuel mix,equipment/maintenance costs etc not counting my time.

But its better than any gym membership & it just wouldnt be the same if I couldnt work in the woods.

 

[Bacffin]

Here is the load I got in October.
From this service (broken link removed to http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/mat/3461929876.html)
Best deal for the money around here imo.
I am almost done s/s. I am up to 4 cords with 13 oak logs left to go.
In the mix; soft maple, hard maple, ash, hickory, white oak, red oak and a little cherry.

 

[chazcarr]

Bacffin: Those look like great logs, nothing like what I got as you can see above. The ad you linked is gone, would you mind sharing how much that cost you and how many cords you expect to get?

Thank you. It makes my little grapple load seem pathetic.

 

[PapaDave]

If that's the going rate, then that's the going rate. C/s/s and let us know what you end up with. Looks pretty dry, but split some and you may be surprised.
Here, full load of Oak (20 cord) is $75/cord.
I figure it costs a couple bucks more/cord to process, so maybe 80.
95% or more oak, and the rest is usually Maple. I could order only softwood or a mix, but the price difference is negligible. I can cut softwood here at the house.
Like Dave said, it's sitting where you can get to it easy and whenever you want......no travel expense.
I'd love to do another.....which would get me almost 10 years ahead. That's with the new stove.

 

[Hickorynut]

If I bought a truck load of logs I would really want a load like bacffin had.

 

[Clarkbug]

I just got a nice tri axle load of birch, maple, and ash dropped off for 575. Probably 6 cord or so, with a few logs just under 20".

For the quality of the wood, im happy with the amount and the price.

Hoping to get it worked up next month and get another in the spring to work on the future stash.

 

[chazcarr]

I just got a nice tri axle load of birch, maple, and ash dropped off for 575. Probably 6 cord or so, with a few logs just under 20".

For the quality of the wood, im happy with the amount and the price.

Hoping to get it worked up next month and get another in the spring to work on the future stash.

Hope we get to see some pictures of that

 

[Clarkbug]

Ask and ye shall gets.

 

[chazcarr]

Ask and ye shall gets.

View attachment 85233

Wow, nice, much more wood for the price and easy to work logs. Now I feel cheated. And look how nice they placed it. Mine was dumped in the yard with a 3 foot deep crater.

Have fun with them, I'll probably try again next year with a different company.

 

[Clarkbug]

What you dont see are the big tracks on the lawn. Turns out log trucks are heavy, and my lawn is not as firm as I thought. I usually try to buy when the ground is frozen, since it also keep the mud off the logs. These were skidded out the day they showed up, and have the mud to prove it.

But dont feel cheated. I didnt want to make ya feel that way...

I thought it was a pretty good load, but I have also been ordering from the same guy for a while. But so does most of my family, so he gets a BIG order all at once, which may have something to do with the quality/quantity of the loads. I have also gotten some really twisted nasty stuff, and that takes up more room on the truck, so a smaller load total.

In that photo the stick all the way on the right is probably the biggest yellow birch I have ever seen (definitely the biggest I have cut), and the one on the very top is a black birch around 19" or so. That was sorta scary to roll that one down.

My back hurts thinking about moving all that around..... But its better than a gym membership!

 

[tsquini]

It's the going rate for Southern New England.
(broken link removed to http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/for/3428423714.html)

Levesque Wood Co. Is the guy I get my grapple loads from. He is a good guy I typically get about 8-9 chords from one of this loads. That is about $100 a chord. Green split would cost me $250 - $300 a cord. If you are on the north shore Ma have the space and desire cut up a grapple load would recommend him.

 

[HeatsTwice]

Claims to be 3-4 cords of dry logs for $450.
Here is what I got

I cut loads like that all the time and feel that there is really only 2 cords at best there. But others my differ.

 

[chazcarr]

I cut loads like that all the time and feel that there is really only 2 cords at best there. But others my differ.

You are right it feels. I've started C/S/S and it seems I'll be lucky to get near three cords. So after all the hard work, It will only save me about $100 from buying already split wood by the cord. Oh well. I did have the ulterior motive of wanting to play with my new toys that are coming for Christmas (Cant hook, chaps, etc...)

 

[HeatsTwice]

You are right it feels. I've started C/S/S and it seems I'll be lucky to get near three cords. So after all the hard work, It will only save me about $100 from buying already split wood by the cord. Oh well. I did have the ulterior motive of wanting to play with my new toys that are coming for Christmas (Cant hook, chaps, etc...)

These types of lessons are very valuable. I can say I have been taken in the past by people who have told me untruths. But such is cheap tuition. "Fool me once shame on me...." and the like.