How much would you pay?

[firecracker_77]

My tree service friend has 20 cords of mixed hardwoods in log form he wants to sell. How much would you pay per cord completely unseasoned?

He just brought me 1+ face cord in log form.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I don't see how anyone could answer that not knowing what kind of wood it is. Mixed hardwoods tells nothing. I could sell some mixed hardwoods too and end up selling willow, cottonwood and poplar. I would not be lieing either because those are hardwoods. On the other hand, oak, locust and hickory would be another story.

 

[firecracker_77]

I don't see how anyone could answer that not knowing what kind of wood it is. Mixed hardwoods tells nothing. I could sell some mixed hardwoods too and end up selling willow, cottonwood and poplar. I would not be lieing either because those are hardwoods. On the other hand, oak, locust and hickory would be another story.

Ok...let me find out more then.

 

[firecracker_77]

He delivered Maple today.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Soft or hard? Picky guy ain't I?

 

[burnagain]

I think his situation effects price too. if he's trying to avoid a dumping fee you could come out for little more than his fuel costs.

 

[firecracker_77]

I don't see how anyone could answer that not knowing what kind of wood it is. Mixed hardwoods tells nothing. I could sell some mixed hardwoods too and end up selling willow, cottonwood and poplar. I would not be lieing either because those are hardwoods. On the other hand, oak, locust and hickory would be another story.

I have some willow from someone else. Is that junk?

 

[firecracker_77]

Soft or hard? Picky guy ain't I?

I would assume it's hardwood...I'm not that knowledgable

 

[bogydave]

What's a cord of wood go for in your area?
Figure at least 1/2 off in log form, delivered.

 

[firecracker_77]

A cord of oak in my area not stacked is $225

 

[firefighterjake]

I have some willow from someone else. Is that junk?

Not the most desirable wood . . . very few folks go out of their way to get this . . . but if it's free I would grab it. I've burned some willow before . . . chief use as kindling or for shoulder season fires.

 

[firefighterjake]

Around here going rate for tree length wood is about $100 per cord -- sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less . . . but almost always it is good BTU wood such as ash, red/sugar maple, beech, yellow birch, etc.

As BS mentioned . . . it is good to know what is in the pile before settling on a price . . . a load of all softwood or a load of poplar, willow, etc. is not a good deal.

 

[mikefrommaine]

I get most of my dropped off by a tree service. I get it for free so I don't complain but most of it is gnarly knot filled and hard to split.

So i would say log length wood from a tree service is not worth as much as a load of nice straight grained easy to split logs.

 

[Wood Duck]

I would assume it's hardwood...I'm not that knowledgable

Savage is asking whether the maple is 'hard maple' (Sugar Maple) or 'soft maple' (Red or Silver Maples). They are both hardwoods but Sugar Maple is a very dense firewood while Red and Silver Maples are more in the medium BTU range. The point is that calling a load of firewood 'hardwood' doesn't really tell us much about the quality of the firewood. There are plenty of 'softwoods' (conifers - pines, hemlock, spruce, tamarack) that are as good or better than some 'hardwoods' like willow. In order to know what a load is worth it is very helpful to know the species of tree in the load.

If you're getting a mixed load of whatever the tree service cuts then I'd expect some top-notch woods like oak, honey locust, and sugar maples, and some lower BTU woods like maybe willow, probably soft maples (which are popular shade trees). In general I'd expect a lot of different woods, which is fun in my opinion. The concern is whether they are trying to select the lower quality woods to sell you as a mix and separating the oak and hard maple to sell separately.

 

[jeff_t]

I get most of my dropped off by a tree service. I get it for free so I don't complain but most of it is gnarly knot filled and hard to split.

So i would say log length wood from a tree service is not worth as much as a load of nice straight grained easy to split logs.

That's probably a good point. I can buy a 20 cord load of good hardwood for $90/cord, or all oak for $100. That's 8' sticks from a logging company. I can imagine what you would get from a tree service. I've seen some pictures here of 'grapple loads', and a lot of them look pretty twisty.

 

[bogydave]

OOPs
It didn't register in my brain, the "tree service" part. Big difference.
Chance of nails & other things in the trees that are bad for your saw chain.
Log length don't mean the whole tree like we get here at about $1200 for a 9 - 10 cord load ($120/cord)
Tree service usually means lots of big limbs & knots & mixed length of logs & pieces.
You'll end up with quit a big pile of uglies, shorties & misfits.
You & your equipment will get a much harder workout than with a logging company, forest cut, log length load.
Would be nice to see it, but $40 to $50 /cord sounds like a fair offer.

 

[steeltowninwv]

myself if u have access to cutting free wood do it...i have access but i wouldnt be afraid to buy a load of logs if the price was right...id pay 50.00 a cord of logs..

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I have some willow from someone else. Is that junk?

I never cut it for firewood but it can certainly be burned. Best for early fall or late spring. I cut a couple willows and a cottonwood that were in my way a couple years ago and just left them lay. However, when one does not have his own woods, at times those woods would be in the stack for sure.

Wood duck answered the other question very well.