Is this a good price for rounds?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

NordicSplitter

Minister of Fire
May 22, 2011
541
Western,NY
Well the time had come for me to move on to my next vehicle. I opted for a car instead of a truck. I couldn't justify the ridiculous price for a decent truck. Anyway...I contacted one of my sources for wood and after haggling...He will deliver a truck load of fresh cut rounds (silver maple & ash). All 16-20" long and various diameters. Total of 4.5 face cords per load for $200 a load. Told him I would take at least 2 loads...maybe 3 depending on space...What do you guys thinks...Good price?
 
Roughly 1 1/3 cords of green unsplit wood seems like it should be worth less than $200. Do you own a chainsaw? If not, count on at least some of those pieces being a smidge too long for your stove.

Whatever he was asking before you haggled was a monumental ripoff for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NordicSplitter
Roughly 1 1/3 cords of green unsplit wood seems like it should be worth less than $200. Do you own a chainsaw? If not, count on at least some of those pieces being a smidge too long for your stove.

Whatever he was asking before you haggled was a monumental ripoff for sure.
My Jotul can handle a 24" split. Chainsaw is ready just in case. It works out to be about $44 per face cord. Cut to size and dropped on my front lawn...I guess I'm willing to pay a tad bit for that convenience :)
 
Well the time had come for me to move on to my next vehicle. I opted for a car instead of a truck. I couldn't justify the ridiculous price for a decent truck. Anyway...I contacted one of my sources for wood and after haggling...He will deliver a truck load of fresh cut rounds (silver maple & ash). All 16-20" long and various diameters. Total of 4.5 face cords per load for $200 a load. Told him I would take at least 2 loads...maybe 3 depending on space...What do you guys thinks...Good price?
I wouldn't pay it. A cord split and delivers here in ct goes for a $200. Someone here already said wood unless processed already is worth pretty close to nothing. I paid for that $50 delivered

[Hearth.com] Is this a good price for rounds?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I can get 1 full cord here split and delivered(not stacked) for 200-220.... Seems a lot to me for unsplit rounds.
 
Where in ct? Id take that delivered!
I live in Bristol. That guy who dropped has a tree removal business so belive it or not but I did him a favor by letting him drop it in my yard. Otherwise he would have to haul it to a dump and psy for disposal. That't Why i said wood is worth nothing unless it's processed. You basically pay for the work someone put in to split a cord of wood not for the wood itself.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jon1270
It's all what the supply and demand dictate in your area. I'm used to tree guys wanting to give it away but that isn't the norm for everywhere. What's a log load and a split cord go for in your area? I would say that a price/cord midway between a log load and split should be the absolute most to pay. You seem good with the length because you say you can burn up to 25". I would consider that load worth less than a log load because I would have to cut a cookie off the ones > 17".
 
$150 for a cord to cord and a half of unsplit wood seems too high. I can buy a cord split and delivered for $200.
 
Your price sounds high, at least compared to our local pricing. Around here, it's $200 - $225/cord for split wood, or $75 - $100/cord unsplit, including delivery.

BTW... I'm pretty sure it's illegal to sell wood in NY by the "face cord." I remember reading this on the NY weights and measures site. Simply put, a "face cord" is a unit of area, being 8' x 4' x some unknown number. Wood is to be sold and recorded by "cord" unit, being 128 cu.ft., tightly stacked.
 
BTW... I'm pretty sure it's illegal to sell wood in NY by the "face cord."

It's illegal in lots of places. However, I have yet to hear of a state where that law is enforced.
 
I just got out, 5 year in a federal jail cause I used to sold wood by the face cord !! Inside, my Nickname was : The Burner :-P ......

Here it is not illegal.... There is a guy close to here who is selling it 75$ C/S and somewhT seasond And delivered, but it´s 14 in long. He is buying truck load, so on every 8 ft is he getting one extra log when cutting 14 insteAd of 16. All hardwood, mostly maple And yellow birch.
He is selling over 1000 face cord per year
 
I just got out, 5 year in a federal jail cause I used to sold wood by the face cord !! Inside, my Nickname was : The Burner ......

You had to "face" the music, eh?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fi-Q
Here it is not illegal....

I'm sure you know your laws better than me, but a 2 second search on a Google turned up this quote on Industry Canada: "For example, some sellers use illegal terms such as "face cord", "stove cord", "apartment cord", "furnace cord" and "short cord" to refer to a quantity smaller than 128 cubic feet when selling bulk firewood."

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/mc-mc.nsf/eng/lm03963.html

It's illegal in lots of places. However, I have yet to hear of a state where that law is enforced.
True... that's why it was a "BTW..." comment. Either way, it's not a good price.
 
Last edited:
I complained to Pennsylvania's Weights & Measures once when I was cheated by a dishonest firewood seller. They were no help, but I at least had a conversation with a knowledgeable guy there. What they really care about is that firewood be sold by volume, and the volume they care about is measured while the wood is 'ranked and well stowed,' i.e. tightly stacked with all the splits running the same direction. The term "face cord," isn't illegal; it's just insufficient. If a seller says he charges $70 per face cord, and that his splits are 16" long on average, and that a face cord is a stack 4' high and 8' long, then that's just fine and within the law because he's pinned down the volume of the stack. "Face cord" has no legal meaning at all, so using that term alone to describe what a customer will get is equivalent to saying, "some firewood," and that's where it's problematic.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.