Seasoned apple wood, $170 a cord delivered? Good deal?

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WonderingWoman

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Jun 5, 2008
116
Pacific NW
There's a guy in Yakima who will deliver 5 cords apple wood for 150 per cord, + 120 delivery fee. What do you think? I live one hour from Yakima.
 
Apple is a great burning wood. High on the BTU charts. Sounds pretty good to me.
 
Only you can answer that question. Are they really full cords he's selling? A cord of wood is a lot of wood (128 cubic feet of neatly stacked wood), and could weigh somewhere around 2 tons. How much of that 5 cords do you think you want? How many trips would you have to make to get it all home safely if you went to pick it up yourself? Seems to me, that if he's willing to bring it all to you at $170/cord, it's probably a pretty good deal for you...but you won't really know until you see the first load. I understand Apple burns real good, and makes for some very fine grilling/smoking fuel too. Let us know what you decide and how it works out. Best, Rick
 
Here in NH that might cost around 250+/cord for apple. Yummy! That's awesome wood, burns long and hot with great coals, smells awesome (though my one complaint about EPA compliant stoves is that there is very little wood smell coming out of your chimney), and it's superb to barbeque with as well.
 
Looks like a good deal if the wood is as specified in volume of 5 true cords. That is a lot of wood, guess it gets pretty cold in the Yakima area.
 
WonderingWoman said:
There's a guy in Yakima who will deliver 5 cords apple wood for 150 per cord, + 120 delivery fee. What do you think? I live one hour from Yakima.

I'd love a couple cords of apple, think he will deliver over the mountians, kinda doubt it huh LOL
 
The price is decent. It would be going for at least $300/cord here. My main concern would be that after a week of stacking you find it either sub-standard or short in quantity. Is this an established wood dealer? I would want to know if it is seasoned, is it split, what length, full cords and delivered by when? Do you have any other options?
 
WonderingWoman apple is a great wood to burn...I thought you were going to cut your own wood at 50 a truck load? Or was it someone else?
 
Elderthewelder said:
WonderingWoman said:
There's a guy in Yakima who will deliver 5 cords apple wood for 150 per cord, + 120 delivery fee. What do you think? I live one hour from Yakima.

I'd love a couple cords of apple, think he will deliver over the mountians, kinda doubt it huh LOL

Yes, he told me he has delivered to Seattle.
 
savageactor7 said:
WonderingWoman apple is a great wood to burn...I thought you were going to cut your own wood at 50 a truck load? Or was it someone else?

I went once, I plan to go again once I'm done with a nursing contract I've been doing.

I'm putting alot of energy into the remodel of expanding on to my porch, so I'm thinking of buying some wood too, plus getting some forest wood, which I've gotten one load so far. This seemed like a good deal. My remodel is taking a lot of energy, so buying some wood seems like a wise move.
 
WonderingWoman said:
There's a guy in Yakima who will deliver 5 cords apple wood for 150 per cord, + 120 delivery fee. What do you think? I live one hour from Yakima.
I wonder if the delivery for me would stand. Id even throw in an extra $50. :-P On a serious note I think its a great deal. RE:PRICE OF OIL!!!
Seasoned or not. As long as they are true full cords. One of my fishin buds lives in the B.C. Okanagan witch has had many apple orchards, now switched to vineyards, hence an abundance of apple wood. His experience with it has been great. He feeds a pacific
energy summit. Id say go for it.
 
If seasoned apple burns slower than oak if I remember. If you are not a wood um, recycler and pay, then yes get it!!!
 
If everything is as described, full cords cut and split cherry ready to burn, then it is a good deal. That's about 175 per cord and is about average for much lower btu content woods here on the wetside these days.

Folks seem to be worried about the "what ifs" such as he tries to sell you rotten wood, he tries to short you on quantity, etc. Well, that could happen with any wood seller so you've got to be ready to assess the wood when it arrives and before you pay.

To check on whether it is seasoned or not you could have a small campfire going when you expect him to arrive. Pick a few representative pieces and thrown them on your fire. Do they sizzle? Do they smolder? Do they put your fire out? This is what will happen inside your woodstove in the snowy winter.

Nothing wrong with buying wood. There are only so many hours in the day and you've got to choose how you spend them to make the most of it. It will take you all day (say 12 hours) to cut, split, and deliver a cord of this wood and that's after paying about 100$ per cord (you said 50$ per truckload). So for 8 hours labor you are saving 75 bucks. Also it will take you five whole days to do it. If you're like me then that is half of the next 5 weekends and that puts you into August. I think your time is better spent remodeling, you'll still spend time stacking it.

5 cords of apple is probably equivalent to the 7 cords of softwood I burnt this year in western WA. That'll be one year's supply.
 
We used to get free apple orchard trimmings years ago fromthe orchard up the street.
The new owner sells it all now.

Burns great, but can be difficult to stack, especially the smaller crooked branches.
 
Most apple wood that I have seen for sale is not split, due to the twisty nature of the trunk and limbs. Find out exactly what you're getting before you commit to anything. That said, it is wonderful to burn. Very hot, and burns into nice coals.
 
only xp I have with apple is mixed with hickory and in a smoker....
Tastes to good to put in wood stove :)
 
I got my apple wood. It is very dry. My aging hippie neighbor, longtime woodgatherer, heard the wood getting unloaded and came by. He's always gotten his own wood. Apparently he totally approved of my purchase because he ordered a load himself.

The guy sold a piece of property in Yakima and has a ton of wood that he needs to sell before the first of the year. I'll get another load before the end of the year, for sure. He had taken all the tree off this property because he didn't want to run an orchard, he says it's a big hassle hiring workers.

So, now I have enough wood for this winter and any wood I get on my own will be for my future stockpile. All this investment on time and money will pay off down the road.
 
Sounds like you are good to go. Get as much of that stuff as you can.
 
My nephew lives in Yakima. Sergeant with the Washington State Patrol. Gonna see him out on the coast in 3 weeks for a few days. He said he was gonna bring me a little load of apple in the back of his truck next time he came down. Hope he does. If nothing else, I'd like to try grilling/smoking with it. WW, you did good, nice going! Rick
 
I drove through Entiat and Wenatchee on a trip to Chelan over the weekend. All kinds of apple (maybe cherry) orchards being dismantled with stacks of the black twisty trees all dry and ready to go. Boy, this wood is weird. It is small diameter stuff so you don't really need to split much of it. And it is twisty so your stacks will always look like a birds nest.

I didn't pick any wood up, nearly picked up a bighorn sheep in the grill of my truck though when a herd crossed in front of me.
 
You should have grabbed some apple and barbacued it! Apple is nice but you must split it to dry it and it still takes a long time...longer then red oak!
 
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