Talk some sense into me.

[karl]

I can't believe what I just did. I bought firewood. I mean the stuff grows on trees why pay for it in West Virginia?

I had talked on here last fall about buying slab wood. I called the lumber mill today. They told me $110.00 for a dump truck load cut in 16"-18" pieces. I asked how much wood it was and she said about 3 pickup truck loads worth. I'm guessing thats a cord and half to two cords. she said there is bark on it. So I'm looking at a price of $55.00 to $73.00 a cord depending on how much I get.

She said they're running about a week behind on deliveries, so I'll find out next week.

Does this sound like I'm getting a good deal? Am I right in guessing it wil be 1 1/2 to 2 cords.

 

[burntime]

1 and 1/2 cord max. You may end up with a lot of bark...I would not pay for it, it is waste. 50 bucks to deliver it may be fair if its not too far, other than that I would buy real wood...ie not slab.

 

[blackgooseJT]

Karl'

Even if it's a little green now, slabs dry out pretty quick. Ones I've gotten in the past have been a little random on the dimensions so I'm not sure how they really measure up on volume.If the volume/price is accurate thats not a bad price. I buy occasionally because my time is worth more than the price of the wood. Scrounging is prefered.I have a flatbed dumper with an 8x12 bed which the sawmill 2 miles away will load up with kicked out logs (got nails/fence etc.) Been free including the knuckleboom up 'til now but I think I'll put my buddy to work in these hard times and buy a little cut up and split.

blackgooseJT

 

[TruePatriot]

Karl,

I can remember my father and I getting slab wood from a mill, in the 1970's, for our "Round Oak" stove, in the (home) office of my Dad's construction company. The best part is--you don't have to split it!

I don't think you will regret it--as mentioned, it seasons fast, too!

I think you did fine, if you can't hook up with a local arborist, as I have done, who delivers BUCKED-TO-LENGTH chunks of hardwood, to my yard, free of charge. (Twice he has delivered "standing deadwood," bucked-to-length, and once the deadwood was locust--sweet!) If your local recycling/landfill center charges a lot (as ours does--it costs arborists TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS to "tip" a truck of logs, at the recycling/landfill center) then they will be HAPPY to deliver logs--and possibly bucked-to-length logs, to your house, instead of paying such tipping fees.

But slab wood is "pre-split," and may even be pre-cut-to-length (if you're lucky) and, as was mentioned in this thread, seasons fast.

And last I checked--bark burns. It also makes excellent firestarter.

How can you go wrong?

Relax and enjoy!

Peter

 

[karl]

It arrived, and other than still having to stack it, I'm happy. Here are some pics. I'm guessing 2 1/2 to maybe 3 cords. All for 110 delivered. I'm probably going to order another load after I get this stacked. The truck was an International 4700. I don't know how big the bed is but its way more than 3 pickup loads.

Tell me what you think.

 

[karl]

Now all I need is a wood stacking fairy.

The pile is about 20 feet in diameter and 5 to 5 1/2 feet high in the center.

 

[burntime]

That actually has some meat on it. As for bark, there is not nearly the btus in it that wood has. No scientific data just what I observed. Overall it looks a lot better than it sounded.

 

[fespo]

I think thats a Great deal. Its cut, and delivered for $110.00. Even if you could get the wood like that for free you still have to load, bring it home and unload it. I would get another load or so, and then get some bigger stuff for when its cold or over night burns.

 

[Carl]

You can't beat that deal. Already cut up and delivered with no splitting necessary. Wahooo.....

Do you know what kind of wood it is?

 

[blackgooseJT]

looks like a good deal. The Mrs. just spied the loaded truck picture (and the price) and said.."where do we sign up?"...

blackgooseJT

 

[wahoowad]

looks like Poplar

 

[BrotherBart]

looks like Poplar

That it does Wahoo. That it does.

Just cut one down this afternoon.

 

[karl]

He said it was Oak and Poplar. I don't know my wood very well but I did see some sycomore in it, and some was noticably heavier so I'm guessing that's the oak.

I burnt alot of poplar last year. It did well even though it's not rated that high on BTU output.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

"Popular" wood is wood they can't keep in stock.

Poplar is that lighter stuff that grows straight up

Good score

 

[fossil]

Looks like it's mostly fire wood. ;-) Rick

 

[karl]

Here are pictures of it stacked. I measured it with a tape measure and it comes out to two cords. I have a few wheelbarrow loads of it that needs split and hasn't been stacked yet. One thing I learned is that when you measure it, it comes out alot smaller than when you guesstimate it. I would have called that stack three cords last year

It seems to me that is stackes alot tighter than split firewood. So I'm hoping theres alot more wood in it than what I split and stacked last year.

 

[BrotherBart]

The never ending heartache for a wood burner is how much less is in a measured stack than it looked like it was going to be when it was in a split pile. A thousand times and I never learn. I always hope for it to be more than it is, knowing better. Every freakin time.

Hope springs eternal.