Trials and Tribulations of a wood buying newbie.

[Cornflakes]

We just purchased our first home and closed at the end of May. From day one I knew I wanted to get a wood or pellet stove to supplement the forced air oil heat. If you saw my first thread, you'll know I decided with wood heat, and opted for a Super 27(which is currently sitting on my front porch).

I am by no means prepared in the area of dry wood... so what does any first time wood stove enthusiast do when they want to buy wood..... why CRAIGS LIST of course!


Much to my delight I found several people selling nice "well seasoned" hardwood and for affordable prices!

This it too easy I thought to myself.... I'm so fortunate to have a plethora of young craiglists firewood entrepreneurs at my fingertips; I think to myself, "i'll be set for this winter!"

So a guy was advertising "well seasoned" firewood for $150 a cord delivered. I called him up and asked him what type of wood he was selling.... "All hardwood, no pine" he says. I then ask him if he defined a cord of wood to be 4x4x8 stacked wood. He says "yes, 4x4x8 stacked wood". So I say "I'll take two cords!"

Long story short... the guy was running "late".... and I had to go to work and couldn't wait. I had my neighbor come over since I didn't want some stranger there with my wife and son....

and... this is what i got for $300:

I was pissed all night at work and I stacked it in the confines of my 4x4x16 ft space immediately when i got home at 1:30am. Not only was I shorted... but it was all green. I think the walnut was the only "hardwood"... and plenty of junk.... rather sumac looking.

Called and texted the guy. He beat around the bush, said his "phone died".... asked how short I was, I told him he owed me 3/4 a cord, at least, and wanted to know when he was bringing the rest. His communication was weak.... I sent him the above photo and he said "there is noway you're that short.".... and I haven't heard a peep from him since. I kept pestering him via text (he wouldn't answer when i called)... but that was that. I got screwed. I still have yet to blast him on craigslist. I figure it was more or less 100% my fault... one- for trusting him, and two- paying for it without personally seeing it.

Coincidentally, that same day, i texted and old work friend to see if he still sold wood.... and he was in the process of splitting some oak rounds. Him and his buddies dropped off two full sized truck beds for $200.


cut dead standing....

took me a week to find the time, but I got it all split. I built some make shift platforms so air would circulate good, and I stacked it loose, but i'm not confident it will be ready this year. I was able to get about 1/4 a cord of bone dry splits from the lot. But I moved those into the car port. All in all.... I think its around 2 cords, maybe 21/2. I saw a guy selling pine down the street... $125 for a dump truck full. So that is now on a pile in my back yard. The stuff seems very dry.... its very light and splits easy. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Is $125 for a big pile of pine decent.. and do I have any chance that oak will be ready?

 

[Seanm]

Tough on your first run in buying wood. Your guy dropping off that oak.... nice. The Pine if it is truly ready to burn will be below 20%. Many of us out west including me stay warm burning pine. Pine is good firewood and will be great heat for you until your better wood is ready to go. Buy a cheap moisture meter for $20 and split some of that oak and pine and see where it comes in. Not sure what a dump truck load of pine would cost in your area but I would hope for you that it wouldnt be green. If I was to pay for wood here I would pay $150 for a cord of "choke" seasoned pine. Nice to see you are ambitious with your wood! You will like that stove by the way!

 

[Poindexter]

You might look to see how expensive bio-logs are in your area, basically over sized wood pellets for cordwood stoves. Expensive compared to cordwood, but already dry. I have a hunch you won't need to buy any next winter the way you are going now.

 

[Soundchasm]

You can try and use the pine to get the oak going. If that's Walnut in the first pic it dries about as quick as anything. I'm not trying to be generous with other folk's money and time, but you should seriously look into a Smokeater stack cleaning kit. Folks here love them, and you could run it after your first month of burning to evaluate creosote and keep the stack safe and ease your mind. Moisture meter from HD or Lowes, and even look into those $300 electric splitters. They're excellent for resplitting into smaller splits.

Done the CL thing. Ugh. Been playing catch-up for several years and am almost there. You can do this thing!

 

[blades]

99 % of wood on CL is seasoned only with bar oil and 2 stroke exhaust. Sometimes there might be the 1 or 2 that say kiln treated ( that will kill bugs but not really dry out the wood) but better than the previously mentioned seasoning. Do not load too much pine in the stove all at once - pine resin is very flammable and would lead to an over fire quickly.

 

[gzecc]

How's it feel to no longer be a newbie. Now your a wood buying veteran!

 

[bigbarf48]

Wow, you got shorted for sure. That dead oak will definitely not be ideal this winter. I've cut standing dead red oak and had it be good to go in a year (maybe less), but you don't have long till burning time and no more hot sunny days to help. I've also cut standing dead white oak that my tree guy dropped that was still wet inside. If you have access to dry pine, I would load up on as much as you can to try and save the oak as long as possible

 

[lindnova]

That looks like some nice red oak. Will not be dry enough for this winter unfortunately. I cut a lot of dead oak and it still takes 1-2 years to dry even if dead. Those loose stacks you have should help it dry for next winter. Maybe split some of the walnut smaller and mix with any dry pine you find and as a last resort bioblocks.

I tried to sell some wood on Craigslist last winter during the cold spells. It is almost as hard to sell as buy. I was honest that I had good oak and moistures were 20%-26% which is not optimal, but is acceptable to non epa stoves. I figured people were desperate for wood as the main dealers were selling only green wood(advertised as seasoned) and I had dryer wood than them. I ended up not selling any as it was either to difficult to explain what seasoned wood actually is or people wanted to dicker the price down. I was honest and firm on my price as I really don't need to sell any and wanted to make it worth my time. I have a lot of nice firewood this winter though, but decided to sell only to close friends or relatives if even that.

 

[Cornflakes]

Well..I started splitting the pine today. A lot was very dry... felt almost like balsa wood.. and some was wet. I'm trying to make two separate piles... but I really don't feel like hauling all the dry stuff up closer to the house, so I may just stack the dry on top of the wetter stuff in the back of the property.

It was fun finding wood that wasn't pine in the pile. Found some more walnut, and some other type that appears to be a harder wood, but I have no idea what it is.


So that is red oak eh? I know nothing about types of wood. My friend has a huge supply of dead standing trees on a property him and his buddies are felling. I think the supply will be pretty good for a while. They sell a full sized truck bed full of oak for $145. I may get a couple loads already split just to stock up and save some energy. He said it isn't exactly a full cord but close. The trucks also have wood extending the bed height. Does that sound like a decent deal?

misc non-pine in the front.... rear right is the dryer stuff, and rear left is the wet stuff, so far.

sampling the goods.... hmmmmmmm piney! that stuff burns hot.... and I love the smell.

so glad to be living back out in the country!

 

[Rickb]

My experience is a full sized pick up is 1/3 to 1/2 a cord at most.

 

[Cornflakes]

My experience is a full sized pick up is 1/3 to 1/2 a cord at most.

Even with the sides extended up and a nice rounded pile? I was thinking it would be hard to fit "almost" a cord in a truck bed too. But I got a decent amount of wood from those rounds and they hauled then in the same trucks that would deliver the splits.

 

[BrotherBart]

Given that a full cord of red or white oak wet weighs over 5,000 pounds and dry is over 4,000 blown tires will tell you if it is a full cord in the truck.

 

[Cornflakes]

Given that a full cord of red or white oak wet weighs over 5,000 pounds and dry is over 4,000 blown tires will tell you if it is a full cord in the truck.

I guess you have a point. I need a truck and a chain saw. Oh... And some land to cut my own trees down. Buying wood sucks.

 

[Rickb]

Even with the sides extended up and a nice rounded pile? I was thinking it would be hard to fit "almost" a cord in a truck bed too. But I got a decent amount of wood from those rounds and they hauled then in the same trucks that would deliver the splits.

Maybe a long bed with 6 foot sides....... But as BB stated it would be tough on the tires unless it was a duely.

 

[Rickb]

I guess you have a point. I need a truck and a chain saw. Oh... And some land to cut my own trees down. Buying wood sucks.

I borrow a truck and get all my wood from friends or craigslist. I process it in my back yard. Last year 1/2 the wood I had was scrounged after work in my ford focus.

 

[Cornflakes]

I borrow a truck and get all my wood from friends or craigslist. I process it in my back yard. Last year 1/2 the wood I had was scrounged after work in my ford focus.

Any scrounging tips? I love free stuff.

 

[bigbarf48]

I wouldn't pay 145 bucks for a pickup load of wood, that's a pretty raw deal on your end. That's 1/2 cord at the most, and likely only 1/3 cord. That comes out to 300-450 a cord for not dry wood

 

[Rossco]

Well that sucks. Sorry to read about the wood.

Like Sean said: Here we burn pine no worries. But the stuff we get is usually 15-20% off the saw.

 

[Cornflakes]

I wouldn't pay 145 bucks for a pickup load of wood, that's a pretty raw deal on your end. That's 1/2 cord at the most, and likely only 1/3 cord. That comes out to 300-450 a cord for not dry wood

Yea... I'll probably pass. I'm better off buying more pine for $125 a dump load.

 

[Cornflakes]

You might look to see how expensive bio-logs are in your area, basically over sized wood pellets for cordwood stoves. Expensive compared to cordwood, but already dry. I have a hunch you won't need to buy any next winter the way you are going now.

I've been looking but can't find any local.

I've been reading up on pallet burning. Since I have unlimited access to pallets at work I may go that route this winter. Feels kinda "cousin eddy like"... But wood is wood I suppose lol.

 

[Poindexter]

Once you have a saw and a truck your co-workers and their friends will start coming to you. This is my third season burning, I scrounged five cords this year without ever having to visit craigslist.

I turn down about half the calls I go on because I am not insured for dropping a tree into someone's house - but I go. Same day, or first convenient day for the caller. That's why I keep getting calls, the word is I will show up and either deal with it or show them why I can't/ shouldn't do it.

I did buy a case of carbonated beverages for a local arborist in exchange for him joining me in the woods and showing me how to fell a tree. The easy ones. We looked at some of the harder ones with difficult leans and stuff, the main thing is to know your limits.

In the meantime I would bring in $125 dumptruck loads of pine until you have enough dry wood for this year and next year. Now that I am a year ahead I can be quite a bit pickier about what goes in my wood pile...