Firewood Market

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

I just came for dinner (the noon meal in Kentucky). I had been out delivering 3 ricks of wood to Aunt Peggy. I was just curious as to how things are done in other parts of the country. The wood I delivered was 99% red oak with a little poplar. A poplar limb fell out when I cut the tree. The wood wasn't "seasoned" but the tree was dead when I cut it. Locally a rick will measure 4' X 8' X 16"-18". It is normally considered, but is not, a half cord. The reason for this is most stoves in my area will not handle a 24" stick of wood hence 16-18". Firewood here is rarely sold by the cord, just by the rick. Most folks who heat with wood use 15-20 ricks a season. I sold her the wood, delivered and stacked in her wood shed for $30 a rick. She lives less than 5 miles from me. Normally it would have been $40-50. The firewood of choice is ash but it's getting harder to come by. Red and white oak are very popular as well as hickory and cherry. Trash wood are popular, beech, gum, sycamore, maple, locust, sassafras, persimmon, pine, cedar and cottonwood. As a curious point I cut a little wood for my wifes grandmother years ago. She had a little "Ben Franklin" style wood stove in the parlor (living room) but it could only take a 12-14" stick of wood. It takes forever to cut wood in 12'' pieces! Tell me a little of how you guys do it.

 

[MossRoad]

A cord is 48"W x 4'H x 8'L
A rick is a third of a cord, which would be 16"W x 4'H x 8'L just as you described.
In cold winters I burn 6 cords, which would be 18 ricks which is also just as you described.
Last winter I barely went through 4 cords and this year I have only burned 1.5 cord. Very mild weather.

 

[dave1949]

$150 for a full cord of oak cut, split and delivered is a pretty decent price here. A cord can cost as much as $200. Sometimes there is a two cord minimum, and be within so many miles, to get the best price.

 

[dmccarty]

I just came for dinner (the noon meal in Kentucky). I had been out delivering 3 ricks of wood to Aunt Peggy. I was just curious as to how things are done in other parts of the country. The wood I delivered was 99% red oak with a little poplar. A poplar limb fell out when I cut the tree. The wood wasn't "seasoned" but the tree was dead when I cut it. Locally a rick will measure 4' X 8' X 16"-18". It is normally considered, but is not, a half cord. The reason for this is most stoves in my area will not handle a 24" stick of wood hence 16-18". Firewood here is rarely sold by the cord, just by the rick. Most folks who heat with wood use 15-20 ricks a season. I sold her the wood, delivered and stacked in her wood shed for $30 a rick. She lives less than 5 miles from me. Normally it would have been $40-50. The firewood of choice is ash but it's getting harder to come by. Red and white oak are very popular as well as hickory and cherry. Trash wood are popular, beech, gum, sycamore, maple, locust, sassafras, persimmon, pine, cedar and cottonwood. As a curious point I cut a little wood for my wifes grandmother years ago. She had a little "Ben Franklin" style wood stove in the parlor (living room) but it could only take a 12-14" stick of wood. It takes forever to cut wood in 12'' pieces! Tell me a little of how you guys do it.

When I was a teenager I worked on a farm and one of the major jobs was splitting firewood. I really grew to dislike splitting firewood bent over a log splitter, hour after hour, day after day on bottom land right along the Ohio River. This was in Ky. We sold wood by the cord and rick but most people bought by the rick. In my area of NC, a truck load of hardwood is $50-100. I don't think I have ever heard anyone use the word rick here. Well, me, maybe. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

When cutting and splitting wood it was 16-18 inch lengths though we had one guy that wanted 24 inch long pieces.

I wish I could remember what we charged for wood back then. Seems like $35 for a rick delivered and $55/65 a cord.

The farm was on land next to the river and the road was pretty steep getting away from the river. One year the guy I worked for rented a semi to haul out the wood. Thank goodness I did not work for him then because the semi could not pull the trailer up the grade! They had to unload some wood to get the semi out of the bottom land. From then on, he rented a UHaul that we filled up to take the wood back to the city. He had some land where we stored the wood before delivery to buyers but that house and land seem to have been lost to development.

Later,
Dan

 

[charlz]

Out West here it is almost all softwood, typically various types of pine. Occasionally you can get hardwood in the form of apple or cherry from orchards being developed, driven out of business by Chinese competition, etc. In either case this time of year it runs around $200 per cord but varies +-$25 based on the type of wood. In the summer it is closer to $150. In this area you can also get Juniper which is fairly hard for a softwood. The Boise area is essentially desert greened up by irrigation. Pine comes from the higher elevation mountains and Juniper comes from the desert mountains.

 

[charlz]

When I was a teenager I worked on a farm and one of the major jobs was splitting firewood. I really grew to dislike splitting firewood bent over a log splitter, hour after hour, day after day on bottom land right along the Ohio River. This was in Ky. We sold wood by the cord and rick but most people bought by the rick. In my area of NC, a truck load of hardwood is $50-100. I don't think I have ever heard anyone use the word rick here. Well, me, maybe.

I ran a firewood business for a few years in high school. All the splitting was done by hand swinging a splitting maul... I would have loved a powered splitter but probably way too slow for most pine. Usually Lodgepole and the like will split with one good whack of a splitting maul. If you got into some really big, knotty Fir it could involve splitting wedges etc. Maybe even chainsaw big rounds in halves or quarters before they could be split the rest of the way by hand. Living in a mountain valley firewood was reasonably close so $65 per cord cut, split and delivered was the going rate.

 

[Thomas]

Cord hard wood split deliver w/in 15miles $170-$225,season dry $$$'s more this area.

Plastic bag 6 pieces at store $7...yikes.

 

[hosspuller]

Plastic bag 6 pieces at store $7...yikes.

Bottled water 1 liter..$2 ...yikes

PERRIER 1 LITER SPARKLING WATER

 

[JBourquin]

Never heard of a "rick" before. Maybe it's because I'm from NY. Here I've only heard it called a "face cord". Guess I learned something new..

 

[KTurner]

In SE Virginia, the going rate on craigslist is $160-$180 for a full cord of oak, delivered.
Keith

 

[Mousefield]

Out our way a cord of fir is in the $180-$200 range.

 

[ultrarunner]

The market here is just about dead...

I use to have people always asking to haul off downed oak on my property.

That all stopped when the air district started to fine folks on no burn days which is always when it is cold in the winter.

I just gave away 3 cords of oak cut and split... had it for my Mom... but, she is afraid to use it.

Tried to sell it and there were no takers... someone I knew offered to let me bring to their home and stack it to help me out...

Folks here now pay to have the wood taken to the local dump... makes no matter... hardwood or softwood.

Find it ironic the local markets sell 1.5 cu ft of seasoned hardwood for first for $15 a box... now on sale for $9.99 because the Holidays were mostly no burn days...

 

[orezok]

I just came for dinner (the noon meal in Kentucky). .

Same where I came from. Breakfast, dinner and supper!

 

[dmccarty]

I ran a firewood business for a few years in high school. All the splitting was done by hand swinging a splitting maul... I would have loved a powered splitter but probably way too slow for most pine. Usually Lodgepole and the like will split with one good whack of a splitting maul. If you got into some really big, knotty Fir it could involve splitting wedges etc. Maybe even chainsaw big rounds in halves or quarters before they could be split the rest of the way by hand. Living in a mountain valley firewood was reasonably close so $65 per cord cut, split and delivered was the going rate.

I would rather split would with a maul than be bent over a splitter. When I bought a hydraulic splitter for the tractor I picked one that was tall enough so I did not have to be bent over to split. I then build a PT bench to hold the splitter so I had room to stack and move the wood around on. No bending over all day! :thumbsup: Funny thing is, if the wood is straight I can split faster by hand. It is the forked pieces that need the splitter. For the last two years I have split with a maul! :confused3::laughing::laughing::laughing: I like the quiet of the maul. No engine noise. I found a Fisker maul on Amazon with the right handle length. That splitter is NICE! :thumbsup:

I do have a stack of wood I cannot split without using wedges or the wood splitter. What is funny, is that I found a piece of wood that is straight and should split real easy. The Fisker, which came with a decent edge on it, COULD NOT even dent that piece of wood. :confused3::shocked:

Later,
Dan

 

[dave1949]

I would rather split would with a maul than be bent over a splitter. When I bought a hydraulic splitter for the tractor I picked one that was tall enough so I did not have to be bent over to split. I then build a PT bench to hold the splitter so I had room to stack and move the wood around on. No bending over all day! :thumbsup: Funny thing is, if the wood is straight I can split faster by hand. It is the forked pieces that need the splitter. For the last two years I have split with a maul! :confused3::laughing::laughing::laughing: I like the quiet of the maul. No engine noise. I found a Fisker maul on Amazon with the right handle length. That splitter is NICE! :thumbsup:

I do have a stack of wood I cannot split without using wedges or the wood splitter. What is funny, is that I found a piece of wood that is straight and should split real easy. The Fisker, which came with a decent edge on it, COULD NOT even dent that piece of wood. :confused3::shocked:

Later,
Dan

So, what was on the other end of that Fisker handle? :laughing: Sounds like the elm I try to split, and they aren't ever more than ten or twelve inches across. I give elm one chance to split, just in case I might get lucky , then I toss it off to the side.

 

[dmccarty]

I would rather split would with a maul than be bent over a splitter. When I bought a hydraulic splitter for the tractor I picked one that was tall enough so I did not have to be bent over to split. I then build a PT bench to hold the splitter so I had room to stack and move the wood around on. No bending over all day! :thumbsup: Funny thing is, if the wood is straight I can split faster by hand. It is the forked pieces that need the splitter. For the last two years I have split with a maul! :confused3::laughing::laughing::laughing: I like the quiet of the maul. No engine noise. I found a Fisker maul on Amazon with the right handle length. That splitter is NICE! :thumbsup:

I do have a stack of wood I cannot split without using wedges or the wood splitter. What is funny, is that I found a piece of wood that is straight and should split real easy. The Fisker, which came with a decent edge on it, COULD NOT even dent that piece of wood. :confused3::shocked:

Later,
Dan

]So, what was on the other end of that Fisker handle?[/U] :laughing: Sounds like the elm I try to split, and they aren't ever more than ten or twelve inches across. I give elm one chance to split, just in case I might get lucky , then I toss it off to the side.

Besides the Dummy, I think it was red oak which usually splits really nice and easy. :laughing::laughing::laughing: That one round I hit, if they could built tanks out of it, would be unstoppable.

Later,
Dan

 

[Carl_NH]

Like Thomas indicated in NH seasoned cords are $250+ and green off season $150-175. and this is dumped in the driveway.

I used to split by hand for 15 years, and finally got a splitter - I'm not going backwards at this stage, but I do agree with straight grained wood its faster with a maul.

We have a fair bit of swamp maple and silver maple and that seems to have more twist than straight grain like red oak and can be cantkerous to split.

 

[MossRoad]

Never heard of a "rick" before. Maybe it's because I'm from NY. Here I've only heard it called a "face cord". Guess I learned something new..

Ric
Rank
Face Cord

all three the same thing here = 1/3 of a cord

 

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

MossRoad; Do you think you could find it in your heart to forgive me, (LOL) I was enjoying my dinner to much (a dixie loaf sandwich, a bowl of burgoo, and a Ale-8) that I mistakenly said a rick is a half cord, it is indeed a 1/3. Sorry. I usually split with a doubled or single bit axe, mostly single bit in case I need to tap on it sledge. We would usually cut a little sassafras and split in down small to use as kindling. We did have sawmills nearby and could get slab wood to in the shop. Made a hot fire pretty fast but didn't last long, but cheap. Mostly burned coal till 45 years ago then it got hard to come by locally.

 

[jymbee]

Ric
Rank
Face Cord

all three the same thing here = 1/3 of a cord

Well, not exactly. Ricks and Face Cords describe an amount of wood 4 feet high and 8 feet wide, or IOW the "face" of a full cord. But only two dimensions. The length of the pieces is not explicit or part of the definition although 16 to 18 inch and 24 inch are common lengths being sold. Thus a face cord of 16 inch pieces would be the equivalent of 1/3 of a full cord. 24 inch pieces would equal half a full cord.

Yet this pretty simple measurement is often the source of all manner of debate. Never made sense to me but while some insist that full cord measurements are the only way to describe firewood, to me and I'd think most home burners buying wood can more easily envision a 4x8 pile of their firewood than a fraction of a 128 cubic feet amount of wood.