Firewood Market

[clemsonfor]

most of the south burns red oak, white oak, an or hickory

 

[mvwicker]

I spent the long weekend at my cabin, mostly hiking and cutting brush but also turning two trees into firewood. I burn about 1 cord per year, mostly red oak and hickory with some pine mixed in. There is plenty of fallen timber still on the ground from major windstorms in the past few years, so all you need is a way to haul it off the hillsides and a place to cut and split.

Some of the red oak is like armor plate, the splitting maul just bounces off. This still amazes me. I don't have a hydraulic splitter, just a maul (a very good one from Gransfors Bruks that holds a razor edge), but the parts near forks are really tough.

I saw a sign near my place offering firewood for $40 per truckload, which I guess is about 1/3 cord or "rick" or "face cord", you load and you haul. With all the windfall in the national forest, they probably sell mostly to city folk and suburbanites and people too lazy to gather their own. For me, the attraction of cutting my own firewood is the exercise, plus of course the "free" heat at the end.

Wood burning bans make sense upwind of sensitive areas, like Yosemite, or in densely populated areas with poor airflow like the Los Angeles Basin. Still, such restrictions are annoying, especially when solutions exist (catalytic stoves, for example). My place has no restrictions, except open fire bans during extreme droughts.

 

[cqaigy2]

i find the oak is something of a challenge as well. I kinda make my palms burn when it smack it with the splitting maul. It take about 2-3 swings to get a piece knocked off, then the rest goes much easier. Im going to cut a couple of firs tomorrow while the sap is low for next years firewood. I'm somewhat annoyed by the burning bans too, but i know that when my Mother was very sick, the smoke would bother her, so i wouldn't burn the stove so i kind of understand the health aspects.

 

[turnkey4099]

That's the ironic part... even those with permitted EPA Cat equipped stoves fall under the ban...

Many had protested and the powers that be said it would be a logistical enforcement nightmare to let one neighbor burn and another not based on the model stove.

As to the inversion layer... not really a problem in the much of the banned area which is coastal. The air district, which only covers the Bay Area counties said the real problem is the smoke causes problems a 100 miles away in the foothills... which ironically, do not have to follow the Bay Area restrictions...

I know Olympia WA has also had wood fire bans... maybe, it is just a West Coast thing?

Nope. I'm on the eastern edge of washington abut 300 or more miles from the coast. The county north of mine has been under a ban for a week (supposed to end tomorrow).

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Encourages wood burning!! of course it does!! Its carbon neutral I don't see the problem. This is the problem like with gun control you have idiots spouting what they think but are to stupid to realize what their talking about!!

The SAME amout of carbon is released if the wood is burned vs letting it rot in the woods or a dump or the guys yard.

<snip>

Carbon nuetral? Yes and no. Yes talking long term, no for the short term. I have burned more trees in my lifetime than would have rotted in the same time.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

His point is rick means nothing. Its not an actual measure of anything. It can be regional and have a different definition in different areas. Cord is a defined volume, yet most areas for timber its not legal anymore to sell this way as you can be still taken with old hand scale methods (and board feet is not much better as there are 3 scales of measure there) and cord definitions like solid wood in the cord or cord which means wood and air.



Rick has a definition I am sure but not really a forestry recognized one that I learned in school. People refer to "face cords" and some call a face cord a cord???

"Rick" does have a dictionary definition, actually several. And it agres with my "3 stick" thing. I put that in ther because so many people think that "rick" is a standard measure - it isn't anywhere as it does not specify the third dimension.

Yes, I have been in discusions where some have tried to pass of that fake "face cord" as a full cord, e.t., I cut 5 cords yesterday" and when questioned find they mean face cords. Then wen asked to define "face cord" they start the hemming and hawing.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

locust is one of the best woods you can get, so I have read over on the hearth.com. I have about 25cuft that I cut this fall and have put up for next year. it was standing dead I think 2 years, and was already around 20%MC when I split it. So if it gets crazy cold this year I may pull it out and burn it this year, well some of it. The stuff is dense as all get out, and density is what makes heat.

Yep. It's one of the few woods that weighs almost as much dry as it does green.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

They don't make them like that anymore!

He has me by 10 years but I still split by hand although about 5% gets run through the splitter, knots, crotches, stringy stuff.I also have neighbor down the road who looks to be quite a bit older than me still doing it.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Someone mentioned people too lazy to cut their own wood. I have the topper in that category - my neighbor.

He took his family camping up in the mountains of Idaho for the 4th of July many years ago. Needed campfire wood. Did he drive around the logging roads picking up dead stuff along the roads, may 30 minutes to get his trunk full? Nope, not him. He came back 60 miles to beg some off of me!!

Harry K

 

[lutt]

Lutt; Sounds like you and I are speaking the same langauge. I am curious as to what tree species is common down there?

Red oak,white oak,hickory,ash,locust,cypress,tupelo,sweet gum,river birch,willow,elm,cedar,and pine. There are some more I cant remember all of them. The oak,hickory,ash, and locust,or thorn trees is popular for burning. We def. speak the same langauge,I have worked with some guys from your neck of the woods, there good folk. LUTT

 

[MossRoad]

Carbon nuetral? Yes and no. Yes talking long term, no for the short term. I have burned more trees in my lifetime than would have rotted in the same time.

Harry K

I have planted more trees in my lifetime than I will ever burn in my lifetime.

 

[brokenknee]

I purchase 10 cord grapple loads of oak and ash at $70 a cord, then cut and split it myself. I have 40 acres but mostly poplar and pine, I will burn some of that in the shoulder season but right now it is a minus 22* F. I want as long as burn as I can get and since I have a pre EPA stove you are only talking about four hour burn. I burn 24/7.

 

[KTurner]

Something I just started noticing this year - some of the people advertising firewood on craigslist are now accepting credit cards.

Keith

 

[Willl]

You can burn, depending on whether there is an 'air quality alert'. Level 1, not burn unless sole source of heat, level 2, sole source and epa stove with only 20 visible smoke emission during lighting and reloading. The geography in western washington has a tendency to trap particulates low to the ground under certain weather conditions.

Stage 1 burn ban:

No burning is allowed in fireplaces and uncertified wood stoves, unless it is your only adequate source of heat. This includes the use of manufactured logs such as Duraflame or Javalogs.

You can use pellet stoves, EPA-certified wood stoves and natural gas or propane fireplaces.
No visible smoke is allowed from any solid fuel burning devices, beyond a 20 minute start-up period.

Stage 2 burn ban:

No burning is allowed in any fireplace, pellet stove or wood stove (certified or not), unless it is your only adequate source of heat.

You can use natural gas or propane fireplaces.
No visible smoke is allowed from any solid fuel burning device at any time.

Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

 

[D7E]

I only sell poplar $150 a cord split or $70 a cord green in rounds ..2 cord load no delivery charge within 5 miles . Or cut your own $25 a pickup load (8 ft box) .

 

[MossRoad]

Something I just started noticing this year - some of the people advertising firewood on craigslist are now accepting credit cards.

Keith

Anybody can now get a credit card reader that plugs into a smartphone. I think the device is free or real cheap. Anyhow, the companies that make them charge 2-2.5% per transaction. So you drive up to Mr. Customer, take his C card, swipe it on your smartphone, it verifies you got paid, you dump the load and drive away 3-4 bucks poorer for a $150.00 transaction, but you are paid and done. Its worth it.:thumbsup:

 

[cqaigy2]

Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

Thanks for straighten me up. You can also setup for email to alert.

 

[herbertperform]

Anybody can now get a credit card reader that plugs into a smartphone. I think the device is free or real cheap. Anyhow, the companies that make them charge 2-2.5% per transaction. So you drive up to Mr. Customer, take his C card, swipe it on your smartphone, it verifies you got paid, you dump the load and drive away 3-4 bucks poorer for a $150.00 transaction, but you are paid and done. Its worth it.:thumbsup:

PayPal is the one most known for that. Very easy to get one and very convenient. I have one for my business.

 

[GMForsythe]

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..

I'm from NY also and have never seen serious firewood sold in any unit other than the "face cord." My place is in Schoharie County, and a few years ago it was $75 per face cord delivered. I would presume that now it's $100. I also have a house in Henry County, GA, and I've seen places that sell a face cord (don't know if they call it that down here) for $50-100 (you pick it up). A number of places list the quantity as a "pickup load." This seemed unfair to me as that can really vary with the size of the pickup (Tacoma vs F-150) and the ambition of the buyer, but someone told me that the seller loads up HIS pickup and then it gets moved to yours (which would mean double work and possibly two trips for the guys with the smaller pickups).

 

[L355SS]

You are referring to the Bay area having no burn days not Olympia? Right.
Dennis

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...