What does Firewood really cost?

[blueriver]

Just got me thinking ... add about 300 for the Chainsaw add 100 bucks for the carryall and 100 bucks for the homemade splitter ...and all the other little things.

Darn glad I got the wood stove with the house !!!

 

[RTII]

Don't forget the man hours!!

 

[jlsmith]

Sad thing is i dont have a wood stove in the house but have to cut firewood every year so the wife can have her fire in the pit in the front yard lol:laughing:

 

[Car Doc]

Just got me thinking ... add about 300 for the Chainsaw add 100 bucks for the carryall and 100 bucks for the homemade splitter ...and all the other little things.

Darn glad I got the wood stove with the house !!!

You are getting by fairly cheap my friend stove included with house good deal for you!

Well this is my feeling on the subject I have been at it awhile- my big saw was about $800 in 2001 my new trim saw was $425 just 2 years ago and my splitter was $950 in 1999, I have bought 2 chain grinders and numerous other saws and accessory's my wife is not aware of.

The wood I burn has saved me enough to buy all those and a few more I even bought my hotblast furnace to heat my shop.

I figure what the heat bills were before heating with wood and that's how I figure out what it costs and it really is cheap heat. The other thing is if I spent say $450 a month on natural gas I wouldn't have anything to show for it but a $450 saw will be around for a long long time.

I like getting out in the woods in fall anyway even if I wasn't "making money" doing it there is something about the whole firewood thing that relaxes the mind have fun with it!

 

[s78wingrider]

Don't forget, you won't need to buy any exercise equipment!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dmccarty]

If one had to pay for the wood in my area I don't think it pays to heat with firewood. Firewood goes for around $200 a cord. And I doubt those cords are real 4x4x8 cords.

Firewood saves us at least $100 a month during the coldest part of the winters. Maybe a bit more. And we are certainly more comfortable with the stove.

I do not count the saw in the firewood costs since I bought the saw before I burned wood to heat the house. We did buy a hydraulic splitter for the tractor. It, hoses, and the stand I made cost about $1,000 so I guess that took two years to pay off in heating costs.

If we include the wood stove that is another couple of years. And another couple of years for the hearth.

Sure is expensive to heat with wood!

But at this point it is paid for so it is all gravy now! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[wolc123]

I like almost everything about firewood. Starting in January or February, dropping some big old trees back in the woodlot. Those that I can reach easy from the edge of the woods, I drag up to the woodshed right away. The tractors pull well on the frozen ground and the land is not damaged. The rest (usually about half) I leave back there until late summer when the ground firms up again and I can also drag without damaging the land. This breaks up my cutting/splitting to twice a year. I do all the cutting outside on nice days, and split inside the woodshed on rainy days and/or when its dark. I can heat my 2000 sq foot home on 8-12 facecord a year depending on the severity of the winter, and that wood is easily made in my spare time over about 4 weeks total. I always season the wood 2 years minimum before burning. I love the feel of a woodfire on cold days and nights, and the look of the fire thru the glass stove doors. Even the smell outside from the chiminey is wonderfull. Fetching a half-facecord or so a week form the woodshed to bring up to the porch with the old 8n Ford and carryall is fun. Even cleaning the chimeny twice a year and taking out the ashes a couple times a week aint bad. The fact that this hobby nearly eliminates home-heating costs is merely icing on the cake. There are a few things I can see that would take some of the fun out of firewood - Not having a woodlot on my own property and needing to puchase or transport firewood over the road., Not having a woodshed that makes it easy to get at the wood when the snow is deep, get the splitting done inside when the weather is bad, and keeps the wood at good moisure content., Having a stove outside or downstairs where the fire cant be viewed and it is inconvenient to service., Having a long chimeney that is a pain to service. Having a door on one side of the house and the stove on the other so the mess is scattered across the whole house. Having only a real big, heavy chainsaw that is hard on the back., Trying to burn wood that is not properly seasoned, and needing to split wood manually.

 

[F1520]

This is our fourth winter heating 95% with wood. The cost of the wood stove, chainsaws, etc., all figure in to the overall cost of heat. But there is one thing to keep in mind. If you spend $1,000 on heating oil during the course of a winter, at the end of the winter you have nothing.

If you spend $1,000 on, say, a log splitter, that splitter has value when the first heating season is over. Not only will it split wood for future winters, but if you decide to sell it, it has resale value. Good equipment that is taken care of always has some value. The value of an empty oil tank in April is $0, no matter how much you spent to fill it.

 

[Scooby074]

About $175 a cord cut/split here

 

[blueriver]

We ... in this deep cold region of the US ... heat 100% wood and the cost savings is amazing. Wish I could use wood in the cooling unit and keep the summer electric bill down.

I simply hate giving my money out for that ... as others have said, I too enjoy everything about wood ... espescially the tools associated with the job!!

 

[skipmarcy]

I feel like I get good bang for my bucks invested into heating with wood. I'll buy a $300 - $400 chainsaw and use it 20 years or better, heck I have a $129 McCulloch I've had for almost 20 years and it's a great little limb saw still !! My woodstove new was right at $450 4 years ago and I expect to get at least 15 years out of it. I already have a tractor & trailer for getting the wood on my small place or my neighbor's and my wife works for our farmer's co-op and I get to use the rental splitter free every year. My main investment is my labor - alot cheaper than a gym membership and probably better results !! Wood is the fuel that warms you more than once !!! Sure is cozy too when the power is off from an ice storm and don't have to worry about pipes freezing etc. and a decent place to cook inside or warm your bath water. I love the smell of the cherry or hickory burning when outside too.

 

[jpm]

i noticed most posters so far are from the south.most northern posters are out cutting wood to keep warm

 

[ragkar]

Wrong - It costs nothing. Only if your chainsaw and utility trailer are for dedicated use, does it cost to buy those items. Three times in the last four years, I've had a large tree fall across my driveway with no other way to drive out. I need a chainsaw for this contingency. As far as the trailer, there's lots of other uses for it.
At my place you can cut and haul away any fallen or falling wood. I'll even let you use my splitter and tractor to haul it to your pickup. But bring your own chainsaw, gas and oil and you must use safety equipment. I'll even let you use my chain sharpener if needed.

 

[Marveltone]

Seeing as I just bought a 2005 Dodge CTD to haul my tractor and firewood, I guess it's costing me about $20,000 more this year than it did last year. :confused2:

Joe

 

[turnkey4099]

Don't forget, you won't need to buy any exercise equipment!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly!! My wife has said evry year "we have enugh wood". Well If I had quit the first time she said it I would either be dead or a 600 lb couch slob. 75 going on 76 and have around 40 cords of Black Locust stacked and still cutting. Someday, something is going to happen to keep me from cutting and I willhave years of heat waiting.

Cost? Gotta be saving money somehow. My used PU went $3950 many years ago and still running strong - just don't look at the beat up body - wooding is hard on a truck. Full up ready to go it has around $3,000 equipment on it; 4 saws, multiple cables, multiple tow straps, 4 snatch blocks, wedges, sledge, maul, ax etc. etc. I got extravagant in 1998 and 1999. $600 saw (stihl 361) $300 saw (Stihl 210), splitter around $1200...chains, parts, etc. but hey, gotta be saving money somehow.

Harry K

 

[adjusterr]

Even though I have standing wood, I don't cut live trees for firewood. I can buy a tri-axle load of poles, locust and oak, delivered and stacked for $300. That is a two year supply, primarily heating with Sierra freestanding stove, do have heat pump backup. Just bought a Bro-Tek Thumb for my Woods backhoe, can now pick up a 25' log and cut it at waist level, no more sore back. Two old Craftsman and one new Stihl saws and a 20 ton splitter from Tractor Supply. No idea what it really costs to heat with wood. What I do know is few things feel better than wood heat on a cold day, it's worth whatever it costs.

 

[ronjhall]

My uncle used to say that using firewood to heat. Warmed you twice. One time when you cut it and again when you burn it.
I do not know how you figure how much you saved getting warm cutting the wood. Other than stated already. No need for exercise equipment. :thumbsup:

 

[20 20]

I have heated with electric{up here it's a joke way to much $$$$}, oil, pellets, and wood. Wood is less then half the cost of the least expensive thing to heat with from what I've listed. The next would be pellets, I can heat with pellets for about $1000.00 -$1300.00{2 story house}per heating season. I figure wood can cost me from $200.00 to $500.00 a year figuring everything in, fuel, chainsaw {break down of years owned}, oil and electricity to run the blower on the furnace. I use a combo of mostly wood now with pellet as a back up, so I might be spending 600 to 800 per heating season. I also have lots of wood for free, and I burn everything as long as it is DRY. I don't mind being in the woods and like seeing dead trees being cleaned up. I allways use dead/dying trees or scarp from what ever was left from milling lumber, slabs waste etc... plus NOTHING BEATS THE WARMTH OF WOOD HEAT

 

[MossRoad]

I added it up the other day and figured I could work part-time the same amount of time I spend cutting and splitting wood and it would probably pay for the cost of the natural gas that I am saving.

With that said... I get outside. I get to use a tractor, splitter and chainsaw. I get some exercise. And I get some satisfaction. I find it worth the work. :thumbsup:

 

[dmccarty]

And on the plus side of using firewood there is a money savings of getting rid of downed trees or trees that have died and need to be dropped. Mother Nature usually puts the trees on the ground for me. Thank you. :thumbsup: But lately we have had a bunch of trees die that I have been cutting down.

Paying someone to cut down the trees would be expensive. Paying someone to clean up and haul off the downed tree would be even more expensive.

At one point I figured it cost me about $10 in gas and diesel fuel to produce a cord of wood. The cord would cost around $200 in my area and we get about that much value out of it when using the firewood to heat the house. So it is a good investment.

I have no idea what it would cost to have someone cut down, cut up, and haul away the dead trees but it would not be cheap.

Later,
Dan