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Firewood sales.

Started by BargeMonkey, December 25, 2015, 08:58:36 PM

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BargeMonkey

I wouldn't have wanted to be one of these guys who threw down 100K+ on a new processor this yr. Sold a fair amount of wood and sitting on 400+ cord and growing but with the warmer weather no one's beating down the door. You guys selling much ???  Hopefully come spring I can find a cheap 2040 and some "like new" snowpushers.  :D :D :D

square1

I'm not a big firewood seller, just a handful of regular accounts,  I'm down about 33% from last year.  Probably looking at two down years in a row though as the folks that bought their usual amount this fall will have plenty left over to get started next year.

thecfarm

I work in a hardware store. We sell shovels,wood pellets and stoves. All sales are way down. Heating oil is cheap too.
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square1

Good point thecfarm, one customer told me propane is so cheap he can't afford to burn wood.  He is saving the wood he does  have for when propane returns to usual prices.

mf40diesel

Its funny to me how an advantage to one is a disadvantage to another.  I work in the oil industry,  and it is incredibly tenuous right now for hundreds of thousands of workers.

While very few truly benefit from $100/barrel oil;  honestly I think less benefit from $34/barrel.  Not surprisingly, but one doesn't really think about it, even the firewood dealers are feeling it.

I do like the fact that it costs less to fill my fuel tank in all of my petro-recreating devices,  but I think if oil were somewhere between the two extremes, we might all be a bit better off.

Purely my opinion.  And mine certainly stinks.
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HiTech

With the cheaper prices I have been running my natural gas furnace in this mild weather. No one has called looking for firewood and normally it starts this time of year, people looking for extra as they know they will be short. I have a strange feeling some new technology was about to be developed that would make oil almost obsolete. When oil prices were high everything was about energy efficiency. The oil companies haven't dropped prices because they like us...something is in the wind. 

TeaW

Sales were alright this year, been sold out for two months. Its next year I'am worried about , think I will cut back on production .
TeaW

beenthere

Surely the Gov't will step in now, and buy up the surplus firewood we have, so us producers don't get caught short.  **
Been doing that for years... where the grain bins are busting their seams and the oil larders are full and even tanker ships full of oil are sitting off-shore.

**
"tongue-in-cheek" smiley here.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

OH logger

Quote from: TeaW on December 26, 2015, 08:19:07 AM
Sales were alright this year, been sold out for two months. Its next year I'am worried about , think I will cut back on production .
im with  u. I had a record year sellin this year but I will pay the price next year I think :(  comin off 2 record cold years here scares people into stockin up and then this year has happened. next year people will go back to being unprepared and they will get caught with there pants down....again :o
john

terry f

   Beenthere, how big is that firewood lobby? There should be lots of seasoned wood next year since less green wood being burned this year. I'll take the two dollar or less gas, seems to help everyone out in the end.

jocco

Lot of truth to what you say!! And one extreme to the other!!




Quote from: mf40diesel on December 26, 2015, 07:43:07 AM
Its funny to me how an advantage to one is a disadvantage to another.  I work in the oil industry,  and it is incredibly tenuous right now for hundreds of thousands of workers.

While very few truly benefit from $100/barrel oil;  honestly I think less benefit from $34/barrel.  Not surprisingly, but one doesn't really think about it, even the firewood dealers are feeling it.

I do like the fact that it costs less to fill my fuel tank in all of my petro-recreating devices,  but I think if oil were somewhere between the two extremes, we might all be a bit better off.

Purely my opinion.  And mine certainly stinks.
You may check out but you will never leave

jocco

This conversation has been had before. I am waiting for the fire wood brokers to buy 400-1000 cord at x dollars. Then have price drop $30 etc a cord. You get the picture like a stock market crashing!!! EXP#2 Market flooding and trailer truck loads being dumped for 1/3 less price = a crash. Guess it good for the home owner/buyer.
You may check out but you will never leave

loggerman

Greetings All,

  Firewood sales here in southern NH have been strong for the last 3-4 years.We sold out
10 days ago,and we always start delivery around Sept 1st. We increased production this season
after the run up from the last 2 years,and 517 cord was a record for us.{2 guys}
Several local dealers in my area ran out this year,as they have in the last several years.We Deliver
in approx 8 local towns,and have turned down some folks that are outside our travel radius.
Go figure,you can never figure this business out with the crazy streaks of weather
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woodmills1

loggerman we should get together, I am in hudson.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

loggerman

Hand Felling Specialist
John Deere 540B
Stihl MS 461,391,271,261C,192TC
BobcatLogging.com

timberlinetree

Looks like we will be cutting back on firewood if this continues. The phone/ firewood truck are taking a rest for shure. :-\
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HiTech

Does anyone see a price drop for firewood? Oil/gas/diesel has dropped. Mild winter so far, I am thinking we will also have an early spring. Customers won't be burning as much wood. Am hearing many are back to burning oil/gas/propane. Heard most of the mills in my area are full. One guy I talked to was only working 4 days a week. Everything today costs so much it is hard to pay for if you can't move wood. Glad sometimes I am old and my equipment is also, we are both bought and paid for. lol

jocco

YES!!! A mild winter isn't going to help. If people buy oil and firewood does not move =price crash plus over supply. Not sure on the numbers but oil and propane can be had pretty cheap. I am sure it is cheaper than wood.





Quote from: HiTech on December 28, 2015, 03:36:48 AM
Does anyone see a price drop for firewood? Oil/gas/diesel has dropped. Mild winter so far, I am thinking we will also have an early spring. Customers won't be burning as much wood. Am hearing many are back to burning oil/gas/propane. Heard most of the mills in my area are full. One guy I talked to was only working 4 days a week. Everything today costs so much it is hard to pay for if you can't move wood. Glad sometimes I am old and my equipment is also, we are both bought and paid for. lol
You may check out but you will never leave

grassfed

Here is a good cost comparison chart.http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/techline/fuel-value-calculator.pdf

Basically $200 per cord is +- $1.50 per gallon for heating oil. Heating oil is a lot less work than stoking a stove.

The big drop in oil is not a mystery it is a result of Saudi Arabia deciding to crash the oil markets last year. They are very blunt about this plan.

With all of the new us production oil was going to stabilize in the $50 range but the Saudi's started pumping more as the price kept dropping.

They played the same game between 1973 and 1998. They stopped pumping and drove the price through the roof then, after the US and other countries adapted by conserving,  substituting (firewood...) and drilling, they started pumping until they put the competition out of business.

Us older guys remember seeing big cars turn into small cars and then back into big SUVs. 

The last cycle from low to low was 25 years (1973-1998). This cycle seems very similar so if it started in 1998 it will run until 2023.

The peak price from the 1973 low occured in 1980 or 7 years later. The peak after 1998 was 2008 or 10 years later.
Mike

Brandon1986

$200 being equivilant to $1.50 per gallon, what type of wood do you use for that figure? The price per btu would be interesting, hardwood obviously being different than soft. I know there is a way to figure it I just don't know what that way is.

grassfed

Checkout the link to the PDF in my post. This is a report from the USDA  "Fuel Value Calculator " there is also a link to a spreadsheet at the top.  here is the link again: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/techline/fuel-value-calculator.pdf

They use "Seasoned firewood 15.3 million Btu/cord " (this is 20million BTUs X.77 for woodstove efficiency) compared to # 2 heating oil. If you go to the matrix on page 3 of the pdf and look along the line for seasoned firewood @ 20% moisture content $200 per cord  and then read along the line till you get to #2 heating oil it says $1.49 per gallon  They make assumptions about efficiency of the furnaces and such but I think that it is one of the better comparisons I have found.
The price per million BTUs for this example is $13 for both wood and fuel oil (left column on page 3)
Mike

beenthere

Brandon
Pound for pound, most woods are nearly the same in BTU's.. hardwood or softwood.
Just that the volume varies to get the same weights, and moisture content has an effect on the calculations.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

jocco

We never got to technical there always seemed to be a figure like oil above $2 gallon wood was cheaper. Never understood these guys that bought wood tree length hired some one to saw and put it in. Factor in labor oil would have to be $4 gallon!!!! Can't get over price variation I have seen dry wood go for $300 and saw split $180 a cord>





quote author=grassfed link=topic=87590.msg1343757#msg1343757 date=1451410192]
Checkout the link to the PDF in my post. This is a report from the USDA  "Fuel Value Calculator " there is also a link to a spreadsheet at the top.  here is the link again: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/techline/fuel-value-calculator.pdf

They use "Seasoned firewood 15.3 million Btu/cord " (this is 20million BTUs X.77 for woodstove efficiency) compared to # 2 heating oil. If you go to the matrix on page 3 of the pdf and look along the line for seasoned firewood @ 20% moisture content $200 per cord  and then read along the line till you get to #2 heating oil it says $1.49 per gallon  They make assumptions about efficiency of the furnaces and such but I think that it is one of the better comparisons I have found.
The price per million BTUs for this example is $13 for both wood and fuel oil (left column on page 3)
[/quote]
You may check out but you will never leave

GRANITEstateMP

Phone stopped ringing for wood at my place (mostly green).  I did the Craigslist add without much luck, guess we'll just put the rest of the log length stuff into wood to dry.  When it was busy it was real busy, but it sure did die out quick!
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RCBS

The Saudis can't keep this up forever.  Their budget for next year has been slashed and the budget deficit for them this year is a record and only the second or third time they've ever had a deficit.  This is their last gasp as the price setters for world oil prices.
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