firewood

[Warbird]

I've wondered if people actually buy that shrunk-wrapped firewood from stores.  Do they?  I figure maybe campers would buy small amounts but I just can't see someone heating a home with it...

[SwampDonkey]

I sure don't, that would buy 2.5 cord of my wood. I think maybe in suburbs and not knowing the market, a few would buy. It's hard to imagine though in NB, most folks own or have family with access to firewood. Those that get taken in might be European immigrants who are used to low supply and high prices.

[rebocardo]

> I've wondered if people actually buy that shrunk-wrapped firewood from stores.

Yep, they do. The worse though is when it is not kiln dried. I can see getting kiln dried for that price, but, air dried, no. I would think most people that do the shrink wrapped pallets are kiln dried, otherwise it would be a bug festival inside.

I have seen people buy those little plastic wrapped carry bags from corner stores, open it up, it was a green and not burnable.


> for pole length firewood for $100 a cord.

Wow, that is a lot of $ for green poles, that might make it worthwhile to actually ship poles somewhere. I guess cut and split seasoned must be $250+ a cord where you live to justify that price.

[SwampDonkey]

Tree length hardwood green firewood is at least $100 a cord. It has to be, or might as well collect it at the pulp mill. The buyer seasons it himself.

[Tom]

Actually, there is a valid market for 5 sticks of firewood.  People in Cities, most in apartments, will buy a free standing fireplace to have a fire that will last for only a few hours to add atmosphere to an "occassion" that they are celebrating.  It might be Thanksgiving dinner, it might be just having the family over for supper, it might be to entertain their immediate family and let the kids see what warm living room really looks like, or it might be that they have a "hot" date.   The plastic wrapped sticks of firewood are easily handled, available at the grocery store or on the street corner, clean and fill the bill when there is no storage space but for a fire or two.  They gladly pay the money for the convenience.

[beenthere]

warbird
Many people just burn wood in their fireplaces, for effect, but not heat. They are non-rural people, most likely.

They may buy a pallet and set it in their garage, for use on winter nights...3-4 times a week.

I expect they like it on a pallet, where it comes quick and easy, without much regard for the cost. Probably they don't look at the cost per cord as the rest of us seem to. 

People with day jobs that leave from home at 5 am and return at 6 pm, but want a relaxing fire to sit by in the evening, don't have the spare time to collect firewood, process it, store it, dry it, and mess with it.
Now some of us, don't have that job to get in our way...    so we get to enjoy the whole tamale...from beginning to end.  ;D ;D

And Tom said it so well.. but I'll post this anyway...

[Warbird]

Good point, guys.  What it amounts to is that I'm surprised folks pay so much for packaging.  With a little bit of research, they'd get better product and better prices... simply for cutting out the middle man and by taking 30 minutes to stack it on a pallet themselves.  Don't mean to sound judgmental of these folks.  It simply boggles my mind.

[Tom]

The price of a box of breakfast cereal boggles my mind too, but I will pay it...... sometimes.  ??? :-\

[SwampDonkey]

Almost wish you could digest sawdust eh? Although, some of that cereal is about as tasteless as sawdust without some cranberries and honey smothered over it.  ;D :D :D

[mike_van]

SD - I had some of that this morning -  :D   A little sugar didn't help, a little maple syrup made it swallow-able - Left me wishing I'd jsut had a piece of toast  :D

[Rancher]

There are a great many people that just pick up those small bundles of firewood for $4-5 just for the ambiance. It strikes me funny sometimes seeing it being. In this area there are a lot of people selling wood and free wood almost everywhere you go. Still at the local grocery store the other day I saw a guy with two boxes of Montana firewood and a gallon of drinking water in his cart. My neighbor orders a box of "fat" wood from LL Bean to start her fires. I could split enough pitch from one old stump to make more than a few of those boxes. To each their own I guess.
I am afraid to mention my firewood prices. I can't keep up with orders as it is. My overhead is low so I can keep prices down. Only three employees...Me, Myself and I.  

[bull]

We sell 5 or more cords a year of packaged fire wood, retailed @ $6.50 for a 1 cu/ft bag, we went to onion bags to avoid "MOLD" which has become a big issue with the stretch wrap packaging of wood!! even if wood is seasoned it still will pick up moisture from the air and grow mold....
We have alot of condo dwellers who are not allowed to store firewood in their units, even though every unit was built with a hearth and flue for a wood stove.
great way to make some winter money, On cold wet days we move a bin of wood into the nice warm wood heated shop and bag away....

[ohsoloco]

what is a fuelwood permit and how do you get one just asking??

You can purchase fuelwood permits from the forestry office for various state forests in PA.  It costs $10 per cord, and it allows you to cut dead trees for firewood for home use (you can't sell it).

[Lanier_Lurker]

You can purchase fuelwood permits from the forestry office for various state forests in PA.  It costs $10 per cord, and it allows you to cut dead trees for firewood for home use (you can't sell it).

Huh?

How does that work?

Dead trees where?

Who measures the amount(s) you cut?  Or is it estimated somehow before cutting it?

[mike_van]

Here in Ct., a state forester marks trees, & estimates the total cord count. 

[ohsoloco]

Lanier-lurker, I've never actually purchased one myself, but know several friends that have.  You contact the forestry office for the state forest (Rothrock, Moshannon, or Sproul for a few examples in PA) you want to cut in, pay the fee ($10 per cord), get your permit, and cut dead trees in that state forest.  If there happens to be logging going on in a certain area of the forest, the state will put up signs that says "no fuelwood cutting"

It's not a very enforced system (as far as quantity anyway).  Unless you were seen taking a bunch of truckloads out of the forest on a 1 cord permit, there's not much of a problem with actually measuring how much you cut. 

[Lanier_Lurker]

Interesting....

I wonder if we have such a thing down here in Georgia.  There are many thousands of acres of National Forests here, no doubt with plenty of deadfall.

Perhaps someone else in the Georgia contingent can tell us.

Incidentally, my homestead property backs right up to to Federally owned (Corps of Engineers) land that surrounds Lake Lanier in Georgia.  When we get deadfall on the Corps property, they generally direct us to "cut and scatter" the wood.  I scatter the limbs and tops, but not the majority of the main trunk if it is a good fuelwood species.  I refuse to watch a 30 inch diameter white or red oak sit there and rot while sitting 60 or 70 yards from my woodpile.

But, for $10 a cord to be legit, I would gladly pay it.

[cheyenne]

You allready have paid for it with your tax dollors. Next thing is they will want a certificate of insurance. Where does it all end ??????....Cheyenne

[ohsoloco]

Just a quick google search came up with this

http://www.fs.fed.us/conf/seasonal/winter/fuelwood.htm