Firewood prices

[Frickman]

A while back, maybe a couple years or so, there was a discussion here about firewood prices. I remember someone, I think it was Ron W., say that a cord of firewood should be priced about the same as one hundred gallons of heating oil. I might be twisting the facts a little, but it was along these lines. If it was priced more than that, the customer is better off just buying oil.

I bring this up because my local competition is selling firewood for $120.00 to $140.00 / cord, dry oak and cherry. Heating oil is up around $3.00 / gallon. I can't understand why my competition doesn't raise their prices some. If nothing else, their expenses for making it have gone up. This is forcing me to keep my price low. I'm only selling downfall we generate around the mill, I'm not really in the firewood business in a big way. I would still like to make a couple of bucks at it. Have any of you been able to raise your price this year?

[Furby]

I'd just keep your price up and wait for the others to run out. ;)
You should be able to sell for your price a bit later in the season!

[bull]

keep your price up... maybe you can educate your competion.... I am selling at $250.00, haven't seen $ 140 in over 5 years,,,,,, 1 cord equals 100 gallons of #2 fuel oil which just hit 3.05 on friday and is still climbing....   most likley will stay at $250.00,,, wood is all ready to go, my cost of goods hasn't gone up.... May need a delivery charge ( fuel surcharge) if gas prices continue to climb...

[Warbird]

$250.00 per cord?  Is that slab wood or split wood that wasn't good enough to mill?

[Dave Shepard]

Firewood around here is over $200, sometimes much more. I can't see how anyone can make a go of it at $120-$140. That was prices from at least five years ago, when fuel was cheaper.


Dave

[Frickman]

Yesterday's Sunday paper had a number of ads for $120.00 to $140.00, DELIVERED AND STACKED. I can't see how they do it. And not all these sellers are fly-by-night outfits trying to make beer money. Down along the highway is a fruit market that brought in cherry poles, cut and split them on site, and are selling it for $60.00 / truckload. That's about 1/2 cord. A good, good friend of mine, the owner of a big sawmill, put in a firewood processor last winter. He is selling it picked up at his yard for $40.00 / truckload. That's about $80.00 / cord for mixed hardwoods. If you bring a dump truck the high lift will load you. If you have a pickup you can load it by hand.

If I had the room I would go buy some and stockpile it. As it is I don't have alot of space right at the mill, so I like to keep things moving. I have plenty of room around the farm, but it entails more handling. Of course, for a couple hundred a cord maybe I can throw firewood around a little.  ;)

I sell it by the box, a half-cord box if you measured it. It makes a full-size pickup load. If you have a Ranger, like I do, you make a second trip. I don't guarantee a half-cord, as it is thrown in loose. I hump it up a little though to give you a good deal. I have a box of cutup slabwood, 16" long, mostly tulip poplar, with a little maple, sitting there at $25.00. It's been siting there for two weeks. It was green, and it's poplar, but it's only $25.00. I can't sell it. The boxes of cut and split are $50.00. It can be from six to sixteen inches long, any species, including tulip poplar, green or dry, I throw it in, and I only sell a box a week if that. It's just a way to clean up the yard every Saturday, I'm not going out of my way to make firewood. Maybe I should just raise the price and hold on to it until the snow gets deep.

[Ron Wenrich]

The trade offs we used as a rule of thumb was 1 cord of wood equals 100 gallons of heating oil or 1 ton of coal.  What's coal going for in your area? 

Other factors to consider is that a lot of people have turned to pellets.  Pellets sell for about $250/ton and are a lot handier than having a pile of wood.  That also means a few less stoves.

But, the prices you see advertised are for guys working for beer money.  They have about 10 loads of wood, and they sell it and are out of the market.  But, that price is etched into every wood buyers brain and is hard to break.  If its much higher, they just won't buy.  I've been seeing $130-150 in my area.  $250/cord is just out of sight.  Coal would overtake the market.

[solodan]

$200-$250 pine and cedar  $300 oak.

[DouginUtah]

It's been almost two years since I uploaded my Excel spreadsheet to the forum.

You should be able to find it by searching for -  Comparisons_BTU.xls .

Plug in the current prices and you will see how many BTUs your dollar buys today.

[DouginUtah]

Well, I just discovered that files that are uploaded do not show up in a Search.  :(
Or maybe I just don't know how to do it.  ;)
So, I went to the message where I posted it.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=14883.msg213254#msg213254

[Gary_C]

According to the Forest Products Lab's calculator, a cord of seasoned firewood is equivalent to 133 gallons of #2 fuel oil. So that cord of wood would be worth $400 with fuel oil at $3 per gallon.

However the problem with using these numbers is a cord of seasoned wood can range from 33.5 million BTU's per cord for Osage Orange to 14 million BTU's per cord for Basswood. Plus there can be a 2 to 1 difference in net BTU's for green vs. air dried wood. So with fuel oil at $3 per gallon, a cord of wood could be worth from $140 for green basswood to $673 for seasoned Osage Orange.

Seasoned Red Oak should contain 24.4 million BTU's per cord and with a burning efficiency of 77 %, it should be worth $490 per cord with fuel oil at $3 per gallon.

So if a customer says the guy down the road is selling firewood cheaper, you can just say that he surely must know what his wood is worth.  :D

[RSteiner]

Here in southwestern New Hampshire firewood is running just over $200.00 a full cord of mixed hardwood.  One of the largest wood dealers is offering kiln dried firewood for $225.00 a cord delievered in 3 cord loads within 15 miles of their operation.

In the eastern part of the state where more people live wood prices are around $250.00 a cord for what they call seasoned wood.

Randy

[jackpine]

Firewood here in central Wisconsin is selling for $130 to $150 for a full cord. This is split but not delivered oak wich is oak wilt killed wood and may not be seasoned very well.There is so much oak available here (because of the oak wilt) that prices remain low and the beer money guys keep it that way.

Bill

[sharp edge]

Bill
Same thing going on in n-wi  :( , but on the bright side the beer is nice and cool this time of year. 8)

[stonebroke]

In CNY semiseasoned( inlog for a while) wood is going for 160 to 180$.  Fully seasoned wood is going for 225$. I guess it all depends on your area and how many guys with pickup truck and chainsaws there are around. You cannot buy a new skidder and processing equipment  and sell for that money. But on a brighter note at least the price is up. It had remained at the same price around here since the 70's .

Stonebroke

[rebocardo]

Around here it is selling for $100-$150 a cord, hardwood, split, seasoned, and delivered.  Though what I have seen that passes for seasoned means it was cut the last season, as in August. Some advertise $200 a cord, I suspect it only sells at the height of winter.

You pretty much can't find a buyer for pine unless it is the dead of winter and maybe then $50 a cord.

When I sold firewood about two years ago, I did a brisk business selling it for $70 a cord cut and split (they pick up and load) with mixed oak and sweetgum. Some buyers would come, buy a 1/2 a cord (truck load) and then come back an hour later for some more. I suspect they sold quite a bit at the local supermarket parking lot up the street :D

[SwampDonkey]

It's amazing how many people will work for nothing and feel good about it.  :D :D :D

[leweee]

I see a few factors at play in my neighborhood.
      1.less in the house wood stoves.(insurance companies hate  wood stoves) :
      2.People who burn wood are converting to outdoor boilers(less cut & split, more large pieces)
       3.More firewood processers.(machines cost money.....lots of volume on tight margins....lots of people having custom processing done that wouldn't have in the past.)
       4.Everyone that has a pickup & a chainsaw is in the Firewood Business. :D 8)

[WDH]

One thing about the BTU calculator......When wood and oil are equal, they really are not equal.  There is much more work and personal time involved with wood versus oil, so if you buy wood at a price equal to an equivalent amount of oil, the wood turns out to be more expensive because of all the work in stacking, toting, storing, tending, etc.  With oil, you just flip a switch or thermostat and you are good to go.

However, I still choose wood ;D.

[Warbird]

Any of you guys burn dunnage? There is a shipping/railroad company up here that sells huge rolls of dunnage.  It is mostly oak slabs, at least 1.5" thick, varying lengths.  Last time I checked, it was a great deal.  Just not sure about burning dunnage in the wood stove with the catalyst.  I'm concerned any oil or crud on the wood might damage the catalyst when it burns off.

[SwampDonkey]

Ok, $1500 for 7.5 cords of wood for the entire winter.

24 hours at $10/hr for handling and stacking in the basement = $240
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$1740 for winter's wood

4 - 200 gallon oil tanks at $950 a pop = $3800 for the winter and likely need another tank before summer. 

hmmm  ;)

[fuzzybear]

   During the winter up here there is NO work. We get few young people that try to stay for the entire year. To survive they turn to cutting firewood. They try to sell for $150 a cord. They quickly realize they are still starving. Most wind up coming to work for me. I pay them $50 a cord. This all comes off my lot and is delivered on my vehicles. I pay for the saw fuel and oil, and I always have food on the stove in camp. Most can make $100 a day. A few can make $150. Better than they were making before, and helps me keep my prices stable.
     This is all 14 yo fire killed spruce and birch. There is no bark and it is dry as can be. So I can cut and deliver all day long. I figure I still have enough on my lot for about 5 years cutting. Then I move on to the other lot that is 10 yo fire killed. about 15 years cutting there.
   This year my summer price was $200 a cord. As soon as the temperature hit 0 and stayed there, it went to $225. Now with the colder temp. I am raising it to $250.  And in January when there is only about 4 hours of day light and the temps are a constant -30, I will raise it again to $275. 
   I have tried for years to get people to buy during the summer when they are all working and making good money.  I only have a few costumers that do that. About 10 people have a 3 year supply.

[beenthere]

Warbird
I'd worry about that too...taking a chance, but I'd contact the catalytic converter mfg about it...which stove do you have?
I'd be concerned that it would have some wood treatments that would cause some health problems.
Interesting where/who they sell it to, and for what other than heat.

[Warbird]

beenthere, we've got the Blaze King "ultra".  It's a big 'ol piece of steel that does an awesome job.  The Mrs wasn't too keen on how it looked but I wanted performance and long term burns in a stove that I wasn't paying an extra grand for, just cause it looked purdy.  She's come around and has learned to like the stove. 

[Corley5]

  I've been selling 4 16" face cords delivered for 180 bucks or a 135 a standard cord ;D  My price went up with the last delivery last week.  The ever rising cost of diesel for delivery is the main cause of the increase but it's that time of year.  Everything gets more difficult from now until April and people should have had their wood in by now anyway.  The average I've been seeing in the classifieds is about 55 dollars a face cord.  The lowest was 35 dollars picked up and the highest was 65 delivered.  Some guys are delivering for 50.  There were 8 different ads in last weeks Gaylord Herald Times. 
The last order I did was a referral from another customer because not only did I have good wood but I was fast 8)  The guy had been trying to get pulp cords since Sept and had gotten promises and run arounds but no wood.  He'd gotten promises and 2 week waits for cord wood and no wood.  He had 20 face cords dumped in his backyard two days after he called me  ;D   Most of the beer money guys get swamped and can't keep up with orders.  A pickup and a chainsaw is slow  ;) ;D  Ads come and go and once the snow comes and stays most of them are gone  ;D ;D  We didn't have snow last winter until the middle of Jan.  There was cheap firewood advertised until then.
  I'm processing my own pulpwood that we produced last winter so my overhead is much lower than if I was buying pulp as I have in the past and with the processor I can make firewood a lot quicker  8) 8)  It's takes an average of an hour and a half to run a four face cord load in this wood.  I didn't advertise any last winter as I was logging and am going back to the woods in few days, finally  8) 8) so I don't plan to advertise any this winter.  I did have last winter's production trucked into the yard just in case the snow gets too deep to log.  Best to be prepared  ;) ;D