The Forestry Forum

General Forestry => Firewood and Wood Heating => Topic started by: red oaks lumber on February 28, 2014, 08:32:13 PM

Title: signs of a tough winter
Post by: red oaks lumber on February 28, 2014, 08:32:13 PM
the lastest burglar to strike in the area , people stealing firewood right from piles in peoples yards when they go to work. i have heard of 4 differant homes that had firewood stolen.
with propane to high, extreme cold this winter and epic snow depths sadly i can see why this is happening. has anyone else heard of such activites in your areas?
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: coxy on February 28, 2014, 09:58:47 PM
funny you say this today a guy stopped by my landing and asked if he could get some wood I told him take all you want good and bad he look around and said don't you have anything small with out knots  :-\ looked at him and said well for free you don't get much give me 100-150 bucks and ill pull you out a skid or two he goes if I have to pay ill go some place else    the nerve of some people i said a few not so kind words and walked away ;D
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: timberlinetree on March 01, 2014, 06:42:16 AM
I keep seeing lots of people buying 5 gals of diesel not sure what they are putting it in but I think their homes. :-\.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: goose63 on March 01, 2014, 06:56:54 AM
No stealing going on around here and I am not selling to much at $125 a cord don't know what's going on
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: Firewoodjoe on March 01, 2014, 07:28:53 AM
$125 for full cord? That's cheap
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: thecfarm on March 01, 2014, 07:34:51 AM
No problems around here that I know of. But that don't mean much either.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: chevytaHOE5674 on March 01, 2014, 07:53:51 AM
Haven't heard of anybody stealing cut up firewood. But yesterday I went out to check on a logging job I have running and noticed on the side of a backroad somebody had been cutting a few trees right along the shoulder. Looks like they dropped them right into the roadway, bucked and loaded them up. At least they were kind enough to put the brush off in the ditch.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: Corley5 on March 01, 2014, 10:07:30 AM
The woodrats are always active at this time of year stealing standing dead wood roadside.  I haven't heard of any being stolen from someone's pile.  I have to break down my self serve campfire wood by the middle of October or the thieves clean me out.  I'm sure it's someone local that watches and knows when my parents and grandma have left for the winter.  I've foiled them the last couple years  :)
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: snowstorm on March 01, 2014, 11:07:40 AM
Quote from: timberlinetree on March 01, 2014, 06:42:16 AM
I keep seeing lots of people buying 5 gals of diesel not sure what they are putting it in but I think their homes. :-\.
a friend of mine works for a heating oil dealer. the company just got sold to one of the big players. he said now if someone runs out of oil on a weekend they charge $175 to come plus they have to buy a 100gal
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: 47sawdust on March 01, 2014, 05:14:46 PM
Lots of low income folks in my town buy 5-10 gallons of diesel for home heating on a regular  basis.I think their just never far enough ahead to afford home delivery.
We also had some firewood theft going on.Peckerheads!
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: red oaks lumber on March 01, 2014, 05:49:43 PM
my son told me today that around the area , 100# propane tanks are being stolen from ice shacks at an alarming rate, hum wonder why? :D
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: dave_dj1 on March 01, 2014, 07:33:34 PM
No thefts here that I know of. I stopped at a log job not far from the house to ask about firewood and the guy told me he didn't know that there were so many people in this small town, he thinks almost all of them have stopped and asked! LOL He said no, they are doing all pulp and chipping all the tops, that pile is huge as they haven't brought the chipper in yet. What a waste!
dave
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: Bert on March 07, 2014, 02:33:56 PM
I know the slab pile at my mill is disappearing. Used to be 2 rows about 150' long and 8 foot high of slabs. I'm down to about 50' left. We were stockpiling to haul to the mulch plant in early spring. We sell a few loads to firewood to friends but its going faster than any of them will take. Funny how people never show up when your around. As soon as the ground thaws, a couple posts and a gate are going in.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: Jhenderson on March 11, 2014, 08:33:28 PM
Dave.  It's not a waste. He's getting more for his pulp and chips than you or your neighbors would pay him. I've been through it too many times. Folks think they are doing me a favor, offering peanuts for my labor.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: r.man on March 12, 2014, 09:09:03 AM
How much would you have to give for slabs to compete with a chipping/mulching operation? Are slabs a viable option for someone wanting to process firewood?
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: 21incher on March 12, 2014, 09:23:46 AM
I live down the road from a pallet factory and every couple of years buy a load of slabs from them to use when the weather is not to cold or for starting fires. They deliver a 20 yard 10 wheeler over filled with debarked and cut to 16 inch hardwood for about $300.00. It is around 18 face cords when stacked.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: sprucebunny on March 12, 2014, 12:26:24 PM
Sign of a tough winter ? > The snow is deeper than the remains of my last pallet of firewood !

With more snow happening today, I might need to drive stakes around the corners so I can find the measly little pile again  :D

But, no worries. If I run the radiant floor for 3 hours=3 gallons it will keep the house warm enough for 2+ days.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: Peter Drouin on March 12, 2014, 08:06:54 PM
Saw on TV a man 3 towns over had 7 cords gone. that's 4'x4'x8'x 7  :o
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: red oaks lumber on March 12, 2014, 08:16:10 PM
wow ..thats an ambitious fellow :D
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 12, 2014, 08:38:48 PM
Mines all where it belongs, out of sight and stacked and dry beside my wood burning appliances. Eliminates temptation of trouble seekers. And much nicer when the appliance needs recharging. :D
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: WmFritz on March 12, 2014, 08:44:33 PM
Quote from: sprucebunny on March 12, 2014, 12:26:24 PM

But, no worries. If I run the radiant floor for 3 hours=3 gallons it will keep the house warm enough for 2+ days.

Just curious... is the 3 gallons oil or propane? Either way that's efficient heating!

Back in January, I've heard that folks were hauling 100# propane cylinders to the filling station, because it was cheaper than having it delivered. Problem was, they were only getting 3 days out of a tank. That's 23 gallons and about $80.00 every three days. By February, firewood hit $90-100 a face cord. The last couple weeks, we've had a wood pellet shortage in Northern Michigan. Here it is March 12 and it's going down to -11°f tonight.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: sprucebunny on March 12, 2014, 09:01:21 PM
Bill, it's oil. I have a 6" slab downstairs. Three hours heats it to around 73 degrees from about 62 . During average outside temps ( above 10 at night) it will keep the whole house, 1000 sq. feet upstairs and the same size slab downstairs, at bearable temps for a couple days.
Usually I have a woodstove going and use a furnace fan to circulate air thru the whole house which keeps the slab from losing heat as fast. I keep stuff up off the slab on dollies.
Most of the winter, I run the furnace for a couple hours every 4 days unless it's really cold. ( or I'm out of wood...)
I say three gallons because the burner says it burns .9 gallon an hour.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 13, 2014, 03:52:19 AM
Bill do they make pellets up your way? The local mill here makes pellets and seems a lot of people going that way. But a pellet stove is only good for houses that have an open concept. The old farm houses are not that easy to heat on pellet stoves. They do have pellets furnaces now and I know of one fellow with one, but don't know how much pellets it consumes or how well it heats. I had heard 6 bags (40 lbs each), which doesn't sound right to me. A regular wood furnace doesn't burn that much, not mine. That's like 3 large wheel barrels of wood. My wheel barrel is a good big one and I'd only burn one of them all day and into the night on them cold nights.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: WmFritz on March 13, 2014, 11:24:19 PM
Yup SD, I know of two pellet manufacturers within 30 miles (48 km) of me. One has been running for a few years now. The other started up last year. 

I've got a pellet stove in the cabin. It's rated at 50,000 btu's  and burns a 40# bag in about 18 hours running wide open.

It took me 6 stores in 3 counties to find pellets today.
I can make you sweet deal on a nice, slightly used pellet stove.  ;D
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 13, 2014, 11:39:02 PM
I would think the pellets would be more available than regular seasoned firewood. Try and get good seasoned firewood in the dead of winter around here.

My brother is putting in a pellet stove in his old house, but he's also got the wood furnace for the cold months. Mid Dec-Mid March.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: thecfarm on March 14, 2014, 09:46:48 AM
The way I see it pellets,firewood,sand and salt are esimated by what is needed in the past years. I have a pellet mill about 45 minutes from me. They are trying to keep up,but lots of pellet stoves out there.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 14, 2014, 10:56:08 AM
Yes, to a degree on the pellets but there is a lot wider market for pellets well beyond where they are made. Historically pellets have mostly been shipped oversees. There was a time you couldn't get any around here, they were all shipped out. So I would think a pellet mill would be putting out pellets like someone drilling oil. They are used for more than heating the house, but for electric as well as an example. ;D

Firewood, salt, sand is a lot more dependent on seasons. Although the pellet demand sure does spike in the winter, no doubting that. It's quite a juggle for anyone in the business and easy for us armchair critics. ;)

There is a company in northern Maine that delivers pellets in bulk, so some folks must have pellet furnaces that they feed from a large hopper.

At one time a lot of folks had sawdust burners in houses, it wasn't very efficient either because the sawdust was always green or wet when delivered, so clogged the feed hopper up to. Even worst when it grows mold and forms a big massive ball of fungal hyphae all through it.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: LeeB on March 14, 2014, 11:36:55 AM
That sounds like something you would spit up after a serious round of coughing.
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: goose63 on March 14, 2014, 02:35:52 PM
Quote from: LeeB on March 14, 2014, 11:36:55 AM
That sounds like something you would spit up after a serious round of coughing.
A big old green HAWKER
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: SwampDonkey on March 14, 2014, 03:10:48 PM
 :D :D Not far off the mark.  ;D
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: Peter Drouin on March 14, 2014, 08:16:16 PM
It is a tough winter . But I do hope it killed all the bad bugs, ticks and all. This time of the year a lot of people ran out of wood or pellets.
But not me  ;D
I am ready for spring Too  :D :D :D
Title: Re: signs of a tough winter
Post by: John R on March 18, 2014, 05:25:45 PM
 .