The Daily Firewood Picture Thread

[Al_Smith]

I had nearly forgotten about a somewhat hidden asset out in the open .The tons of dead falls lying on the ground easy to access .Bone dry and hard as rock about  4 to 8 inches in diameter.  Don't need to roll 24" rounds up to the splitter .Took me less than 1 hour yesterday to get two garden carts full behind the Toro zero turn which included a couple of coffee breaks in the mean time with a little Stihl 024 screaming away .Two carts will last me 3 days .Pshaw this is easy .  8)

[Corley5]

  I've had a guy coming out and getting a Dodge Dakota pickup load, a bit less than a face cord, every couple weeks.  I've told him each time he's been out to schedule around arctic air.  Don't wait until you're out and it's 5 degrees to call me.  He did : :  He called at 9 yesterday morning and left a message that he was getting low and needed wood.  It was 2 degrees.  I didn't call him back.  He called again at 9 this morning.  It was three degrees and is now an even 9.  I've called him back and told him tomorrow afternoon it's going to be in the mid twenties and to be here at 2PM.  I'm not firing up my machines today.  I wouldn't have yesterday and I won't going forward when it's this cold.  There's nothing to gain.  Especially for less than a face cord.  He says he'll be here tomorrow. 

[newoodguy78]

You wouldn't even pay for your time getting things going let alone the wear on your machines. Firewood is a tough business. 

[Al_Smith]

They've always said the time to make hay was when the sun shined not when the frost is on the pumpkin . 

[Corley5]

  I've had things running when it's this cold but I won't anymore.  It requires heat on the processor engine and elevator engine.  The Bobcat is easy.  Just plug it in for a while but there's the issue of cold thick stiff oils and cold brittle iron. 

[cutterboy]

Talk about hanger ,what's the odds of this ? Right down dead center of a conjoined hickory .Evidently mother nature is better at aiming than myself .However I don't think I'd have put it exactly there .

Al, I did that with a large pine a few years ago. I cut the pine and it fell right into the crotch of a big hickory and split it right down to the ground. The hickory became firewood.


 

 

[HemlockKing]

well cutter...if it had a crotch was likely to split anyway...

keep on cuttin.

[Magicman]

We have a forecast high of 70° tomorrow and 36° Thursday.  Looks like I will have so light another flicker. 

[Corley5]

Beautiful day in The Tip O' Mitt  8)  Added another 20 cord to my collection.  Ran off 5 five face cords and did 160 firewood bundles for Schultz's Interstate Party Store today.  The last 160 didn't last a month.  People buy them to heat their homes :.  I guess   A five cord load tomorrow and I'm caught up again



 

[crazy4saws]

Sum1 and Corley, u guys firewood operations are on another level. Looks like I'm playing around compared to work you guys do. 

Big eddy, neat gator! Had no idea they made those. Hard to image life without one after owning one. 

[Al_Smith]

On those hangers I don't usually miss the lay or at least I'm   close .I use "gunning sticks " on a tight lay .Those hot shots on the left coast can hit them sighting down the handle bars but I don't trust myself to even try it . 

[crazy4saws]

Few pics from this past weekend, weathers been good for getting ahead on stuff outside. 

 

 

 

  

[newoodguy78]

Nice looking stacks in clean woods I like it. 

[sum1]

The weather here is drastically different then Crazy4saws that for sure. Pile of Some birch we put up on the weekend is below we will resplit the larger pieces with the super splitter as we load it for delivery no stacking.

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[SwampDonkey]

 People buy them to heat their homes :.  I guess

I imagine the same folks that run to town for 4 bags of pellets as they need them. Instead of last summer buying all they need for winter. Then complain about no pellets left around when they can't get their 4 bags in the middle of January. ;D

[thecfarm]

Corley5, always enjoy seeing pictures of Mi trucks and trailers.
I sell bunded wood at the store. Nothing like what you supply, but only a small town too.
On the bags of pellets, we sell A LOT of bags. I have mentioned it to many people cheaper by the ton, but some back the vehicle right up to the door and bring them into the house that way. As they say, I have to handle them anyways, so it's easier. Then some live in an apartment too. 
The last 2 years have been good on supply. One year I would only have a ton left when the truck was backing in.     But we never run out, yet. And yet is the key word.
Then if we did not have any, it would be my fault.  :  

[mike_belben]

Theres a tree service guy in my area selling firewood for $45 a rick now.in the worst cold of the year when it should bring $70-80. It was $50 -60 before covid and life has doubled since.

I asked him to raise his price so as to stop undercutting everyone else who waits for a cold snap all year to make any firewood money.  He threatened to drop it to $40/rick and said i was gouging and living beyond me means.  Said hes got 400 ricks.  Thats enough seriously alter my local market.

Im the most frugal human i can think of, and for $40/rick i would buy it, not sell it. There is zero profit in that unless youre paid to take each tree down.  I forgive him, hes earning his bread, but its kinda screwing a lot of hardworking poor people and the forest itself is how i see it.  Like walmart wiping out little guys thinking theyre doing a community a favor.

Him and bowater closing pretty much wiped out any chance of making enough money on thinning to be able to get paid to cut out low grade and grow a prime stand.

You guys who need staves better have deep pockets.  Soon youll be bidding on stave futures and waiting for the few trees to ripen because there aint gonna be any the way we are managing the woods in tennessee.

[barbender]

Mike, I'm not sure if if I'd be amused or upset if someone (competition) asked me to alter my prices. But I wouldn't do it, either way. If he's making money why would he care if you don't sell any? And if he's not, the problem will correct itself.

[PoginyHill]

If a couple companies had that discussion, it'd be called price fixing.

In industry association meetings I'm familiar with, it is a big no-no to discuss prices.

[mike_belben]

The spirit of price fixing laws is him at market rates and me saying hey buddy lets make some real cash by manipulating the supply and raising prices so they have to pay us above market prices.  Its been $50/rick for decades then covid double inflation.


The spirit of my communication to him was like mom and pop hardware stores asking walmart not to sell below their costs so that they can survive too.  

Our wood market is not deep because our winters are soft and natural gas hookup is free. It doesnt sell in summer at all. 


Ive had a goal of trying repair high grade sites so that theres good timber for my sons generation to cut when their kids need shoes. With low grade markets dissolving It just doesnt look like its gonna work out that way.  Im a generous guy who can live pretty thin but i cant make it on nothing at all. 

[Corley5]

Capitalism in its raw form

[HemlockKing]

Few pics from this past weekend, weathers been good for getting ahead on stuff outside.



 

 

  

Id like to see a picture of that woods in the summer when the trees are full of leaves. looks good

[mike_belben]

Capitalism cannot function correctly with fiat currency and high rates of money printing.  It turns to a crony banditry system such as we have today.  Central bank conquer.

[HemlockKing]

What we have aint real capitalism, especially in Canada.

[Foragefarmer]

New here. Splitting wood today. Ran the saws the last couple days. It was nice putting my ported 046 and 044/046 hybrid in some bigger white oak.