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Firewood prices

Started by Yosarian, March 30, 2021, 01:42:00 PM

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mike_belben

Quote from: Thomasjw4 on April 02, 2021, 10:57:25 AM
If I sell any its at least 150 a cord, but all softwoods.  I cant compete with the tweakers cutting 24/7 and selling for 75-100 a cord.
same.  i have bought it from them when i ran out and got a call for wood from a friend in need though. 
Praise The Lord

Blue Noser

I live in rural Nova Scotia, about 45 minutes outside of down town Halifax (our largest and only city in the province). I can sell softwood (spruce, balsam fir, aspen, eastern larch) firewood for $200/cord picked up by the customer and hardwood (red maple) for $250/cord picked up by the customer. I do 15-20 cords per year.

Mooseherder

It's all in the Marketing. :D




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SwampDonkey

Yup, she'll make authentic 'natural' smoke. Natural is the key to big bucks. :D
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2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

mike_belben

I get $8.09 for the organic smoke.   Pallet nails are complimentary.. The iron helps give a shiny mane and promotes healthy gums and cuticles. 


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Tacotodd

Trying harder everyday.

jimbarry

We buy our logs, then block and split and stack. Once dry, we sell it. And we have a kiln for those who want guaranteed dry firewood. We sell a stacked cord, not a log cord. There's a difference. Takes about an extra 12% to 15% logs to make a stacked cord. So an 18 wheeler of logs delivered being 16 cords, we get just near about 14 cords once split and stacked.

Each week the prices are updated based on fuel prices change overnight Thursday's. We're in rural Nova Scotia as well. Plenty of people selling in the last 1-1/2 years. Most seem to be selling for $225 delivered for one cord. We did that for a while and quickly realized you're working for pennies. This past year we were selling seasoned for $250 delivered locally, no matter how much they bought. Again, tracking expenses and time, come to realize we were losing again. So the prices are now like shown below, prices include delivery and taxes.

Delivery is the biggest expense. Yet some people don't mind, they just want dry wood. Biggest sale to date this year was a guy paid us $855 for one cord of kiln dried hardwood delivered to his cottage, it was a 6 hr round trip.

So I don't begrudge others for selling at $225. They can have that share of the marketplace. We're as busy as we want to be.





beenthere

Jim
Good accounting for figuring selling price. 

What is the difference in moisture content between your "seasoned" and "kiln dried" firewood?
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

jimbarry

Quote from: beenthere on September 18, 2021, 04:12:21 PM
Jim
Good accounting for figuring selling price.

What is the difference in moisture content between your "seasoned" and "kiln dried" firewood?
Air dried seasoned we class as logs that have been cut for minimum one year and then split stacked for minimum 4 months. Usually by that time the wood is at about 30% MC.  For kiln dried, I generally take it down to about 20-25% average (Nyle L200 kiln using 4 probes for samples buried in the stacks).  Some clients have backyard pizza ovens and they request the wood be down to 15%.
After a kiln run


 

mike_belben

pallets on skate platforms?  
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jimbarry

Quote from: mike_belben on September 18, 2021, 05:29:30 PM
pallets on skate platforms?  
Platform trolley holds two crates. 


 
The wheels look like this.


 

 
Each trolley has 4 wheels. Two wheels roll on 90º angle iron. The other two roll on flat stock steel.
There's several videos on our YT channel if you are interested.
Jim Barry - YouTube


mike_belben

Neat.  


I built my chainsaw sawmill thingy similar. One side is groove rollers and the other just flat.  Works fine. 
Praise The Lord

GRANITEstateMP

Jim, real neat drying system you got there!  About how long to dry a batch?  Can you fit 4 cord a time in the kiln?

We sell 95% green wood. Most deliveries are within 10 miles, a few are 15-20. All sales are full cords (128 cu. ft loosely stacked) that are processed into a dump trailer(s).  Prices (delivery included) for new customers are - $165 a cord camp wood (soft wood 18in lengths), $250 a cord green hardwood, and for the 3 cord of 16in long wood we cut split, stacked last fall, that'll go for $350 a cord after Thanksgiving.

Our most popular length is 16in. We won't cut shorter than 14.5in lengths (it's a pain and the processor doesn't like short pieces). We also do a lot of 18in and 22in wood. I'd love to do more seasoned wood, but the green is my bread and butter and it's less work to just process into the trailer and dump vs stack it, dry it, then reload...but I do like the extra $$$ for seasoned ;D
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jimbarry

Quote from: GRANITEstateMP on September 18, 2021, 08:24:59 PM
Jim, real neat drying system you got there!  About how long to dry a batch?  Can you fit 4 cord a time in the kiln?

We sell 95% green wood. Most deliveries are within 10 miles, a few are 15-20. All sales are full cords (128 cu. ft loosely stacked) that are processed into a dump trailer(s).  Prices (delivery included) for new customers are - $165 a cord camp wood (soft wood 18in lengths), $250 a cord green hardwood, and for the 3 cord of 16in long wood we cut split, stacked last fall, that'll go for $350 a cord after Thanksgiving.

Our most popular length is 16in. We won't cut shorter than 14.5in lengths (it's a pain and the processor doesn't like short pieces). We also do a lot of 18in and 22in wood. I'd love to do more seasoned wood, but the green is my bread and butter and it's less work to just process into the trailer and dump vs stack it, dry it, then reload...but I do like the extra $$$ for seasoned ;D
Currently fit 2 cord. Could probably fit 3 cord if we used taller crates but then it comes down to mechanics of moving the platform with 2/3rd cord on it. Simply math says that's 2500lb (or 1150kg). A lot of weight for the two of use to handle. I have a cable system in place to pull using the winch but its not perfect. Actually I made the kiln too small, its a tight fit. Ideally the bldg should be 2ft wider. But i was trying to stay under the municipal bylaws for bldg permits. Can't use sawmilled lumber for bldg with permit unless its stamped. Which it isn't. Trying to build on a budget.
Agreed, green wood is the product that could keep a person busy. No handling, right into a trailer and off you go. But there's so many here doing that for such a small amount, we decided to focus on an area of the market that are willing to pay more. As it turns out, we work less and make more. Not a bad deal.
Length of time to dry has a few variables, like time of year, and how green the wood is. Kiln drying frozen wood in Feb or Mar takes twice as long as it does in the summer. Doesn't matter if its green or seasoned. That's due mostly to the fact that the wood has to get up to 125ºF to really get the water flowing. The dehumidifier will start dripping at about 88ºF though.

HemlockKing

Yep nothing like nanny state regulation to help out average joe blow. Got a housing shortage, people being kicked out of campers and sheds they’re living in because nothing else. I forget where it was in the states but someone here was saying you could build whatever without it being stamped  so long as that wood was cut off that land. Seems like a good system to have. Not sure how we got here but, here we are.
A1

GRANITEstateMP

Thanks for the info Jim. We have a local guy here that does the kiln dried, they do a real good job with it and get a premium price, whenever I have a customer looking for dry wood and I'm out (since I don't do much) I send them the business.

I've always been told, shed or garages, build it 20% bigger than you think you'll need!  Then again those folks budget was always bigger than mine! At least you can utilize your own milled lumber, even if the footprint isn't ideal.

I like working less AND making more! Heck, most days I'd take one or the other, but, I'd rather have both
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Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
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2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

Al_Smith

Quote from: HemlockKing on September 19, 2021, 10:27:55 AM
Yep nothing like nanny state regulation to help out average joe blow. Got a housing shortage, people being kicked out of campers and sheds they're living in because nothing else. I forget where it was in the states but someone here was saying you could build whatever without it being stamped  so long as that wood was cut off that land. Seems like a good system to have. Not sure how we got here but, here we are.
As far as that as far as I know in this part of Ohio there are no regulations on what you can or cannot do for housing constructions .If so it would be in metro areas not so much urban areas .Having said that it's been decades since I've seen recycled lumber used on much of anything except perhaps for a shed .
My shop for example is 60 by 70 all of recycled steel  .The permit set me back a whole two dollars and was never inspected .The two bucks I think was  just to give them a heads up so they could tax it . I might add we don't have the "chainsaw police "either like some . :)

HemlockKing

The cost of everything/life has gone up drastically in the last couple years, so why shouldn't firewood? The people who sell it need to live too, were due for a price adjustment here soon I'm sure I'm not sure how much longer guys can keep selling 200 a cord, all that work just to hardly break even
A1

mike_belben

the only way youll get firewood to rise is to form a firewooders association and agree to raise prices together in unison.  and i dont think thats wrong either.  if the public can pay double for a soda or pizza they can pay a little more for heat. theres no reason we should subsidize them at a loss by doing such back breaking work. its become a forced charity.  $40-50 a rick here still but everything else doubled. 
Praise The Lord

Al_Smith

To put things in retrospect during the mid 70's to early 80's I sold firewood .I was getting 40 bucks for a heaped up pick up truck load ,about a tad over1/2 cord .I made around $10 an hour as a union electrician and about the same selling firewood but the later was just a part time thing .Then it wasn't a bad deal today I would not do it .That's a young mans game .
Wood burning comes and goes with popularity .During the so called energy crunch of the late 70's all the fence rows were cut down and everybody who had a metal shop made wood burners .10 years later they had all grown back and the stoves were selling at garage sales for about scrap steel prices .

The reason I even bother with wood burning is firstly I have an abundance of it, all good hardwood .I get  some exercise in the colder months rather than vegetate and grow fat from inactivity .Lastly I'm a restoration type with chainsaws in addition to a hot rodder with same on occasion .Gives me a chance to try out the saws .   

bulldozerjoe

I get 60 picked up, 70 delivered. A face cord in western ny. It not worth it to me but I heat my house and used to heat my grandparents house with wood... so I'm kinda immune to the labor and cost to produce a face cord of wood... and tell you the truth i kind of like it lol
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Upstatewoodchuc

It's tough, I raised my prices again this year, but still think im low. I do $250 a cord of mixed tree service hardwoods and then try to make up the difference with the delivery fee. Still, I see some guys at 280-300 near me and I have good consistent wood so I think I should be higher, however it's tough with some of the legacy customers, particularly the older retired ones that have been with me for 10 years since it was $200 a cord. I end up saying "thank our NY state politicians" atleast once a day to customers, business is getting stupidly expensive here.
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snobdds

Natural gas has more than doubled since last year.  Demand should increase for firewood to offset natural gas prices. 

Unless there is a bunch of new firewood suppliers, prices should rise for firewood. 

A cord of pine in Wyoming goes for around 225, split and delivered.  I am seeing prices around 275-300 a cord this year.  This is a price increase of 22-33%.  Which is still cheaper than the 50% for natural gas.  

So it's inline with normal price ratios...

SwampDonkey

I like cutting firewood myself. It's more than a heat source, it's a chance to use up the lesser quality trees and space the woods. Plus the exercise, which I never lack, but a little more can't hurt too bad. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Spike60

Prices are finally going up around here. $250 seems to be the starting point, and that's for green. There are still some low ballers; and I think they'll always be there. But there is way more demand than those guys can fill, so prices are rising in spite of them. Nearly everyone who sells wood around here also does something else and their attitude is either they make decent money on firewood or they'll be doing the "something else".

If there's ever a time when you can raise prices without getting too much blowback, this is it. With the prices of everything going up, firewood shouldn't be the typical exception that it always seems to be.
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