# Ordered a Semi-load of Logs



## jebatty (Apr 20, 2020)

After 29 years of harvesting my own wood for the house and the shop and entering the mid-70's in age, I decided to let someone else due the hardest and most dangerous work. I ordered a semi-load of mixed hardwoods, 12 cords of 100" logs, delivered for $105/cord. I have the equipment to handle the delivered logs and will do all the bucking, splitting and stacking myself. Typical wood burning is 8 cords each winter, 4 for the house and 4 for my shop with the gasification boiler. Not to say that there still will be trees that I will fell,  just not nearly as much as in the past.


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## Highbeam (Apr 20, 2020)

jebatty said:


> After 29 years of harvesting my own wood for the house and the shop and entering the mid-70's in age, I decided to let someone else due the hardest and most dangerous work. I ordered a semi-load of mixed hardwoods, 12 cords of 100" logs, delivered for $105/cord. I have the equipment to handle the delivered logs and will do all the bucking, splitting and stacking myself. Typical wood burning is 8 cords each winter, 4 for the house and 4 for my shop with the gasification boiler. Not to say that there still will be trees that I will fell,  just not nearly as much as in the past.



Can't wait for the pics. I just had 4 cords of fir logs delivered last night. It takes a lot of the work out of wood heat and lets you focus on the finished product quality. 

I get dump truck loads which are 14' long logs stacked the long way. Nobody does the little 100" chunks in the west. Cost is about 120$ per cord so I am jealous of better wood at just 105$.


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## SpaceBus (Apr 20, 2020)

I'm thinking about getting some logs delivered, but not for firewood. I ordered a mill last week and would like to get some cedar logs to make deck boards. Maybe some mature Beech logs would make good decking or flooring.


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## Geoff C (Apr 20, 2020)

Theres a guy near me with triaxle loads for $650.  8 cords.  There is another guy selling for $450 but he is across state lines and won't travel.

I'm trying to get my property cleaned up so I can get a load delivered.


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## NickW (Apr 20, 2020)

Geoff C said:


> Theres a guy near me with triaxle loads for $650.  8 cords.  There is another guy selling for $450 but he is across state lines and won't travel.
> 
> I'm trying to get my property cleaned up so I can get a load delivered.


That's not bad, I've paid more in the past. Just remember 8 cords of logs will yield about 6 1/2 cord of firewood... Luckily I've made several connections for all the free wood I can haul (for now at least). Going to keep at it until I'm out of room, then stockpile more logs...


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## BIGChrisNH (Apr 22, 2020)

Love to see some photos of this when it's dropped off at your place. A 12 cord load will look like a lot of wood. I've only seen 7-8 cord loads as that's about what you can get here in NH as far as I'm aware.


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## mar13 (Apr 23, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> Can't wait for the pics. I just had 4 cords of fir logs delivered last night. It takes a lot of the work out of wood heat and lets you focus on the finished product quality.
> 
> I get dump truck loads which are 14' long logs stacked the long way. Nobody does the little 100" chunks in the west. Cost is about 120$ per cord so I am jealous of better wood at just 105$.


Seeing a post further down the thread makes me wonder if you got what reduces down to 4 cords of firewood? Price includes delivery?

Ordering logs sounds tempting, but I suspect my summer will be devoted to watching kids in this covid-era , so gotta keep  time expectations low.


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## Lakeside (Apr 23, 2020)

NickW said:


> Just remember 8 cords of logs will yield about 6 1/2 cord of firewood.


I think this is the first I heard of cords of logs.  Is this what is common for what truckers are referring to for cords of logs and *not splits / stacked ?  *


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## johneh (Apr 23, 2020)

I have no idea what a cord of logs is 
We get what we call a Tandem load
which from experience you will get 
7.5 to 8 cord cut, split and stacked
A Tanden truck is basically a 10 ton flat
bed with log racks a clamshell loader 
and dual rear axils


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## NickW (Apr 23, 2020)

I bought a semi load of 10 cords of logs a few years back. Got here the driver said it was probably 11 cord strong, but I paid for 10. Stacked it neatly with the boom and I measured the stack trying to account for the slope at the ends and it measured right around 11 1/2 cord. Split and stacked it was about 9 cord. Another place I got logs from was 5 cords of logs per load, measured out to that, split and stacked was 4 cord... In my experience, when you buy logs it's that many cords of logs, not firewood. I don't know if there's a way to determine how much firewood is in a load of logs... bigger logs yield more firewood than smaller logs, especially if they're straight.


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## Highbeam (Apr 24, 2020)

mar13 said:


> Seeing a post further down the thread makes me wonder if you got what reduces down to 4 cords of firewood? Price includes delivery?
> 
> Ordering logs sounds tempting, but I suspect my summer will be devoted to watching kids in this covid-era , so gotta keep  time expectations low.



Last time I had this guy bring a full heaping dump truck of logs it ended up at about 4 cords css. This time it was 480$ delivered, no tax. These are large logs. 36” at the butt down to some 16” butts. I had to go from both sides with my 28” bar. 

Seriously, it took me under 4 hours and 3/4 gallons of premix to buck it into rounds. I never even had to sharpen a chain. Mingo marker and cut, roll the logs with a peavey and finish. Splitting is tough since huge rounds are heavy. It’s taking longer and more laborious to split but I’ve got all the time in the world. 

Last year it took three full days from dumped logs to a full shed. My little 13 year old daughter helped load the wheelbarrow! 

A full log truck, like a semi with 35’ logs would be awesome.


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## Lakeside (Apr 24, 2020)

Seems to me that a "cord of logs " might be a regional term or just the guy delivering it's wild guess.  After all it's in the sellers best interest to say a high number.    I will someday find out if my 7 cord truck load really is 7 cord ( CSS )   its all Black Locust and I have let it sit for about two years now.


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## NickW (Apr 24, 2020)

I'd be interested to hear what you guys experience... It was still worth it to me. At $100/cord of logs delivered, 5 cords of logs equaling 4 cord split and stacked is still only $125 a cord out of pocket. Better than paying the electric baseboard heat when you don't have access to anything free. 

It is impressive to have a logging truck with a pup trailer pull in and unload 10-12 cord... BIG stack of logs.


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## Beer Belly (Apr 24, 2020)

Mid 70's and still doing the work.....God Bless You, that is awesome. I'm just 60 and all my surgeries are starting to haunt me, no way will I be doing this near 70.


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## kennyp2339 (Apr 24, 2020)

Same type of triaxles here, 10ton truck with clamshell grapple, around here its advertised 9 / 10 cords but honestly every truck I've done (maybe 10-11 loads) has always yielded about 7 cords, which is still really good, but unless there's a trailer attached to that same 10 ton truck, your not going to get 10 cords out it. @Lakeside that load looks right in line with about 6 cords.


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## johneh (Apr 24, 2020)

This is my truckload from last year
Once stacked was 8.5 cord


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## ClintonH (Apr 24, 2020)

I think "cord of logs" would denote the rough cubic footage of logs divided by 128.  It makes sense that those "log cord" numbers reduce when CSS.  So a 20' x 8' x 4' trailer, for example, would be 640 ft^3, or 5 "cords of logs."  Once CSS with higher packing efficiency, and obviously it shrinks from that 5.0 number.  Never bought logs/firewood in my life, but that's my deduction.


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## Highbeam (Apr 24, 2020)

ClintonH said:


> I think "cord of logs" would denote the rough cubic footage of logs divided by 128.  It makes sense that those "log cord" numbers reduce when CSS.  So a 20' x 8' x 4' trailer, for example, would be 640 ft^3, or 5 "cords of logs."  Once CSS with higher packing efficiency, and obviously it shrinks from that 5.0 number.  Never bought logs/firewood in my life, but that's my deduction.



That’s right. A cord is simply a measurement of volume like a cubic yard or gallon. You can throw wood in a pile or stack it tightly in the same volume and get different amounts of wood so packing density matters too. In the west we have pretty straight logs so they stack well. I actually expect the logs to fluff in volume as they are css. 

I wish we had triaxle trucks out here. 5 cords is not enough for a year but a 6 cord load would be perfect. We just don’t have firewood companies that would own something like this. The guys delivering logs are construction workers moving logs in their dump trucks on the side.


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## Erichomeowner (Apr 28, 2020)

I just got a dump truck of ash delivered about 16’-18 foot logs about 4 cords once split and stacked 100 bucks


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## jebatty (Apr 29, 2020)

The load of wood should be delivered soon, awaiting removal of road weight restrictions.

A cord is a cord is a cord is ....

Minn Statutes:
*239.33 STANDARD MEASUREMENTS OF WOOD.*

In all contracts for sale of wood the term "cord" shall mean 128 cubic feet of wood, bark, and air, if cut in four-foot lengths; and if the sale is of "sawed wood," a cord shall mean 110 cubic feet when ranked, or 160 cubic feet when thrown irregularly or loosely into a conveyance for delivery to the purchaser; and if the sale is of "sawed and split wood," a cord shall mean 120 cubic feet, when ranked, and 175 cubic feet when thrown irregularly and loosely into a conveyance for delivery. If a measurement is made by weight, the term "cord" or any other term used to describe freshly cut wood shall be based on 79 cubic feet of solid wood content per cord. The weight per cord may vary by species or species group. In case of any dispute when the parties have not otherwise agreed in writing to the weight per cord by species or species group, the weight most recently established by the commissioner of natural resources prevails.


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## SpaceBus (Apr 29, 2020)

Also keep in mind the saw will take out some length off those logs for the kerf.


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## maple1 (Apr 29, 2020)

Yes not sure what the confusion is over 'cords of logs'.

It's just the volume of the logs in cubic feet divided by 128. Same as the volume of your woodpile divided by 128 = cords of wood. Of course someone selling logs would not be trying to sell by what it would make in cords of processed wood. He is selling logs, not processed wood. And no, a cord of one doesn't equal a cord of the other - by how much also partly dependant on how it is processed. Which is also out of the log guys hands.

(Tons/tonnes are likely the more common used measure of logs around here - but people have even a bigger problem trying to somehow equate that to how much wood they can make out of it).


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## NickW (Apr 29, 2020)

And weight would be subjective to moisture content... A load of any species will have a fairly significant weight difference from 30% to 40% or 50%. I would suspect wood suppliers to try to sell the wettest wood first then... That's not what we want!

All in all, a cord of firewood is really only a guideline... I can take a "cord" of firewood my kids stacked and turn it into 7/8 of a cord simply by restacking. My brother could take a cord of my big splits (that I stacked)and turn it into 1 1/4 cord or take a cord of my big splits (that the kids stacked) and turn it into 3/4 cord...

@Lakeside, I just noticed your house behind the log pile... It's almost twin to my house!


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## maple1 (Apr 29, 2020)

Logs aren't very dry, really,  so shouldn't be a wide variation there across truck loads. Usually most are sold as they're cut, or within a month or two, except maybe some might get cut during winter & sold during the year. In some places. From experience with hardwoods, and around here. This year might be different, the local pulp mill shut down early this winter & that has upset the entire wood products market. Might be some older stuff coming out of the wood work, so to speak.

I would take all the wet/green stuff I could get, if I needed wood & it was reasonably priced. IMO everyone should assume all the wood they get still needs seasoned, and treat accordingly - buying 2 or 3 years ahead and drying it themselves. If dry wood is a premium in your area, you can take advantage of that & buy green wood cheaper and let it sit for a couple years. And likely end up with better stuff than the premium dry being sold.


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## Lakeside (Apr 29, 2020)

NickW said:


> @Lakeside, I just noticed your house behind the log pile... It's almost twin to my house!



Here's a side shot with some snow too.  It's a small world.


	

		
			
		

		
	
[/QUOTE]


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## NickW (Apr 29, 2020)

Similar... not the same.


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## Lakeside (Apr 29, 2020)

NickW said:


> Looks like a nice set-up well planned.. You Lucky Dog !!


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## NickW (Apr 29, 2020)

Lots of room for my hoarding tendencies... wife put the cabash on another garage though.


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## jebatty (May 9, 2020)

Semi-load delivered today. Mostly hard maple, small portion soft maple, and a little basswood. First impression is good quality logs. Will know more once I start to buck it up.


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## kennyp2339 (May 9, 2020)

jebatty said:


> Will know more once I start to buck it up.


I based my cordage number on just the truck, the truck only which is about the same size we get around here yields 6 1/2 to 7 cords even though many companies advertise 8 - 10 cords, the trailer kicker will def get you closer to the ten cord mark, good luck and take your time with the pile.


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## johneh (May 9, 2020)

That's what we call a double load here.
In my experience, you will end up with 
16to 18 cord. depending on how you split and stack 
Nice Load


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## Lakeside (May 9, 2020)

jebatty said:


> Semi-load delivered today.



What did this cost ?  Looks like some nice wood.


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## jebatty (May 10, 2020)

Cost was $105/cord delivered to my site as shown in the pictures. The trucker is located about 60 miles from me. He acquired the logs from the logger I have used on two cuts on our property, one a Golden Wing Warbler habitat improvement cut on about 30 acres of aspen, the other a thinning of a 19 acre natural white pine stand with trees in about the 50-75 year age class. The logger did a superb job on my two cuts.


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## NickW (May 10, 2020)

jebatty said:


> Cost was $105/cord delivered to my site as shown in the pictures. The trucker is located about 60 miles from me. He acquired the logs from the logger I have used on two cuts on our property, one a Golden Wing Warbler habitat improvement cut on about 30 acres of aspen, the other a thinning of a 19 acre natural white pine stand with trees in about the 50-75 year age class. The logger did a superb job on my two cuts.


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## NickW (May 10, 2020)

jebatty said:


> Cost was $105/cord delivered to my site as shown in the pictures. The trucker is located about 60 miles from me. He acquired the logs from the logger I have used on two cuts on our property, one a Golden Wing Warbler habitat improvement cut on about 30 acres of aspen, the other a thinning of a 19 acre natural white pine stand with trees in about the 50-75 year age class. The logger did a superb job on my two cuts.


Oops... 

I am curious how many cords you paid for versus how much css you yield when done...?


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## EODMSgt (May 10, 2020)

jebatty said:


> Semi-load delivered today. Mostly hard maple, small portion soft maple, and a little basswood. First impression is good quality logs. Will know more once I start to buck it up.



Just curious why you paid for basswood?


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## jebatty (Aug 24, 2020)

Finished four cords, about 1/3 of the load, bucked, split and stacked. My wife operated the splitter ram while I loaded the splitter and threw the splits into a trailer. This is what's left for next year and beyond.


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## BIGChrisNH (Aug 24, 2020)

Nice pile, if I had room for something like that at my place I would do it.


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## MissMac (Aug 24, 2020)

Man i get jealous reading threads like this!  There's only one person to deal with in my small town for log delivery.  It costs $185 per cord of white birch, but then another $350 to have it delivered (six cords/delivery).  So, $1110 for the wood, plus $350 for delivery works out to $243 per cord delivered to my driveway in 8ft lengths.  And you fellas are getting the primo hardwoods to boot!  What I would give for a nice load of hardwood.


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## BIGChrisNH (Aug 24, 2020)

Wow, that's expensive. In New Hampshire I can get it for around $100 per cord if I got a grapple load delivered. If I had room for it that is.


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## johneh (Aug 24, 2020)

Here it is 1150 plus 13% 
Harmonized screw tax (HST)
when cut and split works out to 7 -71/2 cord 
Sugar maple and red Oak


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## MissMac (Aug 24, 2020)

johneh said:


> Here it is 1150 plus 13%
> Harmonized screw tax (HST)
> when cut and split works out to 7 -71/2 cord
> Sugar maple and red Oak


want to ship a load north to me there neighbour?!


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## johneh (Aug 24, 2020)

MissMac said:


> want to ship a load north to me there neighbour?!


Sure you pay the shipping


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## Erichomeowner (Aug 25, 2020)

Hello. So I’m from Northeast Wisconsin and I’m interested in getting a semi load of logs does anyone know anyone or where I could order from? Thanks


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## jebatty (Aug 26, 2020)

Search for area loggers and call them.


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## BIGChrisNH (Aug 26, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> Hello. So I’m from Northeast Wisconsin and I’m interested in getting a semi load of logs does anyone know anyone or where I could order from? Thanks


I would call all tree companies in the area, ask them about grapple loads or whatever they call them in Wisconsin. Lots of times those guys (arborists or loggers) will sell log loads or know someone else who will. Or best case scenario, the smaller arborist operations without the storage space may be willing stuff to drop stuff on your property.


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## WiscWoody (Aug 26, 2020)

I got this grapple load of red oak two years ago this November. It cost me $950 and the guy said it was 11-12 logger cord and I got 11 stacked cords from it. The price is still the same now.


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## BIGChrisNH (Aug 26, 2020)

Now THAT is a good deal my friend. I can't get a truck that big down here, but the lowest I've heard is around $100 per cord, so that's a steal. If my wife and I ever get more land, I would definitely do something like that.


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## Erichomeowner (Aug 26, 2020)

WiscWoody said:


> I got this grapple load of red oak two years ago this November. It cost me $950 and the guy said it was 11-12 logger cord and I got 11 stacked cords from it. The price is still the same now.
> 
> View attachment 262502
> View attachment 262503


If you don’t mind me asking what company? Thanks


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## WiscWoody (Aug 26, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> If you don’t mind me asking what company? Thanks


I’ll PM you.


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## Beer Belly (Aug 28, 2020)

BIGChrisNH said:


> I would call all tree companies in the area, ask them about grapple loads or whatever they call them in Wisconsin. Lots of times those guys (arborists or loggers) will sell log loads or know someone else who will. Or best case scenario,* the smaller arborist operations without the storage space may be willing stuff to drop stuff on your property.*


Luckily enough, I have a tree guy that must watch my house, when I start running a little low, he stops by and sez "I have a load of good hardwood, do you want it ?".....no charge, and he backs right up to my stacks and unloads.....it's not exactly a semi load, but enough to keep me busy. The pictures are a load he did not drop near my stacks, but I wasn't going to argue


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## Lakeside (Aug 28, 2020)

Beer Belly said:


> I have a tree guy



How did you initiate the contact with your tree guy ?


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## Beer Belly (Aug 28, 2020)

Lakeside said:


> How did you initiate the contact with your tree guy ?


Just happened upon him taking down some trees a few years back to inquire about the tree he was working, and it went from there.....very nice guy, we hit it off. There have been a couple times I made the call to him, and a couple days later, he drops a load. One day he had Elm and said he wouldn't drop it unless I had a splitter.....once I started splitting, I understood why


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## Nate R (Nov 25, 2020)

WiscWoody said:


> I got this grapple load of red oak two years ago this November. It cost me $950 and the guy said it was 11-12 logger cord and I got 11 stacked cords from it. The price is still the same now.
> 
> View attachment 262502
> View attachment 262503



I had to double check your location!      My family had our 40 acres in rural Wisconsin logged 2 years ago in November, and much of it was red oak firewood. (300+ cords!)   Looks like you're too far to have been from our logger, though.

For reference, at least in 2018 in NE WI, we (as the landowners) got paid $31/cord of firewood on the stump. So for a truckload, we got $360, the logger then had to spend the money to harvest it, stack it and transport it, and the risk of selling it.


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## WiscWoody (Nov 25, 2020)

Nate R said:


> I had to double check your location!      My family had our 40 acres in rural Wisconsin logged 2 years ago in November, and much of it was red oak firewood. (300+ cords!)   Looks like you're too far to have been from our logger, though.
> 
> For reference, at least in 2018 in NE WI, we (as the landowners) got paid $31/cord of firewood on the stump. So for a truckload, we got $360, the logger then had to spend the money to harvest it, stack it and transport it, and the risk of selling it.


That’s a lot of oak! On my (about) monthly trip to Menards in Rice Lake I go by miles and miles of red oak, I’d say it’s a solid 35 miles or so and I often think... WOW look at all that luscious firewood ! Lol.


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## Nate R (Nov 26, 2020)

WiscWoody said:


> That’s a lot of oak! On my (about) monthly trip to Menards in Rice Lake I go by miles and miles of red oak, I’d say it’s a solid 35 miles or so and I often think... WOW look at all that luscious firewood ! Lol.



Yeah it was a LOT of Oak. But a good amount of it was dead or dying from Oak Wilt and/or stress, according to our forester. Then in July 2019 a big windstorm came through. and we even lost a few of the remaining oaks and red pines then. Made some other nearby properties look to be in terrible shape after that, though. So I'm pleased we were able to get a good price for the wood overall, that it got put to good use, and that our property isn't littered with dead and fallen oaks. A bit proud to think about how it all got used.
We also harvested some aspen, red pine and jack pine. Just under 700 cords from 35 acres total.

Here's a pic of one of the piles of oak firewood from that time:


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## WiscWoody (Nov 26, 2020)

Nate R said:


> Yeah it was a LOT of Oak. But a good amount of it was dead or dying from Oak Wilt and/or stress, according to our forester. Then in July 2019 a big windstorm came through. and we even lost a few of the remaining oaks and red pines then. Made some other nearby properties look to be in terrible shape after that, though. So I'm pleased we were able to get a good price for the wood overall, that it got put to good use, and that our property isn't littered with dead and fallen oaks. A bit proud to think about how it all got used.
> We also harvested some aspen, red pine and jack pine. Just under 700 cords from 35 acres total.
> 
> Here's a pic of one of the piles of oak firewood from that time:


WOW now there’s some REAL wood porn! I’m going to blow that up and pin it in my man cave downstairs lol.


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## WiscWoody (Nov 29, 2020)

They logged the poplar from a neighbors lot the other day. The Louisiana Pacific Smart Siding plant in Hayward WI uses poplar so most of that species goes there. The looters JD 1110e forwarder is top of the line, the cab can rotate 360 degrees and track the grapples.


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## Nealm66 (Nov 29, 2020)

It’s interesting to see how different things are in other parts of the country. You can get self load log trick loads here sometimes when the pulp market is tanked, it will usually have about 10 cord of firewood. Most everything on a truck is measured in board feet ha ha, so an average pulp load of small stuff will range about 2000 board feet (scribner scale) and a self loader with a load of decent logs will run about 4000 bd ft. Weyerhaeuser has a similar to cord measurement they call a kunit which I’ve asked a few times wth it is and the answer is always “ just another way to screw the logger” ha ha.


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