# Made a wood seller mad today



## bassmaster17327 (Feb 10, 2015)

I texted a guy who had an ad up selling seasoned firewood and asked him if  it had been kept dry, he responded and said that it had not been kept dry but it was seasoned. I didn't respond back because I needed dry wood to burn now, so a day goes by and he text me asking if I was still interested. I replied and said " no thanks, I need wood that has been kept dry because it needs to have a moisture content of 20% or less to burn properly in my stove". His response was "I have burned wood for 30 years, next time you go to a doctor you tell him how to fix your ailment, our wood burns and I have plenty of customers.

I should have just let it go but I responded and said "older stoves didn't have the secondary burn and would burn wet would better than the newer stoves", I wasn't try to argue but I was trying to get him to understand that if he kept it covered and got the moisture down that he would have a huge selling advantage over other sellers. He responded with " This wood is meant to be burned this year, the moisture you are talking about is alcohol"  I didn't reply back, hopefully he stops texting me


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## jatoxico (Feb 10, 2015)

I think the wood sellers still have the lead on the who's annoyed who score. Ask him if he's willing to prove his wood is <20% (he won't, it isn't).


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## velvetfoot (Feb 10, 2015)

Kinda tough time of year to buy dry wood.


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## shoot-straight (Feb 10, 2015)

i had a similar experience with a local seller, i got this response " what do you want, some kind of suuuperwood?" (add some redneck accent to it)

i was as polite as possible, but he wasnt happy.

had another experience. guy brought wood, said it was "seasoned". i told him it better not be fresh cut. and that i would test it. he showed up and went to dump- i said- whoa! then grabbed a split and resplit, took the mm out of my pocket and stuck it in. 22%. i said ok, dump it. he was simply facinated by my mm. he had no idea what it was and had never seen one before. i stacked the wood and came up 1/4 cord short.  a dozen calls later and i got my 1/4 cord. but it was green......


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## firefighterjake (Feb 10, 2015)

I guess I'm looking at things differently . . . a bit of rain or snow on the wood wouldn't bother me if that's what the guy considers "wet" wood . . . rather I would want to either know a) how long the wood was cut, split and stacked (if it was stacked) or (even better) what the moisture content was on some randomly chosen, fresh split wood faces.

To me "dry" and "seasoned" can be the same . . .  or different . . . thing . . . depends on the person and their frame of mind.

I can live with wood that is wet or covered in snow, but has the appropriate moisture content for burning . . . a day or so inside near the woodstove and the next batch of wood is ready to go. However, dry wood that doesn't have a low enough moisture content -- that would be a non-starter for me.


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## velvetfoot (Feb 10, 2015)

I would assume that all delivered split wood is unseasoned and be happy with a honest quantity and consistently sized splits.


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## shoot-straight (Feb 10, 2015)

i will add, "seasoned" is not a word.


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## kennyp2339 (Feb 10, 2015)

Ugh, it frustrates me that someone would be in the "wood business" and really have no clue what good wood is. I know space is limited for some guys but seriously, its like trying to sell cars and not know that they run on gas or diesel. I know a guy that sells firewood, he has actually sold a few cords to a couple of my friends, well he gets his logs through the summer then starts splitting them in September to be sold in November and he calls it seasoned wood. I ask my one friend how can he be so stupid to buy wood from the guy mentioned above.. he said I don't know, I just figured it was seasoned because he said the logs have been down since hurricane Sandy.. I said simply oh well, you deserve wet wood then.


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## Wood Duck (Feb 10, 2015)

My wood is uncovered but still seasoned. I'd rather not have it get wet, but rain and snow are just an inconvenience, not a real problem. If the wood is punky then rain and snow are a big problem.


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## firefighterjake (Feb 10, 2015)

shoot-straight said:


> i will add, "seasoned" is not a word.



Technically . . . it is a word . . . it's just the definition varies from person to person. 

To me . . . seasoned means wood that has been cut, split and stacked in a way so that it is ready to burn easily and cleanly in my modern stove . . . typically anywhere from many months to several years.

To another person . . . seasoned means wood that has reached __ % of moisture.

To yet another person . . . seasoned means it was cut down in the Winter Season, split up in the Spring Season and sold in the Summer or Fall Season.

To another person . . . seasoned means wood that was cut and split the year previously.

To another . . . well you get the point . . . there is no one definition . . . and I suspect it will always be that way . . . since you and I may find that the "seasoned" wood being sold by the guy who cut it down this past Winter and sells it in the Fall will not burn at all in our stoves, but your neighbor or my neighbor burning in a smoke dragon may consider it well seasoned and think it's perfect for their stove.


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## firefighterjake (Feb 10, 2015)

kennyp2339 said:


> Ugh, it frustrates me that someone would be in the "wood business" and really have no clue what good wood is. I know space is limited for some guys but seriously, its like trying to sell cars and not know that they run on gas or diesel. I know a guy that sells firewood, he has actually sold a few cords to a couple of my friends, well he gets his logs through the summer then starts splitting them in September to be sold in November and he calls it seasoned wood. I ask my one friend how can he be so stupid to buy wood from the guy mentioned above.. he said I don't know, I just figured it was seasoned because he said the logs have been down since hurricane Sandy.. I said simply oh well, you deserve wet wood then.



Frustrating to be sure . . . but I think the analogy is more like the guy at the gas station selling fuel for the car.

The guy has been around for a long time and has only sold regular gas. Just about everyone loves it and says it works fine in their car.

Then one day someone shows up with a nice, newer sports car and insists that they can only fuel their car with the premium fuel since the car will develop knocks, will not run right and may affect the engine (not to mention the speed and efficiency). 

The gas station guy just laughs and insists that he has always sold regular and no one has ever complained about the fuel . . . and feels as though this person with their high winder car is crazy . . . when in reality the sports car owner is absolutely right.

Some wood sellers learn and realize that newer stoves need premium fuel (I think that's one reason why we've seen folks selling kiln dried wood -- never saw this here in Maine until a few years ago) . . . other folks just kinda chug along doing what they've always done and selling their wood fuel in the same way since that's how they've always done it and most folks don't even mention their need for better fuel.

For the record . . . I'm not a wood seller or processor . . . I just think I can understand their line of thinking. It stinks when seasoned wood is anything but seasoned . . . but in some ways it is up to us as the buyers to ascertain if the wood is really seasoned or not . . . and the reality is often it is simply easier to buy the wood "green" and season it yourself (providing you have the space.)


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## Ashful (Feb 10, 2015)

velvetfoot said:


> I would assume that all delivered split wood is unseasoned and be happy with a honest quantity and consistently sized splits.


Ditto.  Buy your wood three years in advance.  If you need it to burn today, seek out kiln dried.


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## osagebow (Feb 10, 2015)

I always steer these arguments away from any personal "I Know it all" vibes by saying
 "I didn't know any of this until I found a site with the manufacturers and dealers of these newer stoves telling us how to properly burn them. Lotta good info on there". Some actually come here and check it out.

 A few of my past and present students sell wood, but they're usually old school when it comes to marketing. They cut and sell seasoned wood all year long.


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## Dune (Feb 10, 2015)

I worked at a shop in Long Island last summer (same town as FrankS, but I never did get to meet him). 
Anyway, the back lot was rented to a tree service. Guy with a splitter there, all day, everyday.Good throwing arm. He made a mountain as high as he could throw, them moved over and did it again, then one more time by late fall. Had to be over a hundred cord. 
Nice, uncovered unstacked *green *wood. For sale. Seasoned for up to a year. Or as little as a few weeks. The stuff at the bottom? About as seasoned as the month old stuff. 

Lots of smoke dragons still out there I guess. 

I think eventually firewood kilns will become popular, but how much of a premium will you pay for heat dried wood?


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## drz1050 (Feb 10, 2015)

Around here (Upstate NY), a properly seasoned cord of wood sells for $800+. They sell "fireplace cords"- which come out to 44 cu ft for $220-280, depending on the wood.

Almost makes me want to start selling wood myself. 

Until then, I'll just keep buying it green and stacking in my backyard. I may have found a good new supplier yesterday, exchanged a couple emails with him today, crossing my fingers that it'll pan out well when the snow melts. He can deliver green split cords and log length, ordering a batch of each.


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## jatoxico (Feb 10, 2015)

Eight hundred a cord? What part of NY is Ballston in?


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## drz1050 (Feb 10, 2015)

Just North of Albany, South of Saratoga.

http://seasonedgourmetfirewood.com/site/products

Granted, that's only one seller... but from what I see, business is good. I drive by their place all the time, and see people there often. I've tried a couple craigslist sellers up here; they're all green, and a couple came up short.

On craigslist, you can find a "seasoned cord" for anywhere from 200-280. Some of those will come in the backs of pickup trucks, being split that day. Guess lots of people are fed up with dealing with that. 

I found a honest greenish cord+ delivered for $240, I was happy with that for now, along with scrounging on the side. If this latest log length guy ends up to be legit though, I'll be real happy.


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## Ram 1500 with an axe... (Feb 11, 2015)

You need to learn to play the game right in order to win..... You got to be 3 years ahead or your just going to be in the same situation year after year....... Great thread to learn....... Nothing wrong with busting wood sellers chops.....


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## Brewmonster (Feb 11, 2015)

Please...if you're buying wood, you should expect to get ripped off. You will never get properly dried wood and you will never get a full measure.Cut your own, stack it, measure it, let it sit two or three years. Now you've got what you wanted.
I'm astonished that there are people on this forum who still haven't resigned themselves to this.


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## Applesister (Feb 11, 2015)

Brewmonster said:


> Please...if you're buying wood, you should expect to get ripped off. You will never get properly dried wood and you will never get a full measure.Cut your own, stack it, measure it, let it sit two or three years. Now you've got what you wanted.
> I'm astonished that there are people on this forum who still haven't resigned themselves to this.


Amen


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## velvetfoot (Feb 11, 2015)

drz1050 said:


> Just North of Albany, South of Saratoga


I was thinking that was the place on route 9, but no?  The place on Rt. 9 had ridiculous prices years ago when I lived in Clifton Park.
I remember buying some cords from a farm out your way.  It may indeed could have been that link.  The only thing I remember about it was that it had ants, lol, but it was good wood.
Hey, I just looked, the Rt9 and Rt50 places are both Gourmet, lol!
Another time, a guy and his girl friend rolled up in a rented cube truck and delivered the wood-it turned out to be pine, but what did I know.
I think it's a total plus that you found someone that'll deliver an honest cord, green or not.  This is the price now-maybe you could get a better price in summer.  Finding a good wood guy is tough.
When we visit relatives in CP, sometimes we pass a place that has a lot of firewood-Grooms Road, not sure?
The downside of buzzing up the wood in your backyard is that it might annoy the neighbors.  Hey, isn't there some kind of noise ordinance now?  LOL.
If you're going through all this BS and have natural gas, I'll be PO'd.


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## drz1050 (Feb 11, 2015)

lol, no natural gas at my place.. I wish I had that. They have it on the main road, but I'm off a little side street so I guess I'm not good enough haha. 

Even if I had nat'l gas though, I'd still have a wood stove. I just like them. 

Yep, the rt 9 place is the one I was referring to. I think they're owned by the same people as the rt 50 one, not sure. Don't know the place on Grooms you're talking about... the  guy I'm buying from now is just off rt 67 West a little ways. 

Haha, not that worried about my neighbors. A couple of them are woodburners, and if the log length guy turns out to be legit we'll probably go in on some together. I was scrounging all last year, cutting it to 4-6' lengths when I found it and bucking it to 16" in my backyard. I only run the saw during the day, so haven't heard a complaint yet. Plus, if they can deal with my motorcycles, a chainsaw is nothing!


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## BobUrban (Feb 11, 2015)

I am of the belief that selling fore wood is nearly a loosing battle and per the volume, time to get it to 20% and space needed for such an operation - JUST NOT REALISTIC!! 

Truth is the wood I CSS that has been waiting patiently for 3 yrs is worth MORE than the cost of propane - much more to me. 

If I were buying wood mid season - shame on me!!  To expect to find 20% hard wood at that time would be total fantasy and I should be ready to pay gold ounce prices for it.

If and when I am to a point of "buying" my fuel the responsibility of having it READY to burn will still remain on ME.  Buy in bulk(cheaper) - bite the bullet and buy three yrs worth.  Then shop and replace one year at a time in the off season for best pricing and supplement if possible w self procured fuel. 

My only concern with purchased wood, if I were to buy any, would be that I am getting the AMOUNT I paid for - not the MC.  I would go into the transaction knowing "seasoned" is a relative term and not something the producer has much concern about.  It just is not at all realistic to think ANY producer has 20% wood knowing full well what it takes to get it there.  If I were in a mid season crunch I would go buy a pallet(ton) of bio fuel and get through on that. 

There is just NO money in selling dry fuel so the producer will ALWAYS sell what they can to make more $$ - this goes for everything that is produced and sold - not just sticks and splits.  Get and stay AHEAD - three years is the minimum.  And be more concerned with the amount vs. the MC and think about what you would charge for a cord of three year old oak that you Cut/split/stacked - priceless right??


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## Fred Wright (Feb 11, 2015)

Antique furniture, made daily. 

Honestly, few firewood sellers offer wood that's been split & stacked long enough to fully cure like you'd do yourself. At best it's been split and left to lay in a huge pile for a year, stirred on occasion. At worst it was cut and split off the stump after you hung up the phone. These folks often don't have the manpower, the time or available space to stack a lot of wood for drying.

True, expect two things when buying a load of firewood ~ the load will probably be short and probably not be ready to burn tonight. Regardless of the seller's claims, expect these things and you won't be disappointed.

The thing that irritates me about purchased firewood is false claims about the type of wood being delivered. Now we can discuss the definition of hardwoods 'til the cows come home but I think most folks would be ticked off if they paid good money for a load of "mixed hardwood" and later found that the load was nearly half gum, tulip poplar and other crap. Misrepresentation is a common practice in the firewood biz.


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## drz1050 (Feb 11, 2015)

Bob- you're assuming the seller is bucking and splitting by hand like you or I. 

I haven't met many sellers, but I've met a few.. And every one of them had a firewood processing machine of some sort. Just load the log onto it and splits come out the other side, then they fall right on a conveyor belt to a truck. 
The manual labor per cord is a fraction of what you and I do.


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## mecreature (Feb 11, 2015)

A wood supplier in my area will sell cords for 100 bucks in early summer. Its all green and a mix bag, but cheap.
at the end of summer it goes up to 60 or 70 a face cord so get it now. He states this in his ad.


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## jeff_t (Feb 11, 2015)

I sold a little firewood last winter that was the promised quantity, and it was ready to burn tonight. I sold it for an almost embarrassing premium, and every one of those people called me back this fall. Except for one that bugged me all summer.


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## jatoxico (Feb 11, 2015)

drz1050 said:


> Just North of Albany, South of Saratoga.
> 
> http://seasonedgourmetfirewood.com/site/products
> 
> ...


Oh I see. I thought it must be something like that. We have a guy around here selling kiln dried cord wood and specialty wood for pizza ovens and bakeries etc. The kiln dried cord wood for a fireplace or stove is expensive, the specialty wood is ridiculous.


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## Ashful (Feb 11, 2015)

mecreature said:


> A wood supplier in my area will sell cords for 100 bucks in early summer. Its all green and a mix bag, but cheap.
> at the end of summer it goes up to 60 or 70 a face cord so get it now. He states this in his ad.






"See this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."


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## Rbrennan26 (Feb 11, 2015)

I have a success story from  a Craig's list seller. Bought 2 face cords of ash for $120 (unfortunately I had to pay $60 delivery but I don't really have on option  regarding that).

Anyways, took a fresh split and it measured 17% on the MM. I guess EAB in Michigan was beneficial for one reason, being able to provide dry wood that burns in today's fireplaces. It was obvious this wood was freshly cut/split yet it was still dry enough to burn! 

Just thought I would share that it is possible to not get ripped off if you are careful.

Rob


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## jeff_t (Feb 11, 2015)

Rbrennan26 said:


> I have a success story from  a Craig's list seller. Bought 2 face cords of ash for $120 (unfortunately I had to pay $60 delivery but I don't really have on option  regarding that).
> 
> Anyways, took a fresh split and it measured 17% on the MM. I guess EAB in Michigan was beneficial for one reason, being able to provide dry wood that burns in today's fireplaces. It was obvious this wood was freshly cut/split yet it was still dry enough to burn!
> 
> ...



How did your first purchase go?


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## KenLockett (Feb 11, 2015)

drz1050 said:


> Around here (Upstate NY), a properly seasoned cord of wood sells for $800+. They sell "fireplace cords"- which come out to 44 cu ft for $220-280, depending on the wood.
> 
> Almost makes me want to start selling wood myself.
> 
> Until then, I'll just keep buying it green and stacking in my backyard. I may have found a good new supplier yesterday, exchanged a couple emails with him today, crossing my fingers that it'll pan out well when the snow melts. He can deliver green split cords and log length, ordering a batch of each.



No offense, but I think you are being taken.  I see 'seasoned' wood advertised constantly for 200-300 dollars in the capital district.  Whether any wood is actually 'seasoned' or not is a crap shoot.  Kiln dried cord i know of two places that are $350-400 delivered.  Bought two cords last year in the area (reasonably seasoned per my MM) for $185/cord. Can buy CS firewood for 150-180/cord from reputable people who don't advertise.  All Albany Craig List adds that I see are 200-300 Cord.  Not saying I'd trust any of them but there ya go.


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## Rbrennan26 (Feb 11, 2015)

@jeff_t 
LOL! This most recent purchase was nothing compared to my first firewood purchase experience. Actually still have a little bit left from what I bought from you. Now my wife and kids are hooked on having fires so I ended up burning much more than I anticipated! It was like a crisis when we were getting low and I started turning down the pleas from the family to have a fire.

If I wouldn't have been successful getting this load, I would probably had been begging you to sell me some more to get me through the year!

Hope all is well with you! 

Rob


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## BobUrban (Feb 11, 2015)

But the processor is 30+k not including the conveyor(estimate 10-20K) and the truck that can hold and haul a cord or more of wood with a dump bed... conservatively purchased used and in decent shape 25k

So for around 75k not including saws, tools and vehicles to get wood from the woods to the processing plant, maintenance of all the equipment and fuel... um... you too could be a broke a$$ wood processor and seller.

None of these numbers include the cost of labor - either your own or hired help nor does it include stacking the wood or space to be 3 years ahead on such a grand scale that you could tell buyers in February, "I know there is 3 acres of stacked firewood out there that you can see but as an ethical seller I can't let you buy it until 2016/17.  It just isn't dry enough yet".

Again I ask, "how does anyone make $ selling firewood"  ONLY way in my eyes that it is at all profitable is if the wood is a byproduct of your "real" business as a tree service that you would be paying to dump and then only if you had CHEAP labor, tools and vehicles already for said "real" business and you sold it "as is"!!  ie. MC is what you get.

And all this is considering the trees themselves are free or you have so much wooded property as to never run out.  Again, not realistic so to produce firewood on this scale one would need to acquire said access in the first place - not going to be cheap!


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## Ashful (Feb 11, 2015)

BobUrban said:


> Again I ask, "how does anyone make $ selling firewood"  ONLY way in my eyes that it is at all profitable is if the wood is a byproduct of your "real" business...


Bob,

I thought you chimed in on that video posted here last year, of the large-scale firewood processing company.  If no one here recalls it, I can try to search it out again tonight.


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## drz1050 (Feb 11, 2015)

KenLockett said:


> No offense, but I think you are being taken.  I see 'seasoned' wood advertised constantly for 200-300 dollars in the capital district.  Whether any wood is actually 'seasoned' or not is a crap shoot.  Kiln dried cord i know of two places that are $350-400 delivered.  Bought two cords last year in the area (reasonably seasoned per my MM) for $185/cord. Can buy CS firewood for 150-180/cord from reputable people who don't advertise.  All Albany Craig List adds that I see are 200-300 Cord.  Not saying I'd trust any of them but there ya go.



Oh, I didn't buy any of that $800 wood, nor would I.. I just think that's silly. 

$150 for a honest cord is a steal though- would you mind sharing that contact?


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## Ram 1500 with an axe... (Feb 11, 2015)

BobUrban said:


> But the processor is 30+k not including the conveyor(estimate 10-20K) and the truck that can hold and haul a cord or more of wood with a dump bed... conservatively purchased used and in decent shape 25k
> 
> So for around 75k not including saws, tools and vehicles to get wood from the woods to the processing plant, maintenance of all the equipment and fuel... um... you too could be a broke a$$ wood processor and seller.
> 
> ...


Holmdel firewood in Holmdel  New Jersey, 
He makes a ton of money, he buys 15"  splits of red oak and hickory and sells at a premium price......


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## hickoryhoarder (Feb 11, 2015)

velvetfoot said:


> I would assume that all delivered split wood is unseasoned and be happy with a honest quantity and consistently sized splits.



I agree.  Everything I've bought is more or less unseasoned, and needs at least 9 months in a hot driveway.


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## velvetfoot (Feb 12, 2015)

hickoryhoarder said:


> I agree.  Everything I've bought is more or less unseasoned, and needs at least 9 months in a hot driveway.


I didn't mention species, and that's important, but I'm not that good at identification, and being split doesn't help.


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## simple.serf (Feb 12, 2015)

Whenever I buy firewood,  I expect it to be green. I make this known to the sellers, and I tell them that I want a discount because it isn't seasoned. I  usually manage to get the price down a little, and I css for 2 years anyways, so the stove stays happy.


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## velvetfoot (Feb 12, 2015)

"30 cords of wood in the front yard, 10 in the woods"
Sounds like me.


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## jrems (Feb 12, 2015)

I was lucky to find a local guy selling green cords for $150. I asked him to call me if he got any dead standing ash and I would pay extra. A few weeks later he called and got 2 cords of 20-25%mc ash for $160 a cord. Not only that when he showed up it was actually stacked in his dump truck and easy to measure that it was a true 2 cords. Got a cord of kild dried for $300  to top of this years supply. Mixed with the ash it's burning great.


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## OhioBurner© (Feb 13, 2015)

drz1050 said:


> Just North of Albany, South of Saratoga.
> 
> http://seasonedgourmetfirewood.com/site/products
> 
> ...



I don't understand how they can charge that much. Arent pellets and compressed sawdust logs far cheaper? Isnt freaking electric heat cheaper lol? Whats next, $1,000 cords and the option to take out a loan?

I burn wood mainly to save money. Yeah I enjoy the ambiance and the workout and whatever, but if I wasn't saving money I'd not do it plain and simple. I paid $210 / ton for compressed bricks (about a cord equivalent they say) so if I can't get wood for cheaper than that I'm sticking to the 'manufactured wood'. Also paid about the same for pellets on this last load ($205/ton).


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## drz1050 (Feb 13, 2015)

Pellets are far cheaper, yep. I haven't seen any compressed logs/ bricks being sold up here though... Pellets are also always sold by the bag or ton, you don't have all these face cord, rick, fireplace cord, etc bullshit names to deal with. A ton is a ton, everyone knows what that is.. so if one person was trying to sell for $800/ ton, he'd be laughed at. 

I think they get away with it by calling it a "fireplace cord." Most buyers don't know what the difference is, so they figure it's the same thing...?

Stupid buyers = happy seller? Iono. It reeks of dishonesty to me, but what do I know?


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## Babaganoosh (Feb 13, 2015)

Ram 1500 with an axe... said:


> Holmdel firewood in Holmdel  New Jersey,
> He makes a ton of money, he buys 15"  splits of red oak and hickory and sells at a premium price......




Holmdel is all rich people. Where there is money, there is money to be made.


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## jatoxico (Feb 13, 2015)

OhioBurner© said:


> I don't understand how they can charge that much. Arent pellets and compressed sawdust logs far cheaper? Isnt freaking electric heat cheaper lol? Whats next, $1,000 cords and the option to take out a loan?
> 
> I burn wood mainly to save money. Yeah I enjoy the ambiance and the workout and whatever, but if I wasn't saving money I'd not do it plain and simple. I paid $210 / ton for compressed bricks (about a cord equivalent they say) so if I can't get wood for cheaper than that I'm sticking to the 'manufactured wood'. Also paid about the same for pellets on this last load ($205/ton).


The guy by me sells the kiln dried cordwood for about $600/cord IIRC. It's nice, comes in bags no bugs. It's not for someone who wants to make a dent in their fuel bill just better than buying a package of kiln dried at the super market.

Where I think he makes his money is by supplying high end restaurants with wood fired ovens. They pay and charge a premium.


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## tsquini (Feb 13, 2015)

By his definition, I love to burn alcohol in my stove. I still keep my "alcohol" dry.


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## Ashful (Feb 13, 2015)

OhioBurner© said:


> I don't understand how they can charge that much. Arent pellets and compressed sawdust logs far cheaper? Isnt freaking electric heat cheaper lol?



The target customer is not one trying to heat their home, but those looking for occasional ambiance fires or running wood-fired brick ovens.


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## OhioBurner© (Feb 14, 2015)

bassmaster17327 said:


> I should have just let it go but I responded and said "older stoves didn't have the secondary burn and would burn wet would better than the newer stoves", I wasn't try to argue but I was trying to get him to understand that if he kept it covered and got the moisture down that he would have a huge selling advantage over other sellers. He responded with " This wood is meant to be burned this year, the moisture you are talking about is alcohol"  I didn't reply back, hopefully he stops texting me


The easiest way I say it is that I have a new high efficiency stove that is very finicky about dry wood. That's usually enough.

Also if they start to argue 'seasoned' just say you don't really care about whether its seasoned or not. Ask them instead specifically how long its been cut split and stacked. Of course >90% of wood sellers are never going to have their wood stacked anyhow.


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## jatoxico (Feb 14, 2015)

bassmaster17327 said:


> I wasn't try to argue but I was trying to get him to understand that if he kept it covered and got the moisture down that he would have a huge selling advantage over other sellers. He responded with " This wood is meant to be burned this year, the moisture you are talking about is alcohol"



The sellers response just shows the ingrained misinformation out there. Unless he's really just trying to BS, the way I read this he believes the remaining moisture is methanol (wood alcohol). I would guess a lot of these guys are more or less honest but have been doing it this way for years with plenty of happy customers. Anytime their knowledge is challenged they just assume the buyer is inexperienced.


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## Ashful (Feb 14, 2015)

jatoxico said:


> The sellers response just shows the ingrained misinformation out there. Unless he's really just trying to BS, the way I read this he believes the remaining moisture is methanol (wood alcohol).


I think it was the seller's poor attempt at a humorous insult.


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## blades (Feb 15, 2015)

"Seasoned" wood from most firewood dealers = liberally infused with 2 stroke exhaust and bar oil,  Now there are some dealers advertising "kiln dried" product= usually just enough time in a kiln to kill bugs per State natural resources specs. Once in a great while you may come across someone like my self, fire wood selling is not business for me- I have some 50 cords here 30 of which are css 2 plus years mixed hardwood very little of the undesirable types in the stacks . which brings us to the definition of hard wood - anything that is not a conifer or a shrub is technically hardwood ( cotton, bass , popul/aspen ect).


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## jatoxico (Feb 15, 2015)

Joful said:


> I think it was the seller's poor attempt at a humorous insult.


Well I've heard vaguely similar comments over the years a couple times and they weren't kidding. Along the lines of "can't burn pine". My mother in laws companion is a good one for this kinda stuff. Once when we were talking he explained to e how hardwood has better "oils". When I told him I was seasoning pine he rolled his eyes and ended the conversation. Guess he figured I was a lost cause.


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## cptoneleg (Feb 15, 2015)

You should have bought the wood and stacked it covered it and in afew years it would be right.  Bad planning on your part is not the guy selling wood problem ,your the one without wood in the middle of winter.


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## bassmaster17327 (Feb 15, 2015)

cptoneleg said:


> You should have bought the wood and stacked it covered it and in afew years it would be right.  Bad planning on your part is not the guy selling wood problem ,your the one without wood in the middle of winter.



His wood was priced higher than anyone else, if I have to store the wood for a few years I might as well buy from a cheaper seller. I wasn't poor planning, I bought this house at the end of December. It didn't come with stacks of dry firewood so I am doing the best I can


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## infinitymike (Feb 15, 2015)

shoot-straight said:


> i will add, "seasoned" is not a word.



I only use that "word " when I cook steak


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## infinitymike (Feb 15, 2015)

jatoxico said:


> Eight hundred a cord? What part of NY is Ballston in?



Lets move up there and start  business, boy we could rake in the dough.


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## Ashful (Feb 15, 2015)

I guess wood is $800/cord here, too, if bought in $5 supermarket bundle increments.


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## infinitymike (Feb 15, 2015)

Joful said:


> I guess wood is $800/cord here, too, if bought in $5 supermarket bundle increments.


True that.


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## Badfish740 (Feb 16, 2015)

AFAIK, in the state of New Jersey there is one actual "Wood Dealer"-a place on Route 206 in Somerset County.  The guy probably has 10 acres of nothing but nice neat stacks.  He advertises guaranteed seasoned full cords (it's measured on a rack before you buy)-that said, I'm pretty sure if I was paying his prices I'd switch back to oil.  Around here, the other 99% of "Wood Dealers" are in reality, tree companies and landscapers who cut trees during the busy season (Spring-Summer), hold onto the wood for a short time, and start advertising "seasoned firewood" in the Fall.  My neighbor gets burned by one of these guys every year who swears up and down that it's all good dry wood   Yup-the check's in the mail and I wont...well, it's a family site...


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## TvSteve (Feb 16, 2015)

velvetfoot said:


> .
> When we visit relatives in CP, sometimes we pass a place that has a lot of firewood-Grooms Road, not sure?


Good to see I'm not alone here. Purchased wood from him a few years ago. It was green, 1/4 junk and short. He wasn't happy when I phoned him back. I'm burning lots of pine with the current cold spell. For me it's free and I don't mind reloading frequently.


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## velvetfoot (Feb 16, 2015)

Free is good!


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## cptoneleg (Feb 16, 2015)

bassmaster17327 said:


> His wood was priced higher than anyone else, if I have to store the wood for a few years I might as well buy from a cheaper seller. I wasn't poor planning, I bought this house at the end of December. It didn't come with stacks of dry firewood so I am doing the best I can



Central PA huh I am working near State college at Pleasant Gap  someone around here is selling what looks like dry BL.  I am here in my camper and not in the market, for wood but if you are close can probably get a #.

Everyone went thru 1st year problems.


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