How much would you sell your firewood for?

[Lumber-Jack]

There have been a few threads here going on lately debating the value of firewood and what firewood dealers ought to be selling their firewood for. I though I would post a thread giving everyone an opportunity to express what their firewood is worth to them.
Many of us cut and scrounge our own firewood, we all know it can be a lot of work, but it's a work that many of us enjoy. However, if you had to do it for a living as your sole source of income, how much do you feel you would have to sell your firewood for to replace your current income?

Yes, I know there are lots of variable such as the type of wood, is it seasoned properly and so on. Unfortunately it's hard to encompass all those variables in this type of poll, so you'll just have to assume the type of wood is what ever you commonly cut for yourself, and we won't put the burden on you to store and season it for a year or two if you don't want to, you can sell it unseasoned like most firewood dealer do. Also I know lots of people would give their firewood away to people in need, and that's great, but that's not what we're looking for here. We are assuming you will be paying all your bills and feeding your family with the income you earn from selling your wood. That's why you don't see a $0 in the poll.
Please, any firewood dealers (full or part time) please post as well, since you already know what you need to sell your wood for.
The only people who really shouldn't post on the poll are those that only buy their firewood and have never cut their own, since they probably wouldn't have a very good sense of the work involved and the time it takes to get a cord of firewood. Although they are welcome to post in the thread as always

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I figure a $125 a half cord is a fair price (which is 250 a cord), and probably one pickup truck load. Now could I really make a living off of that, no. I would have to do a minimum of 500 1/2 cords per year, that ain't gonna happen.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I figure a $125 a half cord is a fair price (which is 250 a cord), and probably one pickup truck load. Now could I really make a living off of that, no. I would have to do a minimum of 500 1/2 cords per year, that ain't gonna happen.

Thanks for posting G&Wnut;, but remember that's the point of the poll, how much would you have to sell your wood for to make a living? Not, how much would you like to buy your wood for?
If you are selling your wood for $125 a half cord and can't afford to pay your bills, how can you call that fair?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Carbon, the price will vary from region to region. Also, two years ago in this area a cord was going from $180-$195. Then came the glut of dieing ash trees. Now one can find wood at $120 very easy.

 

[gerry100]

If I sold the wood in my shed I'd have to get around $450/cord because that's the value of the heating oil it replaces ( approx 150 gallons at approx $3/gal).

However If I was buying the price for a seasoned cord would be around half that due to the local supply/demand balance.

One way to look at it is that the $225/discount v Oil covers the labor,stove tending,ashes and in many cases weaknesses in heat distribution. For those of us that actually like some of that stuff it's a bonus.

When I'm working on the wood pile -

- my hourly wage is low( especially for such hard physical work) but it's tax free. Taxe paid on the equivalent income would just go to the Govt which uses it ineffficiently or for vote buying.

- I'm keeping wealth away from backwards socieities heavily influenced by radical elements which would be fighting us with sticks if thye didn't have oil momey.

 

[quads]

$150 per cord, oak seasoned up to 3 years, is what I sell my extra firewood for (when I'm not giving it away). But I don't sell it by the cord because I don't sell a lot of firewood, although lately I have been VERY busy selling it. I sell it 1/6 of a cord at a time for $25.

 

[Needshave]

I voted $300 per cord. I'd need to move 4 cords a week to keep my standard of living. That's if the trees are free. I'll keep my day job as a machinist.

 

[JBinKC]

I guess I live in a wood burners haven here. The going rate is $75-80 a cord (but assumed unseasoned and under processed) and on occasion I see hedge advertised at $80/cord in the local paper. If it weren't for the very small lot I have where I would be able to store 2 years worth I would likely never cut firewood again.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

I wouldn't sell mine. It's too darned much work processing a cord up to the point of stacked and seasoned. I doubt I'd sell at 600 dollars a cord. That's what my wood is worth to me. FWIW around these parts 200 dollars is considered a reasonable price for a cord of unseasoned Oak- dumped, not stacked.

 

[Nic36]

I voted for $200 a cord, but probably should have went higher since I would have to make a living selling it. The problem is, no one is going to pay more than that for a cord of wood down here. Lately, I have been trying to get a feel for what someone might pay (from Craigslist) for a cord. I have an excess amount I've thought about selling. I don't see any way these guys selling on Craigslist can make a living with the prices they quote. I know that just because they say it is a cord of "seasoned" wood doesn't mean that it is.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I voted $250 based on the making a living element but would happily sell the seasoned hobby wood for $200 delivered. That is about the going rate here so I have considered it. Just don't want a hobby I enjoy to turn into work.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

Even if I COULD process and sell 3 cords a week,at $300 a cord, for 52 weeks straight, with no overhead or taxes --> I would never do it. As SolarandWood stated, I would never want my enjoyable 'hobby' to become 'w-o-r-k'. And like Cluttermagnet said- its worth too damned much to me---> burning wood will save me more than $3000 in oil this winter.

 

[Kenster]

You can quote any price you want to replace your current income but it's not going to replace nothing if you charge a price no one is going to pay. I enjoy scrounging and processing my own wood. In our south central Texas climate, we don't need more than maybe 1.5 cords a year. I can pretty much keep us in oak and hickory just from standing dead and storm downed trees from my own three acres of thick woods. But I also have access to the ranches of two friends with a combined 700 or so acres. One buddy has 30 standing dead oak and hickory right now that are mine for the taking. I can't possibly handle all that wood but I could probably process a few cords a year and sell them in this market for up to $200 c/s/s. Give us a little Christmas or vacation money.

 

[RNLA]

I run my own tree company and I get my own supply of wood by default, some times they actually do pay for me to get rid of it, sometimes I get to absorb the cost. I think I would have to be pretty far ahead before I would sell any. My logic is that you never know what is going to happen and I want to keep my house warm. NOT FOR SALE!

 

[Danno77]

there is absolutely, positively, without a doubt, NO WAY that someone can make a living selling firewood in this area. I know a handful of guys selling firewood and NONE of them make a living at it. I figure that if they all just stopped and I inherited all of their customers, then I'd sell 2 truckloads a week all winter long. Local rates dictate no more than $75 for a good load of wood. That's 600 bucks a month for the winter months. I voted for $150 per cord, cause I think it could be done around here for that price if you get a good name for yourself.

 

[hoosierhick]

I went with $350.00 because there is not a higher one. I am just not interested in selling my wood.
If you really need some I will give you some to get you out of trouble.

 

[Flatbedford]

Based on advertised prices of $150-$250 in my area, I would want $300 for my premium seasoned hardwood. This being only the second year with the new stove, I am still not sure if I can afford to part with any of my wood at any price and still be far enough ahead for proper seasoning. If I figure out that I can afford to, I will try to sell a couple cords. It would be nice to raise a few extra bucks that could be put right back into the wood harvesting budget. maybe a new saw, or improvements on the old wood hauler.

 

[woodchip]

I voted for over $350 a cord, simply because of the time it takes me.

If I could collect, buck, and split a cord in 35 hours I would only be earning only $10 an hour, and that assumes the wood is free to me, no costs involved in replanting trees that have been felled.

As an experiment, I'm going to time myself tomorrow when I'm out working, just to see how productive I am.

Mind you, I use a 30" bow saw, a hand axe, and a log grenade for splitting.

A cord sounds like flipping hard work in one go by hand ;-)

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I voted for over $350 a cord, simply because of the time it takes me.

If I could collect, buck, and split a cord in 35 hours I would only be earning only $10 an hour, and that assumes the wood is free to me, no costs involved in replanting trees that have been felled.

As an experiment, I'm going to time myself tomorrow when I'm out working, just to see how productive I am.

Mind you, I use a 30" bow saw, a hand axe, and a log grenade for splitting.

A cord sounds like flipping hard work in one go by hand ;-)

Uh! Woodchip, you are thinking along the lines that I had hoped my poll would get other to reason on.

Everybody has different incomes and standard of living, and are able to process their wood at different speeds and at different personal costs, so I figured it would be an easy thing to figure out how much money they would have to make per cord to live on if their current income dried up. But it seems like everyone got hung up on the going rate for a cord in their area which wasn't really what I was asking. It was a hypothetical question meant to find out what ones own wood is worth to them personally in a dollar and cent value based on their own time and costs, not what hillbilly Joe down the by the river is selling his wood for.

Perhaps I should have been a little clearer or worded it differently, like "How long does it to you to process a cord of wood?"

I see at least one person selected $100 per cord as enough to sell there wood for if they did it for a living. If it took them as long to process it as Woodchip suggests, 35 hours per cord, then they would be earning $2.85 an hour.
Times must really be tough. ;-P

 

[Mcbride]

I voted for $300.

Thats to sell it, it never said anything at the top about it, so I assumed unsplit and undelivered.
If you want it split add say $50 a load, and delivery would be based on the distance you are away.

 

[Flatbedford]

For a living! Change my vote to about $1000/cord. No delivery. That's why I am not in the firewood business.

 

[hoosierhick]

I'am with you flatbed. :lol:

 

[Flatbedford]

It seems to me that, at least where I live, one could only be in the firewood business as a sideline to being in the tree removal business. If the firewood is a by product of the main business, it might be a way to make some extra $$$, but not an only thing.

 

[tfdchief]

Not for any price.....I love my wood

 

[DBoon]

I'm amazed that people sell firewood for $170 per cord around where I live. The amount of labor and machinery required to get it cut, split and delivered is pretty high - I certainly wouldn't sell it for less than twice that knowing what I have put into a cord of split wood.