Before coming on this site I had never heard of a face cord. A face cord isn't even a set measurement. It is 4x8x how ever long your firewood is cut.
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Is this a cord?
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I think people in my area just aren’t good with fractions. No one knows what a 1/3 of a cord is 
Greetings all, in my area 170 c.f. is needed for a loose, thrown in cord, and it always works out, so do the math on that Stonehenge looking pile of wood, lol
woodey
Feeling the Heat
That's what the Amish were selling it for last summer. I don't know about this year.
Id be very surprised. Cord of wood is 2000-3000lbs depending on species. One bag is 1000lbs.min, I don't think so. I'd also guess 1/3 per bag. I'd also be surprised they were ripping off their customers if they are a legitimate local business.
Hey folks, I got it and finally stacked it. 2 of these totes on pallets does pretty much equal a full cord and maybe some change. So the bags of course were not stacked air tight nor were they just tossed in randomly. I could tell all splits were placed horizontally and non vertically so that helped avoid major air spaces. The center did have more odd shaped, knotty side ways grain splits, some even looked more like discs/chunks. The rounds were split in 08/21 and green house seasoned. I have to say it is pretty well seasoned, even the oak. Exterior MC was typically 10 percent and when split open Ala fiskars, around 14 to 20 percent on most splits. Occasional 20 as change MC. I ordered 4 pallets/2cords and I regret not getting more but wasn't sure if these was going to be a bust.. Anyone else tried green house seasoned firewood?
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
@Torgul83 I was late but was going to guess close to a full cord.
I went to a seminar up here years ago run by the division of forestry, they talked about about how much wood fits in the 128 cuft box. If you stack all your wood between two trees, all end grain showing from the two larger surfaces, they called that a forester's cord and said you could expect to have about 95 cf of wood in there if you got all lab grade with your measurements.
Engineers like to drive empty and full dump trucks over scales, 'engineer's cords' (as defined by foresters) can be rapidly measured by weight and generally have about 85 cf of wood in the 128 cf box.
The foresters got to talking about "woodsellers cords" which should have 65-75 cf of wood in the 128 cf box, past experience as a guide.
Just saying. I see many many pallets up here at 42x48 inches.
I do use a greenhouse to season my cordwood, as do a few others here. Most recent thread I know of here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/solar-kiln-for-hardwoods-part-deux.175875/
It seems to me your local has set up a volume system. They could probably hang those empty bags on the forks of a decent sized forklift or a small telehandler, then fill the bags with a conveyor belt, then hang the bags of wet wood in a greenhouse straight from the telehandler, and they probably need to reuse the bags several times for the business to stay open.
The wood would not have to touch the ground again after the source log was lifted onto the feed bunks of the firewood processor. The next problem for the business is going to be throughput, how fast can they get wood seasoned in the greenhouse system with how few BTUs ($) added. I wish them well. If the company is having trouble getting their wood dry fast enough I would be delighted to reply to a new thread here started by them.
I went to a seminar up here years ago run by the division of forestry, they talked about about how much wood fits in the 128 cuft box. If you stack all your wood between two trees, all end grain showing from the two larger surfaces, they called that a forester's cord and said you could expect to have about 95 cf of wood in there if you got all lab grade with your measurements.
Engineers like to drive empty and full dump trucks over scales, 'engineer's cords' (as defined by foresters) can be rapidly measured by weight and generally have about 85 cf of wood in the 128 cf box.
The foresters got to talking about "woodsellers cords" which should have 65-75 cf of wood in the 128 cf box, past experience as a guide.
Just saying. I see many many pallets up here at 42x48 inches.
I do use a greenhouse to season my cordwood, as do a few others here. Most recent thread I know of here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/solar-kiln-for-hardwoods-part-deux.175875/
It seems to me your local has set up a volume system. They could probably hang those empty bags on the forks of a decent sized forklift or a small telehandler, then fill the bags with a conveyor belt, then hang the bags of wet wood in a greenhouse straight from the telehandler, and they probably need to reuse the bags several times for the business to stay open.
The wood would not have to touch the ground again after the source log was lifted onto the feed bunks of the firewood processor. The next problem for the business is going to be throughput, how fast can they get wood seasoned in the greenhouse system with how few BTUs ($) added. I wish them well. If the company is having trouble getting their wood dry fast enough I would be delighted to reply to a new thread here started by them.
I guess my math was not far off, it does sound like they did a hand fill of the bags, the operation I saw had a conveyor that dumped the wood in the bags on a piece by piece basis so it was a definitely a random fill. Still it sounds like you got what you paid for in buying wood and that is pretty rare.
The greenhouse seasoning makes sense to me. Around my area we have a few nurseries with large greenhouses. The greenhouses are used for only a small part of the year. I could see using them to season firewood the other 3/4 of the year. I’m actually surprised that more don’t do that.
maybe more will this year, given the higher market prices for firewood. In any case, the more green house dried wood is available, the better it is for clean burning by folks who may not know enough to do so.
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
Without access to their business plan we don't know what is really going on. It looks like North Castle, NY kinda wraps around the NW corner of Connecticut as a county.
I would hazard a guess that pick up truck ownership is fairly low on a per capita basis in the area and the $110 for delivery is expected to be collected from 85-90% of all bags sold. My guess is the $250/cord for apparently seasoned fuel is their loss leader so they can advertise a low price. That is low enough that someone enterprising could (possibly) run a dually with a staked flat bed on it and make a buck handling delivery for them. But who pays the tolls if there is a bridge or a turnpike involved?
If they aren't going to lose their shirts at $250/ honest seasoned cord there is no way they are hand stacking in the bags. How much would you want to be paid for stacking one of those full of green splits? Would you do it for $20? Would you do 8-10-12 bags per day as a fulltime job? I would build a shaker. Fairly ordinary steel plate box, 42 x 48 x 60 inches. Mount it on a heavy wooden structure with some valve springs out of a semi truck, and then attach a couple electric jack hammers from the home store. It will make a racket when it is running, but it should get the job done.
Their pricing, I think, is set up that they don't want the wear and tear on a truck they own or lease, plus insurance, plus finding a dependable driver, blah blah.
@Torgul83 , did they leave the bags in your driveway, or take them back to the shop? I have seen bags that big for onions and potato on youtube. A big enough operation, like Lay's potato chip, just sends a dump truck to the farm and empties the dump truck into a potato washer at the chip factory. Small operations will harvest directly into the waxed cardboard boxes you sometimes see at the grocery store. But there is an intermediate sized customer, dunno if those produce bags are strong enough for green cordwood or how much they cost.
I am super curious about this. I find my upper limit with handtools is about 10 cords per year. As a younger man I could start with a full time job and standing timber and process 12 cords per year - with a power splitter- but it was a LOT of effort. These guys have to be near fully automated.
I do agree with @peakbagger you seem to have actually gotten what you paid for, and that is not common. I paid, average, $370/ cord for delivered green spruce splits back in Feb and Mar 2022. Seasoned hardwood at $360/ cord, delivered as splits, sounds pretty good to me.
I would hazard a guess that pick up truck ownership is fairly low on a per capita basis in the area and the $110 for delivery is expected to be collected from 85-90% of all bags sold. My guess is the $250/cord for apparently seasoned fuel is their loss leader so they can advertise a low price. That is low enough that someone enterprising could (possibly) run a dually with a staked flat bed on it and make a buck handling delivery for them. But who pays the tolls if there is a bridge or a turnpike involved?
If they aren't going to lose their shirts at $250/ honest seasoned cord there is no way they are hand stacking in the bags. How much would you want to be paid for stacking one of those full of green splits? Would you do it for $20? Would you do 8-10-12 bags per day as a fulltime job? I would build a shaker. Fairly ordinary steel plate box, 42 x 48 x 60 inches. Mount it on a heavy wooden structure with some valve springs out of a semi truck, and then attach a couple electric jack hammers from the home store. It will make a racket when it is running, but it should get the job done.
Their pricing, I think, is set up that they don't want the wear and tear on a truck they own or lease, plus insurance, plus finding a dependable driver, blah blah.
@Torgul83 , did they leave the bags in your driveway, or take them back to the shop? I have seen bags that big for onions and potato on youtube. A big enough operation, like Lay's potato chip, just sends a dump truck to the farm and empties the dump truck into a potato washer at the chip factory. Small operations will harvest directly into the waxed cardboard boxes you sometimes see at the grocery store. But there is an intermediate sized customer, dunno if those produce bags are strong enough for green cordwood or how much they cost.
I am super curious about this. I find my upper limit with handtools is about 10 cords per year. As a younger man I could start with a full time job and standing timber and process 12 cords per year - with a power splitter- but it was a LOT of effort. These guys have to be near fully automated.
I do agree with @peakbagger you seem to have actually gotten what you paid for, and that is not common. I paid, average, $370/ cord for delivered green spruce splits back in Feb and Mar 2022. Seasoned hardwood at $360/ cord, delivered as splits, sounds pretty good to me.
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