I had a even more positive experience than I hoped for with my latest wood delivery. Out here in Utah the majority of firewood available now is beetle kill pine, which is nice because it is often ready to burn shortly after cutting and splitting, but like most pine, burns hot and fast. I have right around 3 cords of that put up for the winter, but yesterday I got a 2 cord load of seasoned hardwood delivered.
I had been hunting for slower burning wood to supplement my pine, but often found prices in the $350-500 per cord range for hardwood and fruit woods out here, given their relative scarcity. I found a fellow that runs a tree service and sells firewood who was willing to deliver seasoned hardwood for $220/cord, so I figured I would give it a try. If it was still green, I could limp by with the seasoned wood I have using that only to mix in when I have a hot fire and good coal bed.
Things were off to a good start when Henry sent me a text letting me know he would be a few minutes early with the delivery. Once he arrived and we started unloading the truck I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found. The load is primarily oak and black locust, with a good helping of maple, elm, ash and a pinch of birch for good measure.
The wood was grey, weathered looking and most of it is missing the bark. He claimed this particular wood was cut and bucked to length in the spring/summer of 2012, let dry in rounds until the bark fell off and was split last winter. He has a large property down in the Salt Lake Valley where high heat, dry air and high winds are common. He has outdoor storage space for hundreds of cords and won't deliver wood that hasn't at least been bucked to length for 10 months and split for 10 more. He says he keeps close to 100% of what he cuts to turn into firewood, and divides it into softwoods, hardwoods and fruit woods as he cuts it.
I threw a couple uglies in the stove last night and it burned beautifully, no hiss, no sizzle, no seepage of water, great secondaries and the best coal bed I've ever seen in the morning. Cracking open and measuring the inside face of a split ranged from 14-18 percent across half a dozen pieces. The only downside is that there are probably a face cord (well, almost 2 given the length) of splits cut to around 30 inches long. Going to have to get a friend with a chainsaw over to whittle those down for my stove.
I will definitely be purchasing another cord from him before the winter, and I'm trying to make room for 2 more, but next time I'll have him swing by on a weekend so I can offer him and his family dinner. Seems like buying firewood is always a crapshoot, because of an amalgam of dishonesty and misinformation, so this was a really refreshing experience.
I had been hunting for slower burning wood to supplement my pine, but often found prices in the $350-500 per cord range for hardwood and fruit woods out here, given their relative scarcity. I found a fellow that runs a tree service and sells firewood who was willing to deliver seasoned hardwood for $220/cord, so I figured I would give it a try. If it was still green, I could limp by with the seasoned wood I have using that only to mix in when I have a hot fire and good coal bed.
Things were off to a good start when Henry sent me a text letting me know he would be a few minutes early with the delivery. Once he arrived and we started unloading the truck I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found. The load is primarily oak and black locust, with a good helping of maple, elm, ash and a pinch of birch for good measure.
The wood was grey, weathered looking and most of it is missing the bark. He claimed this particular wood was cut and bucked to length in the spring/summer of 2012, let dry in rounds until the bark fell off and was split last winter. He has a large property down in the Salt Lake Valley where high heat, dry air and high winds are common. He has outdoor storage space for hundreds of cords and won't deliver wood that hasn't at least been bucked to length for 10 months and split for 10 more. He says he keeps close to 100% of what he cuts to turn into firewood, and divides it into softwoods, hardwoods and fruit woods as he cuts it.
I threw a couple uglies in the stove last night and it burned beautifully, no hiss, no sizzle, no seepage of water, great secondaries and the best coal bed I've ever seen in the morning. Cracking open and measuring the inside face of a split ranged from 14-18 percent across half a dozen pieces. The only downside is that there are probably a face cord (well, almost 2 given the length) of splits cut to around 30 inches long. Going to have to get a friend with a chainsaw over to whittle those down for my stove.
I will definitely be purchasing another cord from him before the winter, and I'm trying to make room for 2 more, but next time I'll have him swing by on a weekend so I can offer him and his family dinner. Seems like buying firewood is always a crapshoot, because of an amalgam of dishonesty and misinformation, so this was a really refreshing experience.
