Thread: A demand for firewood by the log ?

With the mid-west ice storms this winter, we have lots of trees down on the family farm. Although we have 3 Hardy OWB, we are still going to have to much wood down to burn in the next few years. We found a place that will buy 9' and/or 53" logs (softwood) plus any elm or ash we have, any size diameter for $75 a cord, and $85 for cedar logs. We have the equipment to make our work a little easier, Backhoe, Bobcats, Trackhoe, etc. but really don't want to haul it 40 miles round trip to this saw mill.

Do you think people would be willing to purchase mixed soft with elm, ash and other hardwoods like hickory and oak logs up to 14" in 8' - 9' lengths, for a little more than the price we can get at the mill? Then they could cut the logs into whatever length they need for their fireplace and or wood stove. Seems like alot of people have wood stoves and are on smaller acreage, have chainsaws, just don't have access to all the wood they might need. We can easily load their trucks and trailers, just not sure what to do this Fall with all the trees we have down and standing dead. Here is an example of what we have ready to take to the saw mill.

side note: we don't want to get to involved with residental delivery or with selling wood regularly. just thinking we could maybe get more that $75 - $85 per cord and not drive 40 mile round trip $$ gas $$).

The Amish around here buy loads of logs by the truck load and cut and split them for firewood use. If there's a good market for cut and split firewood in your area then you should be able to stimulate demand for what you have.
Phil

advertise your logs on craigslist, i wouldn't really call elm and ash soft wood

Originally Posted by woodfarmer

advertise your logs on craigslist, i wouldn't really call elm and ash soft wood

Great idea, as Craigslist is free.... Yeah I don't really think of those as softwoods either, I fixed my earlier twisted text (thanks). The mill has been buying the elm and ash with the pines, and shreds them for turkey house bedding? Kind of weird and I think we could do better selling our excess somewhere else... Thanks for the CL tip.

with the cost of fuel i would not want drive or handel it to much

how do you like your Hardy boilers? A friend of mine is buying one...kinda new here in Va. I guess, never seen one

With the demand for firewood being the way it is all across the country, I think you shouldnt have too much trouble at all selling off the wood for firewood. I know that in our area you got to move fast to get any wood, and there are a number of logging crews that are stacking the undesirable wood to the side and allowing wood cutters to take what they want for 50 bucks a pickup load. When you consider that the average pickup can haul a face cord if you are lucky, people arent saving a lot by cutting their own, but I know a few weekends ago when I stopped by a buddys logging site, he had a half a dozen guys loading up, and they looked like they were glad to get some wood.
Our local dump is privately owned, and they do the same thing, they put the wood dumped in one corner, and you can load up some really trashy wood for 40 bucks a pickup load.

I don't know about your neck of the woods but around here firewood is getting kinda scares. The county yard waste dump down the road is cleaned up like to bare ground and we used to cut the good hardwood there there just so it didn't go to waste. When the power line crews go through cutting back trees people go around cleaning up (stealing) the wood before the home owners get home from work. I think most people here are still scrounging the free sources but that will likely change about the same time the leaves change, when most people begin to think about firewood. Id wait a month or so, that's about peak price time, at least 'round here.

Originally Posted by mtfallsmikey

how do you like your Hardy boilers? A friend of mine is buying one...kinda new here in Va. I guess, never seen one

We love them... I counted last year and there are 8 within 4 miles of our homes. My FIL's is 20 years old, replace the grates once, blower fan, and rebuilt his pump once (we run the pumps on demand, not all the time). I am using his dad's old stove, caught fire (wood pile ) at my BIL's, his insurance recased and wired it, put a new set of grates in it, then he decided to built a new shop and upgraded to the H4 model, so I got his old (H2) free.

The Hardy stoves just work real well here in the midwest, our winters are not as hard/cold as up north, and they are made in Mississippi. We happen to have a dealer rep close, he sells them out of his home, been with them for 28 years he told me the other day. All word of mouth, and he sells the crap out of them. Overall they make a very good product, you just don't see them up north much.