In response to the crack about who should and shouldn't be burnin' wood, I have two younger kids that actually help out at home, and they have issues with the bigger wood, but we also inherited an insert that's pretty small at the back - so 12-14" logs are a lot easier to load. I also cut for two older couples that can't afford to pay the oil company ransom, so the only affordable way for them to keep warm and remain independent is to burn what they can handle. Rather than piles of sticks they prefer thicker pieced splits of a shorter length. Who am I to judge?
Coldfront, gettin' old ain't fer pussies, and if ya don't drop a tree on yerself, ya might live long enough to find that out for yourself. People don't have to justify to the market what they want and why, they just have to be willing to pay for it and the market will typically respond. The annoyance of trying to deal with irregular or malapropped units of measure only makes people more leery and a bigger PITA to deal with. I show folks a four row cord of 12" that I keep for our small insert, and a three row cord of 16" that I cut for another. Since I'm cuttin' for a year or two out there's always a split cord of each on hand for them to see for themselves. Don't have to do much explaining about why I charge more for one than the other. The extra work is self evident and most folks can see and understand that without too much trouble.
Visual aids aside, people also appreciate being shown how to determine seasoned from green and the difference in BTU potential between varieties of wood. If you're interested in establishing a relationship where people trust you and come back for more, you can't be too forthcoming with information. I've never had anybody complain about me trying to be too honest.
