Firewood Sellers...How ya doin' this season?

[Curlycherry1]

My brother in upstate NY has finally hit is "slow" period where he sells 7 face cords per day and 12-21 each day on the weekend. He thinks he has sold about 1800 cords this year so far but he really does not know. They started in August with a mad rush and it never really let up. He was averaging 21 cords per day through the "dash for the cash" period as he calls it. He is trying to keep the processor running at at least push through 7 cords per night so his net out = his net in for next year. He thinks he has about another 900 face cords left in the yard that will probably be gone by spring.

For those that are new around here you can find a post about his operation in this tread from long ago.
http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/136740.htm

 

[Wood Doctor]

Biggest I Know Of

I'm not sure, but I doubt there is any firewood operation in the USA that exceeds this volume.

Congrats, Curly and family. Truly mind boggling.

 

[flyboy553]

Well, no where near that volume here! But, I had to take all my ads out of the papers for this week as I couldn't keep up. Taking this week to finally get some in to the yard, and split what is already here in the yard. So far, I have sold 72 cords. I am cutting standing dead, bark off red oak, 14 to 18% MC. The parts of the log that are over 18%MC I block up and bring home to be split at a later date.

Sure wish I could find help that knows how to cut and split firewood. Lots of guys can run a chainsaw, not too many know how to actually cut decent looking firewood. Same with the splitter. They can eventually get stuff split, but they apparently have never watched as the piece comes apart so they can learn the best, natural way the piece wants to come undone. Crotches are a good example. Split down the middle from top to bottom, then turn the piece around and follow the grain, it will split down the middle, like a wishbone. How tough is that?? Apparently too tough! :msp_unsure:
Enough whining I guess. Just frustrating when you show them these tricks time after time, to no avail.

Ted

These are FULL cords. I do not deal in anything other than cords and portions of a cord,

 

[Circle B MN]

Well, no where near that volume here! But, I had to take all my ads out of the papers for this week as I couldn't keep up. Taking this week to finally get some in to the yard, and split what is already here in the yard. So far, I have sold 72 cords. I am cutting standing dead, bark off red oak, 14 to 18% MC. The parts of the log that are over 18%MC I block up and bring home to be split at a later date.

Sure wish I could find help that knows how to cut and split firewood. Lots of guys can run a chainsaw, not too many know how to actually cut decent looking firewood. Same with the splitter. They can eventually get stuff split, but they apparently have never watched as the piece comes apart so they can learn the best, natural way the piece wants to come undone. Crotches are a good example. Split down the middle from top to bottom, then turn the piece around and follow the grain, it will split down the middle, like a wishbone. How tough is that?? Apparently too tough! :msp_unsure:
Enough whining I guess. Just frustrating when you show them these tricks time after time, to no avail.

Ted

These are FULL cords. I do not deal in anything other than cords and portions of a cord,

Ready for a SS demo...?

 

[Curlycherry1]

I'm not sure, but I doubt there is any firewood operation in the USA that exceeds this volume.
Congrats, Curly and family. Truly mind boggling.

There is a guy across town from my brother that is supposedly claiming 5000 face cords per year. That I find impossible to believe because even with my brother's ~2500 cord operation you can see his log piles on Google Earth. The other guy has maybe 40-50 tri-axel loads of logs in his yard (15' high by 16' long logs in a pile ~150' long). He would need 3+ trucks per day resupplying his operation and no logger anywhere around the area is cutting more trees than my brother's supplier is supplying to him.

As I said in my older post, go big or go home.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Supply Constraint?

Curly, what I would have to wonder most about is the supply constraint. When you get that big, you eventually start running out of acceptable trees local to the vicinity that you can harvest for firewood. Then you start driving several hundred miles with a flatbed, etc. to bring in big logs.

Several loggers around here had that problem last year. Regardless, Mother Nature and the Army Corps of Engineers took care of most of that problem in the spring. They together flooded out and destroyed a quarter of a million trees in eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, South Dakota, and northwestern Missouri.

 

[Curlycherry1]

Upstate NY has forests all over the place so getting logs is not a problem. His biggest supplier, and pretty much his sole supplier works for the largest sawmill in the state so they have tens of thousands of acres of woods under management. Plus, there are tens of thousands of acres all over the area that are managed for lumber by private individuals. So all my brother has to do is put word out he is not getting enough logs and they come flying into the yard. He can afford to be picky about how straight they are and he accepts no dirty logs. If they are skidded through mud he tells the logger to leave them in the woods. So winter is when he packs in about 80%+ of the logs he needs for the year. Oh and his next door neighbor is a state forester, that helps too.

His price for logs has held steady for ~4 years now. His outfit is one of the few places taking that kind of volume of firewood logs in quantity and many pulp mills in NY closed, so the loggers are eager to supply him.

 

[Moss Man]

Most of the dealers in my area sold out early, seasoned wood is real scarce. I sold more this year than I ever have, next year we up the game a notch.