First Load of Firewood ... SOLD!

[whitemountain]

Sold my first load of wood today. It was a short bed GMC piled above the cab with Douglas Fir. I figure approximately 7/10 of a cord. Asked $160, and got it from the first caller. When I delivered it he said he'd like another load for either him or his sister. I'll take care of that in the next few days. Happens I see the guy several times a week at the gym. It was a good morning!

 

[husky455rancher]

feels good dont it

 

[wkpoor]

Hooooly Crap! 160.00 for about 3/4 of a cord. Thats about double what it goes for here.

 

[fishercat]

be glad you ain't here then.

Hooooly Crap! 160.00 for about 3/4 of a cord. Thats about double what it goes for here.

LOL,i sold a half cord last year for $175.i priced it to not sell but the guy said i want it.who am i to refuse.

 

[whitemountain]

Hooooly Crap! 160.00 for about 3/4 of a cord. Thats about double what it goes for here.

Abandon ship Amanda and come on up!!

Like many areas of the west this area was built on ranching and logging. Most of the loggers have moved on to other jobs, or moved away. Many of the ranchers have done the same. Now we have the working class (people like me) - retirees with some money (the guy I sold wood to) or the retired and poor (the people we cut wood for last week).

Around here people cut their own wood, buy their wood, burn pellets or burn their money filling the propane tank all winter. Lots of people in the area I've talked to spend $400/month through the winter on propane alone. Some much more. Me ...much, much less. We use propane for back-up only. Really a secondary back-up as I'd rather heat with electricity when we're gone than the forced air unit.

Regardless wood sales give us a little extra spending money every year, we buy a new tool every year. Last year we bought a hydraulic splitter, the year before my first real saw (real saws really do outcut a wildthing). This year we hope to put together enough for a nice tandem axle flatbed trailer, and maybe a nice used ms 440.

Really for me, though it's all about the therapy. I work indoors at a great job. I really do love the work I do, but it's indoors. So all of this is an elaborate scheme to get me out into the woods.

 

[snofrog]

LOL,i sold a half cord last year for $175.i priced it to not sell but the guy said i want it.who am i to refuse.

why would you price som... ah never mind

 

[wkpoor]

Abandon ship Amanda and come on up!!

Aaaaaah I dano, There was a thread a day or two ago about how you guys out west have to pay to cut wood. And besides, I've never been to AZ, but my impression is warm weather and no trees just cactus. What would you need firewood for? Or at the least you have 9-10 mos of perfect weather. We have 3 mos or less of perfect weather 6wks in the spring and 6wks in the fall. Rest of the time its either too cold or too hot/muggy/humid. Oh, and then its rains all the time....not like PNW drizzle but real get you wet rain. Then there is the mud season pretty much all of March. Naa, I'll stay here and enjoy the weather.

 

[fishercat]

it was outside my preferred delivery zone.

why would you price som... ah never mind

i told him he should call someone local to him.he said none of them returned his calls.

 

[gallegosmike]

Aaaaaah I dano, There was a thread a day or two ago about how you guys out west have to pay to cut wood. And besides, I've never been to AZ, but my impression is warm weather and no trees just cactus. What would you need firewood for? Or at the least you have 9-10 mos of perfect weather. We have 3 mos or less of perfect weather 6wks in the spring and 6wks in the fall. Rest of the time its either too cold or too hot/muggy/humid. Oh, and then its rains all the time....not like PNW drizzle but real get you wet rain. Then there is the mud season pretty much all of March. Naa, I'll stay here and enjoy the weather.

Not all of the southwest is desert and cactus. I live in the sandia mountain range just north of albuquerque nm @ 7500ft. I my backyard is a nice dense forest! All of the west is a mixture of desert to high mountains and everything in between.

 

[whitemountain]

Aaaaaah I dano, There was a thread a day or two ago about how you guys out west have to pay to cut wood. And besides, I've never been to AZ, but my impression is warm weather and no trees just cactus. What would you need firewood for? Or at the least you have 9-10 mos of perfect weather. We have 3 mos or less of perfect weather 6wks in the spring and 6wks in the fall. Rest of the time its either too cold or too hot/muggy/humid. Oh, and then its rains all the time....not like PNW drizzle but real get you wet rain. Then there is the mud season pretty much all of March. Naa, I'll stay here and enjoy the weather.

Mike and I live in very similar climates. He is a little higher and a little drier. I live amongst the largest stand of Ponderosa Pine in the world! I do the majority of my cutting above 8000 feet elevation and less than half an hour from home. Our summers get a little hot, I think we were 90 degrees Farenheit yesterday. We can also have 70 degree days on Thanksgiving or we can get snow every month of the year. On the opposite extreme we get at or below zero weather every winter. It doesn't usually last, but it can be downright cold for a few days especially if the wind is blowing. The one constant we have is wind, it dries the firewood out great!

The one point of your post that's true is paying to cut wood. To cut on MY Forest Service land requires a permit. It's a little PITA but not expensive or time consuming. Access is becoming more and more of an issue. In town is just like anywhere else.

 

[BigPITA]

Gratz on selling your first load! I need to get a few years ahead before I consider selling any!

 

[Circle B MN]

around here there is a good market for firewood (campfire / patio size ). I have done rather well in my opinion selling this summer, but have reached a point where my seasoned wood is running low. Have plenty of green, and loggers to bring more, but unless it's seasoned it doesn't sell.

 

[yodayoda]

quote"Happens I see the guy several times a week at the gym. It was a good morning"

One of the reasons I like cutting wood, so I don't have to go to the gym,LOL

when ever I see someone jogging or biking or whatever I can't help but think... why not use that energy to do something constructive?...wow I just realized, I'm turning into my Dad

 

[Wood Doctor]

Sold my first load of wood today. It was a short bed GMC piled above the cab with Douglas Fir. I figure approximately 7/10 of a cord. Asked $160, and got it from the first caller. When I delivered it he said he'd like another load for either him or his sister. I'll take care of that in the next few days. Happens I see the guy several times a week at the gym. It was a good morning!

Music to my ears.

I only got $90 for my first truckload, delivered and stacked, back in '78, and that was all red oak, hand split. Times have changed.

 

[R Walter]

Mike and I live in very similar climates. He is a little higher and a little drier. I live amongst the largest stand of Ponderosa Pine in the world! I do the majority of my cutting above 8000 feet elevation and less than half an hour from home. Our summers get a little hot, I think we were 90 degrees Farenheit yesterday. We can also have 70 degree days on Thanksgiving or we can get snow every month of the year. On the opposite extreme we get at or below zero weather every winter. It doesn't usually last, but it can be downright cold for a few days especially if the wind is blowing. The one constant we have is wind, it dries the firewood out great!

The one point of your post that's true is paying to cut wood. To cut on MY Forest Service land requires a permit. It's a little PITA but not expensive or time consuming. Access is becoming more and more of an issue. In town is just like anywhere else.

Arizona is a big state, almost three times the square area of Ohio with desert to alpine conditions.

 

[wkpoor]

only got $90 for my first truckload, delivered and stacked, back in '78, and that was all red oak, hand split. Times have changed.

You bet and for the worst. If you were getting 90 in 78 it should be 300-400 now and its only a few bucks more.

Arizona is a big state, almost three times the square area of Ohio with desert to alpine conditions.

But where is the hardwood? We throw pine away or just use it on campfires. No one would ever think to burn it in a stove. Funny isn't it how as you move westward the states keep getting bigger. They start out like Rhode Island and end up like California. Gofigure.

 

[whitemountain]

As a native Arizonan and having spent nearly all my life in the west, we do forget that things are bigger over here. For example: I live about 50 miles from the southern edge of the county I live in and almost 200 from the northern edge. Nearly 250 miles from north to south of my county! Yes our sheriff has a big job. That county borders 3 states and has a vast array of climates, growing seasons, wildlife, vegetation, soils, and elevations. It is beautiful in most parts, but sometimes you have to look a little harder than others!!

 

[wkpoor]

What I can't understand is out there in the wide open west why you appear to have more restrictive rules on just about everything.
Then there is the whole water thing out there. I've often said enough rain falls on any midwest state in a week to solve a years worth of drought in the west. Actually I think enough fell today to do the trick. Just look at a radar map any givin day and you will notice all the green/yellow and red is all east of the big river.
Oh sorry, thats why they call it a desert.....hehehe.

 

[R Walter]

Most areas of the country burn for firewood whatever wood is locally available. In my part of the southwest, the in-demand firewood is either oak, pinon or cedar. Pine (generally Pondo) is not as demanded as these others for firewood. I've never been picky about what I burn. If you look up the BTU's for different tree species, there's not a great difference among them.

For the pinon I cut and sell I get up to and sometimes a little over $300 for a cord. Even though pinon is a member of the pine family, I'm not complaining.

It's interesting... when the forests of Maine and northern parts of New England were logged out and the timbering industry later moved into the large forests of northern Michigan and then the U.P. beginning in the 1830s to 40s, they first cut and logged only largely white pine and left the hardwoods. Why? Because the pine was a lot easier to mill.

 

[whitemountain]

quote"Happens I see the guy several times a week at the gym. It was a good morning"

One of the reasons I like cutting wood, so I don't have to go to the gym,LOL

when ever I see someone jogging or biking or whatever I can't help but think... why not use that energy to do something constructive?...wow I just realized, I'm turning into my Dad

I've worked out in the woods alot and I've worked out in the gym alot. I can say without hesitation that they are two totally different workouts. I can get very sore and very tired doing both. Is one better than the other, that depends. I personally very much enjoy both. I can understand why one would have preference for one or the other. I work at a facility with a gym so it can almost be part of my work day. That makes it very easy to do some exercise at lunch or whatever. When I know I'm headed to the woods, or have wood to process I'll skip my gym time and enjoy my time "out there." It's a win-win for me.

Was this the most politically-correct paragraph ever?