Selling firewood

[Homelitenut]

Heck...you probably already have enough extension cords to reach that...if not they are not terribly expensive.

Yeah probably lol. I just don't have enough wood to spotlight yet. Home heating comes first

 

[TeeMan]

Yeah probably lol. I just don't have enough wood to spotlight yet. Home heating comes first

Oh, I just meant spotlight your sign and perhaps a small stack of wood...better get to cutting and splitting (do you have a splitter)?

 

[jrider]

I really only prefer delivering the firewood. I do most of my deliveries on the weekends in the fall. I also have 3 kids, one of which plays soccer on Saturdays. I set up my delivery times around my life and need to keep on schedule. Last year, most Saturday and Sundays, I delivered 8-12 cords each day. Most people that want to come pick it up won't arrive when they say and then it messes everything else up because I certainly don't want them there when I'm not there. So for this reason, I try to talk most out of picking it up.

 

[zogger]

I think delivering would be a good idea in my area of course pick-up also. and I'm really thinking about bundles at a small local gas station. A rack would be best to sell bundles on as opposed to just on the ground in front of the store? make it look better quality pride in my work sorta thing? and would it be best to have a little sign on the rack with my name and phone #? I read in uncles thread where they're putting small bundles of kindle in the bundle would that be necessary ? the trash from splitting and maybe some shreds from noodling would that be good for kindling.

I add pine kindling (thin split) wrapped in heavy brown paper to the inside of my oak bundles. They still get a full .75 cubic foot of oak, and then approx .25 cubic foot of kindling. With the paper and kindling, it's easey peasey to start a fire, and the bundles are bigger too. Thin split tulip poplar would work as well for kindling, or some other lesser species, just makes sure it is DRY. I also make my bundles with different sized splits, they get a big one, some mediums and some smalls. Also, my bundles are all barkless, no bark, just interior wood, heartwood. Anything with bark on it goes to bulk cord stacks.

I went around my area and looked at every bundle offering, then made mine better. Dryer wood, better wood, cleaner wood, and free kindling.

I can't compete with the guys using splitters and processors and dumptrucks, so I don't try. I can compete on quality.

 

[Oldman47]

Thanks!
Thank you! I still have much research to do. we burn green or seasoned in our owb so never really payed much attention when people talk about moisture content all ears now!
Thank you for the tips! I've read on hear where some people just say when it was cut and split and let the customer decide. thoughts on that?

That's at least an honest way to do it. Honesty pays off in repeat business for any product or service.

 

[speeco]

I really only prefer delivering the firewood. I do most of my deliveries on the weekends in the fall. I also have 3 kids, one of which plays soccer on Saturdays. I set up my delivery times around my life and need to keep on schedule. Last year, most Saturday and Sundays, I delivered 8-12 cords each day. Most people that want to come pick it up won't arrive when they say and then it messes everything else up because I certainly don't want them there when I'm not there. So for this reason, I try to talk most out of picking it up.

amen !!! I do the same thing as you .

 

[Homelitenut]

Oh, I just meant spotlight your sign and perhaps a small stack of wood...better get to cutting and splitting (do you have a splitter)?

Sorry Y'all I havent been on my own thread I haven't been able to get on here since thurs mid morning kept checking but the same server error till last night about 9:00pm.
Anyway I figured thats what you meant lol and yes I do have a splitter.

 

[Homelitenut]

I really only prefer delivering the firewood. I do most of my deliveries on the weekends in the fall. I also have 3 kids, one of which plays soccer on Saturdays. I set up my delivery times around my life and need to keep on schedule. Last year, most Saturday and Sundays, I delivered 8-12 cords each day. Most people that want to come pick it up won't arrive when they say and then it messes everything else up because I certainly don't want them there when I'm not there. So for this reason, I try to talk most out of picking it up.

That sounds like a good Idea. how do you figure charge on delivery? I know theres several varibles just trying to get an idea.

 

[brenndatomu]

Heck...you probably already have enough extension cords to reach that...if not they are not terribly expensive.

Yeah, but that could get expensive replacin all those cords every week after cuttin the grass!

 

[Homelitenut]

I add pine kindling (thin split) wrapped in heavy brown paper to the inside of my oak bundles. They still get a full .75 cubic foot of oak, and then approx .25 cubic foot of kindling. With the paper and kindling, it's easey peasey to start a fire, and the bundles are bigger too. Thin split tulip poplar would work as well for kindling, or some other lesser species, just makes sure it is DRY. I also make my bundles with different sized splits, they get a big one, some mediums and some smalls. Also, my bundles are all barkless, no bark, just interior wood, heartwood. Anything with bark on it goes to bulk cord stacks.

I went around my area and looked at every bundle offering, then made mine better. Dryer wood, better wood, cleaner wood, and free kindling.

I can't compete with the guys using splitters and processors and dumptrucks, so I don't try. I can compete on quality.

Do you have handles? those all sound like very good practices! I got my shrink wrap today and the owners Phone number at the gas station I mentioned. so I'm going to make a bundle up and see what they say I need to do a couple more things before I do. I need to get some buissness cards made up and obivously more wood. What do y'all think about cutting down standing dead oak to sell? still to wet? just trying to figure out how to get some wood for bundles to have that going all ready while I wait for the green wood I cutand split now to dry for the 2016 season to sell in cords 1/2, 1/4. ect in addition to bundles. because I won't have bulk wood to sell till the 2016 season

 

[Homelitenut]

Yeah, but that could get expensive replacin all those cords every week after cuttin the grass!

No kidding!

 

[zogger]

Do you have handles? those all sound like very good practices! I got my shrink wrap today and the owners Phone number at the gas station I mentioned. so I'm going to make a bundle up and see what they say I need to do a couple more things before I do. I need to get some buissness cards made up and obivously more wood. What do y'all think about cutting down standing dead oak to sell? still to wet? just trying to figure out how to get some wood for bundles to have that going all ready while I wait for the green wood I cutand split now to dry for the 2016 season to sell in cords 1/2, 1/4. ect in addition to bundles. because I won't have bulk wood to sell till the 2016 season

I don't have handles on mine, but it wouldn't hurt if they were actually good handles. I know you wouldn't want one to break and have wood fall on someones foot.

As to standing dead oak being dry enough...I doubt it, anything that needs splitting is still going to be wet most likely, just real small branches might be dry enough, maybe.

The best/fastest drying to have something soon to sell is ash and tulip poplar.

Just split and stack the oak for later, if it gets good air and sun, later this winter should be good enough. Not the driest it could get, but good enough to sell.

 

[Homelitenut]

I don't have handles on mine, but it wouldn't hurt if they were actually good handles. I know you wouldn't want one to break and have wood fall on someones foot.

As to standing dead oak being dry enough...I doubt it, anything that needs splitting is still going to be wet most likely, just real small branches might be dry enough, maybe.

The best/fastest drying to have something soon to sell is ash and tulip poplar.

Just split and stack the oak for later, if it gets good air and sun, later this winter should be good enough. Not the driest it could get, but good enough to sell.

Thank you! is popular and ash what people want in bundles? people want split wood in bundles not small rounds correct? I found some bundles at a gas station SE of me that they were asking 5$ for .75 cu ft seems like a fairly low price. I'm trying to figure out what to sell bundles for I was thinking 6 or 7$ if bought directly from me and 4-5$ sold to the gas station for them to resale.

 

[zogger]

Thank you! is popular and ash what people want in bundles? people want split wood in bundles not small rounds correct? I found some bundles at a gas station SE of me that they were asking 5$ for .75 cu ft seems like a fairly low price. I'm trying to figure out what to sell bundles for I was thinking 6 or 7$ if bought directly from me and 4-5$ sold to the gas station for them to resale.

Prices are too big of a regional and local variable. It really depends on the market and severity of winter, a good ole polar vortex will up sales and prices! Wholesale around here for oak bundles is two to three dollars, retail four or five dollars. Cooking wood, hickory/cherry/apple can go for more than that. Light duty campfire wood, I honestly don't know.

I would call this a low demand area for winter heating wood, not harsh winters, maybe a month of real cold, and a lot of available wood all over for cheap by the "truckload" which is another huge variable. True honest cords of oak are 150-200 bucks. With the drop of propane prices, wood has to follow. When propane was very high, wood went higher as well.

 

[unclemoustache]

I just got an order for 5 cords of oak from my neighbor. I've got some very green oak and not yet split, but it's about all I have. (I usually keep all hardwood for my own burning). Anyway, he's willing to take green, and I think I have enough to fill his order.

Anyway, that's not helpful info - here's something more practical for the OP - I like the idea of selling top quality hardwood for top quality price. You can also have an option of mixed hard and soft wood and a third pile of soft wood, all priced accordingly. Some people don't seem to care what they buy as long as it's cheap and it burns, and I'm fully up front with all customers about quality of wood. I even put on my CL ad a little educational blurb about what a full cord really is, and why other prices on CL seem lower for a cord (or chord, rick, rank, and other terminology). Being honest, selling a good product for a fair price, and helping the customer to educate themselves will pay back dividends in full. As Proverbs tells us, "a good reputation is more valuable than gold and silver," and I'd add that it helps in obtaining that 'gold and silver' as well!

I'd like to try selling 'splitter turds' - maybe a garbage can full for $4 or something like that. It's all good burning wood (actually a little better since it's usually pieces of knots and other denser parts), but it's not really stackable.

Options are always good so also advertise prices for pick up, delivery, stacking You may even want to consider selling unsplit rounds. Splitting can take a lot of time, and I know of a guy who sells rounds for a deal less, and yet makes more money per hour on those than he does regular firewood. (Of course, tell your customers that such wood will still need to be seasoned properly before burning, or they may develop creosote in their chimney).

Know that different kinds of wood dry at different speeds - red oak seems to be the longest, and at least 18 months is needed. Silver maple is pretty darn fast and is ready for burning in 4-5 months. I believe you can find some lists of drying times if you Google search.

The best selling point is to have a large moustache. That always impresses both men and women alike. Get the moustache. You'll never regret it.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I would call this a low demand area for winter heating wood, not harsh winters, maybe a month of real cold.

Guess I'm mostly curious where you live? What you describe is roughly winter year. "Heating season" is roughly October to April, but we only have maybe a month of pretty cold temps. (Cold being under -10*) Most winter days it's somewhere in 15-20* area. (I'm talking for the high temps)

Wood sells well here. It's the cheapest way to heat.

 

[zogger]

Guess I'm mostly curious where you live? What you describe is roughly winter year. "Heating season" is roughly October to April, but we only have maybe a month of pretty cold temps. (Cold being under -10*) Most winter days it's somewhere in 15-20* area. (I'm talking for the high temps)

Wood sells well here. It's the cheapest way to heat.

North Georgia. We have a decent winter heating season, but no, it isn't as brutal cold as any of the border states or upper Midwest open plains states or Alaska. It is what you are used to. I lived in Maine for several years, so I understand "cold". I typically burn from October to April, although it starts and ends intermittent. January and February can get cold enough for here, single digits common, teens real common, occasional snow. Below zero is only rarely.

A lot of the older houses here have about zip for any insulation, very little provision for cold weather in design or construction. Like, you never see frost proof outside faucets. Stuff like that. I know our cabin doesn't have anything other than one bundle of the thinnest roll insulation you can get sort of strewn about the ceiling in the attic. According to the owner, that's "insulated"..Uh huh.... I would add more, but the owner insists (for whatever weirdo reason, I only get an order, never any discussion) I go in through a closet ceiling, cut out the drywall, and squirm my way up through a hole if I want to add more (at my expense), rather then remove three simple nailed on wooden planks outside and go in from the end under the peak with a ladder. Then nail the boards back up. So, screw it, I just burn more wood. If I owned, I would be insulating more. I use around 4 cords a winter.

You get used to your environment, I can go outside and work midsummer hard when most guys "used to the north" would be a melted puddle. I don't use AC in my house or vehicles, although the new provided tractor has it. but then, in the winter, I freakin freeze. Gets below 30, I admit, I'm cold. I still do stuff outside obviously, but it's cold to me.

Took me a few years to get used to it down here, but, now, thin blooded (and thin bodied, about zero fat, ha, no insulation there either..). It would take me some years to get used to living back up north.

 

[Homelitenut]

I just got an order for 5 cords of oak from my neighbor. I've got some very green oak and not yet split, but it's about all I have. (I usually keep all hardwood for my own burning). Anyway, he's willing to take green, and I think I have enough to fill his order.

Anyway, that's not helpful info - here's something more practical for the OP - I like the idea of selling top quality hardwood for top quality price. You can also have an option of mixed hard and soft wood and a third pile of soft wood, all priced accordingly. Some people don't seem to care what they buy as long as it's cheap and it burns, and I'm fully up front with all customers about quality of wood. I even put on my CL ad a little educational blurb about what a full cord really is, and why other prices on CL seem lower for a cord (or chord, rick, rank, and other terminology). Being honest, selling a good product for a fair price, and helping the customer to educate themselves will pay back dividends in full. As Proverbs tells us, "a good reputation is more valuable than gold and silver," and I'd add that it helps in obtaining that 'gold and silver' as well!

I'd like to try selling 'splitter turds' - maybe a garbage can full for $4 or something like that. It's all good burning wood (actually a little better since it's usually pieces of knots and other denser parts), but it's not really stackable.

Options are always good so also advertise prices for pick up, delivery, stacking You may even want to consider selling unsplit rounds. Splitting can take a lot of time, and I know of a guy who sells rounds for a deal less, and yet makes more money per hour on those than he does regular firewood. (Of course, tell your customers that such wood will still need to be seasoned properly before burning, or they may develop creosote in their chimney).

Know that different kinds of wood dry at different speeds - red oak seems to be the longest, and at least 18 months is needed. Silver maple is pretty darn fast and is ready for burning in 4-5 months. I believe you can find some lists of drying times if you Google search.

The best selling point is to have a large moustache. That always impresses both men and women alike. Get the moustache. You'll never regret it.

Thanks Unc! very helpful info! and I have a stache just not very big lol