Update on splitting wood for $$$

[Timberwerks]

Yesterday I did job where the home owner had three trees taken down over a year ago and saved the wood for burning. After stacking the logs she had every intention on splitting them but did not know how to go about it. As luck would have it she is a real estate agent and I met her at a home she was about to close on ( I was there doing carpentry repairs ) and I gave her one of my Timberwerks cards. She became excited and told me of the wood that she had but no way to split it. While splitting there, a police officer came up and I thought great he's going to issue me a warning because of the noise. Instead he asked about the splitter and want's me to come and split at his place. Awhile after that a guy just ridding his bike watched for awhile and asked for a card as well. His neighbor has a lot of wood in his back yard that needs splitting. This one job will hopefully bring me in more work by word of mouth. I charged the lady $100.00 and I was there 3.5 hours. She ended up with a cord and a half of wood and was very happy. I can split faster but there was more handeling involved on this job. I'm still thinking about placing an add in the local paper as well. I'm getting better at estimating the amount of time to split so this will help with quotes.

Dale

 

[Chainsaw_Maniac]

That's pretty nice. That's about the level of $$$ I could get for a small job like that around here. I find that a job that's less than 6 hours long can be a pain because it takes you almost the whole day to get there, set up, and talk to the person.

 

[Lawn Masters]

theres gold in them there logs.
I'd do log splitting myself, if I didnt already have a source of income. physical labor is my type of job.

 

[sawzall71]

100.00 for 3.5 hours isn't much when you factor in ware and tear on your gear not to mention your back. Next time try to get about $200, she would have paid to just to get rid of the mess she has. As for the policeman, stay away from him he's looking for something free, plain and simple. Make up some cards and place them around town. Never work for nothing less your worth. I have lrked he to see some people freelance, just show and go. You are using your own tools so charge them for it.

 

[Bambodoggy]

She ended up with a cord and a half of wood and was very happy.

Can anyone tell me in very basic laymans terms how much wood is in a cord?

Thanks all...

 

[Newfie]

Can anyone tell me in very basic laymans terms how much wood is in a cord?

Thanks all...

A full cord is by definition 128 cu. ft. of stacked wood.

Of course then there are the regional interpretations and terms, but that's a whole different can of worms.

 

[Bambodoggy]

Thanks Mike.... so are we talking a van load roughly...or shipping container, or double garage? I'm just trying to get a referance to visualise how much wood makes up a cord.

Thanks again Mate

 

[tawilson]

A stacked pile 4' high, 4' wide and 8' long

 

[Bambodoggy]

A stacked pile 4' high, 4' wide and 8' long

Bingo! Cheers Tom

Reason I ask is I have the right to collect up to 5000cords of wood per year from my local forest free of charge but I didn't have a clue how much a cord was.... I now know that if I worked every weekend I'd still never hit my quota...which is nice

 

[tawilson]

Timberwerks, I got a slogan for you. "I give good wood"

 

[Timberwerks]

Funny thing is the lady who I just did that job for is recently divorced and made a similar comment (as a joke with her ex- husband as the butt of it).

Dale

 

[Tree Machine]

A standard firewood length is 16", so that cord dimension of 4 feet wide is 16 inches X 3. You can think of a cord of wood as three stacks, each 16" wide, 4 feet high, 8 feet long.

Each one of these thirds is called a face cord, or more oftenly (?) referred to as a 'rick'.

 

[Ax-man]

Anyone know where the term face cord came from and how it became a measure for firewood??? I am guessing it comes from the front row of a three row cord cut at 16" lengths. When I got into firewood there were three measures, a full cord or a half, and another term used was a " jag " usually meant a small load like about a half of a pick-up load or a little more.

No one in our area including myself was cutting firewood at these 16" lengths when these face cords started getting popular. It was quite a change to go from cutting wood at 20" -24" lengths down to this 16" sissy wood stuff.

Larry

 

[Happyjack]

Good for you! That sounds like something I would do on the side if I had a splitter. Get some cards made up for yourself or a 1 page Flyer. When ever you see a stacked unsplit wood pile on someone's property, drop a card in their mailbox. I would try to come up with an hourly rate, and charge everyone the same price. Make sure you add in your travel and gas too.

 

[fwf]

Anyone know where the term face cord came from and how it became a measure for firewood??? I am guessing it comes from the front row of a three row cord cut at 16" lengths. When I got into firewood there were three measures, a full cord or a half, and another term used was a " jag " usually meant a small load like about a half of a pick-up load or a little more.

No one in our area including myself was cutting firewood at these 16" lengths when these face cords started getting popular. It was quite a change to go from cutting wood at 20" -24" lengths down to this 16" sissy wood stuff.

Larry

IMHO, the term "face cord" was popularized and is used by rip-off artists, because the term has no legal definition. If you sell someone a face cord, you are not legally bound by a specific quantity of wood.

Cord, 1/2 cord, 1/3 cord, 1/4 cord, etc. are all legal measurements of a quantity of firewood. Just about any other term just means a pile of wood.

 

[ArtB]

Timely thread for me, as was just talking to wife about what I'll do in retirement (soon). Recently tore rotator cuff and used to swing th maul for exercise. Looking to get another cheap old 4x4, only this time put an arm with a splitter attachment (home built of course, heck, maybe patentalble?) on the end that can also be used to load the truck, no more rotator cuff tear risk?
Anybody seen a backhoe type arm with a splitter at the end commercially?

 

[Timberwerks]

Good for you! That sounds like something I would do on the side if I had a splitter. Get some cards made up for yourself or a 1 page Flyer. When ever you see a stacked unsplit wood pile on someone's property, drop a card in their mailbox. I would try to come up with an hourly rate, and charge everyone the same price. Make sure you add in your travel and gas too.

I have the cards and 5,000 flyers, I got the flyers printed late last year. I fiqure I'll hold off on the flyers until fall and stick with running adds for awhile. The flyers did do very well for me last season. This year I'll get an earlier start.

Dale

 

[Ax-man]

IMHO, the term "face cord" was popularized and is used by rip-off artists, because the term has no legal definition. If you sell someone a face cord, you are not legally bound by a specific quantity of wood.

Cord, 1/2 cord, 1/3 cord, 1/4 cord, etc. are all legal measurements of a quantity of firewood. Just about any other term just means a pile of wood.

_________________________________________________________________


FWF, sounds good to me, honestly is was the last answer I expected to read, but makes sense. People have made comments to me when I dump wood off a truck like " That is more than we got from that last guy " or " This is twice as much as ( fill in the blank) gave us. You sure this is right, do you want more money for the extra wood. " Of course I have to say no because they getting what they paid for.

Larry

 

[Timberwerks]

I get similar comments, or they will be surprised that the wood is actually dry and burns well. I think wood not being dry was the main compliant that people had with other sellers. That and wood that smelled (pissy) when burned.

Dale

 

[Ryan Willock]

We get $40 a pickup load delievered and dumped here, it can be green or dry and thats for a standard size pickup (ie. 6' bed on a half ton).