What do you charge for your firewood?

[Coro cutter]

Here they sell it by the cm3
Macrocarpa about $65 a cm3
Pine about $50 cm3
Blue gum about $70-$80 cm3
It varies a wee bit can go up by about $10-$15cm3
But there are rogues out there who charge way more per metre
I'm glad I cut my own[emoji2]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mga]

Not even close, break even is about $600/cord for fuel oil and almost $800 for propane.

23.6 million btus in a cord of birch.

138,300 btus in a gal of fuel oil.
91, 200 btus in a gal of propane.

170 gals of fuel oil to a cord.
259 gals of propane to a cord.

At $3.50 a gal for fuel oil, that's $595 of oil to equal a cord.
At $3 a gal for propane that's $777 to propane to equal a cord.

Fuel oil would have to be under $1.60 and propane $1.15 for $300/cord wood to cost more.

too many missing factors not considered, such as wood burner efficiency vs furnace efficiency, house insulation and the ability of it to maintain heat.

as flotek said, if I had to buy wood, I'd just run the furnace.

 

[SteveSS]

too many missing factors not considered, such as wood burner efficiency vs furnace efficiency, house insulation and the ability of it to maintain heat.

True. But wouldn't those missing factors be the same no matter what a persons choice of fuel was?

 

[zogger]

Not even close, break even is about $600/cord for fuel oil and almost $800 for propane.

23.6 million btus in a cord of birch.

138,300 btus in a gal of fuel oil.
91, 200 btus in a gal of propane.

170 gals of fuel oil to a cord.
259 gals of propane to a cord.

At $3.50 a gal for fuel oil, that's $595 of oil to equal a cord.
At $3 a gal for propane that's $777 to propane to equal a cord.

Fuel oil would have to be under $1.60 and propane $1.15 for $300/cord wood to cost more.

Does Alaska have it's own refinery yet?

 

[lindnova]

True. But wouldn't those missing factors be the same no matter what a persons choice of fuel was?

Yes burner efficiency is a big factor with many variables. I seems a lot of people who have poorly insulated houses feel they need to heat with wood. A lot of that may have to do with finances, but I have a highly efficient house and heat with wood.

I would use propane before buying wood also.

 

[greenskeeper]

too many missing factors not considered, such as wood burner efficiency vs furnace efficiency, house insulation and the ability of it to maintain heat.

as flotek said, if I had to buy wood, I'd just run the furnace.

The wood burner vs furnace efficiency is the big one. A rough guess I'd say 100 gal oil to cord of wood is more realistic.

 

[autoimage]

125 half cord I only have 15 customers and all are fireplace people so I sell them very well seasoned cherry and hickory, the rest gets sold in a stand in front of my house, have to keep it real small due to the townshipbut its good for 90-180 per month all year round. in the summer the buy a stack to burn in a firepit...could u imagine that

 

[MattB]

The price of wood is largely based on the price of labor and then for primo stuff its a supply and demand thing.

Labor is more expensive where I'm at. Most of the small operators just cut up the monterey pine that gets dropped off in their yard for free and sell it for what they want to get paid per hour.

Oak and madrone is the only stuff that commands much of a premium. Really dry wood is hard to find after winter has already started dumping the rain. Supply/demand.

Lots of folks around here can only heat with wood, lots of old logger cabins in the woods without central heat and long flights of stairs so the better quality in the wood saves hauling.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

House insulation doesn't matter on what fuel you heat it with. A BTU is a BTU.

I figured equal efficiency. A ultra high efficient fuel oil or propane burner wouldn't use quite as much, but still wood is quite a bit cheaper.

I have a calculator on my website that factors thus in actually. Www.akfirewood.com under Firewood 102

too many missing factors not considered, such as wood burner efficiency vs furnace efficiency, house insulation and the ability of it to maintain heat.

as flotek said, if I had to buy wood, I'd just run the furnace.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Does Alaska have it's own refinery yet?

What do you mean by "yet"? We have 3 or 4, have been around since the 70s.
The fuel at the pumps comes from our ground. Why we pay some of the highest fuel costs in the country is a question many have worked hard to cover up the answers to.

 

[Freakingstang]

too many missing factors not considered, such as wood burner efficiency vs furnace efficiency, house insulation and the ability of it to maintain heat.

as flotek said, if I had to buy wood, I'd just run the furnace.

My choice was oil or oil.. I said i'd never buy wood either, but being in a new house and the first 1200 dollar fillip, then the second and the last one at 1400 the first winter...I bought a stove and I bought some wood...

going price around here for 6 month seasoned wood is 180-250. just depends on who and where it is. When i sold wood 10 years ago, I got a premium of 125 delivered for 1 year seasoned wood. Going rate at that time was 100 a cord. Some old timers didn't like that "dried up, half wasted wood" lol and I would sell them green wood for 100 delivered. A lot of people burn with old smoke dragons and the seasoned wood doesn't affect them like all of the newer EPA stoves today. and knowing what I do about my epa stove, an extra 25 or 50 bucks a cord would have saved my butt trying to get less than ideal wood to burn the first winter with the stove.

 

[zogger]

What do you mean by "yet"? We have 3 or 4, have been around since the 70s.
The fuel at the pumps comes from our ground. Why we pay some of the highest fuel costs in the country is a question many have worked hard to cover up the answers to.

Well, slap me down, I didn't know you had any refineries. For some reason, hearing of the high fuel costs there, I thought crude had to be shipped out, refined, then shipped back in, hence the high prices.

 

[flotek]

[QUOTE. ValleyFirewood, post: 5114287, member: 114694"]Not even close, break even is about $600/cord for fuel oil and almost $800 for propane.

23.6 million btus in a cord of birch.

138,300 btus in a gal of fuel oil.
91, 200 btus in a gal of propane.

170 gals of fuel oil to a cord.
259 gals of propane to a cord.

At $3.50 a gal for fuel oil, that's $595 of oil to equal a cord.
At $3 a gal for propane that's $777 to propane to equal a cord.

Fuel oil would have to be under $1.60 and propane $1.15 for $300/cord wood to cost more.

That's only reliable if a guy can extract all those 23 million btus out of his birch . If it's seasoned great in a energy efficient unit that burns up every btu and no waste heat up the flue which of coarse is impossible. . a direct comparison of btu off a chart is not the same ! Not even close just because a certain wood has a suggested btu rating doesn't mean your going to get all those available btus . some wood burners are really inefficient some folks may burn through a cord in two weeks versus propane lasting a month if thermostat is set on 65 .i know plenty of people who have already done that experiment in real life .. Not as simple as direct comparison . Our country is full of wood and a 4x4x8 pile of wood is simply not worth 300 bones . Besides wood heat is ten times the hassle of walking over to a thermostat . It ( burning wood) should be cheap to even out because trees are everywhere and often free

 

[jrider]

I was getting $220 for oak, $220 for cherry, and $190 for mixed hardwood. Free delivery within 10 miles. Sold 120 cords without trying much. I am one of the higher guys in my area.

 

[cantoo]

Some people are putting in pellet burners because of the pain in the azz off solid wood burning. Takes a bunch of space to put that wood too. Much easier to drop a pail of pellets in the hopper, pallet of pellets sitting in the garage. Very little mess etc. Local welding shop just replaced their 2 outdoor boilers for 2 new pellet boilers. 2 big bins and fill them in summer when price is cheap. We have a local guy making pellets but not sure he can keep up with demand.

 

[El Quachito]

$300 is the lowest I would want to go as a seller. If everybody had trees or was able to cut their own wood than they wouldn't have to pay for it.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

A couple of you guys on here just need to open their eyes. Im getting tired of "Harry Homeowner" with no idea on what it takes.

THIS is a site for professionals.

That's great you are cheap and spent 2 months dragging trees for "free" firewood, but it means nothing to the other 98%.

Heck for all we know the wood was stolen from a logging site. We have people doing it on our timber sites. "Well it was just sitting there".

You want to harvest your own wood, that's great but it's not free.

Even if the actual logs are free you still have labor, insurance, fuel, truck and registration, licensing, chainsaw, splitter. All of that plus much more is rolled into the cost of firewood when I sell it. The ~ million dollars of equipment it takes to harvest wood didn't get paid by giving away wood.

This applies to many trades. Do you tell a farmer, that meat should be free, afterall the cow was just roaming around all year? Or those potatoes just sat in the ground, that was so hard to do?

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

That's only reliable if a guy can extract all those 23 million btus out of his birch . If it's seasoned in a energy efficient unit that burns up every btu and no waste heat up the flue which of coarse is impossible. . a direct comparison of btu off a chart is not the same ! Not even close just because a certain wood has a suggested btu rating doesn't mean your going to get all those available btus . some wood burners are really inefficient some folks may burn through a cord in two weeks versus propane lasting a month if thermostat is set on 65 .i know plenty of people who have already done that experiment in real life .. Not as simple as direct comparison . Our country is full of wood and a 4x4x8 pile of wood is simply not worth 300 bones . Besides wood heat is ten times the hassle of walking over to a thermostat . It ( burning wood) should be cheap to even out because trees are everywhere and often free

No different that an oil burner, propane burner, etc. None use 100% of the fuel for heating the home. It's roughly equal aside from having a super high efficient burner, (95+% ).

You can have the house at 65* with wood heat just the same as oil.

Don't know where this "free" wood is but I've not seen it. You are able to harvest your own wood, that's great. Many people can't. And no it's not just "yuppies".

 

[SteveSS]

A couple of you guys on here just need to open their eyes. Im getting tired of "Harry Homeowner" with no idea on what it takes.

THIS is a site for professionals.

That's great you are cheap and spent 2 months dragging trees for "free" firewood, but it means nothing to the other 98%.

Heck for all we know the wood was stolen from a logging site. We have people doing it on our timber sights. "Well it was just sitting there".

I can't keep up with firewood orders and I work 15+ hrs a day, 7 days a week. I must be doing something right, aside from working 24 hrs a day.

You want to harvest your own wood, that's great but it's not free. Labor, insurance, fuel, truck and registration, licensing, chainsaw, splitter, your time.... hmmmm.

Guess I missed the "PROFESSIONALS ONLY" caveat when I registered. Last I looked this thread was in the Firewood, Heating and Wood burning equipment forum and not the Pro forum. Maybe have another cup of coffee and relax a bit. Harry Homeowner really isn't out to try and thieve you of your timber rights.

Good day, sir.

 

[svk]

Guess I missed the "PROFESSIONALS ONLY" caveat when I registered. Last I looked this thread was in the Firewood, Heating and Wood burning equipment forum and not the Pro forum. Maybe have another cup of coffee and relax a bit. Harry Homeowner really isn't out to try and thieve you of your timber rights.

Good day, sir.