I know Texas has plenty of Oak so why the big deal about turning people away because you do not want to sell Oak. Why not load up your truck with Oak and stockpile 40 or 50 cords of Oak and increase your prices to accommodate trucking. Oak is one of the easiest woods to split, but to split with a maul is not practical. Start with the basic splitter and go from there. Thanks
Found some Oak!
- Thread starter SamT1
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Nearest I found Is 40 miles. I have been cutting mesquite 1/2 a mile from my place. So if I go get 3 cord on a Saturday it’s gonna cost me 80 minutes driving , 3/4 a cord in time. Plus maybe $50 in freight cost. So I need to add an extra $60/cord to do it and be even. This year I’ve had a 2 week waiting list all season so far with no advertising. So it’s not a big deal to miss a sale.
What it would help is picking up a few off season bbq sales. Or if I could get the big bucks selling in the city when everyone runs out.
We axe split everything. Hydro splitter is way too slow.
Multifaceted
Firewood Hoarder, Axe Enthusiast
I can't say that I'm surprised, I mean, Texas is home to one of the largest Oak forests in the country 
I must question you about 40 miles. At my peak of my career I was hauling 600 miles every five days one way. That is about 1500 to 2000 miles a week. Best money I ever made. Back in the 80's that was $1800 clear every week. I did it with my rebuilt $600 C 600. Not to mention my converted mobile home trailer. Up to 45000 lbs every load. Semi's were not allowed in most cities, but my C 600 managed to stay out of every bodies way. A huge ice chest a converted oven around the heater and away I went. I never had trouble getting people to cut split and stockpile wood near where they lived. Six months every year being away from home, but I liked the money. Only live Oak and White Mountain Oak. 22'' and 16'' $80 a cord. Thanks
Why haul 40 miles when I can haul 1 mile?
People burn almost 100% mesquite within 20 miles of my place. I may can get $25 extra out of the oak at home. I can sell every stick of mesquite I can cut from Oct-January.
I’m willing to try some oak, it may be easier to cut and worth it. It does have better potential to bring a premium if I haul it to Abilene. Where I’d be cutting it is close to Abilene. Maybe we can go start cutting on a Saturday morning and the wife can sell it all before we get done and go deliver?
We used to haul wood to the city. The money isn’t that good when you account for everything. I’d rather wholesale truck loads of green wood rough split to woodyards there than take a pickup and trailer and go drive all that way and go deliver it. The biggest rig I can deliver with in Lubbock is a 20’ gooseneck. It will make it down the alleys with curves.
Everyone always tells me to take the wood to the city for big bucks, I tell them, bring me your trailer and I’ll load it for $175/bastard cord. (4’X16’ face, cut any length requested up to 2’)
I’d be more interested in having some truckloads of dry oak sitting ready to load, waiting for a firewood frenzy in Lubbock come February and calling all my woodyard contacts and tell them I can have a truck there in 3 hours for $$$.
They destroyed the mesquite market for fireplaces years ago. Lubbock has pretty much no native trees, so anything there is at a homestead. Yards haul in pinion from New Mexico or oak from east Texas. Guys we’re hauling in mesquite from my area and selling cheaper so over the years they started a myth that mesquite will ruin your fireplace.
People burn almost 100% mesquite within 20 miles of my place. I may can get $25 extra out of the oak at home. I can sell every stick of mesquite I can cut from Oct-January.
I’m willing to try some oak, it may be easier to cut and worth it. It does have better potential to bring a premium if I haul it to Abilene. Where I’d be cutting it is close to Abilene. Maybe we can go start cutting on a Saturday morning and the wife can sell it all before we get done and go deliver?
We used to haul wood to the city. The money isn’t that good when you account for everything. I’d rather wholesale truck loads of green wood rough split to woodyards there than take a pickup and trailer and go drive all that way and go deliver it. The biggest rig I can deliver with in Lubbock is a 20’ gooseneck. It will make it down the alleys with curves.
Everyone always tells me to take the wood to the city for big bucks, I tell them, bring me your trailer and I’ll load it for $175/bastard cord. (4’X16’ face, cut any length requested up to 2’)
I’d be more interested in having some truckloads of dry oak sitting ready to load, waiting for a firewood frenzy in Lubbock come February and calling all my woodyard contacts and tell them I can have a truck there in 3 hours for $$$.
They destroyed the mesquite market for fireplaces years ago. Lubbock has pretty much no native trees, so anything there is at a homestead. Yards haul in pinion from New Mexico or oak from east Texas. Guys we’re hauling in mesquite from my area and selling cheaper so over the years they started a myth that mesquite will ruin your fireplace.
You are correct except for live oak. Live oak can be extremely hard to split. My first splitter was a 22 ton unit that split other oaks great, but live oak would just bring it to a dead stop. It will split easier after it dries a bit. My 40 ton splitter splits it just fine. I would not even try splitting it by hand, no way no how.
Post, red, water, bur,saw tooth, oaks all split very easy with a hydraulic splitter.
We have it a bit different here with the need for hardwood. Most of ours goes to heating our homes and workshops.
We still like to use some for cooking and smoking meats, but not nearly as much as you all do down south.
That being said there are some of us that use firewood for ambiance and some that use it more for real heating.
This past year my wife and I attended a friends annual "Friends and Family" BBQ. Its a weekend event and you come and go as you please at their large country home and property.
Kids have a large pool and adults have a large acreage with fire pit, garage to stay out of the sun as well as lots of outdoor space for conversation areas and sipping libations.
Some guests even bring their camper trailers and tents for themselves and the kids to stay in over the weekend.
My wife and I usually attend for a few hours on the Saturday and then head back North to our country home about 1/2 hour away.
So as I wandered around Dean's beautiful property with him drinking my rum and coke and his beer, asking how he's been and what they've been up to, I saw 6 large stacks of mostly what looked like White Oak rounds and splits in different locations around the house and garage.
I asked him if he's heating with it now as he has a fireplace in his main living room to which he replied, "No, I just put a fire on once in a while for fun"
I know it shouldn't bother me but I felt a bit sick when he said that the farmer across the road was taking down 5 large Oaks and offered it to him for free.
I asked him why he didn't call his good friend Stan (that's me) to ask if he wanted some free firewood, as we laughed about it.
I also felt bad about my feelings of jealousy that he scored such a great deal and had no real immediate use for all that wonderful wood.
Eventually my feeling subsided but I still remember seeing all the wonderful stacks of wood that will probably rot away before being used as it should.
What a shame.
Oh well, such is life.
Has anyone else felt guilty over having jealous thoughts of other stacks that weren't theirs?
As I have previously explained here in California we go through tremendous changes where we sell then can not sell or give away any thing. Oak here is a main event. I can all most always sell Oak for a reasonable price. I in the past month I have added $150 to $200 to every load and no body has questioned the cost. Those with out generators will pay almost any cost. I did some business with a home builder and told him I would help him remove his Oak trees, but no he did not want to bother so he had them chipped. So for a few years he paid big money to get rid of many valuable trees and yes that bothered me. When the market is right I have gone several hundred miles to bring wood in to supply my customers. I try try to not pass up opportunities to process Oak. Thanks
