Find the cost per cord of "free" wood

http://www.forestry.iastate.edu/publications/F-335.pdf

Interesting read. According to this my wood is costing me about $75.00/cord.

With all the stuff i've bought to burn wood........ I'm sure mine costs me more than that. But......... wouldn't want it any other way.

Saw's ten years old, all the wood is from my own 12 acres so I'd be challenged to measure fractions of a mile

So I think it's under $2/cord on their formula. Probably more like $5 in reality.

He didn't include depreciation, fuel, and maintenance for a log splitter though.

Since mine is a sledge, two wedges, a maul, and a Fiskars axe all three are fairly minimal.

I *do* like these analysis though -- for me, no matter how I do the math I just can't justify a wood splitter. I only burn a couple cords plus a little (less if I bought a more efficient stove). I have enough time to hand split that much wood, and plenty of wood. To me it's cheaper to just give away the few gnarly nasty pieces then buying a woodsplitter. As an old farming neighbor says, it's not what you gross that matters, it's what you net.

I mostly cut close to home or on routes I normally travel to keep the transportation expenses down. I've been (by financial necessity) able to keep up my immunity to CAD and I split exclusively by maul. And I work cheap, so that keeps labor costs down to a couple beers after cutting or while splitting.

Fun article. Thanks for sharing!

Interesting read. Thanks for posting!

My chainsaw paid for itself with the first couple trees I removed on my property without having to use a tree service. After that, any firewood service from the saw is gravy, and I hope to use it a good long time. I also quit my gym membership when I started cutting and splitting.

good points... but once equipment is purchased... your labor translates into no gas bill.

equipment in my case is also a 14k lbs trailer and cummins diesel truck. besides chainsaws... there's also splitter and other support gear like chaps, helmet, gloves, etc.

also need to factor in cost of wood stove...etc, etc.

so is it worth it... Hell ya!!!

Still gotta laugh at the "I get my firewood for free" guys. I figured it costs me $80/cord from the woods to the customer before I saw this formula, although diesel dropping has helped lately.opcorn:

I think it think it took 2 years to break even on the stove, splitter, and 3 saws. Thats is also selling 15+ cords of wood a year too.

I'm all about calculating my Return on Investment (ROI) and I keep good records of all my expenses etc. But, cutting wood means more to me than if I was working for pay for the same amount of time. There is a part of woodcutting that transcends ROI.