I've got maybe enough wood for this next year and I don't have the time (as much as I long for it) to scavenge enough craigslist freebies to build up next year's supply.
How does a consumer start that conversation? It's easy enough to verify a cord (make a space in my wood storage area) but I'm struggling with how to verify 'seasoned'. I know what my wood (mostly maple) is like seasoned. But even relatively green oak will 'clink!' when you knock the ends together...
And do I have to make it adversarial from the get-go? That's not how I want to do business and I'm sure honest suppliers don't want to deal with a growly customer from the outset.
Your right, it doesnt have to get confrontational from the get go.But, there is many indications that will tell you if a chunk of wood is dry or if it was cut yesterday.
The ends of the pieces should have checks or cracks in them.If they dont,walk away.i dont care what species of wood, i dont care if it was stacked facing the eskimos or saudi arabia and a voodoo master shook a dead carrot over it, if its dry its going to have some deep checks in the end.
Coloring.If you take a hatchet and shave off a piece with the grain,it should be a very different color from the rest of the wood.Seasoned wood when exposed to sunlight greys out and loses its natural color.
Smell.Get to know the smell of the different species of wood when green.Red oak will make you sick if its really wet.Hickory has a very pleasant bitter smell to it when green.No matter what the fragrance, if its noticable,more than likely its green bar some exceptions and I am not going to wear my finger tips out listing them all to you.Besides, I doubt you have a lot up there to begin with,most of those reside in the southern states where everything stinks when its hot.
Weight of the wood is another good indicator.Do yourself a favor and become familiar with the species of wood that you are going to buy or commonly sold in the area.If you have a chunk of wood 16 inches long and it weights as much as my neighbors ten year old kid,its green.Again,I dont care if its hickory or cedar.Dry wood loses weight as it dries because a great deal of the weight of wood is water!
Knowledge is your best bet,second to that is ask around.if your friends or neighbors recommend a guy,check out their woodpile and the smoke or lack thereof coming out of their stovepipe.No smoke ten mintues after light off?seasoned wood.Lots of smoke?yeah,you got it.green wood.If in doubt, go buy yourself a cheap moisture meter from harbor freight.While they are not accurate, they do give you a good comparrison between what is in your woodpile and what is showing up on the back of the toyota full to the bed with soaking wet red oak dragging a sign that says, "Full cord of red oak, $50 or a quickie with your old lady."