Buying Wood by the Pound

[Dogsout]

I sell a little bundled firewood as a hobby. I seen an add on the local facebook swap page for firewood by the truck load. It pictured a small truck with 4 good sized logs on it filled in with a few smaller ones. I told him that it is not quite yet firewood but that conversation has been had on here already. The asking price was $60.00 with delivery charge. About 25 miles away so I drove over to see for myself what he was offering. He is a tree service guy with what looked to me to be Ash, Walnut, Hard Maple and some Oak in a huge wood pile. Well I came across a first for me he sells it by the pound which was $.01 a pound. So his pictured truck would have 6000 pounds on it. Selling bundles at $5.00 each or 5 bundles for $20.00 of which 90% are sold at that $4.00 price. Average bundle weight is 35 to 40 pounds. A lot of the work done on these but a good bit of work left before the wood is sitting in a bundle. Can't quite wrap my mind around this type of transaction. Just wondering what the boards thoughts were on buying wood by the pound? Wow did I ramble on in this post sorry!!

 

[president]

If your buying it that way?take a moisture meter with you
he may have watered it down with the lawn this past summer

 

[Woodcutteranon]

Yes.. by that standard, green firewood would cost more than seasoned firewood. You are paying for the water.

 

[NSMaple1]

.01? So $20/ton?

That is a steal - I would get as much as I could. Green or not.

Are you sure about that?

Edit: Well, maybe not a steal steal but a darned good price.

 

[sirbuildalot]

.01? So $20/ton?

That is a steal - I would get as much as I could. Green or not.

Are you sure about that?

Edit: Well, maybe not a steal steal but a darned good price.

I'd say it's a steal. A ton (2000lbs) would be a third to a half a full cord typically. So a full cord would only be $40-$60. Log length around here is usually $100/cord minimum.

 

[Woody912]

I sell a little bundled firewood as a hobby. I seen an add on the local facebook swap page for firewood by the truck load. It pictured a small truck with 4 good sized logs on it filled in with a few smaller ones. I told him that it is not quite yet firewood but that conversation has been had on here already. The asking price was $60.00 with delivery charge. About 25 miles away so I drove over to see for myself what he was offering. He is a tree service guy with what looked to me to be Ash, Walnut, Hard Maple and some Oak in a huge wood pile. Well I came across a first for me he sells it by the pound which was $.01 a pound. So his pictured truck would have 6000 pounds on it. Selling bundles at $5.00 each or 5 bundles for $20.00 of which 90% are sold at that $4.00 price. Average bundle weight is 35 to 40 pounds. A lot of the work done on these but a good bit of work left before the wood is sitting in a bundle. Can't quite wrap my mind around this type of transaction. Just wondering what the boards thoughts were on buying wood by the pound? Wow did I ramble on in this post sorry!!View attachment 628381

lots of knots for bundled firewood, nasty to split and stack neatly

 

[jrider]

$60 for that load doesn't seem great unless you can't get wood very easily. If it were straighter, smaller in diameter, and not so knotty, I would say it sounds decent. It all depends on how easy it is to get the material in your neck of the woods.

 

[Dogsout]

.01? So $20/ton?

That is a steal - I would get as much as I could. Green or not.

Are you sure about that?

Edit: Well, maybe not a steal steal but a darned good price.

Below is his facebook post.

Firewood for sale. Comes in lengths of approximately 4'-12' and various diameters. The price is $60 for the truck in the picture plus a small delivery fee. Have capabilities of hauling in tandem axle dump truck or side dump. The prices equates to $.01/lb. Cured for at least 2 years. All hardwood. Mostly ash with some oak, hard maple and a little walnut.

lots of knots for bundled firewood, nasty to split and stack neatly

I explained this same thing to him and was told he would try and cherry pick with his grapple and grab the straighter logs. I do have an OWB so even if I had to cut a fork off of the top of the log it would not go to waste.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Dogsout, most firewood bundles sold around here barely weigh 20 lb. Most are poplar or cottonwood and contain 5 to 6 logs for $6 apiece -- about a buck a log. The ones I sell for campfires are almost twice that size and weigh an average of 35 lb. As long as gas stations and supermarkets keep selling small bundles for a price that high, I will be in business forever.

And, as long as you keep that same avatar picture, you can ramble all you want.

 

[Dogsout]

Dogsout, most firewood bundles sold around here barely weigh 20 lb. Most are poplar or cottonwood and contain 5 to 6 logs for $6 apiece -- about a buck a log. The ones I sell for campfires are almost twice that size and weigh an average of 35 lb. As long as gas stations and supermarkets keep selling small bundles for a price that high, I will be in business forever.

And, as long as you keep that same avatar picture, you can ramble all you want.

I have 20" splits and put a little more then 1 CuFt pre bundle. I sell a minimum of 1 year split and seasoned wood. Even at this amount of wood per bundle I still make a decent profit. Last year I sold almost $2000 in bundles. So I have the profit off of these bundles to buy the wood in log form if I think that it pencils out. The way I see it is if I have a 40# bundle that consist of all hard wood I sell it for $4.00 per bundle I have 10% invested already before I put a saw to it. So is that to much of a percent to give away for the convenience and less work associated with having it delivered to my door step. I have numerous farmers with in a 3 mile radius of the small town that I live in that keep me in plenty of wood for my OWB. So again I ask is it worth it to have it delivered to my door step for this price? As for the avatar I am a Hawkeye fan what can I say.

 

[Little Al]

We don't & have not seen logs/splits by weight but if we have time we do kindling 6" length in onion sacks i 5 kilo weights we charge "tween" €4/5 per bag the local filling station seems to buy the most don't know what he pays for multiple buys will have to have a look what he's selling at next time I pass

 

[greenskeeper]

never buy firewood, hustle or scrounge but never ever buy

 

[Wood Doctor]

Never buy firewood. Hustle or scrounge but never ever buy.

Wholesale or retail? A logger who could not supply a saw mill with ash logs because of the EAB scare sold me 15 pickup truckloads of ash logs in 9' lengths for $300. I paid cash. He delivered them to my storage area and unloaded them from a picker truck as part of the package. I cut them to length, split the rounds and have sold over half of them.

People buy firewood mostly for comfort. Many cannot scrounge, operate a chainsaw, split, or carry it in a truck. So, they buy it from suppliers like me who can do both.

 

[Dogsout]

never buy firewood, hustle or scrounge but never ever buy

Cut, split and haul 8 to 10 cords a year for my OWB. Not afraid of the work one bit and rather enjoy it. This is buying wood for resale with the intent of saving some time and effort. As many of you know on this board cutting wood for a wood burner can be time consuming so saving a few steps on wood that I can buy cheap and resale seems reasonable to me.

 

[muddstopper]

If I could buy 15 pickup loads of 9ft wood for $300, I would never scrounge again. Cut and split that much wood would cost me about $1100+. Scrounging that many loads would probably cost me close to the $300 just in truck and saw gas. Well maybe not quite $300, but add the time involved and I am sure my cost would be at least or very close to the $300 amount.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

never buy firewood, hustle or scrounge but never ever buy

I think of it more like a Reese's peanut butter cup. There's no wrong way to get firewood.

If I could buy 15 pickup loads of 9ft wood for $300, I would never scrounge again. Cut and split that much wood would cost me about $1100+. Scrounging that many loads would probably cost me close to the $300 just in truck and saw gas. Well maybe not quite $300, but add the time involved and I am sure my cost would be at least or very close to the $300 amount.

Heck yeah!

I'm pretty well set up to produce firewood. I've got a couple nice tractors, a skidding winch, a big deckover trailer, nice splitter, etc, but if I get a deal on firewood in log form, I'll take it! Last winter I bought a log truck load of white oak for $1100, so just under $100/cord. That wasn't even a great deal, but heck, I never have enough to meet my needs and sell to the few people who ask every year. I figured by the time I cut, limb, skid and stack a cord of wood I've got a decent bit of time invested. Plus equipment cost. Sure, it only costs a few bucks in diesel and less in saw gas, but you really have to include something for repairs and eventual replacement when you calculate machine time. Skidding a cord of wood doesn't cost me much, except if I destroy a tire, skewer my radiator, drive over a chainsaw, etc. That stuff doesn't happen often, but even one accident like that adds a lot to the cost of wood you produce, and it's a lot less likely when you buy logs delivered.

 

[kyle1!]

Cut, split and haul 8 to 10 cords a year for my OWB. Not afraid of the work one bit and rather enjoy it. This is buying wood for resale with the intent of saving some time and effort. As many of you know on this board cutting wood for a wood burner can be time consuming so saving a few steps on wood that I can buy cheap and resale seems reasonable to me.

Playing internet quarterback is tough in this situation. I would buy a couple of loads and give it a try because to me that is the only way to know.

 

[Wood Doctor]

If I could buy 15 pickup loads of 9ft wood for $300, I would never scrounge again. Cut and split that much wood would cost me about $1100+. Scrounging that many loads would probably cost me close to the $300 just in truck and saw gas. Well maybe not quite $300, but add the time involved and I am sure my cost would be at least or very close to the $300 amount.

And, I'm still selling that "gold" because I also get firewood from tree removal and trimming companies who call me on the phone and say, "Come and get it". I usually cut as much as I can to length before I carry it away, packing my truck like a sardine can. Whatever they haul it to the city recycling center, they have to pay about $100 a truckload just to unload it. On occasion, I have hauled five truckloads away from the same site, but the average is about two loads. They pass most of the cost savings onto the customer, so I receive very few complaints about the sawdust left behind by the saw.

 

[muddstopper]

Every once in a blue moon, I get a free load of wood. Certainly not enough to make money trying to sell it. Every tree service around me, at least the few I know anything about, sell firewood. Its what they do during times between tree jobs. Timber companies are now chipping and selling the brush on logging jobs. No more tree tops just laying around after a timber sale. If you go to a logging site, you might get some big junk wood for free, and they might even load it on your truck for you. Free trees around here are usually blow downs around houses, some you can drive to and a lot that aint worth the trouble or risk taking, to scrounge. Still, there is plenty of wood for the taking if you are willing to look for it. And with winters like this one, there is also a very good market to sell to.

 

[CR888]

Firewood in AU is sold by the 1000kg (ton). It seems to be the smartest way to do it. Seasoned & split good hardwoods fetch top $$ and unsplit green crap stuff is cheap. But its sold by the ton.