Firewood selling was in full swing over T-Day week

[luckydozenfarm]

I know in SE Texas we aren't much about cold weather, but we got below freezing for the first time this year right before Thanksgiving. I took off some time at my "real" job and sold 215 pallets of wood in one week. We stack a half-cord on each pallet. I had trucks going all over the place across Houston. Just wondering how you other guys have been fairing over the last couple of weeks. Can't say much about this week cause its back to 81 degrees today. DOH!! oh well...

 

[jrider]

That's an impressive amount of wood in such a short time. How many guys do you have helping you? My busiest time was back in October as we were getting our first few frosts. I am pretty much a 1 man show and pumped out 32 cords in 3 weekends.

 

[luckydozenfarm]

Well I had been cutting and splitting all summer and spring. I had it stacked on pallets and shrinkwrapped in August and September so I can load it on a customer's truck or my trailer in a moment's notice with the front-end loader of my tractor. I hired a couple guys and gave them my truck and trailer for deliveries while I stayed back at the woodlot. I posted an ad on Craigslist and I got over 40 calls a day during the week. I had 10 customer's pickup trucks waiting to be loaded at one time on Wednesday. It was crazy busy. I got $125 per half cord pallet.

 

[HD2010]

Ya, I was busy too. I sold out over the holiday. I kept 2 cord for a couple of regulars that come through out the winter. All together 28 cord sold. Now just have to restock for next year. About half way there.

 

[luckydozenfarm]

It's funny you know..the firewood business...the expense of all the fuel and the time you are splitting in the heat of the summer on the weekends. You take a break from splitting in mid-July, wondering if this mountain of wood you are creating is going to selll or sit there all winter. Then all of a sudden, a freak cold snap comes about a month early (at least to us..) and you are scrambling all hands on deck to move as much wood as you possibly can. Ah the joys of the firewood business...gotta love it

 

[blackdogon57]

I like the sounds of your pallet system. I use a similar system using 1/4 cord pallets. Can't say I've ever moved that much that fast. Very impressive. Love to see some pics of your operation.

 

[Sawdust7]

Can't say much about this week cause its back to 81 degrees today. DOH!! oh well...

Well, get ready for round 2 because we have another blast coming Thursday the 5th. I have a little wood left from two years back because it's been so mild here in Humble. I'm wondering what kind of Jan. and Feb. we have in store for this winter. We need a cold one to knock back the mosquitos and fire ants. I may wind up having to buy wood this year. I've got some branches out in the pastures that will give me maybe a half cord but since wood is my main heat source in this old barn below 35 degrees, that might not last long. I hope Ash burns good because I have one big branch of that and the rest are big Pecan branches.
I reckon the drought has provided you with plenty of trees to cut and split in the Hockley area.

 

[luckydozenfarm]

I like the sounds of your pallet system. I use a similar system using 1/4 cord pallets. Can't say I've ever moved that much that fast. Very impressive. Love to see some pics of your operation.

Yes thats similar to our pallets..We use standard shipping pallets and add the 2x4's on the sides. We don't use a top board but we shrink wrap the top two feet and its really stable riding in the back of the truck or trailer. Our pallets are 40"x48" and I stack two rows 4 feet high and 4 feet across on a single pallet. Our wood is only 18" long so I guess you can say we are selling a face cord rather than a half-cord on a pallet. Either way these pallets will slide easily between the wheel wells of a standard pickup bed. I can grab a pallet with my front end loader and load someone's truck up in less than a few minutes.

I also save time by bringing the pallets right to the end of the splitter at the waist height. So instead of letting the wood hit the ground after its split, I stack them directly on the pallet. Its less bending over and it's easier to inventory my wood. Plus, like this week so many people coming and going ruined my road. I was able to move my pallets around and use a different entrance.

 

[luckydozenfarm]

Well, get ready for round 2 because we have another blast coming Thursday the 5th. I have a little wood left from two years back because it's been so mild here in Humble. I'm wondering what kind of Jan. and Feb. we have in store for this winter. We need a cold one to knock back the mosquitos and fire ants. I may wind up having to buy wood this year. I've got some branches out in the pastures that will give me maybe a half cord but since wood is my main heat source in this old barn below 35 degrees, that might not last long. I hope Ash burns good because I have one big branch of that and the rest are big Pecan branches.
I reckon the drought has provided you with plenty of trees to cut and split in the Hockley area.

Humble?? I was out there delivering this week. If you need some wood look me up on Craigslist. Look for my avatar in one of the pics posted.

 

[Sawdust7]

Humble?? I was out there delivering this week. If you need some wood look me up on Craigslist. Look for my avatar in one of the pics posted.

I'll do that. I'm getting too dang old too cut this stuff myself anymore Thanks for the reply

 

[farmer steve]

hey LDF,do you have some pics of those 1/2 cord stacks? FS.

 

[luckydozenfarm]

Yes I do..This is one right before I shrink wrapped it and loaded it on to a customer's truck. The only bad thing is that I spend about $15 in materials in making each pallet, and about 10 minutes of my time but I plan on doing that in the summer next year. Some people would question the logistics of doing it until they see how busy this woodlot can get on a cold weekend. You see, this year I figured the entire process I touched each piece of wood about 4 times,...cutting, splitting, stacking in the delivery truck, and then stacking at the customer's house. All of that wood handling is hard on my back and takes a lot of time. I just came up with this system back in October, that I stack the wood onto the pallet right off the splitter. The wood never touches the ground or has to be handled by hand again from that point. I can load a 1/2 cord pallet on a truck, by myself in less than 2 minutes, all the while sitting in a heated tractor cab with my coffee. I'm hoping to no longer have to hire anyone to help me load up customers in the cold. Plus, when I shrink wrap the top rain bounces right off it. It's kind of a new system that I just started, and I'm thinking of getting a Lift-gate on my dump trailer to unload the whole pallets at the customer's place. I'm getting tired of stacking wood at the customer's house and it takes forever to move wood that way when 50 people are calling for wood. Most people don't care and would be ok if I left the pallet with them and they stacked it themselves.

 

[spike60]

Well I had been cutting and splitting all summer and spring. I had it stacked on pallets and shrinkwrapped in August and September so I can load it on a customer's truck or my trailer in a moment's notice with the front-end loader of my tractor. I hired a couple guys and gave them my truck and trailer for deliveries while I stayed back at the woodlot. I posted an ad on Craigslist and I got over 40 calls a day during the week. I had 10 customer's pickup trucks waiting to be loaded at one time on Wednesday. It was crazy busy. I got $125 per half cord pallet.

That's impressive! Great when things are firing on all cylinders like that, isn't it?