Maybe cash isn’t king? Long post sorry.

[nathan4104]

The hydros are too slow. Plus the mesquites don’t have a lot of branches. So a tree that’s 15” at the base probably makes 1/4 of a cord. So lots of moving the splitter. I can have a cord cut and split and thrown in my F350 dump truck on the way to a customer in as little as an hour with good trees. 45min if my wife will help load. I just throw it in the truck by loose volume and I’m usually about perfect. I try to have a little extra and just leave that in the truck. I don’t dump it. Just raise the bed with the tailgate up and it self feeds the wood right at the perfect height to grab without bending my back to stack for the customer.

SamT1, Kudos to you if you’re doing a cord in an hour loaded! (128 cu/ft?!). It takes me with a firewood processor an hour or so to do a cord. (Logs in 8’ piled next to machine!)
I hope you’re talking a ‘face cord’ and getting 200 for that instead. We pay 150/cd for 8’ logs.
I haven’t had the same thing happen to me per se about payment, but the ones that complain about the quality, especially late in the year as supply is dwindling get put on the special list for next year. Caller ID is awesome!

 

[Ian178]

I have been selling firewood for over 33 years. We sell about 100 full cords a year. Only had 3 complaints in all that time. It was “your cord was short”. Each time, I loaded another full cord onto the truck and dropped it off to the offended customer. Polite conversation about how sorry I was about the shortage and this should fix any problems. They call next year for a cord and funny, I am sold out. Amazingly, all other sellers in the area are sold out too. I have even had one call me back and ask why they were blacklisted. I had no comment.

That is an awesome response, I love it!

 

[SamT1]

SamT1, Kudos to you if you’re doing a cord in an hour loaded! (128 cu/ft?!). It takes me with a firewood processor an hour or so to do a cord. (Logs in 8’ piled next to machine!)
I hope you’re talking a ‘face cord’ and getting 200 for that instead. We pay 150/cd for 8’ logs.
I haven’t had the same thing happen to me per se about payment, but the ones that complain about the quality, especially late in the year as supply is dwindling get put on the special list for next year. Caller ID is awesome!

We sell a stack 4’tallX 16’ long by any width they desire up to 2’ Most folks probably get 128cf, with 20-22” wood and a little extra. My bbq guys buy 2’ wood. If you order it cut short i don’t add more. The trees are free here, but the labor is the same no matter the length.
So it’s more comparable to your labor time on 2 face cords regardless of CF.
I have a commercial out fit that buys a lot to resale. They bring me these metal racks that are 4x4x8 and we fill them up nicely with what I throw in the truck. They want it cut 22”

 

[SuperDuty04]

100%. Hand split with Fiskars X27. I don’t even own a hydro besides an old tractor one that I haven’t used in 20 years. 10 a week is about all I can do though before the body takes a toll. Hoping to get caught up and let some stuff heal and I may be good to go forever.
Mesquite wood isn’t that hard to split though. Especially it you strategically cut around the Y’s in the wood to your advantage.

I’ve got several splitting mauls and I always grab my x27. I love that thing! I also get a lot of use out of my Fiskars Hookaroon. Saves a lot of my back work.

 

[Dudders]

I split all mine with the axe because I enjoy it. The sheer physical outlet, plus it's good exercise. Guess if I had a splitter, I might (not likely, though) save time and then I could go to the gym for some exercise...

 

[nathan4104]

I hope someday I can come down ‘south’ and have a ‘real’ BBQ .

 

[SamT1]

I hope someday I can come down ‘south’ and have a ‘real’ BBQ .

I prefer Memphis. I like the dry rub.

 

[calamari]

I’ve got several splitting mauls and I always grab my x27.

That's a light splitting tool being less than 6 lbs. Although I've burned both dry Mesquite and its charcoal (maybe some of Sam T1's wood?) in sacks I haven't cut or split any. It looked very "flinty" and would be on the easy end of the splitting scale if relatively straight grained and no knots. Try that Fiskars on a Live Oak round hitting it in the middle and you'll end up with a perfect imprint of the back of its head in your forehead. If you slice at the edge to break the round's integrity with a couple "shingles" you might eventually get through the round but I'd love to be there with a bag of pop corn and some beers. Lots of popcorn and lots of beers.
Our wood is just tough mostly and not like what seems to exist everywhere except where I happen to be splitting wood.

 

[SamT1]

That's a light splitting tool being less than 6 lbs. Although I've burned both dry Mesquite and its charcoal (maybe some of Sam T1's wood?) in sacks I haven't cut or split any. It looked very "flinty" and would be on the easy end of the splitting scale if relatively straight grained and no knots. Try that Fiskars on a Live Oak round hitting it in the middle and you'll end up with a perfect imprint of the back of its head in your forehead. If you slice at the edge to break the round's integrity with a couple "shingles" you might eventually get through the round but I'd love to be there with a bag of pop corn and some beers. Lots of popcorn and lots of beers.
Our wood is just tough mostly and not like what seems to exist everywhere except where I happen to be splitting wood.

The only time mesquite is hard is when you cut it green and don’t split it for a few weeks. It’s pretty ugly for a while. The worst is whole live trees someone cut down and let lay for a year with bark on em. Like a bulldozer pile.
Pecan is the worst around here. It has to be fresh cut green or all the barks gone dead.