There's no money in selling firewood

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Ahem, why would anyone need to "guess" about firewood? We always stacked our wood to let it season for close to or over a year. Thus when sale time came it was a simple matter of just measuring off part of the stack, putting it on a truck and going. All the times I stacked my wood I always piled it so each face cord could stand on its own with criss crossed ends, and it was over 4' tall to compensate for the ends. There never was any question about volume because the wood was stacked to dry.

For years we also stacked it upon delivery but when we crossed over 500 cord/year I said I had enough of that %$^& and I started only doing dumps unless the customer paid for stacking. My dad hated when I implemented that policy but he was not making most of the deliveries, I was. :mad:
 
What I did to speed things up was to stack a cord in my trailer then dump it and use the Kubota to just fill it back up to see how many buckets it was.Now as I split to sell green wood from the splitter to the bucket to the trailer and then just to kick the pile around to knock it down some.That 1st fill and refill has saved quite a bit of time.
 
so what do you guys do when a customer calls you back and says the wood is no good and its not burning right.. after youve already burned the same wood in your own fireplace and it burns great? i think a lot of these idiots take full size logs, put a little newspaper under them and light it and wonder why their fireplace doesnt look like it does in the movies within 10 mins.
 
banshee67 said:
i think a lot of these idiots take full size logs, put a little newspaper under them and light it and wonder why their fireplace doesnt look like it does in the movies within 10 mins.
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That is exactly what some of them do. I ran into customers that literally had zero clue about how to start a fire. I went to talk to them and find out what they were doing and sure enough they were using big hunks and a wadd of paper to try to get things burning. Explaining about kindling and even giving them some made the whole issue go away and they were greatful in most cases. I did have some people that still could not get things going and blamed the wood so I gave them a full 100% refund and took back the wood.
 
I sold a truck load to a buddy at work--10 month old split,covered cherry.He tells me a few days later it does not burn.I told him he is full of it and asked him what he was using for kindling.He said a little bit of newspaper under the wood like his neighbor told him.I would hate to have to rely on him in a survival situation.
 
milkie62 said:
I sold a truck load to a buddy at work--10 month old split,covered cherry.He tells me a few days later it does not burn.I told him he is full of it and asked him what he was using for kindling.He said a little bit of newspaper under the wood like his neighbor told him.I would hate to have to rely on him in a survival situation.
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I always hand them several chunks of pine knot when I sell a cord and explain its use. It creates return customers<a href="http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&lpver=3&ref=11" target="_blank"><img src="http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/00020110.gif" border="0" title="Click to get more." ></a>
 
when we used to sell wood we would save all our wally world bags all year and fill em with the bark from under the splitter and give each load a bag full of kindlin with it. just takes an extra minute to make up, and keeps everyone happy.
 
I give away all the kindling and bark bits a customer could want.. Bring your truck and a shovel and you can have it all. Otherwise I'd be up to my ears in scrap.
 
dhamblet said:
Buy the saw, buy another as backup, repair saw, replace chain and bar, furnish truck to beat the crap outa, repair truck as necessary, gas and oil for truck and saw, buy wedges, mauls, sledges etc etc. Have tractor to drag logs out of the woods. Then furnish a place to stack and store wood while it drys. Then there's the labor, cut the wood, split the wood, haul it in and stack it, and cover it then when dry, load it up, haul it and unload it. Pay for insurance and property taxes. Bear in mind the unemployed guy down the street needs money so he's out cutting and selling firewood, undercutting your prices. Then your supposed to keep track of your sales and pay the state its share of sales taxes and timber taxes. All this and just hope you don't have an accident and get hurt.

I own 20 acres of alder, ash, maple, fir (which I rarely cut), and hemlock right in my backyard. Dry wood around here goes for around $165/cord in the summer to around $200 in the winter. I cut and split (by hand) around 10 cords a year. I sell 4 or 5 cords but I think I'd be better off paying my customers to buy their wood elsewhere. :dizzy:

If I didn't simply like cutting wood and enjoy the exercise (its cheaper than Golds Gym) I wouldn't do it. Unfortunately I'm hard headed. How the heck do you guys make any money cutting and selling firewood???? My hats off to ya.:clap:

Denny
'72 Chevy, 4wd 3/4t truck (beater)
stihl 031
stihl 032
Kubota L2900
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I like cutting ,i have 100 acres, red oak,white oak,water oak,cheery,maple, a few others,around here 125.00 a cord is average,i am in south east georgia,i was cutting wood just for myself, with several poulan 2150s, several people yrs ago said hey i will buy a load from you,well it was on then,i have two 60 cc craftsman saws ,which are poulans 6 4620 poulans, and two sthils,i just bought a oregon 511a chain sharpener, i have built 4 ford ranger pickup bed trailers for delivering wood,two log splitters ,all paid for by selling wood, i sell around 100 cords a year,i have already sold out two times this year,i am dropping trees for next year,i cut and stack wood all summer long ,my problem is i just cant find decent help, i plan to sell even more next year,because i am going to advertise,
 
First post Pretty interesting on how its different for eveyone. I just recently got in to selling firewood, but very minor. My father asked me 2 years ago if he bought me a saw would I cut fire wood to heat the basement, figured in the winter months when im home from college it would keep me occupied, and would get me out of the house. I fell in love with cutting, splitting, stacking, work on on my saw. Its funny because my friends enjoy it too they call me and see if i want to go cut, or if we wanna split wood tonight. Sold my first cord last week (150) plus.35 cent a mile and stacked free. Split that with my buddy,bought 2 new chains and a case of beer. It keeps me from taking it out my pocket really. My friend has 50 acres he lets me cut on that has tons of dead locust and oak, we hand split everything and it burns great. I will say i do need to get a work truck/hauling trailer. I had to borrow a trailer to deliver the cord, my nice truck takes a beating in the woods, and i guess the ladys dont like 2 inchs of saw dust in my truck or the smell of 2 stroke in the truck :confused:

Average load
2z68c4h.jpg


My baby Husky 455 rancher
2u3z8t0.jpg


A friday night with one other buddy, I try and keep the garage full so my dad doesnt have to go outside to much
e6vbdj.jpg
 
Thanks for sharing the pics. That little truck looks like it's just about full as it could care to be. $150 a cord seems to be pretty cheap, at least in these parts. Todays CL has face cords has face cords going for $140. Not sure if they are selling a whole lot, but $100 a face cord of oak moves plenty fast in these parts.

:cheers:
 
There is SOME money in this biz but not much unless you go big and full time. Thats the opposite of why I started... I decided at the start to stay small, less headaches, less overhead, no tax issues, and all the free quality wood I could burn. So far so good. All my saws and equip have been bought with wood money and I still enjoy it. If I begin to loathe it, then its over.
 
I think alot of it depends on your location. In San Diego, a good cord of Oak can go for 350-400 bucks, working by myself , with an occasional hand from the fiance' I cut 4 days a week and deliver when ever orders come in. On avereage I sell 6-8 cords a week which isn't a ton of wood but keeps me busy. Thats a low of 2100 up to 3200 a week. Operational cost is about 300 bucks for the week, diesel, saw gas, and food Lord knows I do eat alot to maintain my girlish figure. So you can make money cutting wood. Like others have said Its all about volume and keeping your overhead as low as possible.
 
I have a girlish figure myself. I've got bigger boobs than my wife and I've been pregnant for 20+ years. (Milk not beer).
 
" i guess the ladys dont like 2 inchs of saw dust in my truck or the smell of 2 stroke in the truck"

Nope, they love that, they just don't like jap trucks.
 
heck i been selling oak fire wood for $45.00 a ford ranger truck load split and seasoned and i load it to the max where my mud flaps are draging goin down the road and they are about 5 or 6 inches off the ground and i had one guy buyin it and now he has quit and the last time he was here said i buys it all dy long for 20 bucks a load and i asked him where at and i'll see if it's green or what mine has been seasoned for 2 years stacked in the barn where no water could get to it and no one here in union county tennessee buys it anymore they think you suppost to give it to them for free afther spendin al your time cutting and busting and hauling it and they think you have to give it to them so it looks like next year i have to find me a new job to do during the summer or something but i tell you i piad 75.00 for my 041 stihl chainsaw and 42 bucks for a carb and feul lines and spark plug and i just evened out from selling fire wood and didn't get enugh to buy anything
 
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