Great response to an absurd question!
/
I see nothing absurd about this question. I suppose in your great wisdom there is such a thing as a dumb question isn't there?
The price at the local home center maybe $1.49. The price at the mill per unit breaks down to a fair amount less then $1.49 per board. If he is talking about the mill I am thinking of. Right now the economy around here has mill prices way, way down. The local store are making a killing on their mark up. Fir is going for up to $200+ per cord around here for some reason.
A log truck driver isn't talking about in store cost per banded units. They are going to talk about prices at the mill. The more the mill gets rid of the more logs they will need and the more the driver will work. The store will get their wood where ever it's the cheapest, doesn't matter what mill it comes from, or even what state for that matter. The driver is hoping to scratch two backs at the same time. Straightgrain and his own. One gets a deal on studs(firewood) the other hopefully gets more work by way of the studs being sold, and the mill needing more wood.
As far as I know the local mills don't dip them in anything. However some do in different parts of the country dip in a wax type stuff for some reason.
Burning them should not hurt anything. They can get hot and get away from you if your not paying attention or overload your stove. To reduce the char criss cross the in the stove to allow more air and less tight surface contact. When you reload move whats left around a bit and then re stock. We burn untreated lumber from time to time, many around the area burn lumber only and do just fine.
If you get to the mill ask if you can be put on the scrap list. A dump truck load of culls, knots, pistol butts, jug butts, slabs and other things that they cannot use. Depending, that load can run up to about 2 cord. Cost last I knew was $20 per truck load.
Straightgrain, if your looking for a place to cut your own let me know and I can get you to a few people that may be allowing cutting. Depending on how far you are willing to travel. I think Hebo has alder permits going right now, also the BLM guy that runs the area if you know of wood you can get the permits through him. Either are about $10 per cord.
Burn the studs with air space and you will do just fine.
Owl