Why don't any firewood sellers let their wood season??

[lopro]

Ok, I'm not a firewood processor. I've just been calling around to see who has seasoned firewood. I've been asking, "how long ago was your firewood split?". The answer I usually get is, "...it's seasoned."

Now, this is getting frustrating because everybody who says their wood is seasoned has only split anywhere from spring to now. When I tell them I'm looking for wood that was split at least a year ago, then they usually will tell me how "good" their wood burns. According to what I've learned on this great site and others, it takes over 12 months to profess that oak is seasoned.

Why don't sellers of firewood understand firewood? Or am I being an anal, type Z+ customer? Or does wood season faster in South Carolina where our winter isn't frozen? I can find my own green wood to split for next year, I need dry wood for this year!

...I'm just sayin'

 

[audible fart]

Local guy with a processor here has logs sitting on a concrete pad all summer, splits them&lets them sit for a month or 2 tops, then sells it as seasoned. I don't know how he stays in buisness. Years ago when I didn't have a truck I bought a cord of "seasoned" oak from him. I ended up cussing at a hissing stove. Then I realized what he'd been doing as far as his processing routine. If at all possible get your own saw&pickup.

 

[DSS]

Common problem. The thing is that they have money tied up in the woodpile and want it back as fast as possible. Hard to find good seasoned wood anywhere I think. I split some oak that had been down in log lengths for a year, and water was squeezing out around the wedge, so no, you are not being anal.

I have seen a guy bring a load of wood to a buddy of mine that still had green leaves on it, and he argued that the stuff wasn't green!!!!!!!!

I leave mine for two years, just to be sure.

There are some good guys out there, the challenge is finding them.

 

[USMC0802]

I agree. I bought "seasoned" split firewood last year for the first and last time. I'll never do it again.

I have yet to find a seller who actually has wood that has been split and properly drying for at least 9-12 months.

 

[NorthernOntario]

Why don't they let it sit and season? Cause that takes up too much space, and your inventory is sitting around, not really earning you money.

It's the same problem most firewood buyers have... most don't have the space or the capital to buy firewood a year ahead of time, let it season for a year... and buy seasoned stuff for this season.

If you've invested all that money in a firewood processor, and people are willing to buy your wood now... are you really going to wait another year before you sell it? And will you get a premium for that wood once it's seasoned?

 

[super3]

Ok, I'm not a firewood processor. I've just been calling around to see who has seasoned firewood. I've been asking, "how long ago was your firewood split?". The answer I usually get is, "...it's seasoned."

Now, this is getting frustrating because everybody who says their wood is seasoned has only split anywhere from spring to now. When I tell them I'm looking for wood that was split at least a year ago, then they usually will tell me how "good" their wood burns. According to what I've learned on this great site and others, it takes over 12 months to profess that oak is seasoned.

Why don't sellers of firewood understand firewood? Or am I being an anal, type Z+ customer? Or does wood season faster in South Carolina where our winter isn't frozen? I can find my own green wood to split for next year, I need dry wood for this year!

...I'm just sayin'

Most of them understand perfectly that their wood isn't seasoned long enough. They have neither the space nor patience for next years wood sitting and not generating income.

 

[Marc]

Some firewood sellers season their wood properly. You just have to find them.

We only sell to people we know, very small time operation with excess wood from the fencelines, so we're accountable. Of course, if we had a bigger operation and sold to strangers we'd still do it right, no matter what.

 

[Jon E]

The only way you can reliably tell good seasoned wood is with a moisture meter. There are some other clues, if you know how the wood has been stored. If it was tossed in a large pile, like a haystack, I wouldn't consider it seasoned, ever. Maybe if it was under a roof the whole time, but only the outer layers. If it's in a neat stack, it's probably grayish, the ends are well checked, and it'll ring like a bowling pin if you drop it on a hard surface or knock two pieces together.

There's a lot of reasons for not having seasoned firewood (not considering the need to lie about it). Firewood sellers usually don't have the cash flow to tie up two or more years of wood, they may not have the room to store a years worth of wood (a local seller in my town processes over 500 cords a year and does not have any room to store any of it). They may not have manpower to stack and season it, or enough money to build a storage building or roof over it.

 

[DSS]

Why don't they let it sit and season? Cause that takes up too much space, and your inventory is sitting around, not really earning you money.

It's the same problem most firewood buyers have... most don't have the space or the capital to buy firewood a year ahead of time, let it season for a year... and buy seasoned stuff for this season.

If you've invested all that money in a firewood processor, and people are willing to buy your wood now... are you really going to wait another year before you sell it? And will you get a premium for that wood once it's seasoned?

I think you could get a premium for good dry wood. At minimum, you get happy repeat customers. Word of mouth is a powerful thing.

To the OP, the best way is to buy your wood a year ahead if possible, then you know what you have. Not possible for a lot of people with no storage however.

 

[Pulp Friction]

There's nothing wrong with selling green wood as long as you don't try to pass it off as seasoned. Once you realize that you will most likely get it with a high moisture content, you're better off asking to buy from their "green" supply. You'll never run into a dealer who claims that he's all out of green wood. This way you should get it at a discount and you will end up preparing your pile months ahead of time like you should have anyway.

Firewood can season remarkably fast if stacked in full sunlight and open breeze. Problem is, most dealers don't want to stack it when it counts (before seasoning). Instead they know they will most likely have to stack it to deliver and prove the quantity. Most won't do it twice. Back in August I cut, split and stacked saturated red oak with full moisture content. I recorded this piece into my occassional sample-weighed records. Four and a half weeks later it had lost 25% of it's original weight which is 50% or more of it's water content. So fast seasoning is possible if promptly and properly done. It is very helpful though to involve the summer months during this quick seasoning. Unfortunately, wood dealers need to rotate stock all year long.

 

[USMC0802]

Why don't they let it sit and season? Cause that takes up too much space, and your inventory is sitting around, not really earning you money.

It's the same problem most firewood buyers have... most don't have the space or the capital to buy firewood a year ahead of time, let it season for a year... and buy seasoned stuff for this season.

If you've invested all that money in a firewood processor, and people are willing to buy your wood now... are you really going to wait another year before you sell it? And will you get a premium for that wood once it's seasoned?

And then when you invest in your business and sell properly seasoned wood, you should be able to get a premium for your wood and if not, you should get a very loyal customer base with excellent word of mouth.

The only way you can reliably tell good seasoned wood is with a moisture meter. There are some other clues, if you know how the wood has been stored. If it was tossed in a large pile, like a haystack, I wouldn't consider it seasoned, ever. Maybe if it was under a roof the whole time, but only the outer layers. If it's in a neat stack, it's probably grayish, the ends are well checked, and it'll ring like a bowling pin if you drop it on a hard surface or knock two pieces together.

There's a lot of reasons for not having seasoned firewood (not considering the need to lie about it). Firewood sellers usually don't have the cash flow to tie up two or more years of wood, they may not have the room to store a years worth of wood (a local seller in my town processes over 500 cords a year and does not have any room to store any of it). They may not have manpower to stack and season it, or enough money to build a storage building or roof over it.

Then stoop freaking marketing the product as seasoned when it's not. Sell it for what it is - unseasoned wood that should sit for 6-9 more months. Get your buyers to buy it in March and have it sit at their place all summer to dry. If they have room for it to sit the entire winter as they pick at it to burn, they should have the same foot print to store it through the summer.

If not and can only buy a cord or 1/3 of a cord at a time, then they need to buy those eco/green/whatever bricks made of compressed saw dust, or just get out of the wood burning heat.

It's honesty on the part of the sellers, but it's buyers being honest with themselves as well.

Sellers - stop calling your wood seasoned if it's not. It just gives you a bad rep and bad word of mouth when I have to watch the water boil out of the end of the wood.

Buyers - if you know the wood is green, buy it ahead of time to let it season. It's your house, do your part to provide sufficient heat.

 

[banshee67]

i also dont understand this
it seems the bigger the operation, the less the wood is seasoned around here
my buddy works for a guys tree company down the road, they also do a LOT of firewood, has a real nice setup, good equipment, loaders, dump trucks, conveyors, etc.
i was over there one day a couple months back getting rid of a 4' diameter sugar maple stump that was just nasty.. anyway they had 2 huge piles of split wood, that was all mixed hardwood, then another huge pile on the other side of the lot that was 100% oak... he had at least 50 cord split in heaping cone piles from the conveyor.. about 3 months later my buddy tells me that they just sold out of firewood...50+ cords definitely, all gone, before fall.. and he said hes 100% sure his boss sells it as seasoned wood, and gets over $200 a cord and as much as 250 for the oak... and has been doing it like this for years and years and years.. HOW??

another one i saw couple months ago, im on a little back road coming home.. and i passed this lot a few times..they had ~15ft timbers stacked everywhere,all hardwood, probably easy 30+ cords worth... wondered when they were gona process it, as it was already august .. well i go out to do a delivery down the same road last week, and they are out there processing it, nice equipment, reputable tree company.. but clearly selling wood thats only been cut and split from logs 2 months ago and calling it seasoned on his signs.yea the timbers had been laying there for months and months, but that means nothing as we all know.. yet they seem to be doing pretty dam good .. HOW?

another one i always see on craigslist running real cheap specials on 2 cords.. they include pictures in their ad and you can just TELL by LOOKING at the picture it is NOT seasoned, the wood has way too much color in it and you can pick out dif species by their colors in the pic.. yet the guy has a beautiful cab over isuzu dump truck that looks brand new, all lettered up with his firewood company name, massive piles of wood everywhere.. and does great business.

every firewood processor i see around here has 2-3 big conveyor made cone piles that dont even look seasoned..yet someone is buying it and keeping them and their equipment in business

 

[cedarman]

To the OP, the best way is to buy your wood a year ahead if possible, then you know what you have.

:agree2: exactly!!!!!!!!!!

 

[teatersroad]

some folks around here are expecting to pay $100 a cord, no matter. They get what they pay for.

We're (I'm) lucky to be around a lot of rangeland Juniper clearing. Not hard to get stuff that's been down for at least a year, usually two. Seasoned is seasoned, no matter the method. My woodstove is full right now of stuff that I just split in the spring. Dry as can be.. point being - you can say you have to do this that or another thing in order for wood to be truly seasoned. Depends on the wood, the harvest, the climate, and for buyers the willingness to beware and pay a fair price.

edit> we supply logs to a local proccesor, again dead and down for a couple years. He sells it in the city as seasoned (which it is) $300 a cord

The climate here is very dry. 10" precip, and an average RH in the teens or lower most summer days.

 

[USMC0802]

some folks around here are expecting to pay $100 a cord, no matter. They get what they pay for.

We're (I'm) lucky to be around a lot of rangeland Juniper clearing. Not hard to get stuff that's been down for at least a year, usually two. Seasoned is seasoned, no matter the method. My woodstove is full right now of stuff that I just split in the spring. Dry as can be.. point being - you can say you have to do this that or another thing in order for wood to be truly seasoned. Depends on the wood, the harvest, the climate, and for buyers the willingness to beware and pay a fair price.

edit> we supply logs to a local proccesor, again dead and down for a couple years. He sells it in the city as seasoned (which it is) $300 a cord

The climate here is very dry. 10" precip, and an average RH in the teens or lower most summer days.

PA, NJ, etc...humidity is brutal throughout the summer. Wood isn't going to season in just a couple months. Logs left to lay rot before they season. Cutting standing dead is one thing, but even that takes time with the humidity that frequently goes from 70-100% throughout the summer.

A lot of firewood sold here seems to come from tree services cutting green trees and dumping the rounds off or they sell firewood themselves.

I wouldn't doubt if there are a lot of the people who buy from these sellers don't know any better.

It's just irritating because any other business would be accused of fraud or deception for doing what a lot of firewood sellers do.

Selling green split wood at a discounted price is another way to be legit about it. Refusing to sell green wood at a discount because they sell it two months later as "seasoned" pisses me off, too. I understand why they do it, they get their full asking price for the same amount of work when they sell it later on.

 

[teatersroad]

no argument. about the only thing that dries out on the wetside of the mountains here is your cat - for that it's 30 minutes on durable press then ten on tumble dry

 

[Chris Crouse]

I reckon someone should call obama and get the government to press charges! That'll drive the cost of wood down and get the quality up. Who do these people think they are fooling the average smart american? Bastards I tell ya!

 

[lopro]

There's nothing wrong with selling green wood as long as you don't try to pass it off as seasoned. Once you realize that you will most likely get it with a high moisture content, you're better off asking to buy from their "green" supply. You'll never run into a dealer who claims that he's all out of green wood. This way you should get it at a discount and you will end up preparing your pile months ahead of time like you should have anyway.

Don't I wish I knew what I was doing months ago. I would have split the oak I have now last year and wouldn't have this problem...LIVE & LEARN!

 

[Circle B MN]

I sell wood all year long. I cut mine to 16", I split it small like cookstove wood, stack it in the sun on pallets, then start the seasoning clock. I own a moisture meter and use it regularly taking random sample from all parts of the stack. By doing this I can sell with confidence red oak in nine months with a moisture content under 20%. Key words....small split, stacked, sun.

As for buyers of wood....check the product before it comes off the truck. Educate yourself as to how seasoned wood should look, feel, and sound. If the delivery shows up and it is not what you consider seasoned, tell the guy to take a hike, and call somebody else. I believe the buyer is just as responsible as the seller if it gets cold out and your stove starts hissing at you.

 

[woodman6666]

I process my firewood into large mounds, which is all on concrete and within 9 months I have red oak at 16-20% moisture which is shown on our website and I also stick some pieces every time I load the truck, today I found a piece at 12% and the highest was 20% I also carry a moisture meter in the delivery truck to prove to anyone that is nervous.
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