Price of firewood

[Limon]

Has the price of firewood gone up like crazy anywhere else? The prices are running around $200 cord for "mixed" wood - won't confirm that it's hardwood, even - and most places want more for delivery. If you ask if that's a face cord or full cord, you get answers like "it's a heavy cord." Last year it was about $125 a cord, a bit more for all oak.

We normally get plenty of free hardwood, but we're going to be a bit short this year. Glad I have some lined up for next year.

[TnAndy]

A "face cord" means nothing...I've never understood how or why anyone would use that term. The wood could be stacked in a 4' x 8' stack and only be 6" deep and still be "the face of a cord."

Just like a "rick".....huh? Is the wood cut in lengths 12", 16", 18", 24"........?

Around here, the common measurement is a "pickup load"....again, a totally meaningless measurement. There have to be 1/2 dozen different sizes of pickup beds, and throwing the wood in any of them makes for nonsense way to buy wood. My guess is a "pickup" load is anywhere from a 1/4 of a cord to a 1/2 at the outside. About the only pickup that would handle a full cord would have to be a dually, and even then, it would be stacked to the top of the cab....which would make hauling it 'interesting' without sideboards.

A cord, or some fraction of a cord ( like a 1/2 cord or 1/4 cord ) is the only way to buy wood....and that is a STACKED cord, with the wood stacked reasonably tight. 128 cubic feet of wood anyway you stack it.

But to answer your question, I have no idea what wood is selling for.....all the idiot firewood sellers around here use the "pickup load", whatever that is.....and advertise it for 60-70 bucks.

[Cindy in NY]

We buy our wood in the summertime and pay $225 for a cord of seasoned, split hardwood, delivered. It's been that price for several years. I don't think I would by anything but a measured cord if I could help it.

[Missy M]

Last year wood was 35-40 dollars a truckload. This year it's about 75 - 80 dollars.

[Pelenaka]

Face cord in my area (Western New York) is the most common term for my area also - $65 for unseasoned & as high as $80 for seasoned. No idea what a full cord goes for as those are the prices posted along side of the road out in the country. I always have the feeling that those cords are mostly made up of scrub brush like sumac.
Last week I was talking with the generator service tech who was out to work on a neighbor's unit. We got to talking, he mentioned that they had just put in a wood stove. Conversation got around to price of firewood, his dad had just paid a guy who came highly recommended for 3 cords $250 delivered. LSS, wood was green. Oh says the guy you wanted seasoned. So they agree for this guy to deliver seasoned wood. Showed up a week later & dumped the wood up against the garage door denting it.
The tech keept saying that he came highly recommended. I didn't even get into what a cord of wood measured out to. How coudl you tell it was a cord if it's all dumped in a pile?
To me the only true way that you can tell what species a tree is when it has leaves. Sometimes it's obvious like Willow or Pine but sometimes it's not.

We forage for firewood or often are gifted. Hubby got an offer of downed trees from a guy who cleared a field unfortunetly storage is our issue. Last weekend brother got 4 cords for free. One tree which was Maple been down in the back of a Rite Aid store for two years. The other came when the store next to it came over & asked him to take a downed tree behind thier building. I may have to do some wood recon if I run low this Winter.


~~ pelenaka ~~
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/

[swollen tongue]

around here this year it runs about $135-165 a cord, pine and spruce, split and cut to length, usually 16", delivered........two years ago it was going for around $180-220 a cord. it has gone down in price because the recession has hit here pretty hard....

[kirkmcquest]

Its about 200 for a full cord around here. Delivery varies. I almost got lazy this year and ordered one, but to be honest it is a waste of money because I have plenty of downed trees and widow-makers on my property.

I did pay for a half of face cord earlier this fall $45 dollars, and it was real crap. From now on I'll chop my own, times are lean around here.

[highlands]

$200 is about average for good, dry hardwood, even a little low. Realize that as the logger we're not getting much. It takes a lot of work to produce that cord of wood. Even at that price it is a heck of a lot cheaper than heating with fossil fuels.

Best idea: tighten up your house, insulate, close off sections you don't need, turn down the thermostat, put on a hat and more layers, work harder. Getting up in the morning and doing chores fore a few hours at first light will boost your metabolism significantly which keeps you warmer all day long. It's a great trick. If you're still cold invite the dog into bed.

[edcopp]

Originally Posted by Limon

Has the price of firewood gone up like crazy anywhere else? The prices are running around $200 cord for "mixed" wood - won't confirm that it's hardwood, even - and most places want more for delivery. If you ask if that's a face cord or full cord, you get answers like "it's a heavy cord." Last year it was about $125 a cord, a bit more for all oak.

We normally get plenty of free hardwood, but we're going to be a bit short this year. Glad I have some lined up for next year.

Well Limon, the answer might be yes or no. We do not know where you are so we can't figure out where anywhere else is. We can't even get close. We do not even know what continent that you are on. Since you give us no information to work with, your question has no answer.

Keep trying.

[big rockpile]

Around here seasoned Oak is cheap,$80 a cord.

big rockpile

[Old Vet]

Here it is $45 per pickup truck load has been that way for years. What I do is go to places that are logging and load up all I want for nothing. I got 10 cords of wood this year for a little sweat.

[Gottabenutz]

Here a half cord (which roughly equals a healthy full sized pick up load; equal to the sides and mounded in the middle) can run 60 to 80 bucks delivered. Twice that for a cord. Its about half and half as far as it being sold by the cord or truck. This year it doesn't seem to matter if that is all oak or mixed hardwood. Me personally; I have never met a stick of wood I didn't like or couldn't burn somehow!

[CaliannG]

~grinz~ We get it for free. Part of my DH's business is tree removal.

However, I have seen it advertised for $30 a pick-up load. Yes, I know that is a bogus measurement, but it comes about for two reasons:

1. The seller has all the firewood it a huge pile, and doesn't want to measure it out, and doesn't deliver.
2. The buyer wants to pick it up himself, and what he has is a pick-up. Out here, where you have a LOT of people like that, who have a pick-up and want to stop by, load it up ONCE, pay the seller, and get going, it makes sense to advertise it that way.

A long-bed pick-up with a toolbox (the standard kind around here) holds about 1/3 of a cord if they are neat about loading it, and about 1/4 of a cord if they just toss it in. Prices range from $30-$50.

[Qhorseman]

I live in central missouri, firewood is all over the place pricewise from as little as $60 a cord to 225. I guess it just depends on how hungry the cutter is. Here the only legal way to sell wood is by the cord 4X4X8, doesn't hapen much

[pheasantplucker]

Two years ago my neighbor had a dumptruck load of seasoned, split hardwood dumped next to her wood shed. $300. Don't know what the cost is now...probably higher (eastern Ohio)

[beaglebiz]

135 a cord seasoned hardwood (mixed oak, maple etc) delivered here in PA. OP, you dont say what part of the country you are in.
We have been lucky with free wood the past few years, from storms and a deadfall permit for the state lands around my house.

[lisa's garden]

$200 for a full cord of split, seasoned hardwood...mostly oak and cherry. That was delivered but not stacked.

You can check Craigslist for your area and sometimes you find people listing free firewood, just have to cut and haul yourself. If I still had a truck I would be all over that!

[ET1 SS]

We pay $150/cord.

[Miz Mary]

My wood will be delivered today ! It's seasoned split and stacked by them when they get here !! ( Church kids ) $205 ....... $ 175 if they dont stack it ... mostly pine , I *think* .....

[DaleK]

I haven't sold anything cheaper than $215 for a full cord in years, mostly red oak, ash, elm and maple. That's in 3 cord loads, delivered. A single cord delivered is $230 and up.