firewood measurements

For selling fire wood pounds don't have anything to do with it .Only cf .For pulp they have a formula for mixed hard wood or oak and other woods that x # ton =cord or x#ton = bf doyle, international or scriber .Doyle is used here .Depending on water content of the wood makes a diffrence on you or the mill getting the short end of the stick . We buy and sell loge here using doyle . Some are wanting to buy on ton formula sometime it is good sometime it is bad according to size of logs for intended purpose Clear as mud I know I deal with this all time

greencountypete you brought back memories Lots of years ago we were logging in a bottom an our tree cutter decided to load his pickup going home one night .It was a long wheel base step side he loaded it some what like you said ,the bumper was dragging that ridge of rocks down in the gravel road Them tires were mashed i mean mashed he got to a gas station an decided he needed air .Well those tires were hot almost that cold air went in those hot tires and it sounded like ten pounds of T N T went off i waved an kept going They said they like to never got it jacked up. Think a turtle could passed him on the road

I think the root of the problem with buying firewood is that it's much more difficult to determine heating value than with other fuels. With propane, fuel oil, electricity I know exactly how much BTUs I am getting per dollar. With firewood you have to deal with the variables of species, moisture content, condition of the wood (is is part rotten), how it's split, how it's stacked, whether the bark is on or off, whether the pieces are all straight or are curves and crotches, etc. Any way you try to look at it (weight, volume, truckloads, etc) you are going to have some variance from load to load. It's just the nature of firewood.

So I think the best approach is find a seller you can trust to get you good quality wood, dried properly if that's what you're paying for, and pay him a fair price for it. And by all means if you're buying for the first time from someone, inspect it before paying. If you try to shop around for the cheapest price from whoever, you're going to get cheated in one way or another.

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cfab 100% right Here they use to haul an unexpting not knowing a load of sweet gum fresh cut won't split for zip and you might drown trying to burn it .

as for weight differance i can hand you 2 logs same size with a 10 pound difference between them that is for seasond hard would logs i fould give you a dry pine log weight 6 pounds and the same sized peice of green mulberry just cut and it will be 30-35 pounds
pounds

All those variables are why I prefer to buy by the pound ,moisture corrected.
Pound for pound ALL wood is VERY close in BTUs.
In fact Pound for pound MOST things are very close in BTUs.
Species makes a difference in HOW wood burns but not much in the heat per pound.

I use to bring firewood back to Mass. from our camp in Maine when I went up on the weekends and mix in a little Rock maple that I bought from a local logger Friend with the 260 cords I bought and cut from the State in mass.
It paid for the gas and a little extra .
In Maine the Forestry Dept. sets up a booth every year at the Fryburg Fair of a 4 x 4x 8 round wood stack . They then cut , splits and stack it . leaving them around 100 to 107 cu. ft .
Maine considers this a Legal Cord for cut , split and stacked firewood .
In Mass. I had to deliver a 4 x 4 x 8 pile of cut and split , So I was buying 106 cu . ft. and selling 128 cu. ft. I don't like to lose money if I can help it . ?????
Bob
In the early eighty's I sold it for $185 a cord , today it is going for as much as $ 360 if You can find some .

Bandit come on down .Just finishing a job lots of oak, cherry an all kinds tree tops .Most are left in the woods . When i buy a track i give anyone fire wood that wants it no takers so far

How do you buy your wood? Do you have scales, or does the seller? How do you sub-sample the wood for moisture content? Do you get the MC when its delivered? Does he wait around for you to get the MC, and you pay him based on that?

Around here (Wisconsin) most firewood is sold by cord or face-cord. Face-cord is whatever length it was cut to. If I told a firewood provider that I wanted to buy based on weight, I'd get laughed off of the phone. They have enough people buying by the cord that they wouldn't even bother with me. Maybe if I needed a pulp truck load full they might run it across the scales for me... problem is I only need 2 cords of dry split oak for the season.

Wisconsin's state commerce definition is:
(2) “Cord” means the amount of firewood that, when ranked
and well stowed, occupies a space of 128 cubic feet, or a pile four
feet by eight feet by four feet.

Michael

Hi Jim
Thanks for the offer , I just might take You up on it ,I have only been to Tn. once a few years ago to visit a friend in Finger Tn. Beautiful country , they filmed Walking Tall on his Road , and You can recognize the Houses in the movie , once You are looking for them .
Let's see , if I Bondo up a car and tow it down on My new 9000 lb. Cam Superline car hauler , I can trade it in for a " Rust Free Truck " fill the bed up with Your Firewood , and bring it back to New England to sell .
Is there anything else I can bring down to You ? I use to ship the friend in Tn. car parts , and another in Utah that has Me ship Him Marshmallow Fluff .
Bob

Bandit a new sawmill would be nice heat an air cab too Been awhile since i was at Finger Tn

Jim
You probably have been through it recently , You just didn't see it , I almost didn't .
I hope You have some kind of shelter over the saw mill ? or at least a small cab .
I helped My Buddy in maine put a small tent over the operators station on His Prentek ( now Multitek )Processor .
Jim , What kind of Mill do You Have ?
Bob
Ps
At the local Navy base , they have been auctioning off " Self Contained Radio Pods " Would one of those work ?
I can get them really cheap
http://store.colemans.com/cart/shelt...ns-p-1693.html

If your stack in uneven you need to measure each dimension in several spots and then find the average of each------ height, length, and width.


height X width X length
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divided by 128 = "N" cords


What you should need to pay is "N" times your 'Full Cord' price.

Once while living in another state I found firewood to be about five times what I was used to paying.

I saw a huge timber cutting outfit working a large tract about ten miles from me. I stopped and asked him questions. I asked him where he took it once cut etc. I then went there under the false pretense I was going to be cutting my land and wanted the prices being paid.

Then I went back to the timber outfit and made him an offer that was about half again as much as the mill was giving him.

Then we had THREE semi loads of firewood for about one fifth the cost if we had bought it pre cut etc. Had the trucks pull in and just drop it right out in the pasture.

I didnt keep count on the number of cords we got out of it. But we heated two winters with what we kept. Gave some to friends in need. And left a huge stack when we sold the place.

Bandit Got the mill inside it's a Corley hand set 52" headsaw 575 rpm.Want one with all the bells an whistles .To stay some on track I cut the slab thick when sawing 7x9 tyes then use those for fire wood alot of times .This way i get out of most of the wood splitting .Sell lots to tabacco farmers here to fire their barns with an the sawdust too.

I have never seen firewood for sale by the pound. Only by the volume - cord, half cord, pickup. Weight is entirely too variable depending on species and seasoning. You'd pay more for fresh cut softwoods than well-seasoned oak.

Stack your wood, measure it out and you should have 128 cubic feet of wood.

That's a cord of wood - 128 cu. ft.

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Hi Jim
I just took a look at the Corley Mills , nice looking mill's , i see they are just a little bigger than those Alaska Chain Saw Mill's . LOL
When I was living in Maine , during the mud season , My Boss/Buddy pointed to a pile of scrap metal , He bought at a auction , said it was a Lane saw mill , if You get stuck , there is one two towns over .
Bob

How do I do It? Usually I go with Cfabe's method and look at a pile and say Ill give you X amount.
When I was buying a lot of wood we would have the truck run across a scale, we would just use whatever one was handy usually a Grain elevater scale.
Its a lot Easer than stacking a semiload of wood.
We had a moisture tester that was a electric device with 2 prongs that stuck out. At first we would Split a few randum sticks of wood and test them but it didnt take long before I could estimate moisture pretty close
It took the moisture content instantly.
Since our deal was for "Well seasoned Firewood" As long as it was less than 15% we paid for the wood if it was more we would reject it.