Price of firewwood in USA

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Just wondering what the going price of a cord/ half cord was around the country. Here in NC, the going rate is 100 per cord (but they call a pickup load a cord), 50 for a half. They charge 40 to stack it and add mileage for delivery. Although there are some good wood sellers that dont stoop to these hidden charges to make people pay more (and mad).

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 22, 2001

Answers

We don't have to buy wood, but every year around the fall, the local paper prints an article detailing exactly what a real cord of wood consists of, and the difference between it and a "face cord". Also they tell how to look for seasoned wood. You're right, there are a lot of cheaters out there, and people need to look out for themselves.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), December 22, 2001.

Here in Upstate NY, we pay $140 a cord delivered (full cords). That's the cheapest we have heard of (recomended by our chimney sweep). Most of the advertisements run about $160 - $175 delivered.

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), December 22, 2001.

Kevin here in se,ks. i get 70.00 per rick for hedge (osage orange) i cut mine 20 to 22 inches thats about as big as most folks can get in their stove. i charge 10.00 more for seasoned at least i year old. im cutting my own for next year now ill store it in the barn as i take this years out. that sounds high but did you ever cut hedge? regular wood like oak and others go for 40.00 to 50.00 rick. Bob se.ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@kans.com), December 22, 2001.

I understand a cord of wood is 4x4x4x8' Acord will not fit into a pickup. Around here depening on type of wood it runs $175-225.00 per cord (not stacked) sometimes they want more for delivery. Got you coming and going They put ad in paper in late fall for these prices and say if you would oder in spring cheaper but, can't get ahold of woodmen that early in year either don't anser phone or diccpnnted

-- Rich in No.Calif (goodeillkr@aol.com), December 23, 2001.

$65.00 a cord delivered and stacked. Aged Live oak. Daryll

-- Daryll in NW FLA (twincrk@hotmail.com), December 23, 2001.


$25.00 per rick, delivered, not stacked. Good dry hardwood. He can bring us 3 ricks on a huge pickup AND trailor. A cord is 4 ricks. A cord can not fit on a pickup. Half a cord might fit on a pickup with cattle racks on it.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), December 23, 2001.

Jeezs:) This topic reads as if too many folks are forming opinions made on TV and Newspapers by reporters who never drop a tree or split wood.

I have a F-250 and Ram 2500, both can, do and will haul a cord. They are not toys they have full size beds to haul. I can place a full size 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of whatever between the fender wells and close the tail gate..Hmmm Pick up can't haul a full cord of wood? It can if it is a work truck. Set a stake bed on and load it.

Also a rick can be any thing you want it to be.. I don't con with Rick. He is a thief. But a rick which is define as a face cord is 1/3 of a cord cut in 16 inch lengths. That cord is 3 rows wide. Cutting 18 inch lengths is a different cat to stack!

I think a wood chopper is in the most dangerous profession there is. So many novice get a chainsaw and they become instant loggers..That is so scary..JR

-- JR (jr3star@earthlink.net), December 23, 2001.


Green firewood, cut and split, hardwood, delivered but not stacked, runs $100 to $120 a cord in southern Maine. I've never seen an ad up here for "ricks" or half-cords or face cords. No one would buy it, I'd guess. Yeah, you can fit a cord into a full-sized pickup truck with stake sides, but I wouldn't want to try to drive it. A full cord of hardwood is HEAVY, and you'd best have heavy-duty shocks, reinforced springs, and a death wish. Most I'd want to haul on a regular basis is half to 3/4 of a cord. I've been buying and hauling firewood for more than 20 years, and I've never met a dealer who used a pickup truck.

-- Cash (Cash@andcarry.com), December 23, 2001.

Here in north central Wisconsin the average rate is $30 a per face and 100-$130 per cord,and thats pick up.Merry Christmas.

-- Dave (duckthis1@maqs.net), December 23, 2001.

Right on cash:) I go a hundred percent with cash and carry the only way to go. Load the truck and load the trailer. Charge mileage same any one in the Shipping and Handling delivery business will do. If it is to be stacked out back,( two hundred yards behind barn and push the wheel barrow..Then we go on the prevailing hourly rate :)

My mileage rate is first 5 miles free..$1.00 per mile after that. Why do wood customers expect all the freebies and then bad mouth a wood cutter? And I can say that because I give away more wood than I sell too. JR

-- JR (jr3star@earthlink.net), December 23, 2001.



The paper runs the article every year because people get taken every year (buying a face cord, which is one stack of wood, probably 4x4 or 4x8, not the 4x4x8 which was mentioned above for what a full cord should go for).

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), December 23, 2001.

We've never bought wood, but keep our eyes open for folks wanting to get rid of fallen trees. We pack up the "workers" -just parents and kids- and head off for a day, or a few hours of hauling wood. We were in desperate need of wood recently when we saw a sign for free wood just a mile from our house. After a couple days of hard work, we're ready for the winter.

-- c.d. (his4ever@mac.com), December 23, 2001.

Sorry, meant 4x4x4x8, when I was quoting another poster above.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), December 23, 2001.

I agree with CD. We've never paid for wood, just put the word out that you're willing to remove downed trees or even trees not close to buildings( that's just in case you figure your angle cut for falling the tree wrong Oops !) Word of mouth has been good for us, last year we were provided with enough wood for the next couple winters. Watch the free ads in your local paper, stop in and ask if you see a dead tree in a yard/ pasture, most of the time people are glad to have it taken down and hauled away. As for buying wood, here in central Montana it's about $100 for a pickup load, unstacked and $125 for a honest cord(4x4x8), stacked, but you have to do your shopping and know what a cord is. The equitment is money well spent and if taken care properly will last for years. Our saws and splitter( bought used) had paid for themselves after the first winter, that is compaired to buying the wood.

-- Kelle in MT (kvent1729@aol.com), December 23, 2001.

The local grocery store has 5 pcs of wood for 5.99! I laugh out loud every time I see someome buying a bundle.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), December 23, 2001.


Hello Kevin, A rick here is a 1/2 pickup truck filled. It runs about $40 bucks! More in the winter. We all know that a rick varies in size according to the "size" of the truck, but it takes about two ricks to make a cord. Least, that is what they say around here! I cut my own wood off my land and there are plenty of landowners around that will give you the "downed" trees or leftovers from their logging for free. You should be able to connect with someone in your area to do the same. I think people who have to pay for their firewood should not have woodstoves. The fuel and the inconvience of moving it and stacking it could outweigh the "economy" of using the woodstove in the first place.

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), December 23, 2001.


I appreciate the responses. I tend to agree with "if you have to buy it, you shouldnt burn it" but there are those folks in town that dont have acess to firewood. I am selling firewood this winter. I AM NOT ADVERTISING here- I sell a cord (which is 128 cubic feet or 4 by 4 by 8 feet) for a hundred- split, stacked and delivered. I run a 16 foot double axle trailer with 6 foot sides. Two cords on it make the tires do not good things and is hard for my van to pull. Since the trailer is 6 foot wide, I stack pieces end to end, 7 foot long by 3 feet high- which is (I believe) 126 cu feet- close enough. I agree a pickup can fit a cord if it has stake sides, but the weight would make it hard to handle. I guess I am selling too cheap. I sell and have sold quite a few 1/2 cords at 60 each to folks in town, and a few full cords to folks in the suburbs. I did have one guy accuse me of not having a full cord and short change me (he said I had a half cord, not a cord and I was steamed!), but next time someone tries it,I will reload the trailer and go home. Just thought I d check my/ NCs prices VS nation wide and see what was what.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 24, 2001.

$6 for a plastic wrapped small armload sold outside of the grocery stores anywhere yuppies live. ; )

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), December 24, 2001.

I don't think the $5-6 per bundle is aimed so much at yuppies as it is towards people who are going camping (you never know 'til you get there half the time if wood is available to purchase) or to a picnic at a park.

I also agree that if you have to buy it, it is dumb to have a woodstove or fireplace in the first place. We have a fireplace insert, and we cut and burn the wood from the trees on our property when they fall. The fireplace is nice, but there are certainly cleaner and more efficient ways to heat.

I will say that if temps in the area go into the 30's or below on a regular basis during the winter, it is wrong to build houses without fireplaces (even though the fan is useless when the power's out) to use when the electric goes out, since you can't use any of the newer natural gas appliances either due to the built in safeguards. No electric, no ignition.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), December 24, 2001.


the bundles outside the grocery store and convenience stores near me aren't being bought for camping. Most houses, even apartments here have fireplaces that only get used a few times a year. They move quite a bit of those bundles around this time of year.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), December 24, 2001.

Really, apartments with fireplaces? I can only shudder to think what it costs for the owner to insure those places (some friends had rental houses and their insurance company told them to seal up the chimneys and remove the woodstoves or no insurance--not only possibility of fire damage by tenants but some people don't understand about not storing wood near your house). They wound up putting in electric baseboard heat.

We have hardly ever bought wood for camping, as we usually had access to free pallets. I wouldn't say that it is necessarily yuppies (from your post I got that you meant people with more money than sense) buying it, it may just be an issue of not having a place to store the extra wood safely, and if you are only burning a couple of times during the winter for "atmosphere", you aren't breaking the bank buying wood that way for a special treat. Better than having it sit around and attracting termites.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), December 24, 2001.


yeah, actually alot of the walled communities and apt complexes have rules about storing firewood outside. It was that way also back east with suburbia homeowners associations.

I bet half the fireplaces down here don't get used at all. In developed areas here I've noticed almost all of these walled communities and apts have them. Most all of the newer construction down here are walled communities. Along with the community pools, etc it's just another amenity they can use as an excuse to run the price of things up.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), December 24, 2001.


I've never brought wood for camping. I usually only carry what I can get in and on my pack. Part of the fun of camping is gathering enough wood to last the night.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), December 24, 2001.

You must be lucky enough to be camping where you can still do that (gather wood). Many of the parks no longer allow that, and don't even allow open fires much anymore. Big fines if they catch you.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), December 24, 2001.

"If you have to buy it, you shouldn't burn it". ???

We've only have our outdoor wood furnace for heat. We do get allot of our own wood, but we do end up buying some towards the end of winter. We have 12 acres of pasture. Where we gonna get wood? We get all the free stuff we can manage, but golly, it takes a whole day to go cut up and bring home a half cord of wood. Plus the wear and tear on my truck. For the 50 dollars a half cord costs, it's cheaper to buy it. Steve makes 100 a day at work.

Plus the wood we buy is from a friend who has contracts to clean out the woods at various places. And to have a contract, you have to cut allot of wood and haul it out. We can't do that. Plus it's all hardwoods. Why not support and buy wood from those who make a living at it? No different than other home-based businesses, is it?

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), December 25, 2001.


Cindy, those of us who take that point of view are referring to people whose homes have other sources of heat (electric, gas, etc.) besides a fireplace, not the situation you describe having only an outdoor wood furnace.

If you do have another source of heat, and you cost it out (your time x your normal hourly wage) chopping the "free wood" on your own property vs cost per kilowatt hour, or btw (for natural gas?), or however you measure oil for oil furnaces (never had one, so don't know), etc. you will probably find that heating with wood is not the cheapest way to go, unless you have an all-electric house in an area with very high electric costs. Just a thought.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), December 25, 2001.


Here in lower Michigan it seems to vary. We get most of ours free for the cutting. But will buy pick up loads for 25.00, thats seasoned, split mixed hardwoods.

-- Suzanne (weir@frontiernet.net), December 26, 2001.

I have purchased semi-loads of 100-inch oak logs from pulpwood loggers. The loggers do not want the oak for pulpwood and the wood isn't of sufficient quality for sawlogs. Consequently, it is sold as firewood. A semi load is 10 loggers cords (4 ft x 4 ft x 100 inches) and costs me from $300 to $400 per load delivered. I will cut, split and season the oak and sell if for three or more times what I paid for it. --Happy trails, Cabin Fever

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), December 26, 2001.

In west central Wisconsin, we have been paying $400 a truckload for mixed hardwoods (usually almost all oak), 8foot stuff, delivered, 8 cord to a load. Our farm is so hilly that we would have to carry firewood up hills from the creek bottoms, and after trying it the first year or two we lived here, we have been buying our firewood ever since. A load is usually 2 years wood for us.

Jim

-- jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), December 26, 2001.


Here in Alturas, Calif a cord of Juniper at late summer goes between 80-100, during the fall about 105, now in January (if you can find some) between 130 to as high as 225.

-- Bill Scott (billscotthobbyshop@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.

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