im sold out

willietd2

last year i sold fire wood for 110.00 a cord and had a little left over. this year i priced it at 140.00 a cord and im already sold out. i guess the gas prices has got people fed up. oh well were still cutting for next year. willie

shaggs

G'day Willi,
I guess SOME price rises are good.
In Australia we sell firewood by the cubic meter. Some even state that we have to sell it by the tonne, as this is a more measurable figure for the customer.
Just to clarify, what is the conversion from cord to cubic meter?? Anyone?
All the american firewood processor advertise their machinery this way.

treestyle

where you getting the wood? from arb type work? forestry or you just clean felling land for fire wood?

Thanks

Eric Frei

Here's an online conversion tool

Cords to Cubic Meters Conversion Calculator

And 1 cords = 3.62455636 cubic meters

A cord is 128 cubic feet of wood stacked tightly. This is typically stacked 4? high by 4? wide by 8? long (4X4X8).

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Eric Frei

Down in Sydney and Melbourne, how much do you get on average for m3 of say ironbark or red gum?

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shaggs

Treestyle, the wood comes from tree removals. We dont cut trees specifically for firewood, its just a by product that we store and sell. Obviously some trees are better than others and depends on the tree removal site and time if we chip the lot or block it for firewood.
Per m3 of firewood, cut, dried, split and delivered...$100 mixed hardwood to $140 ironbark and good hardwoods.
I have heard of people paying up to $200m3 for premium hardwoods for specific applications such as woodfired pizza shops with specific size requirements.
Every now and then we have a "weird" request, ie radiata pine because he liked the crackling, or camphor because they liked the aroma!!!!

Steve Tipton

We charge $80 M3 picked up plus $20 delivery ie; 1 M3 $100, 4 M3 $340

newguy18

I sold a 1/8 cord for $10 today.It was all mayberry,chokecherry,cedar,and some pecan.If its not pine people will buy it.

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old schooler

Drouin Tree Service

around $100 m down here or local gum $80.

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newguy18

how does gum burn compared to other wood?

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Eric Frei

Dried gum is generally good. Ironbark is PREMO, nice and hot, lasts well.

The word around town on gum is if it's red inside then she's a thumbs up, if it's that white crap like Cadaghi or Flooded Gum ... not so good!

Another common one that burns hot and slow, black wattle, hard as concrete to cut the bugger too.

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newguy18

okay just wondering.

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bigshea13

here in ny they sell it primarily by face cord. thats only 4x8 for 40 cut split and dried. most everyone up this way has a woodstove.

shaggs

Like you said Ekka, black wattle is a great timber for burning...especially if the borers have been thru it!!!!
Trouble we find is, unless the timber has the words "box" or "ironbark" in them the customers wont buy it!! Ahh well, just have to keep them for myself.

Therrin

I've got a whole yard of stuff that's seasoning
(the advantages to living on someone's ranch)

Yesterday I sold half a cord of beautifully seasoned Heritage Oak for $150.
I've a client who has several dead on her property, and, she even went and obtained all the permits!!

treevet

Wondered what kind of permits she had to get Therrin? No such thing around here. I ve had people complain when I am removing a structurally shot tree in my town. My response is to call the city to see if they want to give an opinion and they don t even call back as I m sure they don t want to be liable if tree crashes. They don t have anyone w any background to make a judgement but I am sure they would pass even if they did for fear of liability.

windthrown

Hell, $140 a cord is CHEAP! That is what wood was here last year. This year its up to $190. In Portland it up to $300!!!! I have 2 truckloads of logs felled from a thinning project we are doing here, but I am going to cut it up into firewood, as that is more valuable than selling it for lumber. Timber prices are way down around here right now. Mills are laying off.

olyman

thinking of this--maybe i should buy a box trailer to put behind my brothers semi---and haul a whole load of split and dried ash out your way-----that same load around here sells for 50.00!!!!!!

Therrin

Treevet,
We have to get permits from the county in order to do any work at all on "heritage oaks" (quercus chrysolepis) here in California. It's similar with the mansanita's as well.

Ya call a county inspector to come verify, and they give ya a permit.

For the stuff I got permitted, they needed to check and make sure that the tree was naturally dead; checkin to see if it had been poisoned and such. It'd been dead for 6 years or so, they gave it the okay.

I'm sure its the same in other places with other trees. Ca is just a picky state to live in.


One of the guys up there cuts his own, and if they ask him he just says "what? this old chokecherry bush? I need a what for it?" and they leave him alone, no fines/charges levied. <shrugs>

Then again, a neighbor down the road a ways was clearing some property, about 5 acres worth, and cut out several of them. Someone found out and he got slapped with a $30K fine. So I don't fork around with them =)

treevet

Thanks for reply Therrin, ordinances are only as good as the quality of and inclination to inforce them. We (I am on my city's urban forestry board) are currently working on a new city urban forestry ordinance and I think we are unanimous on having permits that require all work to be done or supervised by a certified arborist. It is not a huge level of knowledge but is a good starting and qualifying criteria. Even if just removing dead trees, it is not unusual to see a black walnut or bald cypress, etc. that is just in early dormancy get cut down.Dead limb removal may result in spike marks all over or huge sprouted stubs left or big flush cutted gashed tears down the side of the stem.

Therrin

<nods> That sounds pretty cool that they're serious about it over there.

The one I took out had a rotten section I could've stood inside, and most of the rounds down to about 2 foot off the ground were 24" dia hollow inside. Below that the wood was so rotted I could crush it with my hand. And that's oak. Was obviously dead, showing signs of evisceration, lividity, and no pulse. (emt joke)
H.o. thought I'd do it for FREE (and made sure I knew it) saying that in the valley here oak sels for $500 a cord! and that if anything, I should pay *her* to remove it. I almost walked away but she ended up settling at a fair price once I told her that with as rotten as most of it was, I'd have a hard time giving it away.

As for the two that I deadwooded at a place just up the road, I stressed over them for a week, finished one, and referred h.o. to a qualified guy for the other. Don't touch the live oaks now, they're too amazing and pretty for someone inexperienced with them like me. He paid upfront earlier and I actually gave money back for the other one. I could tell he was pissed though cuz it's gonna cost him a piece to get someone else out to do it.
<shrugs> what can ya do, ya know?

treevet

Therrin, what made you turn the other oak down? Was there a lot of technical rigging? You sound like a very honest person. People will try to take advantage of that sometimes (take tree down for free) but in the long run it works and you gotta live with yourself.

newguy18

Yeah i know what you mean about live oaks therein.I'll have to get a pic of a big one in town that branches over 2 houses,a fence and utilities.That would definatly make for an intresting removal.It would either have to be a crane job or spend a day maybe a day and a half piecing it out small theres no room to rig it.

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Therrin

Hah, I LOVE rigging up technical / difficult stuff!!! That wasn't it...

The problem is with my lack of skill in pruning. I'm not an "arborist" and have no official arboreal related training. I can tell what's dead, but as far as how and where to cut, I was practically guessing on the first one, and I *really* hope that I got it close, cuz I kinda fell in love with those oaks while workin there.
As far as doing anymore thinning type of pruning, Pines are straightforward to me, I can look at it and just see it. Those gangly oaks just kinda throw me mentally, I have trouble deciding what needs to go.

I'll unhappily admit to being a "hack" when I started 5 years ago, but I've come a LONG way, and especially after gettin on the forum here I've really become more of a tree-hugger It kinda changed my whole philosophy on that stuff, so until I'm properly trained I don't even advertise pruning. 80% of my work is technical dismantling... which is fine, I love that type of stuff and I'm good at it.

A 160' dead pine leaning over someone's house doesn't bother me, if anything its more of a thrill/challenge, I love that stuff. But you ask me about pruning a 30' protected oak and I'm so afraid I'll it up that I just won't even attempt it anymore. I'm learning where my place is

There's no arborist programs that I could find within 100 miles =(

treevet

Therrin, the older the tree, the less live material should be removed from it. As for deadwood, natural target pruning cuts should be observed and an adherence to preventing injuries to the trunk from swing backs and dropping on the basal area and roots and causing wounds. You can do these things with the abilities you have and especially the sensitivity to trees you obviously have. If all your work mostly involves take downs you severely limit your work base as you can only cut them down one time. I would suggest Shigo's book on pruning as you cannot find any seminars in your area.

newguy18

also the isa certified arborist guide and the fundamentals of general tree work.If you don't have those 2 your missing out.

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treevet

Newguy, these 2 books you cite (although I have not read either but I have been a CA since the beginning in 1992) if they have any correct information on pruning in them, would be based onwhat you would find in Shigo's book. It is based on detailed research (he) did and contains no conjecture or supposition. Just trying to be helpful, I am here to learn also.

newguy18

The isa has a whole chapter on pruning but then again I haven't read dr. shigo's work either so maybe we should both expand our libraries.

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Bruce Hopf

I know this is an old thread, but was wondering the prices of fire wood in your areas, this year. Up here it goes from around $260.00 to $300.00 per cord (4' X 4' X 8', or 128 cubic feet) of mixed hard woods like Ash, and Maple. Bruce.

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