WinonaRail's Wood Yard

Congrats on the sales buZZsaw BRAD! It was a pretty lackluster weekend for sales at the roadside stand. I ended up at $240, which isn't bad. All but $10 sold before Saturday. It was definitely lower than the 4th of July and Memorial Day. I sold another $80 in loose stacks on Wednesday so I'm hoping for a decent week.

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I discovered another gift in the wood yard. 3 big pieces will get moved to the back of the property. Should still leave probably a face cord of nice wood after I get it processed.

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congrats nothing on the 1/4 cord. Called the guy late morning. He said they wanted to get more than that for some winter burning. I then quoted for 1/2 cord. He said he'd call back and never did.
Im still pizzed. I was going to bring it right away last week but he didnt have cash. He wasnt around over the weekend and said no rush and needed by the 17th.
Oh well! Still have my bundle order this weekend.

 

Some nice primo sugar maple. Havent cut a load of wood myself in a couple weeks and am jonesing to do so. She is dog sitting this weekend so that gives me time to do so. Woohoo!

 

I'm sure there are plenty of people needing wood for you to sell to. It'll be interesting if he calls later in the season when he's out of wood and needs more ASAP.

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My neighbor that I often do work for texted me with a problem. A tree went down across his trail. I'd already cut up one stem of the same tree when it went down. A storm finished it off. I was getting a little low on cherry for my smoking wood rack so this will help. I still need to pull the tops out. There's plenty more wood in them.

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Guy ive worked for a few times this year ordered a 1/4 cord for his daughter. Dropped this afternoon. Old two year inventory. Though the road they lived on was ironic. No hickory in this load though.
Debating on whether or not to keep the 1/4 cord ad up or not. One of my regulars called for her first half cord while i was loading this. She gets three halfs during the burning season.

 

Seems simple enough. If you have the wood and are able, keep the ad! I only advertise the smaller quantities because I'm always worrying about running out of wood.

 

Here's a roadside firewood stand update. I had a guy pull up Saturday afternoon wanting to buy a truckload. No such option at the roadside stand. He told me he had $150 to spend. How could I refuse? I loaded him up with what I had staged to refill the stand, then brought another IBC tote up to finish filling the truck. I told him $130 (looked to be about a face cord tossed in and heaped a bit). He gave me $140. Sunday my stand was nearly wiped out. I had to go back to the drying yard for more wood to fill it up. I ended up with almost $350 for the week and didn't have to deliver a stick of it. Anybody that says you can't be successful with roadside stands simply doesn't have a clue.

 

Thats awesome Gary! Keep it filled!

I did a 30 bundle delivery last week to a store regular. With it he had 40+ in the stand. Texts me yesterday and he sold out. Bringing him 45 tomorrow.

Delivered and stacked 3/4 cord for another regular. Didnt need a full cord. Tis the season.

 

Keeping it filled is the challenge! I try to work on firewood a little almost every day but having enough seasoned inventory on hand is what I struggle with. Sounds like your bundles are flying off the shelves! Keep that store customer happy!

 

X2 for bundles mostly. I have 2+ cord dry ready for bundle orders. I figure this will hold me til years end. Have another couple that will be close after new years. Couple stacks of bundle quality wood at storage that have been baking in the hot sun for 2-3 months. Some dead ash bucked and standing dead ready to harvest in my woods too.

Wood gets "graded" when split. Bundle quality, general cordage, high btu, multi-year drying or "exotic".
Most SS wood goes for bundles. General cordage are hardwood splits that arent "perfect".
Just split some primo sugar maple that will go for bundles 9-12 months from now. The seconds came here for a half cord rack that was delivered last week. Have an empty 2+ cord shed for bundle wood next door to storage. Gets to be a PITA sometimes. Lucky you have one location to do it all.

I delivered 45 bundles late today and ten went right away. His rack was empty. (holds 50+ bundles) He says bring more. Ill deliver 30 (standard order) this weekend.

 

I don't have enough hours in a day to do what you do! Our strategies are pretty similar. I stack directly into IBC totes as I split. I have 2 side by side. Choice, straight, bark free splits go into bundle wood. Everything else is bulk wood (mixed hardwoods). I separate oak, hickory, cherry, mulberry and locust. Most of that will be smoking wood. I probably have about 4 cords CSS total, in various stages of seasoning. I really need about 5 more.

 

I texted a tree service buddy earlier this week. I've had nothing dropped off for a couple months and my log inventory is starting to run low. I found a present when I got home. Not much wood but it all helps. I have no idea why there are so many cookies.

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Nice load! Getting random length wood i imagine you must generate lots of cookies/shorts etc. These sold or burned?

 

Indeed I do. Pretty much all I burn is the punky stuff. I've had fairly good success filling IBC totes with shorts and uglies and selling those. Most of it gets split in half or quartered so I don't have a lot of time in it. I have 1 tote seasoned and ready to go. I think I have a customer for it. Another tote is full and should be ready to burn in the spring. I've been working on cleaning the piles up and can probably load 2 more totes right away.

 

Thats great. An annoying by product of the way we get our inventory, but gets put to good use. Have a one cord one almost filled for next year. In my case its nice to have one to fill as i generate them.
Have a half cord one listed for sale and another couple here i have to list. I had a couple regulars for them but now want normal splits. Two new customers from last Winter that were happy with them and wonder if they will be repeats. Problem is they were farther out of my range. I have another one cord bin filled with primo hardwoods...mostly black & honey locust and sugar maple. Filled Summer of 2020 and debating on whether to list it now or next year given the fact HL needs multiple years to dry from what ive heard on here. I gave this cord some TLC in filling and covering right away. Already have some hickory, black & honey locust nuggets to refill so more than likely it will get listed soon.

How's your business going?

 

I've had some success selling "nuggets" to the people that want a "truckload" of wood. Tossed in a 275 gallon tote, it should yield about 1/4 cord, which is about the right amount. If they don't like it, they can buy my "premium" splits.

I've been talking to several bulk firewood sellers about buying pickup loads of split seasoned wood. I hope to get my first load this weekend. The business plan is flipping firewood. I'll check MC before they unload. I may have to resplit a few pieces but most should be ready to sell. I've turned several people away lately that want to buy face cords/truck loads because I don't have the seasoned inventory to sell to them and keep the roadside stand full so I'm going to try this. If I can keep 2X 330 gallon totes and 2X 275 gallon totes on hand for bulk orders, I'll have a little breathing room while I keep splitting and stacking what's left of my log inventory.

My other venture is moving more seriously into smoking and cooking wood. I make nice. straight barkless splits from heartwood of oak, cherry and hickory. I have a good bit of mulberry I need to split as well. I plan to cut those in half with my miter saw and bag them as premium competition smoking wood. I've done 16" bundles before but the bags are new territory for me. It will be a new rack to add to the roadside stand (aka firewood supermarket). That's what's going on!

 

The saw stable had added a new family member. I snagged this Echo on Amazon for a smoking good deal. It came yesterday so I had to try it out this morning. The small load of ash dropped off by a tree service seemed like a good way to break it in. I'm impressed! It made quick work of the small pile.

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Had a little different setup while splitting today. I was pulling wood from 3 different racks to fill a tote of mixed hardwoods.

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