Those who sell seasoned oak/other hard woods and say they run out.........

I've read a few posts about firewood sellers "running out" of firewood. I'm assuming you mean run out of seasoned wood?? By seasoned I mean under 20% INTERNAL moisture. I'd assume if you ran out of wood all together you wouldn't have any to sell for another 2-4 years before you get your supply built up and seasoned enough in order to sell as seasoned...? If not, I have no idea how you guys are actually selling oak that is under 20% when it was just c/s/s in the past year. Maybe if they are split in super small pieces and stacked in the sun and in the open so the wind gets to it.....or a solar kiln type of setup. Those who store it in pile form before selling it, I call BS.....and double BS to those who store it that way and sell it 8 months later.

I started selling off some of my seasoned oak (6-7 years old) in order to make room. I plan on only selling when I have in order to make room for more though, as I want to continue to burn EMC wood. Going off of what numerous customers have told me, trying to actually find properly seasoned firewood is nearly impossible. I've sold to a few who have downdraft gassers as well as a few who have cat stoves. A few of them drove up to 4 hours round trip to buy from me. That's how frustrated they were with the wood market around here. One guy showed up with his own moisture meter and had been to a few other sellers before me, all of them had over 20% wood. In fact when he showed up I could tell he was not in a good mood and his body language was telling me he was expecting another dis-honest seller. His tune changed as soon as he took a random split, re-split it and tested it for himself. In fact, he just came and got another load last week. He has a cat stove.

 

Sounds good. I could take a year or 2 off from splitting and not risk running out of seasoned wood to sell, or heat my house for a decade.

 

The wood market, given time will sort itself out.

 

Dishonest people don't stay in business long. Word gets out and they have less or no return customers. Can only last so long on new customers.

 

Keep doing what you're doing. Clearly it's working well. I never run out of seasoned wood (I buy more if I need to). I rarely sell oak (because it takes too long to dry) and I can have most anything else below 20% in 6 months stacking in IBC totes, top covered in full sun. Yes, I check with a moisture meter. And I use solar kilns in the summer. I process for production and quick turnover. Most people don't. If it's tossed in a pile, it just takes time.

 

Any oak i sell is at least two years CSS. Ive been using some two year old heartwood splits to mix in bundles. It was just under 20%. The half cord i delivered couple weekends ago was half oak and half hickory from Fall 2019. I wont sell oak thats less than two years CSS.

The three customers i sell oak to have love it saying its the best burning wood they've had. All are burning with stoves. One is a good friend who gets only heartwood with no bark. I normally wont sell oak to "casual" burners.

Ive seen the same around here JRHAWK9 when it comes to "seasoned" oak. Fresh split from so called "dry" logs.

 

How quick oak seasons is all about your climate, cutting and splitting, and storage practices. Middle Tn had about 80 days over 90 degrees last Summer with little rain, low humidity and a lot of windy days. Only two snow days and two days of freezing rain and about 4 days of below 32 degrees weather this winter. So very conducive weather for seasoning firewood. My moisture meter dictates when I sell my firewood. So you sellers in the NE and upper Midwest may need a lot more time to get your oak and hickory below 20%. I was cutting, splitting and stacking today in my shorts, tank top and boony hat. What were you wearing today?

 

Jeans and t shirt above 40 through on a hoodie before sun came up it was frosty..​

 

IF I were to work outside today, muck boots and a long sleeve Sweatshirt.

since there’s 40*F temps forecast and 2’ of snow melting, I’ll work in the shop in a t-shirt instead.

 

Yes, the less heat you have, the longer it takes to dry out the wood. We average around 30 days of 90 plus each summer. This last summer we had almost 40 of them. Full sun and wind exposure out in the middle of a field also helps speed things up. If the sun is shining, my wood piles are in it. One year I had a bunch of dead oak in our woods. Didn't feel like taking them all out into the field so I did what I normally do but in a small clearing in the woods. The results were less than impressive.

 

Great day for drying firewood. Wind was blowing 20-30 with gusts to 40 at 65 degrees. Lots of crude in the eyeballs though.

 

Dew point compared to air temp is important too obviously.

 

Boy, I dunno...from what I see, when one guy "goes out of business" it seems like 3 new ones replace him....that and some people (a lot!) literally don't know what dry wood is (or won't pay the extra $ that truly dry wood commands) and just continue to buy green/wet, so the cycle continues.

 

The 'buyer's market'.

People around me selling 'seasoned' wood must be on benefits for as little as they charge for back breaking work?

 

One thing I hear from people inquiring with me the first time is "my last guy didn't charge nearly that much." I always chuckle and politely say they probably went out of business because they didn't make enough.

 

I’ve had a few say they use my wood to burn their green wood, or you need a big chunk of wet wood for the overnight fire as he points to blocks of swamp soaked Poplar. Dry wood burns too fast! 3 years drying is too long.
I recently learned that bark causes creosote buildup. Is that in the firewood resource center? It should probably be amended before someone gets hurt.

 

I agree. I drive by a guy who sells wood. Been selling for years. He has a tree service dump logs and he C/S them sometime directly onto his dump truck. I never see stacks or any type of drying going on. The wood goes rather fast. Everyone who buys my wood say its the best theyve had including BL. Not bragging just stating fact.

 

I like your facts Brad. Facts are good. With the exception of the guy who owns a large campground, all my customers are return customers. If you sell a good product at a good price they always come back. When I am out of dry oak I stop selling it’s as simple as that. I have no problems getting oak under 20% in two years in my climate. I don’t cut live trees only cut downfalls or standing dead.

I would never cut a live standing oak to turn it into firewood. I turn those into saw logs. $$$$$

 

Not happening for me here. I'm in Sauk County. My stacks are also in a valley in the woods.

 

New Hampshire extension office says 30% is seasoned wood. I recall another northern state office have 40% listed as seasoned.

A lot easier to sell seasoned wood if your state has it specifically called out at higher % moisture content.