Clean wood

What’s your definition of clean wood? Got a call today from a guy wanting a cord of clean wood. He seemed to be real concerned with whether or not it’s clean.
Clean it’s not covered in dirt and debris or clean it doesn’t have pieces of loose bark falling off?
The wood is going to a high end golf course community kinda like Nashville except folks are not wearing Stetsons and Luccheses.
I’m imagining these folks are real particular about wood bits mussing up the floors.
IMO you can’t get dry wood without a little derby being involved.

 

I drug test each split to be sure it's clean. I let a little Mary Jane pass though.

 

I have had this before, it was mainly about dried mud, clay, gravel, stuck to the wood.

Myself it is clean if I don't have to dig it out of the swamp lol.

 

Load the truck and run through the car wash before you deliver it.

 

I am thinking they don’t want wood that has mud and crap on it if they where concerned with bark falling of they should or would have asked for bark less and yes I see a guy by me advertising he has bark less firewood and he charges a lot more for that

 

To me, "clean" firewood is no bark, aka standing dead oak that has shed it when you cut it or falls off when split. But who knows what they are thinking? Maybe anything like that of wood that has tight bark? Ask them what they mean by clean.

 

I'm kind of nuts but I usually drop my wood in the driveway and use the leaf blower on it before loading it into the house. Removing bark seems to make it appear cleaner.

 

There’s a mulch place near me that keeps a bin of firewood. They load you up with scoops of wood. That wood probably has a lot of debris with it.
I have some wood where chipmunks have been eating and chitting on it. I’ll knock the debris off those pieces.

 

Likely they have had wood delivered before that was scooped up from a big wet pile with a skid loader etc, Tons of debris included in the sale Can't really blame the buyer for the request!

 

There’s a place by me that will load wood with a skid steer and there’s a lot of garbage in the wood. Here’s one of their customer reviews. Definitely not what I would call clean wood. It’s downright filthy.

 

Upon the initial reading I was thinking the customer probably wanted clean, as in barkless splits like one gets out of larger rounds, and also no debris like leaves, dirt, duff from bugs.

I suppose everyone has their own opinion of “clean” wood. But serious wood burning is anything but a tidy endeavor. Although I also think some people are better at minimizing the mess, those people are probably more prone to cleanliness all around. THOSE ARE NOT MY PEOPLE.

I’ve been thinking about starting a thread about the messiness of various wood types. What has got me thinking about this is finishing up the processing of the black locust that I got from Going for the gold today. This has been without a doubt the messiest, dirtiest, most bug infested stuff I’ve ever encountered. I sure hope it lives up to the hype.

 

My definition is wood that was cut split, stacked and top covered until its dry and ready for use/sale. Most of my customers aren't that picky and one likes the oak seemingly "dirty" from weathering. I try to keep any wood from getting muddy or dirt on it and its rare to find a piece like that.

I have some 4yo BL that had bark and is now mostly barkless from being in a mound uncovered. I pulled the "clean" pieces out and restacked in another area to mix with untethered BL when I sell a cord. I inform customers of such and they are okay with it. There's more of the same that just needs to wash clean and I'll leave it for next year if needed.

Problem is they buy "factory made" bundles ,bags, crates of fresh heat treated clean splits that and we are supposed to have the same?

Did you end up selling them any Jim?

 

Ive been finding them in the bundle wood shed with snake chit on them. Lots of skins too. Ill leave them aside to get rained on a bit or toss into the general cordage pile. I've also found mice chewed on pieces of cherry. Those go the same route.

Does critter doodood on splits count as dirty wood?

 

I’d say don’t sell them any white oak, unless you separate pieces with no sapwood or bark. It’s hella dirty.
That being said, I’d agree with statements above, barkless and nothing loose enough to fall off on the carry into the house.

 

Yes. He told me he can get a cord for less and I told him that’s a good deal you should get it. If you want “clean ready to burn premium wood, it costs more.” I have a few other customers in that area, so I have seen his neighborhood. From the conversation I had with him I doubt I’ll be getting a Nashville tip.

 

If the customer isn't too far away, bring some wood samples of what you'd deliver and go from there.

 

That's a strange description for something that lived in the woods (outside) for 50 years, died, then sat outside for another couple years!!

 

If you can clank two splits together twice without anything falling off, they are 'clean'. Always been curious about folks who light fires inside their homes being worried about a little dirt.