WinonaRail's Wood Yard

I ended up cutting on both sides of the crotch where the trunk split into 3 stems. The crotch had some rot and was full of ants. The rest was pretty solid. I got about 15 pieces of bundle wood. The rest went to bulk. It felt a little wet when while I was splitting. Some is already dry now.

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Seems like most of what I've split this year is silver maple. Probably have at least 2 cords. I've been turning down bulk orders lately. I hate to do that but I can't justify the lower price for volume when I can barely keep up with the roadside stand.

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I understand, maybe go up on bulk price?

 

Dont blame you. Had another guy last week looking for smoker wood in quantity.
Asked my price for a cord of it MAYBE could spare a half cord of cherry, maple or hickory, but none of the others, but the mark up is so nice for bundles I don't think I would.

Got an order of 50 bundles to my newest customer from the Winter. He likes to keep quantity on hand. Should go out in the next few days. I'm going up in my price so hopefully he doesn't complain.

 

only smoker sale is a guy coming later for three bundles...apple, cherry and hickory.

The 50 bundle order going probably tomorrow.

How did the stand do over the extended holiday weekend?

 

3 bundles are always better than 0!

Interestingly, last week was very strong but there were NO SALES Saturday and Sunday. The rundown was 9 bundles, 5 bags of smoking wood, 7 loose stacks of smoking wood, 2 2'x2' stacks of mixed hardwood, 5 2'x4' stacks of mixed hardwood, 3 mini bundles, a kindling bundle and a fire starter. All picked up. I was struggling to find enough dry mixed hardwood to keep the stand filled. The hot weather helped speed up the process.

 

He ended up not having exact change and rather than me go get $10 he bought another bundle of cherry. I got an order last night for eight bundles. Two each apple, cherry, hickory and oak. Turns out he lives very close by and will pick up later this week as he is out of town. I offered to deliver which he declined. Moved some bundle sized apple splits here tonight.

Sounds like you had a decent week. Just surprised nothing over the weekend. Maybe they bought ahead of time? I delivered 50 late this afternoon and my 100 bundle guy sent a pic. He'll get an order within two weeks. Ill get to wrapping.

I hear ya on the dry wood. Some of the stuff I've been using isn't quite there yet so I put a really dry split of tulip in each bundle and weed out the heavier pieces to use later on. Luckily most of my customers have good sun exposure so they will cook a bit yet. I'm always stressing about keeping the rotation of dry wood going.

Todays delivery. Mostly red maple with some sugar maple and tulip. He likes to keep 100 on hand. The other rack not pictured.

 

The thought of wrapping 100 bundles at a time makes me think of work. I think I'll stick to my hobby.

 

Wrapping 100 at a time IS work that's why I'll do 15 or so a day until I get there. The ones I had started were intended for him but the other guy (who really didn't need them) called.

I checked the pic the 100 bundle guy sent on Monday and has roughly 40 on hand so no major rush. Id say by next weekend or after so I have some time.

The guy for the eight smoker bundles picked his up last night. He PMed later looking for firepit wood so may have another sale lined up. I pushed the quarter cord of mulberry I'd like to get rid of on him. Seems nobody wants mulberry or pear for smoking wood.

 

It's be your luck the guy will love the mulberry and start smoking with it after you sell it cheap. I mix mulberry with other hardwoods. It's abundantly available in these parts.

 

He ended up not wanting any extra wood but I did push the mulberry. I have to do a fresh listing of it.
Also want to do a fresh listing of my nugget wood.

Have a guy coming this weekend for a bag of apple chunks (I listed it as a 20lb bag) and he wanted a bundle of hickory cut into thirds. A few other tire kickers this week.

 

Do you charge extra for custom cuts?

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New bars and chains on my 2 favorite saws. I went back to the maple job I've been working on for a year. The base was big enough I couldn't get through it with a 24" bar even after I managed to roll it. I ended up noodling from both sides and finally got most of the trunk broken down. It wore me out. I need to go back for about 7 more pieces.

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Yes and no. He wanted only two and I said three minimum so he was walking. Not wanting to lose a sale I got into a long drawn out PM conversation with him trying to figure out what he wanted/needed. He answered my apple chunk listing so I explained the sizing. Finally he opted for a hickory bundle cut into thirds and apple chunks as sized. On larger orders I specifically state an additional fee for cutting unless I already have chunks on hand.

 

I like to understand my customer needs. However those long conversations often don't pay off. Glad you were able to salvage the sale.

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Well the guy never got back to me today. He hasn't seen my PM to him from early this afternoon. Maybe something came up? I didn't cut the hickory bundle yet luckily.

Have you sold much in the way of Bradford pear wood? At my "unlimited supply" score there is a fresh pear log I can cut up. Its on the gnarly side so I've considered just chunking it down. Ill probably end up cutting what 16" pieces I can from it and the rest will go for nuggets. I've only sold one bag of it this year with no other inquiries. I've thought of comping larger orders customers with a small bag as a sampler? Knowing my luck I'll kinda give up on it and get a couple large orders.

 

Only 2 bags of pear this year and 9 last year. But it costs me $0 to keep the splits on hand and I occasionally mix them in with something else if needed. Most important for me is to have a wide variety of things people just can't get anywhere else.

 

Well youre ahead of me by one. I need to sell a bag and tie the score!

I ended up bucking the pear to 16". Ran a couple through the splitter and it had some twist to it. Still should bundle okay should that time come. Ill split the two others tomorrow.

Maybe I'll give some samplers out.

Worst case scenario they go into bundles or cordage.

 

Pear definitely doesn't split as nice as most wood I use for bundles. Worst case is it gets cut down for chunks. Now go sell another pear bag and give me some competition!