This could go in this thread or one of the other ones more related to bundles, but it seems to fit better here. I’m out of wood for making bundles!!! The convenience store up the road has sold nearly double of what they did last year, the grocery store down the street is about the same or slightly more than last year. And about a month ago I picked up another customer and he has already gone through 45 bundles, ( I know that’s not a lot compared to buZZsaw BRAD and probably others,) and I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t do close to that much more yet this year. And I probably only have enough bundle grade wood to make a half a dozen of so. But I should finally have some time to get to cutting.
Nothing in your personal stash you could use? Do you use certain species or lengths? One of my fears is running out of dry wood for bundles. Just having picked up my eighth account this month the pressure is on even more.
Typically I use standing dead elm, with a few other species sprinkled in. Whatever will split nicely as I’m splitting get tossed in a separate pile in the pickup and drivin to a separate stack. I have a huge score of dead elms that are pretty straight (for around here at least) that I need to get after. Anything in my personal stash would have to be sorted out and re-split and that don’t seem like it would be worth the hassle for not much return. I should be able to make some progress this week and weekend
Perhaps a trend is emerging where folks are preferring to stay home and have a fire instead of going out and spending money? My sales this weekend were way higher than anything I've yet seen. Someone even bought one of my baby split bundles which I was beginning to think was foolish to offer.
if that extra effort helps you gain a loyal customer who is looking for a reliable supplier with a quality product, it might be worth it to put in the extra effort now so as to bridge the gap until you can get more supply of bundle wood. Just a thought. We sold some wood last year that all had to get cut to 14” on the chop saw. Was extra work, but the sale came with a healthy tip for the kids when they sold it.
This is my whole model. Never want them to see empty bunks in the stand and never want them questioning the quality of the wood they are buying.
Headed out Tuesday morning with 3 totes on the trailer. Front tote is restaurant quality awesome red oak... Stacked in their rack. They had a little bit left from the last delivery Other 2 totes went to a repeat customer, oak and hickory mix. She will get at least 1 more tote in late winter.
A couple moved here from Texas and are opening a BBQ place. He asked a friend of ours where to get some good quality wood. We were recommended, we met with them and now we have a new customer. He wanted oak, really wanted something like they cook with out there, we just happened to have a tote of post/white oak. We delivered it today, took the tractor to place it where it was needed and left the tote there. This is their big cooker... Firefox on the back... The rotisserie inside... It will hold about 500lbs of meat... I hope they're open when we get back from Ohio...
