Been driving by for over a year. They had a snowmobile swap thing going on the field next to it. Found one of the partners and had a short chat. They've got a 400-500' long area out back stacked high with full length logs, and a pile of split wood near the entrance with maybe 15 cords... none of the wood covered. Loaders, processor(s), conveyor, etc. Things were going good until I asked him if they had return customers who were buying a year or two ahead, so the wood would be dry. ... kinda changed the mood a bit... ...he went right into how all those logs were taken last winter and within 2-3 weeks of being processed... were ... dry. I just said... uh huh... Says they're gonna buy a wood fired kiln soon. So, maybe the wood wasn't THAT dry... I thanked him for his time. Nice guy. I wasn't looking to buy and didn't think to ask about prices. I hope they find a kiln and are able to get it going soon before too many possible return customers find out that it takes a while for firewood to season, and that water doesn't burn worth a hoot. In truth, it's the same story at most firewood operations. Glad I stopped in.
It kills me how many people don't think through the process. Just because the outside looks dry doesn't mean that it is dry. Any one who splits older Mulberry can plainly see that. Of course, many people around here dont like Mulberry and throw it out faster than you can say chainsaw. Perhaps cause it doesn't burn wet? But, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure this out. Trust me, I figured it out. Its gotta be laziness or lack of priority. I understand the recreational burner who doesn't put much thought into his wood, but firewood operations should be the experts here!
The mentality is... "hey, we've got something to sell here... what you do with it is up to you". Willing to bet they burn dryer wood in their own stoves. And, it would be fine if they admitted to the customer that the wood was green... but they usually don't.
Pretty much impossible to sell seasoned wood in bulk. There is not enough profit to have it fully seasoned and sell it near the price of everyone else's "seasoned" wood. It costs about $600 to run the kiln for a week (have one at the shop). It could hold probably 20 cords. Figure in the extra labor too... looking at $65-75/cord extra to be breaking even. I advertise it as non seasoned... log, processor, in the truck, delivered. If I wanted to sell just seasoned wood, I'd have to find room to fit 500+ cords of firewood and let it dry. Not only would that take a ton of room but I bet I'd have to deal with extra b/s with the borough for having that kind of "fire hazard".
There ya go... you advertise non-seasoned wood. Perfect. It's the guys selling it as ready to burn when it isn't even close. They make it harder for the honest guy selling, like you, and the unaware customer.
But kiln dried can be a good selling point if you have the people willing to pay and in some places kilning (but not necessarily drying) is necessary to kill the nasties before wood can be transported very far.
Wood can be transported all over AK without problem as far as I know. I think into Canada it's restricted, but I don't know of many folks that would buy wood here to haul to Canada! I tried selling a few cords of 2 year seasoned wood last year. I couldn't sell it for $50 more a cord. One customer complained that some of the the wood was grey and "ugly"
Guy today said the kiln they wanted burned 1 cord of wood for every 9 it dried, in 3 days. You're right... if folks will pay more it could be a good idea.
Really seasoned wood is also much more labor intensive. This is the big reason why most people do not sell really seasoned wood or burn really seasoned wood. I know many people who just will not do what I do with my wood. Cut it, split it, stack it, then move it again in the fall and stack it again under cover. Then move it again into the basement, where I stack it to burn. Much easier to just cut it, split it (or buy it like that), throw it in the cellar, and stack it. Now imagine you are going to sell 100 full cord of wood to you customers. Are you going to cut it, split it, stack it, then load it into the trailer or truck and move it. Or remove the stacking(drying) part?
The selling of soaking wet firewood to customers is totally fine... as long as the customers know it's soaking wet firewood. If they don't care, that's fine too. They ought to but, if they don't, that's OK. My beef is only when the vendor knowingly deceives the customer. And, in our case here on this forum... we push back against the resulting attitude that can come from folks hearing firewood vendors tell them their firewood is dry right after being processed. We all know it doesn't work that way. Makes it tougher to get folks on track and to show them it's worth the extra time and effort to season their wood. You're right on the time factor for sure. Most firewood vendors have barely enough time to get the wood CS&L for delivery.
This year around here the firewood has gone up in price. And firewood buyers and sellers are complaining it is harder to find enough wood. The energy plant down at drum seems to be using a lot of wood, and guess who is supplying it.
I bet that a good portion of the 10th cord can come from shorts, uglies and other undesirables like hollows and partially rotten ends thus lowering its cost to the producer somewhat.
[QUOTE="Stinny, : Says they're gonna buy a wood fired kiln soon. So, maybe the wood wasn't THAT dry... in.[/QUOTE] He said his wood dries in a few weeks after splitting because he had it sitting I full length logs for a while, but he's going to buy a kiln to dry his wood??.. If he buys that kiln, I bet a box of doughnuts that he will be telling everyone that those other guys wood is not seasoned properly and his is gooder.... Do us a favor and go back in after he has the kiln and tell him you found firewood that was less expensive than his and fully seasoned after several weeks after splitting and tell us what he says...
He said his wood dries in a few weeks after splitting because he had it sitting I full length logs for a while, but he's going to buy a kiln to dry his wood??.. If he buys that kiln, I bet a box of doughnuts that he will be telling everyone that those other guys wood is not seasoned properly and his is gooder.... Do us a favor and go back in after he has the kiln and tell him you found firewood that was less expensive than his and fully seasoned after several weeks after splitting and tell us what he says...[/QUOTE] ... I would but, I'm actually rooting for these guys to make a go of it. I'm hoping they'll get round to the other side of it all and get things right. Kiln dried, tell the customer... not dried, tell the customer... it's just not rocket science. They can offer the kiln for more and then it makes sense (to the customer) selling the not dried for less. The guy said they're both Navy vets and they're trying to come up with an operation that doesn't kill them. Now... you know I'd love that... For now, they're just repeating the sales pitch lines they've heard from other firewood guys around here so... time will tell. Should be fun to watch.
Selling truly seasoned wood the seller needs to spend time and money now for pay off in the future. Most people or companies can't wait that long to get paid. Then again there is a belief that seasoned wood is no good. It burns too quickly.
i haven't met anybody that sells or uses firewood in my area that knows what seasoned is, or that there is such a thing as a moisture meter. they all think wood takes a few weeks to a couple months to season, or that it will only season if you cut the splits into little thin slivers.
That's very true, selling in bulk is hard to do with seasoned wood. But your doing it right by telling people it's green.
We have one guy here locally that does it right and in big numbers. He has 4 huge greenhouses that he fills and usually sells two of them each year. So all his wood sits in a greenhouse for at least a year. I don't know what the moisture content is and I asked him but he didn't know. That is the closest I have seen to anyone selling in bulk doing it right. He stacks the sides and ends then uses an elevator to pile in the wood in the middle. His prices are high too but he seems to sell plenty.
Perfect. Great idea. Gotta have a building so why not have the building help dry the wood. And that's the whole point too... sell the wood in any condition you want, just be upfront about it. It's better business all the way around.
