I'd echo 16". I have one supplier I can't buy from anymore because he only does 22" splits and my insert is just a bit too small for that. Funny, I have a friend whose supplier sells "seasoned" firewood cut to order at any length you specify. I'm helping him understand...
Sell the fresh cut stuff and raise the price. Keep the good stuff for yourself, it's not you job to save the world, make the money first and then if someone want to learn show them. I cut 16" - 18" long usually, long as it stacks out to 128 cubic feet that's a cord. he if it's 1.5' wide by 4' high by 21' feet long its the same or 126 instead of 128.
LOL! So based on that "customer logic", you should leave them 6' long and unsplit, and maybe you will sell more!! ??
What is a face cord? I live in oregon no body uses that term in my area, its all by cords or half cords.lots of folks here cut 15 inch length on the theory that they can get 6 rows in an 8 ft pickup box. Plus lots of newer woodstoves are smaller these days. There are people here who will order wood cut at 13 inches wich is weird but they want it easy to split i guess.
1/3 of a cord , 16" long pieces stacked 4' high x 8' long , If the splits were 15" long it would be less than a face cord 3 face cord = 1 cord
Ok i understand now. That kinda goes with the hardwood thing i guess, because they are alot heavier. I bet a cord of green oak will squat a pickup pretty good.
Not that weird. My little stove recommends 12 inch N-S or 16 inch E-W. The max N-S size it can accept is 13 inch.
As others have said, 16" is the standard as 3 rows equals 48", one of the 3 measurements for defining a cord. I generally shoot for 17" just to make sure people are not shorted. FWIW, every inch variance from 16" is 6.25%. Over the customer is getting a deal, (I do bring this to their attention), under and you $crew the customer.
When I deliver my wood people are always amazed at how much wood they get. Very few around here sell by the cord as I do, most sell by the truckload and usually don't even have a long bed. I was unloading the other evening and my customer went on to tell me how another guy he called said "Yeah it's nice and wet, people like that around here so the wood lasts all night". It's hard to believe people buy into that crap. He asked me how dry it is and I give him the moisture content reading.
Thanks for all of the info! I took my sign down because I sold all the seasoned wood that I wanted to sell. So , a guy pulls in this morning asking if I had anymore wood that I wanted to sell. I tell him that all that I have is about a face cord of ash that I just split 2 days ago , so it isn't seasoned. He gives me $75.00 for the face cord of unseasoned wood and goes on his merry way.
Before I got my stove and firewood interest, I used to buy a "cord of wood" from local newpaper adds (similar to craigs list today). For years I got a pickup truck load of wood dumped on the side of my house. Looked fine to me! I just had a fireplace fire now and then so it lasted 2 years or so usually. The one day I call a "professional firewood" place, and say "can you deliver a cord of wood please...". We agree on a price and date, which was inline with what I always had paid (something like $100 back then). Well, the truck shows up and it's a gigantic dump truck like those that carry blacktop when they are paving a road, he dumps what turns out to be a real cord of wood and to my surprise it was 3 or 4 times as much as what I had been getting in all the past years!! I even asked the guy, is that more than a cord, and he chuckled and said "Nope, that's a cord sir". I don't think it is really a weight thing, it's more of a "pickup truck load" thing. Most young guys selling firewood on the side just have a pickup truck and fill it and call it a "cord", and then admit it's a "face cord" when questioned about it. On LI that was pretty much the standard for a long time, when somebody said a "cord", they really meant a "face cord" or pickup truck full. That has since changed though....
I hoped you educated him by explaining how he was better off with the wet wood since it will last longer!!!
You bet a full cord would make a pick squat as it is 5200-5400 pounds! The only way a full cord could fit on a pickup is to have an 8' box with side racks to the top of the cab and for it to be neatly stacked to the roof all the way to the tailgate.
A face cord will make a 1/2 ton pick up squat! My brother has a frame for his CTL-it measures 4'x4'x3'. When we put 2 courses on it, we have a face cord (1/3 cord.) He puts 4 of these on his dump truck, and the customer gets 1 1/3 cord. Most new customers are surprised at the size of the pile when he dumps it off. He is an excavating contractor by trade, and won't ruin his reputation over a $275 load of wood-the same customer probably has hired him for a $6,000 septic install or something like that in the past.
Up here I'd recommend 16" since that what a face chord figures a split length is. 3 face chords equals a full chord.
Ya the sideboards or racks is how most people haul firewood where i live. Its mostly pine or doug fir so alot lighter than oak, or ash etc. Sometimes you will see a load of green wood stacked cab high those are heavy loads and been known to break half ton stuff in a big hurry,
I have some ash that I want to sell and I can't get any interest in it. I have the load stacked on the trailer so the person can see what they are getting. The wood is all split down to a nice size too. Most people I see advertising wood on CL have very large splits and the loads are thrown on and they are way over estimating how much is on the truck.
