With the heat finally breaking, my son Andrew and I have hit the pile of apple. That pic was taken 1/3/16. Go ahead and guess the cordage. This past fall/winter we tapped out @ 54 trees for firewood from a huge orchard score. Time got away from us and this years heat put a halt to any firewood work. We threw splits directly into my 4x8 trailer to move to my stacks. 9 loads total. Here's some pics to help with your guess.
These are from today. And the load we forgot to snap a pic of, lol! Last one... Here's the finished stack. You can see where I filled in a hole. Still not 100% finished as I have a stack of rounds beside my garage. Hoping to finish them tomorrow. Not sure where I'll put it either. I kept stacking taller just to fit what we already split. 32' long.... 80" high... and 2 deep (@18").
My calculation - 5 cord. Not bad for the week. :stacke: I told Andy when we started this venture, he will get half of the money we make selling this wood. Figuring on $160/cord.
I know Im in a different market so there is no baseline here but man Id pay $160 a cord for apple in a heart beat. We almost pay that for a cord of lodgepole pine in my area. Of course I dont pay for my wood as I go to the bush and harvest my doug fir, lodgepole pine, larch, birch but if I saw an advert for apple at that price Id jump on it. Hope folks in your area would to! Nice score man.
Impressive stacks and love the Wheel Horse-I had a 312-8 for over 20 yrs, never failed-Sat in garage for over 5 yrs after I bought my zero-turn commercial-when I sold it, I jump started it and away it went-the Kohler engine was a beast...
Sweet! I love hearing that father and son work together. I too would pay that price for some apple to burn.
2 more loads today to finish out the apple. Didn't have anywhere to put the 2nd one, so I pulled it out by the road and put an $80 sign on it. It measures a 1/2 cord so we'll see. I figured it might spark interest in the rest of it.
Market that stuff to any restaurants you can find with a wood-fired oven or BBQ smoker. My son works at a place that cooks most of their meats and breads in a wood-fired oven and grill, and they would probably pay upwards of $300-400 for a well-seasoned cord of apple. Just an example, since he's in northern VT, but there is a significant premium on fruit woods. I hoard apple specifically for BBQ wood.
I pondered that idea when I first started burning apple many years ago. I was told they would require me to use veg oil instead of bar/chain oil and that killed the idea. Ask your son if it matters to the place he works.
Man, your neighborhood is gonna smell like HEAVEN all winter!!! Love the smell of that Applewood burning! I just scored a gigantic apple tree a week ago, I save it all for cooking on the pit along with a lot of hickory I get. I also make some chips for several guys with smokers in the area......I agree maybe marketing some of that Applewood to local restaurants, you could be sitting on a nice cash cow there.....
