I know it's early December already, but when I order and pay for a cord of SEASONED firewood, I expect it to be at least mostly dry. 3/4 of this load was over 25% (love playing with my new moisture meter!) and most of the larger pieces were 30%. There is a great mix of different woods in there; elm, walnut, oak, etc, but most have at least a little rot already and so much is just too wet to burn right now. Hopefully in a month when I'm done with last year's wood and through the dry pieces the rest is ready enough. Totally vindicates my new obsession with harvesting any down tree in the neighborhood. Starting next year, I'll never have to worry about it again. I'll have my own wood that's been out for 1-2 years before I need to burn it.
So, did you call the seller out over the not seasoned wood? I don't care whether you say it's seasoned or dry, if it's over 20% mc.
I think when buying one should tell the seller that you have a moisture meter and will be checking the order and if it fails, will refuse to accept the order.
The last time I bought wood, mine was the same. It was also less than the full cord that I paid for. That was several years ago, and I hope to never buy again.
My experience is just like Bushpilot above.... I bought wood here and there for 10 years and 100% of the time I got less than a cord when buying a cord, the wood was various species whereas it was supposed to be just oak, and it was always NOT seasoned. Never again. Makes me mad just thinking about how many times I got ripped off.
I saw these stacks at a Mom and Pop gas station the other day. $50.00 each. Variety of mixed species, some rotten, some freshly cut, some super short, some really long. Glad I don't have to rely on buying wood.
I always buy my wood C\S\D and always treat it as green. When ordering I tell them green and I season it myself this way I know it is dry.. What I stack this year will not be burned for at least 2 years... The problem tends to be that seasoned is a subjective thing and oddly many wood guys don;t burn wood in my experience.. Consider all bought CSD as green and you'll be happier.. Just my 2 cents...
We used to sell @1000 full cord a year mostly ash and oak and poplar mix we would also sell all oak at a premium all wood sat split for 1-1 -1/2 years and was sold at @15% moisture we stacked every cord delivered in a dump trailer or truck lots of work very few complaints ( There is always somebody that thinks its not good ) it takes a lot of time to do it properly I have seen the tree services split right into a truck and sell it as dry wood, also processor wood that is to big for most people would still have water running out of the wood , as Raybonz said it is best to buy for the next year we were lucky to have a large lot to pile wood for a long time most people are not that lucky JB
I wood definitely be reaching back to the seller and explaining the dangers you can incur burning his less than seasoned wood. And that word of mouth is a very powerful thing in this day and age of social media.
Unfortunately, in too many places, that's exactly what "seasoned" wood is. Their "unseasoned" wood is quite fresh. It would be nice if there were legal standards for the quality of goods as there are with the volume but far too often this is not the case. One really needs to be proactive sourcing and maintaining a supply that will suit one's needs based on one own's definition from what is available. Most of the time that entails buying a year or more in advance. Tough to do just starting out or if you don't have the means and/or ways.
One good thing about buying unseasoned wood is that it's cheaper.By it now for next year don't wait till winter or fall to buy seasoned wood.That's the time to buy unseasoned wood for the next winter.
Please don't take this the wrong way. But we all know firewood sellers almost all sell "seasoned" wood that is in reality 3-6 months old at best. Why not order it a year ahead of time, stack it in a sunny spot, and then you can be pretty confident its ready to burn (unless its Oak). Expecting truly seasoned wood that's ordered in December is wishful thinking at best. Any good seller is going to run out of wood early in the season. I've often thought its a bit hypocritical to say you don't have the room to store a year of wood a year ahead of time (lets say 4-5 cords), but those same people expect a seller to have hundreds and hundreds of cords on hand that is truly seasoned!!! Most sellers don't have acres and acres of land to tie up and store wood on for 2-3 years. A lot of these sellers sell wood as a side business form their home residence. They are working with similar acreage that you are. Just like you need to use your land, they need to use theirs. Then the same people who want that high grade seasoned wood often want to pay what the guy selling unseasoned wood charges!!! It'd be like me complaining the restaurant ran out of the fish and chips special when I got there at the eleventh hour. Or complaining that I didn't get a steak, when I paid for a hamburger. Yes you are paying for a product, and have a certain expectation. The reality though, is people buy things that are not as expected all the time. Its usually the people who want the lowest price, that also complain about the low quality.
People also have to understand that firewood sales is a tough market to make money in. A lot of sellers are landscape guys trying to keep employees busy after mowing season and before snow season. And then it's tough to complete with people saying their wood is seasoned even though it isn't. The old if it sounds to good to be true then it's probably is really applies to firewood.
I was told by one of my landscaper customers that all his firewood is "IN SEASON" this time of year and I also have a 78 year old customer that sells wood he cuts and splits 10 cord a year sells it two years later keeps it covered and only sells the splits with no bark he burns the wood with bark himself he has a waiting list of customers and he gets 255.00 a cord delivered so it is just who you find to deal with but there are more crooks than good guys as always JB
