Got to get ahead - thoughts on buying tree-length logs?

Haven't been on much in the past year or so, got really busy. Due to work and other commitments, I only have enough firewood ready for next winter and then I am 100% out. What's worse is, I don't have the time to go harvest wood. Time is my enemy, if I had two weeks of vacation time to spare, I could pull a year's worth or more of firewood out of the woods, but I'm already committed to other things until at least October. I got the number of a local logger who will deliver about 7 to 7-1/2 cords of good hardwood, mostly maple, beech and yellow birch, for $800. It's a lot of money out of pocket for me but it also means I can just stay in one place, cut, split and stack at a steady pace. That load is one year's worth for me at the moment.

Just wondering if any of you have gotten in a situation where going into the woods for your firewood, or scrounging for it, just isn't working out for you and you have to spend the money.

 

still there..... Bought two log trailers in the fall of last year.

 

It sounds like we have some things in common. I’ve got property that I can source all my wood from. And time is not always my own.
I’ve kinda fallen into a scrounge jag where I push to walk out back for an about an hour a weekend. Sometimes lucky to get a Saturday and a Sunday.
And only getting about 20 cu.ft. each trip. I’m hoping i can continue to work at it a bite at a time and adds up, without having to carve out a day or more in a lump.
So far so good for me.

 

I bought 3 cords of logs about 4 years ago. It was the last firewood I bought and, it got me to the 3yr plan.

I've been fortunate to be able to restock by cutting on land owned by friends and family.

If you have the yard space to take delivery and financially, you can make it work, then go for it. You also need to be able to CSS it.

 

I’m in the same time crunch. All of my fire wood comes log length 100$ a cord. I have about 1 hour a day I can cut on the logs before the kids get home. I cut for a tank of fuel in the saw then split what I cut and load on a trailer then it gets stacked. It’s what I gotta do for now.

 

Bought logs are the only way I've ever got my wood supply since I moved here in '89. I have no bush at home, only fields, so it's really my only option.
It's enough money but you also aren't wearing out your truck or trailer and don't have to deal with the hated brush that's left. A lot easier on your body too.

If I had my own bush I still think i would get a log load every year but I would go in and cut out the dead and damaged trees.
There's nothing wrong with buying your logs and it's convenient as all hell.

 

My thought get tree length now put it up let it dry then re assess in October

 

Hello Jon. You & I have communicated before when I told you I had a conventional OWB & I was consider ya gasification unit. I get a lot of my firewood in triaxle loads. We go through such a quantity of wood it’s the only way to stay ahead. It is a significant investment to buy a load of wood but I have learned over the years that there are expenses when I go out on the farm & harvest wood myself. And that’s not even factoring the time savings when you process a log load. My vote would be to buy your log load & get yourself ahead. Just my .02

 

I agree there is nothing wrong with buying loads. Not beating up your own truck, suspension and so on. The rate out here for a 15 cord load is about 500 to 600 dollars for fir/lodgepole. Two years worth in out climate for one house out of one truck. I know several gents in their late 70's early 80's that go this route. Easier on the body and nothing can beat wood heat for old bones.

 

Heck just backing over a sharp stub in the woods & puncturing your rear tractor tire & losing all your liquid ballast makes a triaxle load look pretty appealing. I know stuff like that doesn’t happen every time we go out in the woods but it does happen.

 

I bought a load last year for 700. 7-8 cords hardwood. It would have been at least half of that comparable in truck, gas, time, etc I think.

I also scrounge on my 10 acres as dead trees show up.

I don’t think I’ll buy a truck load this year but scrounge to include out on ads, Craigslist, FB etc. the same load on same truck and driver this year is quoting 1000 a load.

I liked it to get ahead, get my process honed on how I want to do things.
It’s nice to have that reserve built up quick then scrounge as you go.

I’ve nibbled at it since August last year I think. Nice to have 30 minutes and do a bit at a time.

You get to run a saw full tank at a time, splitter the same also when the mood hits. Sucks at stacking all of it at once though!


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Sounds like a fair deal...

 

Every year I get roped into at least one tree cutting adventure. In the end, it always serves as a reminder that I am nowhere near as fast or efficient as a feller buncher. I'll pay the man and wait in the driveway

 

Have you thought of trying ChipDrop?

Free Wood Chip Mulch | ChipDrop

Some people get lucky and get lots of free logs. Some people sign up and get nothing at all.

 

There is no shame in getting a load of logs, I have very limited time to get wood, I work a ton of hours and with the animals at home as well and everything else. I bought a 12-13 cord load of logs in the fall.

I say go for it and work on it when you can!

 

Signed up for it a couple times, got nothing. I'm too far out in the middle of nowhere and most tree services I know of either already have a home for logs & chips or keep them.

 

I cut my own...typically from standing trees.

Makes toy splurges easier to justify to the misses

 

Log load can be a good route for some, just be mind full of the difference between pole wood from the forest and tree service wood likely taken from yards. Pole wood is a joy to work, even without hydraulics, while some yard trees will need significant noodling to make firewood. Also the logger can tell you exactly what will be on the truck whereas the tree service will bring whatever recent jobs have produced which means you will be getting some junk, but the price reflects that.

Here’s my $500 tree service load. About 75% hickory and hard maple with the rest being knotty soft maple and sycamore.

 

I'd be loving that mess. I have the equipment to process it easily.