Went to look at a fb ad about 12 miles from me. There might be 4 cord and they're asking $50.00/cord. Would be able to basically pull up next to splits. Mixed wood but there was alot of it that looks like this... Im thinking Hackberry? Like most I try not to buy firewood, but for the asking price and ease of access, Im thinking this would help me get to where I want to be on supply. Plus it would allow me to get to my list of 18 projects that need done.
PAYING FOR FIREWOOD??? Blasphemy! All kidding aside you do what you need to do free or not. Hackberry is rare around here and would be a novelty score for me. Easy is gooder in my book. As I age I like the park next to cut and load scores. Schlepping is becoming harder with my aging hips.
Yep that's hackberry. Lot of it in my area. I don't go looking for it but I don't pass it up. Not as good as oak/hickory but it burns good.
On the plus side I’ve heard it said that it dries fast so it should be more than good to go for winter 2027-2028. On the minus side, splitting can be a chore and burn time is nothing to rave about. If it were me I’d probably grab a cord just to try out, but I sure wouldn’t want 4 cords of it taking up real estate. That’s my SOP with lesser species anyway. Get some!
Yeah I know. Going against my cheapa$$ habits. I'll start with a cord. Who knows what other species are mixed in. I did see some real stringy stuff, so maybe elm is in there. Homeowner really had no idea. He only knew no pine or soft wood. I need more mid range firewood. Sitting high on BL, and oak.
Yep hackberry, if you need some middle of the road btu wood, this seems like a pretty good opportunity for not a lot of $$$$. Figure how long it would take you to process a cord of wood from tree to stacked splits. I don’t like buying wood either but that would be hard to pass on. I burn a lot of hackberry. It’s probably the second most readily available decent firewood species around here.
Update on this little adventure... I got a littke over 1/2 a cord monday and was going to go back today. So I texted the guy and asked if it was ok if I came by. He said sure, but then said it looks like I got a cord and a half Monday and if I was going to pay for the other cord today? Insert the wtf emoji. Im like Oh boy. Here we go. So I just explained what a cord is and sounds like he intended to sell it as a face cord or 1/3 of a cord. He came back and said I was right about a cord size and it was his bad. I said if he wanted to sell the rest per face cord, I understand but wont be buying anymore and we'll call it even. He said I could get the rest because that's what he agreed to. I thought about it and said I didn't want to take advantage of a misunderstanding. (He also has a real young family so could use the dough Im sure). What I really was thinking is I don't want to go get the rest and him try to shake me down for the rest of the $$$ and it goes south. Another guy was picking from there too. Idk what he thought he was buying. So moral of story, be sure people know what a cord is. And Im not buying wood from fb marketplace ever again!!
Bummer... kinda sorta. Sounds like a deal I'd walk away from too. IME you're right about people just not knowing what a cord is. Case in point, this local CL ad I saw today: 1) it's not pine, it's douglas fir 2) it's not a cord, it's nowhere close either.
It's a whole new ballgame when you buy wood, between what a cord is, what dry is,etc. If you cut your own it's all on you. The last wood I bought was in 2006 and it measured out to be .8 of a cord.
I had a guy tell me today that a cord is 240 cubic feet. I told him it’s 180 and to call me when he’s ready for a delivery.
Most folks are clueless when it comes to wood volume. I'll get asked why so much wood when I deliver a half cord to a new customer. I explain how a cord/half cord of my wood is stacked so its "premeasured". "the other guy was ripping me off"!!! is often exclaimed. Did you neatly stack rounds in your bed? Id figure the volume of your bed and show him. Measure to the inch and do the math. My 8' bed will hold a half cord of splits if neatly stacked level with the sides. I've tossed a half cord and it makes a heaping load. (I've posted many pictures in the loaded truck pics thread) Ive never been in a situation like yours so I'm not sure of what I'd do. Probably the same thing you did. I've been accused of begging for wood and I held my cool for those that remember the thread. Sorry for the bad experience. Good learning experience for FHCers that pay/scrounge for wood that way. On a side note I often chuckle when I see a "cord" of wood posted by people that don't know.
I used a dump trailer. We laid the wood pretty neatly. I piled to just above the boards. I wanted to heap it on, but I had some pretty big hills to pull it up. All I need is the 04 tahoe to bite the dust. I just looked at the ad. It was updated to face cord and now $75.00 per face cord! Oak goes for about $225.00 / cord around here. And this stuff isn't oak!!
I know you a whiz at tree ID, curious how you know it's Doug Fir. I am not sure who is using 4' x 1.25" for fence posts or railings either...
I don't know about that That was just an assumption of mine. When I go into Home Depot or Lowe's for PT dimensional lumber, it's always treated Doug fir around here. I've never seen any PT pine. Of course, to the average person any tree with needles or scales is a pine, be it a hemlock, fir, cedar, spruce or juniper.
Fair enough. I was thinking, dang, that is next level stuff if he can tell the type of wood from the grain in lumber...all without putting hands on it.
I WISH PT was Doug fir. Id kill for it. All PT is Southern yellow pine. Its all garbage. Warps likes crazy. I hate building with the stuff, but have no choice for outdoors. The stuff today will last only 20 years too. The partial replacement I just did was done in 2007. A good stomp in a couple areas and one wouldve gone through the deck. I've talked with sales reps for treating companies and supposedly they cant use DF for such. SYP is engineered to be super fast growing and harvested. Grown like corn. Next time you're at a big box store check out the end grain of a 4x4 or 6x6 to see the growth rings.
