Apparently regional as stated. In this part of the state, a rick is 4'x8'x the buyer's specified length (depending on stove). 16" is very common now. 24" was common 40 years ago. Not sure what part of the state Lucy is from. A rick (face cord) of oak is ~$40 locally. I rarely hear the term cord, occasionally did when I was a kid, a cord was known as 2 ricks (when ricks were 24" long, there for a true cord). Yeah, local misuse has made it confusing.
Hi fox9988, North of Charleston and South of Ozark up in the hills, it's Franklin County. My husband said the same. When he was a kid they used to cut firewood for pocket money and 24" was the norm then. In those days people had open fire places, we did and bigger logs were great. Seems the wood is cheaper up there than here. It's also colder, i was up in Bentonville this morning and that wind was really icy. Tonight down to 19 here.
And prices vary a lot. I see stacked by the road for $40 and see it advertise on CL lots more. Glad to hear you survived I-49. I avoid it at all cost between Fayetteville and Bentonville.
I was just looking at a map you are not as far north as i thought. You are up 59 and then west aren't you? I go that way when i get meat for Lucy from Cockrum's, only they are East of Figure Five. In general i don't go anywhere if i can help it and stay right at my cabin. But some things are unavoidable. They sure have made a mess out of all the road construction in Fayetteville. I actually took a wrong turn where hwy 12 is. They have reversed the lanes when you come back from up North. Now you have to feed to the right to go to fort smith. I liked it all better when i was in college in Fayetteville many years ago. It was a small friendly community and then Sam Walton started and got big and it all went to, well you know where.
Yes I live near Morrow. Work in Ft Smith. Travel Hwy 59. My wife worked at Mercy in Rogers. Hated the drive. Now works at Washington Regional in Fayetteville. Only has a few miles of I-49 to drive now.
I got shafted on a rick. I asked a guy about some red cedar that was to be a rick for 60 bucks. Guy comes with a small toyota truck. Takes out the wood and stacks it by my fence. I took it as I had no other dry wood and turned into a very wet fall. Either way the rick wasn’t even a 1/8 of a cord. Red cedar is just great for a fast fire getting other woods to catch but I noticed he cheated me with doug fir in the mix so it wasn’t cedar only as he stated. Here its a considered a “truck full” but not stacked tight in the truck at all but others would likely give more or less. Others count splits. If that serves a purpose.... Ive only paid for wood about 3 times, this stuff, some oak ‘bricks’ 2x6’s used for bracing material, and about a 1/3 of cord of apple. All in all? $180 in wood. Apple isn’t even ready yet.
I'm usually a nice guy...but that load would have went back home with him. I don't think I can get a 1/3 of a cord on my dodge short bed unless it's up to the roof line
I know. Had I known the basics of it since he arrived at like 8 at night(couldn’t see wood really well) so I took the bulk choice over individual packs. Learned my lesson here for sure. I have to admit that this was BEFORE I stumbled on this site and found a great lot of wood in certain places near me not to mention looked on CL for free wood ads much more often. If anything this truly fueled my way to get more wood. You only need one experience that embarrassed you to do that. What’s the even more embarrassing moment is how much wood was around me Free for the taking. I really liked to collect wood to burn but never on the level I have now. If anything the wood collected now makes up a lot for what I bought. I feel the wood in makes that insignificant now. Either way it will remind me that this stuff grows on trees and wood is no object.
And that's the problem with non-standard measurements. If he says 1/3 cord or 4'x8'x16", you'd know what to expect. If he says a "rick" you might expect 4'x8'x16", he might mean a mini pickup load, someone else might expect 4'x8'x24". May as well buy 2 mooglies of beer and a 1/2 quap of shrimp to go with it.
A "rick" around these parts is pretty much a 4' x 8' stack of just about any length of firewood, usually about 16" / 18" long. Very rarely is seasoned any longer than the time it takes to cut it and deliver by the beer can pick up truck guys selling it.
Sorry you got ripped off, Fatboy85. My Ford Ranger might hold 1/3 of a cord. The bed is 4.5' x 6'x 1.5' minus the wheel wells that's about38 cubic feet and stacked higher it should fit about 48 cubic feet. Red cedar isn't as heavy but no way my truck could handle that weight in oak or green wood. Don't know the size of a Toyota truck bed. On the web it claims to be a few inches wider and shorter but roughly the same.
In a 3/4 ton shortbox, 6.5' long, you can get 1.25 ricks in the bed (4-16" rounds x 18" long) if the rounds are stacked safely about 12" above the bed. You get 4 rows, with the last row being a little lower so it doesn't fall off the back over the tailgate
I agree. The biggest key ingredient being..."Stacked" (I just haul it home for my own use, so i dont stack.)
And not all firewood guys know how to (or care to) do that math. Especially the ones that don't subract the space used for said beer cans... I know a guy thats into selling wood. He told me he only "sells by the pickup load"..."because thats what he uses to deliver the wood." He gets $75 for a full-size load. Which is fair enough in this area, and I believe he gives a good load, but ...
When you think about it, I understand his point. If he stacks it somewhat loose, and the homeowner stacks it perfectly tight, homeowner thinks he got shorted if he's a few sticks short of a face cord.
In short, beware of any term other than a cord of wood. Look at it like you would that word "seasoned" which is a meaningless term. It is always best to measure wood by the cord. Why people continue to use the term face cord is silly. Methinks mostly they are just trying to make it sound like there is more wood than there really is. A cord is a cord is a cord; a face cord is something else.
