And I quote: "ATTENTION FIREWOOD BUYERS.theres a scammer posting recent he flaggd me shenandoah valley 2014-03-24 10:58am I look through these ads at what people call a load of wood,call it seasoned,call it a cord and i laugh, then I get mad.Ive seen a couple ads on here of people complaining about being ripped so im here to imform you about fire wood. I don't sell wood but I do cut and burn it and have so for over 25 years. I have also been ripped off in the past at different things by putting trust into a seller..so that is why im gonna tell you what to look for1.wood is sold by the amount obviously,just like anything,so know what a true cord is if they are claiming a cord,or half a cord. A true cords dimensions is 4x4x8 foot (((STACKED))) TIGHTLY. That is the only true way to tell if it is stacked tight with split peices. so if joe blow redneck comes in there in his beat up truck claiming he brought u a cord when the truck has a 6 foot bed and it is just throwed in there.I don't care if they tell you it was a stacked cord before dont fall for it.you cant get a true cord on most full size trucks even stacked unless it has a 8 foot bed or its a heavy duty truck with racks on the side. a standard truck load of good wood just throwed into a 6 ft bed and rounded off is worth about 60 bux.2.check the load! watch them take it off,some people will put a nice looking row of wood on top and junk on the bottom or they will let abunch of bark pile up in the bed as a filler so right there you are losing your amount! I know of aman by the name of jack and his wife debbie who live in front royal and do this to people in the city. they stack it all nice a neat with a pretty row at the back of the truck concealing the pile of bark! when all the wood is off well there's a 2 ft high pile of bark that starts at one end of the bed and perfectly stops right before the back. they have been doing this for years and they leave that pile on all season.Pay attention3.MOST IMPORTANT. CHECK THE WOOD! if you pick up a peice and it seems unusally heavy it is because its green and full of water one way to check is to hit a peice with somthing metal and heavy like a hammer on the cut end of the wood, after you hit it look for a color change in the wood where you hit it or for actual water being squeezed out of the fiber by the force of the blow. another way is smell,really green oak has a rich smell meaning it is green. A sure way also is to take a peice and split it..if a 8 inch peice or even a 15 inch peice doesn't split in one good blow from a maul.. then its green or has a knot in it(a place where a branch grew from the tree)very visible..GOOD SEASONED OAK splits VERY easy almost explodes apart with minimum force. A sure fire way to check is to take a peice and put it in a lit wood stove or fire place,wait a couple minutes and look too see if the peice is on fire if not or if it is hissing or smoking really white all sure signs of green! dont buy it!I have seen wood that has looked dead as can be and looked like a perfect peice of fire wood but after trying to burn it well it revealed all! True seasoned wood isnt easy to find even standing dead trees that gave been dead for a while still have some water in them around the base and halfway up the tree. most seasoned wood is cut the year before and split and left out to dry. anyone can take a saw and go up to what appears to be a dead tree standing or worse yet laying on the ground soaking up even more water,cut it and split it and throw in atruck and sell it to you and call it seasoned. that's why you got all these rip off artist out here doing such that..cause its pretty easy to do for a quick buck and your left with a pile of somthing you cant use and they go away with asmile on there face to the next person and there's nothing you can do! The cops will just laugh theand BBB wont do anything. Most of these wood scammers don't make it a business, it's just a quick buck,highway robbery.one last thing if soMone claims good seasoned hardwood and are charging the prices then you should get just that.if they bring you a bunch of peices around 3 to4 inches all.mismatched and peices of old bark and peices that are soft in the middle or the outside like a sponge than that's all junk wood(cull wood or dody) weather it burns or not and y worth a fraction of good seasoned hardwood(split abd stove size)prices.BUYER Know you're wood! checking what your buying is not rude, if they get up tight expain why you are checking, usually if they get mad or defensive its a sure sign of guilt,just ask them to polight leave."
That is a great rant. unfortunately a lot of people get ripped like that then have a horrible woodstove experience and give up. the stove just sits and becomes a decorative item.
Or worse… they continue burning into the season unknowingly creating mega creosote build up… chimney fire… house is gone… they don't even know what hit them afterward, if they're lucky enough to get out in time. We all were new to wood stoves at some point, and most have learned the good, bad and ugly over time. For newbees, the FHC forum is a great place to have a good time while learning a lot of good wood heat info, and who knows, it may even keep a few from making bad choices as they get into burning wood to heat their homes.
