Cord of firewood: terms n' prices

[notbob]

I usta live in CA, where a cord of oak went fer about $200. I now live in Colorado and CO has no native hardwoods. Pine and Aspen go fer about $200 cord, but a buddy sez all the "cords", hereabouts, are "face cords". ????

I never heard of a "face cord" and wiki defines them as, roughly, one-third of a full cord of wood. $180-$200 fer a third of a cord!? .....of pine!!!??? I'm used to my buddy being dead wrong about many things. What say the Western hommies?

Where do you live and what are you paying ....for what unit of measure?

nb

[Frank]

I see my guy here in Delaware is selling a cord for $240-290, mixed-oak. Off hand a cord of wood maybe weights 2 tons so if they deliver in a pickup truck is is most likely less than a cord.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Caveat emptor. . . When you buy a cord you need to ensure that you're both talking about the same thing.

Here in the Midwest (NW of Chicago near the Illinois-Wisconsin line) most all the sellers I've seen have been very specific in that they are selling/pricing either a full or face cord.

Full cord is properly stacked and consists of three stacks of 16" long wood, 8' wide and 4' high. A face cord is just one such stack.

Depending on whether oak, maple, etc the prices for a face cord will be anywhere from ~ $90 to $150 delivered.

My supplier doesn't cut down trees but "harvests" dead fall that's pre-seasoned in situ (laying on the ground where it fell.) He'll go in and cut it up and split it and leave it sit to further season for another 3 to 6 months.

I get a full cord (generous) of mixed hardwoods for $310 delivered and neatly stacked. I haven't seen $200 cords of oak (no stacking) for a good 12 years.

I'd keep looking if I couldn't get hardwoods. That price seems unreasonable to me for softwood.

[Terry Coombs]

I pay whatever the gas to cut it up costs me ... plus the labor to split and stack . But then I live in a clearing out in the woods . Up here in North central Arkansas a rick is defined as half a cord , and sells for between $45 and $65 delivered . That's unseasoned oak/hickory/other hardwoods . Could be fresh cut trees or dead wood or a mix .

[Ed Pawlowski]

Face cord is a stack 4' x 8' x 16" instead of 4' People that burn the fireplace on Christmas often buy a small amount like that.

I can get a full cord of hardwood, cut, split, delivered for $200 to $250

[rbowman]

I don't know about Colorado prices but you'd better get used to pine, doug fir, and larch. Except for the ornamental maples in town that somebody might miss the only 'hardwood' around here is cottonwood. The beavers love it, and it's a nice shade tree, but that's all it's good for.

There may be wood for sale in this area but it usually involves a Stihl and a ton of wood in a half ton pickup. It can get expensive. A friend of mine had the right idea; cut on the uphill side of the road so you can roll the rounds down to the road. It was working slicker than snot until one bounced wrong and took out the passenger side of his rig.

[Doug Miller]

notbob wrote in news: [e-mail]:

A cord is a stack of wood 4' high by 8' long by 4' wide, the 4' width being usually either three

16" logs or two 24" logs.

A "face cord" is a stack of wood 4' high by 8' long by one log wide, however long the logs happen to be cut. This is usually about 16", but I've seen them as short as 12".

This Midwestern homie says your buddy is right on the money.

Can't help you there -- I've had enough of my own trees come down that I haven't had to buy firewood for at least 15 years. I have no idea what it's going for now.

[Doug Miller]

rbowman wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Not so! Cottonwood has one very important commercial use: it is an outstanding raw material for making paper.

[murray]

I bought a Stihl and a 12' flatbed trailer. The day after a windstorm I drive around until I find a nice big tree laying in someone's yard or on their roof. I offer to cut it up and remove it free of charge (I keep the wood). Most people are happy with the deal.

[rbowman]

I suppose although I've never lived anyplace where they pulped cottonwood.

[clare]

"cordwood" is generally either less than 10 inches in diameter or split so it packs together nice and tight. No pieces longer than 4 feet, stacked crosswize. 128 cubic feet of wood.. That's 41 feet of 2 foot log, where a stack of 4 8 footers is only 36 feet and 113 cu ft or .88 cord.

"Officially" there are 3 face cords to a bush cord - a face cord being

16 inches deep.(no "legal" deffinition for a Face Cord in Canada or the USA, "officially")

There is also an unofficial "stove cord" which is 1/4 bush cord - with all the sticks 12 inches long, and the "long cord" which is about 150 cubic feet and what some guys will sell as a "cord" to be sure the customer can't possibly bitch about being short changed.and works out to a rounded long-bed pickup truck load with 2 foot racks (and generally well over 2 tons of "green" hardwood or 1 1/2 tons of "dry"

[Terry Coombs]

And they oughta be ! A tree company will charge 200-500 bucks to do the same , keep the wood and sell it for another hundred or two . Now I understand the costs involved , with boom trucks and ropes and chippers and other gear , but it's a racket . Back in the day most home owners would do it themselves , whether they kept the wood or not . Just goes to show how pussified a lot of men are nowdays . I may get to the point where I can't do it alone , but I have great neighbors who will help for a share of the wood . Already done that a couple of times with trees I cut up and wanted help to haul in .