Buying firewood is bad enough...

[AJMD429]

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...but having it delivered compounds the issue...

People usually sell firewood by what they'll call a 'rick', which they will imply or even say outright is one half of a cord. From what I understand, a cord has a 4 ft high 4 ft wide 8 ft long stack of firewood, essentially 128 cubic feet.

A 'rick' will usually be defined as a 4 foot high 8 ft long stack of firewood; if the pieces were 24 in long, it would indeed be 'half a cord'.

However.... Usually at best, the pieces are 16", making a 'rick' a third of a cord. Sometimes there are a lot more 12" ones than 16" ones, even.

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THEN on top of that, at least if you take the time/gas/labor to go pick it up, you can see at least "how it stacks", so even if the pieces are short, you're still getting a 'face cord' (defined as a stack 4 ft high and 8 ft long, but not committal as to what fraction of a cord it is).

My shed holds 10'8" long rows, so a 'rick' is almost exactly 3 ft tall, and two 'ricks' 6 ft tall. The short piece lengths may mean it is far less than half a cord, but at least I know what I'm getting...

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Here is "two ricks, delivered"....so the question becomes, would the time/gas/labor have been worth getting two FULL 'ricks'...???

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[ywaltzucanrknrl]

Well, being that part of the beauty of firewood is that it is easily stored fuel, I would go for more----time would be more but fuel cost to haul it would be about the same.

They sell it in cords here and the guy I buy from is generous. He delivers two cords of logs (uncut) that usually turns out to be a bit closer to 2 1/4 cords for $250. It's mostly pine, but some occasional spruce or fir. All of it is well seasoned.

What do you pay for a rick, that is cut and split, if you pick it up yourself? What type of wood is it?

[AJMD429]

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Price varies a lot.

I'm in a rural area so we all have fallen-down stuff we can cut, and many will give it away if you come cut and remove it.

If you want cut and split stuff you'll pay around $50-75 per 'rick' (usually about a third of a cord) if you fetch it, and if they deliver it depends on distance. This guy hauled the load 30-40 miles and dumped it out for $70.

Usually the wood around here is a mix of sycamore silver maple and tulip tree, none of which are very great firewood. However if you have a tight stove pretty much anything works.

There is a place about 50 mi from me that will give you all the stump and odds and ends from pallet manufacturing for free, or use their front end loader to load however big of a vehicle you have for 20 bucks. I knew a guy who was taking a full load of gravel in his tri-axle from near me to down there, so I told him next time he did that he could make some money off the return trip by charging me $50 for an entire tri-axle load of wood. Of course it was hard to split stuff but I have a hydraulic splitter. The pieces were big enough that when I went there in my pickup truck I could only get in about 8 pieces into a full size pickup!

[GunnyMack]

A true cord of fire wood is actually a 4x4x8 of ROUNDS, not split .
I used to cut, split & stack a year in advance when I burned wood for heat. Hardly ever cut green trees, enough dead oak to keep me in plenty of wood. As I got busier I couldn't keep up with it and switched over to burning wood pellets. Sure the up front cost is more but my time and labor makes up for it. Best of all I get my 4 tons delivered and in the basement in a few hours so im ahead of the game. I split a length of 8" pvc pipe in half making a chute, cut a bag of pellets and pour them into the rolling bins I made.

[Bill in Oregon]

Doc, you need a house call by Lenn and Norma. They will get your firewood sorted out in a jiffy.

[Sixgun]

My buddies are guys who have a skill like tree surgeons and don't have the time, nor the knowledge to load ammo. The wood gets dropped off in logs and I cut and split...zero cost except my time and the ammo I load them.

Just finished this up today......red oak, hickory, and white ash....measures 15 x 12 x 6 all divided by 128 and that's around 8 cords but because there's a slope on the sides and it's just thrown in a pile, I call it an honest 6 cords. I'll still have 2 left come spring and that's using wood 98% of the time. House is always a toasty, dry 75 degrees and a bit cooler in the bedrooms.

Been heating with wood for 41 years exclusively. We turn the heat pump on once in a while just to keep it in use.....we had baseboard heat and I got very tired of paying the oil bill....we are now full electric with high seer ratings on everything and full LED lights....might get a $150 bill...and that's in the summer.-----006

Keep your overhead low and you'll be able to buy Winchesters and won't have to resort to that "R" word.



Mike Lindell sends his best!

[Grizz]

that's interesting Doc. where i grew up there are or were three ricks to a chord. now that's based on ancient history and i may not have a clue what i'm typing about, but we did do firewood when i was a kid, and my Dad grew up in the gold mine country and split and filled the school wood bins. too tired to run a search, and some memories are better off as we find them, eh?

†

[Bearskinner]

I purchase firewood by the truck load. Living in N Idaho, there are s lot of lumber mills around. The crooked trees, etc that don’t make the cut for the lumber mill, are perfect for firewood. I get a FULL truckload of Aspen ( birch) tamarac and red fir for $800-$900 delivered to my yard. I’m guessing 4-5 cords per truckload. Then the work begins.
I usually start the stove in October, thru April. So lots of wood gets used. Good thing is, one load lasts 4 years, so I can heat my home all year for $200-$250 a year.
My wood shed is about the size of a 2 car garage. I’ll cut rounds and fill one side, then pull in the splitter, and toss split over the divider to the other side. Always plenty of usable wood on hand.

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[Sixgun]

To me, burning wood for heat to save money is about 20% of the equation as our high seer number heat pump is cheap to use. It'll make the house in the summertime cold enough to freeze a T-bone and hot enough in the winter to walk around in my birthday suit.

It's all about independence, free from power outages and the ability to make the house warm enough with no regard to "keep that door shut!..."don't turn the thermostat above 68!" ....

Now that we are retired I also could do away with driving as the stores around here deliver. I could always buy a scooter or just drive the Kubota tractor as there's no laws on farm equipment on the road.....good enough up to several miles if need be which is about as far as we drive anyway...

You all would be surprised on how much you can do away with that costs lots of money...and still be happy with little to no "do withouts."

Then when that first gen single action Colt comes up for sale you think nothing about parting with the Bens. ----006

[JimT]

Been cutting firewood since I was a kid ... more than 60 years ... though I didn't do a lot of it in Africa. This is our wood pile I did in the Spring last year ... we still have a lot left ...

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[BenT]

I was brought up as a 1/3 of cord was a face cord. I go through about 2 to 3 full cords a winter. I just logged my property so I have plenty of tree tops to cut up. I like popular and maple for early fall and in the spring. Red and white oak for when it gets cold with a little elm mixed in. I have LP for everything in the house. I start the wood stove when I get home after work and stoke it at bedtime and the furnace doesn't kick on until about 6 AM. So I try to keep LP to a minimum. I think we are heathier for it because it can be 10 below and I have windows open because it is too hot in the house. So we exchange the air in our house the all winter instead of breathing the same air all winter long.

Five years ago for my anniversary my wife wanted a 1000 gallon LP tank so we would only have to fill once a year in August when it was the cheapest. The 500 gallon tank would not quite get us through the winter. So I got a line on a 1000 gallon tank and they wanted a 500 gallon in trade which works perfect. It ended up being 2 guys I knew from gun shows when I used to have a table from time to time. Those brother really loved the 99 savages, always had a table full. I am also getting a heat pump with my new AC unit that I will be installing in the spring. I figure when they outlaw OIL I will another heating option.

[Pitchy]

Doc, you need a house call by Lenn and Norma. They will get your firewood sorted out in a jiffy.

We`re getting to old and out of shape to cut wood much longer and don`t know what we will replace it with, have always bought full cords in logs and some slabs.
Been buying and delivered last few years used to cut the trees on the place but can`t do it any more, hoping for better times soon, maybe Heaven.

[mark]

We`re getting to old and out of shape to cut wood much longer

Agree Mark, 73yrs

[earlmck]

My bride of 50 years wimped out on me a few years ago and no longer will come along wood cutting. But she was still helping me when I'm running the log splitter until last month when she ruptured a disc (wasn't the firewood that got her -- it was a dang heavy mattress off one of the beds). Got a feelin' I'm totally on my own now.

We use about 3 to 4 cords on the average which I have lately been fetching in off a friend's property where I cut his junipers a decade ago. Also took advantage of some grandkid help for a run up into the local forest where we brought back a pickup load of big ole ponderosa rounds. Too big for me to have loaded on my own without some preliminary splitting but the grandboys are young and tough and loaded me out while I did the fun part with the Stihl. Glad I'm still young enough to enjoy a little firewood cutting -- it'd be ouchy to buy it now it seems to have jumped up around $300 a cord here.

[Sixgun]

Unless we come up with unusual medical circumstances, we all reap what we sow. A body that's at rest tends to stay at rest and a body that's in motion tends to stay in motion. My neighbor, who just turned 80, regularly cuts and splits wood, sometimes with a wedge and sledge....I'm the same way at 68.....

Yea, you can't stop the natural aging process but you can limit it by taking care of yourself and " staying in motion", especially after age 40.------006

[jeepnik]

I stayed in motion yesterday. Today my body hurts unless I stay at rest. Getting old sucks. But, it beats the alternative.

[stretch]

I burn 3 to 4 cords a year.

I split it all with an ax, or hammer and wedge. I'm 62.

I'm strongly considering a wood splitter for the knotty stuff.
Up here in Maine, the only legal measurement for firewood is a
cord - 4Ft x 4Ft x 8Ft - or 128 cubic feet.

"Seasoned" firewood is defined as firewood that's been off the
stump at least 90 days.

I heat mostly with wood. I also have a Monitor heater running kerosene,
and a heat pump in the house. Just put the heat pump in this fall, so we'll
see how it goes. Electric bill was up $40 in November over September. I'm
trying to use less kerosene this year because it's so ridiculously expensive.

The garage also has a Monitor heater. Fully insulated except for the doors.
Another project for another day.......

-Stretch

[Sixgun]

I stayed in motion yesterday. Today my body hurts unless I stay at rest. Getting old sucks. But, it beats the alternative.

Yes it does.....your note struck a nerve... (sucks getting old)...I hurt too after physical work but I'll hurt more if I don't keep it regular....the "alternative?" I don't care anymore.....seen and done everything I've always wanted to do. In a rich mans eyes, it ain't nothing, but in my mind it's something......life is just what the old timers used to say when I was young...aches and pains, endless doctors visits..(I go when I HAVE to),....boring most of the time, losing hair where I want it and growing hair where I don't......any day can be your last.... either by death or something else debilitating, almost everyone you loved, cared about or spent time with is dead or moved away......life sure ain't the same as it was before about mid to late fifties.....

On the plus side, we don't have to worry about how long your current car is gonna last....probably have enough clothes to last you, car insurance is cheap, maintenance on our vehicles comes once a year, don't have to save money anymore and the best....the very best, if some low life hurts you or a member of your family and you kill him, a "life sentence" don't mean much. ---006

[Sixgun]

I burn 3 to 4 cords a year.

I split it all with an ax, or hammer and wedge. I'm 62.

I'm strongly considering a wood splitter for the knotty stuff.
Up here in Maine, the only legal measurement for firewood is a
cord - 4Ft x 4Ft x 8Ft - or 128 cubic feet.

"Seasoned" firewood is defined as firewood that's been off the
stump at least 90 days. -Stretch

Pretty much mirrors my life. One thing...don't know what kind of wood you split but there is a WORLD of difference between straight grained pine and anything harder than the maples, except rock maple.....I split wood by hand from 1981 to 2014, using a 8 lb sledge, mauls, and at least 6 wedges of different thicknesses. I've buried 3 wedges in gum and finally got it done using a 8 lb maul without the handle for a wedge....I most always split as the winter went on with the rounds being a year or more old.....this way I would split big for the cold weeks and small for fall and spring....

Theeeeeennnn, I had enough of saving money....kids were long out of the house and I was nearing retirement....I said to myself, "I've been living cheap so others can have what they should have"......bought a splitter when I was 60....$1600 for a 25 ton one. The new ones have two stage pumps so you can litterly split sideways. Honda engines last forever and the hydraulics are modernized with little to no breakdowns. So in the eight years I've had a splitter I split 32 cords of nasty red and white oak, hickory, ash (that's easy), rock maple, red maple, Norway maple, some dogwood and apple, poplar (that's easy), gum, and sycamore (that's really hard to split),

Never split a black oak and never intend to.

Go buy a splitter Stretch...you've earned it....-----006

[AJMD429]

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"...On the plus side, we don't have to worry about how long your current car is gonna last....probably have enough clothes to last you, car insurance is cheap, maintenance on our vehicles comes once a year, don't have to save money anymore and the best....the very best, if some low life hurts you or a member of your family and you kill him, a "life sentence" don't mean much..."

All true.

I wonder how many of my guns I won't wind up shooting again before I die; makes me more inclined to sell some of them to a good home now.

I figure some days the PAIN is what reminds me I'm still alive; it means I still have a nervous system, and it still gives me 'feedback' about things. Often as not the feedback is "...you dummy , you did more than your design was set up for at this point; too much wear on parts for what you've been doing..." I figure just keep doing fun stuff the best I can; like a machine whose bearings are worn, seals not to spec, and that's started to leak some oil and lost some horsepower, the alternative is to sit and rust, and I'd rather do stuff. Anti-inflammatory diet, pain meds, swearing under my breath, and an ounce of good whiskey once in a while seems to keep things manageable. I feel sorry for those whose aches and pains and so on are far worse than mine; so many are really limited, no matter what diet/meds/vocabulary and whiskey is available.

[Lastmohecken]

A face cord is generally 4ft high x 8ft long x about 16 inch long on stove wood length. There are 3 facecords to a Cord. I cut my own wood. But wood in general cost about 50 to maybe 80 dollars a face cord here in Arkansas. I cut my own wood and I am not sure I save or have saved much as opposed to buying it. Chainsaws cost money and chains, files, gas and oil, and if you count your labor much at all it's pretty much a wash. I used to buy my wood but now that I am retired, I cut my own. I need the exercise anyway.

I cut a lot of wood the first year or two that I retired. I recon I have 4 years stored up of stove wood, at this time, and a couple more ricks laying on the ground, which I need to split and haul home.

[stretch]

I finally broke down and bought a splitter.

27 ton /champion at Home Depot with the veteran's discount.

Knotty stuff doesn't stand a chance!

-Stretch

[Walt]

Good for you, Stretch! And Six, I'm sure your suggestion helped get things moving.

[Rockrat]

Use to call the 4' x 8' x 16" ricks of wood a "short rick". Hardwood up here is about $300 (at least) a cord. Softwood is about $250 a cord. Not many peach and apple orchards here as there used to be. I would get that for my fireplace and it would last about all day before I had to add wood.

[765x53]

Dad always called a local trucker and had a couple of tons of coal dumped into the basement coal bin. Then I could spend all winter stoking the furnace and carrying ashes to dump in the alley.