BUYER BEWARE & BE KNOWLEDGEABLE
Learn from my mistakes Steemians and gain some knowledge!!
The last time I ever had to cut firewood was years and years and years ago, helping my uncle on the family farm. (Thanks to my uncle and this experience, I now favor black coffee with a ice cube in it....more on that another time!)
For the last 22 years while I was in the Marines, I never once had to worry about chopping, cutting, seasoning or burning firewood as a means to heat or offset the heating bill. I did however go to a few places to get a few rows of firewood for bonfires in the back yard or if we went camping.
That was then and this is now!
We packed up in July, leaving the eastern shores of North Carolina and in late August we settled here in Missouri where we have a beautiful 10 acre farm. The house came with a fireplace, a wood burning stove in the shop and a pretty sweet bonfire area. So immediately the thoughts of having our fireplace stoked during the fall and winter had a calming tranquil effect on me.
There was just one problem. I do not have a few cords of firewood to support my dreams of hearing the popping and cracking and feeling the radiant heat from the fireplace, wood stove or bonfire!! Cutting down any trees in August would be pointless.
Searching Craigslist and the Facebook Market Place
Soo many ads of people selling cords and cords of firewood. Prices ranging from FREE to over $250.00! Free is good if you have a good back, a buddy or two to help, a chainsaw and time. Most of the time anything labeled as FREE comes at a price. It is usually trees that people cut down and have not taken them to the landfill/recycling center yet and the moisture content is ridiculously high. Seasoned? Absolutely not!
I did manage to find some seasoned Locust and Osage in the back of the shop and after doing some research, they put out around 30k BTUs compared to that of Oak or Hickory, which is around 24k BTUs. Higher BTUs is great, but be careful, the higher BTUs can cause damage to your fireplace, wood stove and chimney!
Below is a small sample from http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm
I gotta warn ya, the chart on the website is hard on the eyes!
Common Name Species Name Pounds /Cord MBTU/Cord
Osage Orange (Hedge) Maclura pomifera -----4,845--------------30.0
Persimmon, American Diospyros virginiana--4,165--------------25.8
Hickory, Shagbark Carya ovata-------------------4,080--------------25.3
Birch, Black Betula lenta---------------------------3,910--------------24.2
Oak, White Quercus alba---------------------------3,910--------------24.2
Locust, Honey Gleditsia triacanthos-------------3,825--------------23.7
Hickory, Bitternut Carya cordiformis------------3,825--------------23.7
Locust, Black Robinia pseudoacacia-------------3,740--------------23.2
Maple, Sugar Acer saccharum----------------------3,740--------------23.2
Oak, Bur (Mossycup) Quercus macrocarpa-----3,655--------------22.7
This is where it all goes down hill
So with the info I researched, I figure I could best play it safe and just get a cord of Oak. So off to the Facebook Market Place I went. After finally finding one and with free delivery, I contacted the seller and informed them I would like to have a cord of Oak. $250.00 for a cord of Oak, delivered to my house. I thought it was perfect. Boy was I sooo wrong!
After returning home with my kids from parent-teacher conferences I found a lady in a beat up blue Silverado with a trailer in front of my garage. She had offloaded all the firewood into a pile. When I saw the pile I asked her "Is that a full cord of firewood? Because that looks more like a half cord!" She replied, "Yes, that is a full cord." I told her I really do not think that is a full cord. But she insisted it was and that if I was short I could get the rest from her later. I should not have done it, but I paid her as promised and off she went.
In my head I kept telling myself, "This is NOT a full cord." While at the same time thinking there are good and honest people out there and maybe she is not wrong, maybe I am.
This is my firewood staging area. Funny thing; when I drove the "T" post in the ground, I just eyeballed it...not measuring tape or nothing. Just something to keep the firewood off the wet ground and held in place.
I figured I had best measure it out if she is wrong I have physical and visible proof that she shorted me. Here is my measurements:
Width: 48"
Length: 7' 3"...it should be 96" or 8'
Height: 51"
Again, not bad for eyeballing it.
So here I go sorting and stacking firewood. And this was my "Cord" of Oak after being stacked up:
So I messaged her informing her of the discrepancy and she kept telling me has to talk with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend must be on a ship or deployed because she still has not informed me of their discussions! Our conversations went on all last week and I think on Friday she must have blocked me! (I cannot see the reason why!?!) But I do have her phone number!
This situation really upsets me so much that #1, I bit my tongue, trusted her and let her take off before I stacked the firewood and #2, I gave here $250.00 for what I think is probably $125.00 worth of firewood. I am half tempted to report her and have her blocked on the marketplace all together. Do I get the police department involved? I do not want to because the law enforcement already have enough crazy people to worry about and too, it is over about $125.00. Yeah it is a good bit of money but we are not dying of hunger, the bills are paid, and I will still get another paycheck next month. Despite all my effort to inform her of the error, she said I was wrong.
This is quite the expensive lesson for me to learn which is why I want to share it with you all.
Don't forget the seasoning!!
Oh I cannot forget about the seasoning part! And we are not talking seasoning salt. Ha Ha. MOST IMPORTANT! If the firewood is really bright/white/colorful, this it is not fully seasoned. Firewood that is seasoned should be muddled or gray. You should hear a "CLINK" when you hit logs together. Not a "THUD!"
You want seasoned firewood so the energy is used to put off heat and not used to actually dry out and burn the wood. Plus burning unseasoned wood has the potential to have creosote building up in the chimney. Nobody wants a chimney fire....EVER!
Which reminds me. Get your chimney cleaned and inspected!!!!!
There is hope for me yet this winter!
Again it pains me that I had to write and share this with you all but I feel compelled to pass on my crappy experience and gained knowledge. Next year we will not experience this problem. I have already begun girdling some Osage and Honey Locust that will be used next fall and winter. Plus I found a saw mill in Pleasant Hill that sells Oak Slabs. I personally drove there and checked it out. Man those slabs are really seasoned!! Gray, dark gray, almost black as pepper! And for $85 for a trailer full, you bet your butt I will be loading up a ton of slabs next week.
GOOD INFO TO PUT IN YOUR BACK POCKET!
If you have NEVER purchased firewood for your home I implore you to know the terms and sizes for each!! Below is something to get your started.
http://www.millsonforestry.com/shop/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=82
Measurements of Firewood:
http://www.woodheat.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41:what-is-a-cord-and-how-to-avoid-paying-too-much-for-one&catid=5:firewood&Itemid=50
What is a Cord? And How to Avoid Paying Too Much for One
The official measurement of firewood is a “cord”, but that word can be used differently in some regions and it can be misused by some firewood dealers.
One full cord
A full cord is a large amount of wood. It measures four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long (4 ft. x 4 ft. x 8 ft.) and has a volume of 128 cubic feet. The amount of solid wood in a cord varies depending on the size of the pieces, but for firewood it averages about 85 cubic feet. The rest of the cord volume is air space.
A 'full' cord (4' x 4' x 8') is the official, standard firewood measure, but four foot pieces are never used for home heating, and dealers rarely sell firewood in that form. So firewood is not offered for sale in the form of its official unit measurement, which is why buying firewood can be confusing.
Other terms, such as face cord, stove cord or furnace cord are sometimes used to describe a stack of wood measuring 4 ft. high and 8 ft. long with a piece length shorter than 4 ft. A common firewood piece length is 16 inches, or one-third of a full cord, but other lengths are also available.
Face Cord or Rick
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictR.html
a traditional unit of volume for firewood. A rick represents a stack of split firewood 4 feet high and 8 feet long, the logs being of a standard length, usually 16 inches. This is equivalent to 1/3 cord or 1.208 steres. However, because the size of a rick has been manipulated by vendors, it is illegal to sell firewood by the rick in several U.S. states. A rick is sometimes called a face cord or tier. The name of the unit comes from a old Norse word for a stack of wood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_cord
A face cord is an informal unit of volume for stacked firewood,[1] sometimes called a rick.[2] Width and height is typically the same as a cord, but the depth can vary.[3] The front face is the same as a cord (4'x8'), hence the name. The depth is generally commonly 16" (for use in residential fireplaces) but can be anything from 12 inches to 32 inches. This results in a volume of 32 to 85 cubic feet. Several states only allow wood to be sold by the cord or fractions of a cord, to avoid confusion among consumers.[4][5] The wood should stacked "racked and well stowed" - meaning stacked so that the wood is parallel, and air gaps are minimized. It should not be cross-stacked (alternating directions), as this adds considerable empty space to the stack.[4]
The following image from: https://themerrylotus.wordpress.com/tag/cord-wood-wood-firewood-measurements/
As always, have a great and blessed day and continue to help each other grow in knowledge.
Kenny
Pfeiler Family Farm