Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Farm cash crop

While some of you were talking snow, feeding cows and feeling sorry for a farm dog I cut, split and hauled two loads of firewood. COD (cash on delivery) to a city slicker up the valley. He wants two more loads. "Got to make hay while the sun shines."

Hire a helper to stack, and one could double the amount of wood in a load.

By the way, that's not sunshine.



Trade a couple loads of oak for some Western Larch?

The Larch................



Hehehe....



Bring me a couple cords would ya?

Nice looking load roundoak. What's the going rate for a cord of oak out there?

You a smoker RoundOak?

I would have to check out BTU comparison.

Split, dry White Oak $350

Split, dry Red Oak $300

No, but there are some people I sell Hickory and Cherry too.

I used to cut firewood with my truck spot lights till 1,2am in the morn.

Haul runs after a few hours of sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat

Was only getting $200 a cord then (15 yrs ago)

All cash

Extra $1000 a week cash money


I bought three spec lots 1.5 acres each and they were timbered before being subdivided. Pure white oak stands. Laps and butt ends like a jungle. Would sit and run a splitter for 2-3 hours a pop. Owners of the other lots let me cut and clean up all of theirs too.

Seems like a lot at first for a guy like me living in the land of trees. .. But BTU wise, its probably a bargain compared to ~ 200 here for fir or birch. More an evergreen/softwood deal out here.

At 300 bucks , that is a good price. I burn wood in my boiler. It is an indoor boiler but is outside in a small shed. It is a gassier. It's called an EKO 25 and is very efficient. I dont have any wood for next year yet but have never been short on wood. Lately, natural gas is cheap enough that is hardly pays to cut wood after hauling it, cutting splitting and stacking. I do enjoy going out at 9PM when its 10 below zero , especially if its calm out . There is no better heat than hydronic and the house feels so much nicer than the forced air heat we have for a back up. I get my wood for free though.

That is some work Wayne. I like wood heat, still that hardwood is pretty sawn into boards for walls, and floors.

I’m trying to developer a market for Greasewood! When it happens....I’m a rich man! memtb

Here's a link for heat yield across several species. I think the absolute best is osage orange. Most of us, however, have to cut whatever grows in the region. Pretty much limited to conifers here.

Firewood BTU yields by species

Similar link with a few different listings

Choices here are: Doug fir, Ponderosa pine, Lodgepole pine, Grand fire, Western Juniper, and Larch. We favor Larch because it burns clean (remove ashes once a year), is easy to split, and grows very tall with few limbs and little taper. About like cutting down large telephone poles. Try to get it in by the middle of June to beat the heat and free up the fall for more fun endeavors.


Could probably heat the house for a month with the chopping blocks. The larger blocks are Ponderosa Pine. Hard to split, so they will hold up for several years. Five layers in the shed, and we use about 3 1/2 in an average winter. Lengths are 15 inches, so one can open the door and throw them in the stove. Obviously, I like a tight stack. Have about a 6 year supply outside of the shed.

USFS charges $5 a cord, then we have our labor and equipment costs. We could go about 6 miles and harvest pine, but think it's worth while for ease of cutting and splitting to run about 40 miles for Larch.

Holy crap, I had several black and white oaks get blown down this spring. I cut/split them up and hauled them home. Stack 10’ long 4.5’ high and it is cut 18-20” sticks. I have had 3 in my yard for 3weeks now priced at $45 a stack with no takers. Have 5 or 6 more still at the farm to restock. I might have to make a road trip

I'll take a cord. LOL. Hardest work I ever did was helping my dad and grandad cut out dead mesquite. We cut it into logs and threw it into the trailer. Stacked it at home and burned it in the fireplace and the smoker. I was young then.

And yea....it burns hot. Real hot.

Got two 140-160ft doug firs down. One I got split and in a pile. Gonna start on the second one this morning. All with a maul and wedges. Then comes the stacking. Need to build a new wood shed, too. That's next.

Mostly Doug fir and big leaf maple here. Maple is about the same in BTUs, but is kind of a pain to cut and split. My area has lots of madrone and oak, but none (well one madrone) on our property. A couple cherry trees, too. So mainly we burn fir.

Here's another chart with a comprehensive species breakdown.

http://firewoodresource.com/firewood-btu-ratings/

I keep waiting for ear hair to become a cash crop.

That's worth the effort.
Did the snow get a little deeper by you last night?