Firewood Sales Predictions

Curious what folks who sell firewood think sales will be like this year? Up because folks are working at home and want to sit next to the fire? Lower because people have more time to make their own? Lower because people are not working? Lower because every Joe with a truck and a pull-on wild thing will be selling green wood for cheap?

dunno if it is predictable or not. Sold a cord this week and have another 1 1/2 cord going out this weekend.

w

 

my bet is lower because gas and oil prices are so freekin low its almost hard to reason with buying wood...
i did sell quite a bit during "Covid" back yarding until it got so blasted hot that nobody wanted to sit next to a fire..

hopefully its cold as a witches ti tees. and oil goes UP fast !!!

 

because every Joe with a truck and a pull-on wild thing will be selling green wood for cheap?


They might get half a ford ranger truckload with the purple n green thing!

 

stopped for fuel this morning- could not believe that the price of e85 was lower than earlier in the week -this being a holiday weekend and traditionally prices get jacked up. $1.89 vs $2.09 and this at a station right off freeway which is generally more expensive.

 

Over here prices are down due to lower gas and oil prices plus so much ash dieback around
Tree service companies have got plenty in there yards
local councils and public services are going a bit gung ho on public safety and taking alot out

 

Around here I believe it will be about the same as previous years.

Many of the rural folks around here heat with propane. I just bought 800 gallons on contract for the Winter months at 1.08 per gallon and topped everything off at summer fill price of 1.00

 

As usual, customers are waiting until the last minute to call for a delivery. Hot and humid weather also choked it off. Now add in the pandemic.

I've been launching some e-mail reminders to get things going. Finally a cool down in the weather has arrived. There is nothing like a winter breeze to wake up the slumbering market.

 

Winter is coming currently in south Dakota...

 

Well, forum, since I wrote Post #7, I have now received five truckloads of orders for next week and three more from the same folks for early December. My work is hereby cut out for me and now I need to find more dry hardwood for bucking and splitting.

I thought I had enough dry wood on board but I could easily stock out before December. Several of these orders are from all new customers. A freak cold wave produced this demand? Gasp!

 

Ha. I put an ad out August 1st and hit 110 cords on order last week. Had to pull the ad. Here in Ohio at least, folks are stocking up early.

 

I don’t sell much, 12 cord last year. But folks have to be out of wood, snow flying or both before they call. My son-in-laws father comes & gets his own, it has to be 50* or less before he wants get it.

 

Around here there is all the dead standing ash you want for free. Buddy sells wood and and he said he is doing about average sales. He said he is tired of folks calling wanting him to take down trees for free and clean up the mess if they give him the wood. He tells them to call a tree service to do that. Then most likely the tree service will call him to get the big stuff for free.

 

I have an uncle that keeps telling about all the great firewood in fence lines that I can have if I come down & clean out the fence lines.... Uhm, no I don’t believe I will doing that for free. If it was just the occasional Ash, Cherry & Osage I would entertain the thought as long as I could use his tractor & loader to clean up but there are too many plum thickets, Multiflora rose bushes & other PIA shrubby crap.

 

Good call, JimBear. As others have sounded off here, there is no such thing as free firewood. That animal escaped from the zoo fifty years ago.

 

The last tree I did I made it very clear the brush and tops was their responsibility.

 

Anymore

I'll take some home or not. Plenty of dead pencil trees to kill all winter around here if needed.
I'm thinking my firewood, if any, will be expensive in early 2021.

 

roundwood prices are low owing too asb dieback our market gas been flooded

Last year all roundwood was gone pretty quick after thinning was finished

 

Ever notice that every round that a tree removal company cuts is usually cut too long or to0 short or at some odd-ball angle, sometimes at both ends? When you buck cut the trunk, it's done right for firewood processing and when they buck cut the trunk, you are lucky to get any rounds or limbs cut correctly.

That's because you know what you need for firewood processing and they really don't care, even though you save them money by lowering their recycling fee.

 

I get wood from a tree service like that. Fortunately most pieces are 6’ ish long and I have a place to go with my real short splits. I have a customer with a little insert and the 12”-16” work best for her.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The potbelly stove owners also love short lengths. That's what the old caboose stoves swallowed. Anything over 14" was too long for them. I used to collect a pile of short lengths just for them alone. Inside the truck I easily packed it with five rows rather than my normal four. One time I counted 500 logs in one load. Those customers would sometimes reward me with an extra double sawbuck.