Firewood Market

[turnkey4099]

Well, not exactly. Ricks and Face Cords describe an amount of wood 4 feet high and 8 feet wide, or IOW the "face" of a full cord. But only two dimensions. The length of the pieces is not explicit or part of the definition although 16 to 18 inch and 24 inch are common lengths being sold. Thus a face cord of 16 inch pieces would be the equivalent of 1/3 of a full cord. 24 inch pieces would equal half a full cord.



Yet this pretty simple measurement is often the source of all manner of debate. Never made sense to me but while some insist that full cord measurements are the only way to describe firewood, to me and I'd think most home burners buying wood can more easily envision a 4x8 pile of their firewood than a fraction of a 128 cubic feet amount of wood.

You think "most home burners" can picture a 4' x 8' pile of wood but can't picture a 1/3 cord which is 4' x 8' x 16"? Weird.

Nobody sells wood by "fraction of 128 cu ft".

As for a defviniton of "rick" that is a pile of wood 1 stick wide by however long and high you want to pile it. Thus 3 sticks in a pile is a rick.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Fire wood is sold by the cord here because that is the law. You can sell a half or third cord, but you have to advertise it that way, not as a rick, face cord, etc.

Yep but the problem is that there is no enforcement unless a complaint is lodged against a seller. Most states specifically say in their codes that cords or fractions thereof are the only legal measures and some even go further to specifically state that "rick, rank, face cord, load, etc" are banned.

If poeple would just give up those measures that were originally developed to scam customeers there would be a whole lot less misunderstandigns in threads discussing firewood.

"I cut, split and stacked 4 cords yesterday" but when questioned find he meant 4 face cords and then are asked to define what his "face cord" is.

Harry

Harry K

 

[ultrarunner]

Looks like wood ranges anywhere from free to a couple of hundred a cord in TBN land.

Firewood market has all but vanished since the bans on new fireplaces/stoves along with the regional smoke police patrolling and responding to anonymous complaints on no burn days.

Unleaded Gas started in California... I wonder how long it will be before wood heat is banned nationwide?

 

[dave1949]

Any elm I harvest is only under protest - I have to take that to get the better stuff. As for splitting it? I don't even try manually, it goes staight to the splitter. Even then I wish the splitter had a high knife projection on the wedge to cut all those strings.

Harry K

Trying is the high price of being an incurable optimist. :laughing:

It isn't bad burning wood, I don't have much of it, and hate to let it go to waste. I don't have a powered splitter, so I usually cut it into small chunks with the saw, or put it on the outdoor fire pit pile.

 

[dave1949]

Looks like wood ranges anywhere from free to a couple of hundred a cord in TBN land.

Firewood market has all but vanished since the bans on new fireplaces/stoves along with the regional smoke police patrolling and responding to anonymous complaints on no burn days.

Unleaded Gas started in California... I wonder how long it will be before wood heat is banned nationwide?

I don't see that happening. You would have a better chance of taking a Mainer's gun than his wood pile, and that chance would be slim to none. I think areas that suffer inversions that trap the smoke for days have a concern to deal with. Even areas with inversions could allow wood burning with the right wood fuels and stoves. If you have people that are burning standard fireplaces for a bit of local warmth and ambiance, that is a problem.

 

[clemsonfor]

That's a face cord, there is usually 3 face cords per cord to get you close, but still short on a true cord.

 

[ultrarunner]

Up before they started the wood burning restrictions... there was an un-official wood drop off lot where trimmers would unload rounds free for the taking. Lots of the guys would go there and get their firewood.

The county put a stop to it by posting steep fines for littering... the real reason is the country said it encouraged people to burn wood by making available free wood.

I wrote a letter saying it was grass roots recycling and it didn't cost the county a dime...

 

[ultrarunner]

I don't see that happening. You would have a better chance of taking a Mainer's gun than his wood pile, and that chance would be slim to none. I think areas that suffer inversions that trap the smoke for days have a concern to deal with. Even areas with inversions could allow wood burning with the right wood fuels and stoves. If you have people that are burning standard fireplaces for a bit of local warmth and ambiance, that is a problem.

That's the ironic part... even those with permitted EPA Cat equipped stoves fall under the ban...

Many had protested and the powers that be said it would be a logistical enforcement nightmare to let one neighbor burn and another not based on the model stove.

As to the inversion layer... not really a problem in the much of the banned area which is coastal. The air district, which only covers the Bay Area counties said the real problem is the smoke causes problems a 100 miles away in the foothills... which ironically, do not have to follow the Bay Area restrictions...

I know Olympia WA has also had wood fire bans... maybe, it is just a West Coast thing?

 

[clemsonfor]

Up before they started the wood burning restrictions... there was an un-official wood drop off lot where trimmers would unload rounds free for the taking. Lots of the guys would go there and get their firewood.

The county put a stop to it by posting steep fines for littering... the real reason is the country said it encouraged people to burn wood by making available free wood.

I wrote a letter saying it was grass roots recycling and it didn't cost the county a dime...

Encourages wood burning!! of course it does!! Its carbon neutral I don't see the problem. This is the problem like with gun control you have idiots spouting what they think but are to stupid to realize what their talking about!!

The SAME amout of carbon is released if the wood is burned vs letting it rot in the woods or a dump or the guys yard.

Like the politician that I heard that wanted to ban polymer tipped bullets??? Why those who know anything about ammo and guns, a polymer tipped bullet is not more dangerous than any other type. Full metal jacket bullets actually do less damage to a person when shot vs a lead tipped soft point bullet but yet they want to ban FMJ????

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I've never heard of bans against wood stoves/fireplaces. We often have bans against open burning but I'm sure that's normal in high-risk times.

Hard maple & Oak are the most common here as is "Mixed Hardwood". I generally prefer buying mixed as having some birch etc is nice as an option -- just have to be sure how much is in the load. Measurements are either a "Face Chord" which here should be 1/3 of a real chord but you have to check the lenght of the sticks which can vary from 12" if the guy is trying to cheat you up to 18" sometimes. The other choice is a "Bush Chord" which is really just a proper chord and nowadays, here only used when buying logs not cut & Split. Prices anywhere from $80 face chord picked up to as high as $130 delivered.