Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[John_Mc]

I have always known a cord to be 128 cubic feet, not 180

I think he meant that a thrown cord takes up 180 cubic feet. That ratio seems about right to me. One of my old trailers held 1/3 of a cord when thrown in. I could get about 1/2 cord, about 50% more when neatly stacked.

 

[dodge man]

I can certainly understand the “firewood being the least valuable” product idea. Maybe if you had a commercial grade firewood processor and sold a lot it might pay. For me to make a cord of wood, deliver and stack it, a $1000 might tickle my fancy but there would be no takers. I have a hydraulic splitter and a decent saw but it still is labor intensive.

 

[Cycledude]

I make my own firewood, it’s a very nice comfortable heat but there sure ain’t nothing cheap about it, LP gas is much cheaper and safer.

 

[Loaderman22]

"Thrown" is like when 4570Man just dumps it out of his truck body, not stacked or anything.

Here's our legal definition of firewood measurements...

Maine | ByTheCord

www.bythecord.org

Glad to see Rick didn't get his grubby hands in there....

 

[deezler]

My firewood is nearly free. I enjoy the time spent making it.

Inherited Stihl MS310 will hopefully run forever. Borrow my dad's splitter semi-permanently. Obviously would already have a tractor on hand for all the other reasons. I did buy a dozen IBC cages at $25 apiece some years ago, hopefully those also last forever. Gas and lube is cheap. Various minor supplies here and there to sustain and enhance the process.

So let's amortize things over say, 10 years, and I only spend ~$50/year on my firewood production. For a complete Michigan winter of 75 degrees inside my house, and plenty of outdoor campfires in the shoulder seasons just for fun. I can't fathom how LP is "much cheaper", you would need to spend several hundred dollars on it every year to heat my house to the same level.

 

[Loaderman22]

My firewood is nearly free. I enjoy the time spent making it.

Inherited Stihl MS310 will hopefully run forever. Borrow my dad's splitter semi-permanently. Obviously would already have a tractor on hand for all the other reasons. I did buy a dozen IBC cages at $25 apiece some years ago, hopefully those also last forever. Gas and lube is cheap. Various minor supplies here and there to sustain and enhance the process.

So let's amortize things over say, 10 years, and I only spend ~$50/year on my firewood production. For a complete Michigan winter of 75 degrees inside my house, and plenty of outdoor campfires in the shoulder seasons just for fun. I can't fathom how LP is "much cheaper", you would need to spend several hundred dollars on it every year to heat my house to the same level.

I get how "your" firewood is cheaper than LP, but let's now look at it from the ground up with no freebies.

Required items: Buy raw logs +/- $300 a load, now buy saw +/-$500. now buy splitter +/-$2500. Buy fuel/oils $3.50/gal. get 2 cords of split wood, now wait the year or 2 for it to dry, meanwhile heating your house with LP. Then the following year you have wood ready to go, but now you have to make more, buy another load of raw logs and start over. A few years in you Buy land that has trees, +/-$40k (just to give it a value). oh but wait there's more, now you need a way to get the logs up to the splitter so your need a tractor or a 4-wheeler +/-$4k, it takes at least an hour for 2 people to split a cord with your now 4 year old splitter. Now onto manpower: how much do you like to get paid an hour, even at minimum wage that's another $30/hr tacked on per cord. to increase output you're now buying a processor @ +/- $15k, all so you can have a little wood heat... And none of us would trade it for anything, especially to not see that fuel truck backing in the driveway!!!

Ok this was all in fun and no actual Math was used in the making of this story!!

 

[hunt4570]

I make my own firewood, it’s a very nice comfortable heat but there sure ain’t nothing cheap about it, LP gas is much cheaper and safer.

I'll have to disagree, wood heat is WAY cheaper than LP!! Yeah its a bit labor intensive but much cheaper. Our LP bill is the reason I added the wood stove and have pretty much eliminated the LP all together.

 

[hunt4570]

My firewood is nearly free. I enjoy the time spent making it.

Inherited Stihl MS310 will hopefully run forever. Borrow my dad's splitter semi-permanently. Obviously would already have a tractor on hand for all the other reasons. I did buy a dozen IBC cages at $25 apiece some years ago, hopefully those also last forever. Gas and lube is cheap. Various minor supplies here and there to sustain and enhance the process.

So let's amortize things over say, 10 years, and I only spend ~$50/year on my firewood production. For a complete Michigan winter of 75 degrees inside my house, and plenty of outdoor campfires in the shoulder seasons just for fun. I can't fathom how LP is "much cheaper", you would need to spend several hundred dollars on it every year to heat my house to the same level.

3-4 years ago my LP bill was $1200 for the months of Dec, Jan, and Feb.. Since I added the wood stove I've not spent that much on LP since!

 

[deezler]

Required items: Buy raw logs +/- $300 a load, now buy saw +/-$500. now buy splitter +/-$2500. Buy fuel/oils $3.50/gal. get 2 cords of split wood, now wait the year or 2 for it to dry, meanwhile heating your house with LP. Then the following year you have wood ready to go, but now you have to make more, buy another load of raw logs and start over. A few years in you Buy land that has trees, +/-$40k (just to give it a value). oh but wait there's more, now you need a way to get the logs up to the splitter so your need a tractor or a 4-wheeler +/-$4k, it takes at least an hour for 2 people to split a cord with your now 4 year old splitter. Now onto manpower: how much do you like to get paid an hour, even at minimum wage that's another $30/hr tacked on per cord. to increase output you're now buying a processor @ +/- $15k, all so you can have a little wood heat... And none of us would trade it for anything, especially to not see that fuel truck backing in the driveway!!!

Ok this was all in fun and no actual Math was used in the making of this story!!

Haha! That was fun.

But I do have to acknowledge starting from a place of privilege. I have a free chainsaw and splitter, thats not too common. I already live on 10 acres of woods. Wasn't going to live in a city, but of course this isn't feasible for everyone. BTW my first few years after building our house and moving in, we did still heat exclusively with firewood (I don't even have a furnace, house designed only for wood heat - we try not to use the backup electrical baseboard & mini split). So I had to go after the standing dead ash exclusively, it seasons in just a few months after splitting. I still go after it as much as I can, since it is starting to fall down, dry rot and get punky. But 2-year old walnut and cherry is nicer!

 

[hunt4570]

I get how "your" firewood is cheaper than LP, but let's now look at it from the ground up with no freebies.

Required items: Buy raw logs +/- $300 a load, now buy saw +/-$500. now buy splitter +/-$2500. Buy fuel/oils $3.50/gal. get 2 cords of split wood, now wait the year or 2 for it to dry, meanwhile heating your house with LP. Then the following year you have wood ready to go, but now you have to make more, buy another load of raw logs and start over. A few years in you Buy land that has trees, +/-$40k (just to give it a value). oh but wait there's more, now you need a way to get the logs up to the splitter so your need a tractor or a 4-wheeler +/-$4k, it takes at least an hour for 2 people to split a cord with your now 4 year old splitter. Now onto manpower: how much do you like to get paid an hour, even at minimum wage that's another $30/hr tacked on per cord. to increase output you're now buying a processor @ +/- $15k, all so you can have a little wood heat... And none of us would trade it for anything, especially to not see that fuel truck backing in the driveway!!!

Ok this was all in fun and no actual Math was used in the making of this story!!

Well lets see... buying logs defeats the purpose, I cut down my own trees! My splitter that I've for about 15 years cost $900 and still works great! and the saw... I think I have 5 of them now, from 20 years old to 1 year old. Yes I own land, I always have.. just part of life, I would live on acreage even if I didn't burn firewood so that doesn't figure in. All my other firewood "tools" have long since paid for themselves many times over.
And I'm curious where in America minimum wage is $30 per hour?????