# the sure thing firewood



## pips (Mar 9, 2014)

ok so i work construction but my big winter cash flow comes from firewood.i get it from amish at 22 dollars a truckload.pick it up on side of rd from state or utility companies.bribe township guys with donuts to call when they cutting lol or cut on one of or family farms.there is no end to sources i have.i have many many saws 2 log splitters with access to 2 more and a back hoe with a clam shell bucket to lift move ect logs.a large chevy dump truck 1 ton monster.
we do well over a 100 cords a year generally.this is 100% family buisness sons wife we all get in on it.my wife commutes to a large city daily so we fill a truck and she drops a load after work to various customers daily.we also sell local.here is what we are getting
1/3 cord-80
1/2 cord-100
1 cord-190
2 cord-350
since wife is already commuting we dont really spend much extra in gas.anything a cord or over i deliver in dump on weekends.i always have customers calling and sell out by feb.
year b4 last i did 19000 after fuel saw up keep wood we bought from amish and a nice chunk we pay our sons the profit was 14000.that does not include the cost of chainsaw chains is not included i pick up all the pop cans from construction jobsite when i clean up and recycle them to pay for chains.i also have a special gravity filter i use to recycled motor oil as bar oil.never use diesel oil for this it will mess ur saw up<just incase u didnt know>when i started i had a old pickup 2 small saws and borrowed a log splitter and have grown to where i am now.hope this helps some of you produce some extra income.it is work but being cold sux and people always need wood.


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

How very cool, my DH loved cutting and splitting firewood....no one ever bothered him while he was doing it either LOL. Hard on the body but great work for anyone who can do it.


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## pips (Mar 9, 2014)

there is alot of new tools to ease it on the body.it will never be really easy but each year u do it u learn new tricks.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

I don't mind cutting, but I won't cut to sell, at least not right now. A local man, retired farmer, sells firewood and is a good friend, so I won't start selling and cut into his income.
Sounds like you really make good money from wood. Around here, 1/3 cord, face cord, rick, whatever you want to call it sells for $50-$60, full cord anywhere from $120-$150.


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Been at $250 for years, got up to $325 a month ago. So long as you get the cash it's decent money


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

That's a business I've always thought about getting into but the only way I would do it is with the equipment needed to do 90% of the lifting and splitting.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

It was a sure thing by us this year. Every bit of firewood that anybody was selling was sold - and there are some very big operations around us.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

It's still possible to pay off land with the money earned by selectively cutting firewood in some places.


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

Last winter while visiting my property in Ozark County, MO I happened to notice that I seemed to never see anyone with piles of wood for sale.

I asked a local about that and he said wood is so plentiful, and money so scarce, you just can't find too many local people who would pay someone else for wood. 

I guess the best place to sell wood is where it is A) Cold, and B) Folks have more money than time/energy.


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## pips (Mar 9, 2014)

tarbe said:


> Last winter while visiting my property in Ozark County, MO I happened to notice that I seemed to never see anyone with piles of wood for sale.
> 
> I asked a local about that and he said wood is so plentiful, and money so scarce, you just can't find too many local people who would pay someone else for wood.
> 
> I guess the best place to sell wood is where it is A) Cold, and B) Folks have more money than time/energy.


any large city or suburb will produce good cash flow people in those areas dont wanna get hands dirty usually


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

Just by all means, be careful cutting wood. My chainsaw kicked today while cutting firewood. Cutting the lower branches off a tree before I dropped it. 
Stitches in your knee cap are not very enjoyable.


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## pips (Mar 9, 2014)

Dixie Bee Acres said:


> Just by all means, be careful cutting wood. My chainsaw kicked today while cutting firewood. Cutting the lower branches off a tree before I dropped it.
> Stitches in your knee cap are not very enjoyable.


very true i caught a rock in my saw the other day running full skip chain put me on my butt it had grown in tree.lucky i had just tuned the saw to not idle it shut off as it hit the ground.it should be noted never use chainsaw in shorts or tennis shoes ect boots jeans chaps and all other safety equipment is a must.sadly 3 years ago i lost a childhood friend to a chainsaw he became a tree cutter and fell 20 feet and the saw came down on top of him.i still can see him at 12 years old standing next to the wood splitter with me splitting up wood as our dads cut it.since it happened ihad a pull kill attached to all my climbing saws if it falls then the saw shuts off.be safe all


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## 5RFamily (Apr 6, 2014)

Sorry for your loss Pips.


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

That's some sobering stuff.

I now have one more thing to keep me paranoid when using a saw...rocks inside trees.

Chainsaws are a lot like guns in that they are all kinds of potential harm waiting for the moment of carelessness or even just random chance (the rock in the tree thing).

Thanks for the reminders.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

tarbe said:


> Last winter while visiting my property in Ozark County, MO I happened to notice that I seemed to never see anyone with piles of wood for sale.
> 
> I asked a local about that and he said wood is so plentiful, and money so scarce, you just can't find too many local people who would pay someone else for wood.
> 
> I guess the best place to sell wood is where it is A) Cold, and B) Folks have more money than time/energy.


 I got Permit to cut on Government Land, you can't sell what you cut. But I was surprised we was only ones cutting. I asked the Forester I got Permit off of about this? he said nobody wants to cut.

But when Propane went up, guys selling wood kicked their price up to $200 a Cord, they couldn't sell so dropped it back down to $100 a Cord.

big rockpile


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

pips said:


> any large city or suburb will produce good cash flow people in those areas dont wanna get hands dirty usually


 Ozark County MO. is miles from any Large City it wouldn't justify cutting there and hauling to even Springfield closest city.

big rockpile


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I think I would buy propane before this......

http://www.trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2014/05/full-7393-217917-tree_trimmer.jpg


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

That takes a special kind of stupid.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

At 100 cords/year, I'd be looking into a firewood processor.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

fishhead said:


> I think I would buy propane before this......
> 
> http://www.trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2014/05/full-7393-217917-tree_trimmer.jpg


 
:facepalm: Well Bless his Heart!

big rockpile


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

What a cool looking machine! i would say I want one but here in AZ none of the trees are straight enough to go through it LOL. I mostly see mesquite and as I recall it is a very hard wood to cut and split....guess I will find out soon enough.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I would like to see a video of how he got to that point.

A few years ago I was in western NY and saw a woodlot that had a conveyor. The end of the conveyor was probably 20' high and the chunks of wood were piled up to the end of it.


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## krenee (May 26, 2014)

I have land with a ton of mesquite and a lot of it is fallen. My dad says that would make great fire wood. I have a chain saw. Do you think this is something I might be able to do? Do you sell the wood year round or just mainly on the winter months it's used? I know these May seem stupid questions. Just wondering. About to have a lot of extra wood laying around.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

krenee said:


> I have land with a ton of mesquite and a lot of it is fallen. My dad says that would make great fire wood. I have a chain saw. Do you think this is something I might be able to do? Do you sell the wood year round or just mainly on the winter months it's used? I know these May seem stupid questions. Just wondering. About to have a lot of extra wood laying around.


 
Mesguite is popular for smoking or grilling wood. It's a dense heavy wood, I would bet dead mesquite would be hard to saw.


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## blufford (Nov 23, 2004)

krenee said:


> I have land with a ton of mesquite and a lot of it is fallen. My dad says that would make great fire wood. I have a chain saw. Do you think this is something I might be able to do? Do you sell the wood year round or just mainly on the winter months it's used? I know these May seem stupid questions. Just wondering. About to have a lot of extra wood laying around.


Here are some ideas of what you could do with that wood.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29418

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=27397.0


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## ronron (Feb 4, 2009)

My Husband has sold and cut firewood since he was a kid. I think you can make a major purchase with firewood if you save for the purchase, I wouldn't suggest buying a house and planning on selling firewood to make the payments. If you know what your doing and offer a good product. Wood is tricky all wood will burn, not all wood is the best to burn, you have to be able to Identify wood know how it will burn will it slow burn and leave very little ash will it burn up fast and hot, is it seasoned, is it green, woodstoves will be gaining in popularity with energy prices going up..


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