fireplaces and cost of wood ?

[aj]

Does any one have a fireplace and do you burn wood in the winter? Do you buy face cords or full cords and what is wood worth a cord. I know there are alot of corn stoves and pellets can be purchased to burn in them. Does it pay to burn 6 $ in the corn stoves. I guess the reason I'm asking is that i'm tearing out some old dead trees and was wondering if the wood was worth anything. It takes alot of work to cut stuff into 16 inch lengths. I didn't know if it wood be worth it or not. Thanks in advance.

[Doc]

aj , I have a fireplace we use ,it has an insert with blowers & t-stat which makes it a lot more efficient. we have a finished basement that we have a woodburning stove in . when we use the f.p. we leave the fan running on the central unit to help distribute the heat. seasoned hard woods sell for about 40 or 45 a rick around here.hope this helps.

[bradycreek]

we have a wood stove that we burn wood in to offset gas furnace cost. Needless to say I'll be burning a whole lot more next winter with the higher prices.  The price of wood depends upon where you are in the country.  Right around a large city seasoned split oak will sell for alot more than out in the sticks.  Around Kansas City seasoned Oak split will bring from $75 to $150 per truck load. Usually takes 3-4 long bed truck loads to equal a chord which is 4x4x8.  A lot of wood cutters talk about a rick which is assumed to be a 1/2 chord but in forestry and the division of weights and measurments I don't think there is any offical measurment of a rick.  I've heard of guys selling wood as a rick that was simply one full long bed truck load which isn't a 1/2 chord.  Unless you have racks on the truck and stack it over the cab you can't get a 1/2 chord on a full sized long bed p.u.
If you are going to buy wood to burn you want wood with the highest BTU's. Hedge(osage orange) burns hottest then I think it goes the oaks, red elm, hickories, ash, hackberry, walnut, american elm, and on down. I try and cut only red elm, left over hedge from cutting post, and oaks, a few ash, hickory and hackberry.
I usually burn 2 chords per winter some years more some less. I think this past winter I used approx 2 1/2 chords and have some left over.  Again this isn't my primary source of heat.
Depends on the kind of wood your cutting but $50 for seasoned hardwood sounds right but if it is all split and not so much limb wood it would bring more.
Good Luck
don
PS if buring hedge usually not a good idea to fill a stove completly with it. It can get so hot as to buckle the metal in the stove, cause a flu fire, and so on.  I try and only put a couple of small hedge sticks in with some other type of wood.

[JbarL]

most folks in my area use the outside woodstoves..( boilers)....great heat sources....not sure of the volume of wood they use a year but it provides hot water supply and garage/shop/barn  heat as well, in some cases......wood will obvisouly be higher this year simply because of fuel prices and demand....outside boilers use longer/ bigger pieces...and only need tended once a day....most of these folks also have there own supply of wood on site, so its just a matter of time/fuel costs for them....but 50.00 a pickup load is not far off the mark for rural areas, and 100.00 a laod wont suprise me for metro prices ..( dry seasoned, hard woods cut and split).....i select cut my place last june and have tons of firewood donw nnow,....i bartered some of it with my farm hand  , and we are on shares as well for some, ....not sure what kind of wood you ahve, and how much, but if you just want it outof your way someone  who uses it may be willing to get it out of there for you....or you can leave it in long or finished lengths unsplit pieces , and save you some time and fuel and the buyer can save as well.....it can be priced by the ton as well both split and unsplit for year round buyers( which is our preference cause its  more cost efffecent for us, and less expensive for the buyers).....i'm sure this topic will pop up again towards the fall....ps...planting 5 to 8 acres of black walnut now, will be the best retirement supplement/ or college fund you could ever dream of....10/15 yeas goes /( went    )  by pretty fast... ....jbarl...

[Davis Shorthorns]

I have a wood stove and I use it almost every day from nov. to the end of Jan.  It saved our buts during the Ice storm we had back in Dec.  We were without power for 11 days we used it for heat and for something to cook on.  We just bought a larger one this year that should heat our whole house. 

[zach]

wood is free.... cut it ourselves, haul it, stack it etc etc, stove dosnt take much electricity to work, keeps the house cozy

[itk]

Aj everyone knows there are no trees west of Salina, so I would like to know where this land is that you own with trees on it. We had a wood burning stove growing up but as soon as us kids(free labor) moved out my folks moved into a smaller house with propane heat. So unless Dan is moving home I say stay away from it and just be happy you are lucky enough to have a tree out in that part of the world.

[Jill]

Wood is worth something, but not as much as it costs you to process it if your time is worth anything, we have a wood stove, but don't use it much, don't like smelling like smoke.
 I am one of those with a corn/pellet fireplace insert and it was great at 2 corn, not bad at 3, but it is cheaper to burn propane at 6 dollar corn, but at the rate things are going, propane may keep pace with the corn, can't win I guess.

[kanshow]

We are usually lucky to find someone who will take the wood for cleaning it up...  or we give it to them on shares.   

[aj]

You are right about trees being scarce around here. There are some on the beaver creek and in yards. The one dead tree is as tall as our 2 story house and is right next to. My wife says she will divorce me if I smash it into the house.However......I have been watching ax-men on t.v. .......how hard can it be? I bought a husqvarna chain saw and I am ready to kick some butt. 450$ chain saw,hospital expenses,divorce all ti sell 150$ worth of firewood? I am pretty sharp .Thanks for some ideas. After this adventure I have been looking into a home beer brewing kit.

[kanshow]

AJ - Just make sure you get several videos from different angles on TREE DAY!! LOL!!!   

[Jill]

I would have to say the home beer brewing kit is money much better spent!

[inthebarnagain]

Hey, from the looks of things on Ax-men, work is slow, maybe you could get them to come to you and cut your tree   Then you could be on TV!!!  Free advertising  !!!  Seriously, I am looking forward to Ice Road Truckers, makes our cattle work and my medical transcription look tame.  Can't say the same for my husband though.  His profession was #4 on the 10 most dangerous jobs list.  He works on the high power electricity end of things, 750,000 volts.

[boomer]

We have a freestanding stove. My parents usually order enough for them and us. I know it has saved us alot by burning wood to heat the house. We have  500 gallon propane heater, I always hate paying to fill that thing up. The bad thing  where we live is that a lot of counties are enforcing no burn days because of air pollution.  It hasnt happened in our count yet.I think its a conspiracy to force people to have to bend over for the local gas and electric companies.

[knabe]

out here in the bay area, legislation is being proposed where you can't even burn those epa approved extremely low soot sealed stoves that cost about 1500-3000.

also, there was a big to do that people who are not optimally weighted are contributing to global warming by causing excess movement of foodstuffs.

if only one could cap and trade calories.  don't worry, it's coming.

yet they keep allowing more people into the country.  it doesn't make sense, other than to get votes by any means possible.

any attempt at using energy will be taxed.  you must depend on the government for all your energy needs.

it's amazing, they are going to tax independency out of existence.

i bet it gets to the point of paying inabilitied unoptimally weighted workers to huddle to generate heat for the optimally weighted.