If you don’t have the time, inclination, or physical ability to put up your own firewood—and many of us don’t—you can always buy it split and delivered. Many firewood sellers will even stack it for you for an additional fee. U.S. prices vary considerably depending on the location and the type of wood available, but as of this writing you should expect to pay between $225 and $300 per cord for hardwood delivered, or $175 to $225 for softwood. Be sure to buy local firewood. If your wood has been trucked 400 miles before it reaches you, you’re supporting a supply chain that consumes so much fossil fuel that the environmental advantages of your firewood will be lost in diesel exhaust.
As a canny consumer, you’ll want to watch out for a few things when you buy firewood already cut and split. The first, sad to say, is that paying for a cord of firewood doesn’t guarantee that you’ll actually get a cord delivered. Although many states have regulations that require that a cord of wood sold must equal approximately 128 cubic feet when stacked—the accepted, practical definition of a cord—most sellers do not consistently deliver full cords. More often, a “cord” delivered will be closer to 100 cubic feet of wood and sometimes less. An established wood seller who depends on repeat business from happy customers will naturally tend to be much better about this than a kid who decides one summer that cutting up a few trees is a good way to make some extra cash. It pays to ask around to get the names of reputable firewood dealers. And tell the dealer before you order that you always measure your wood after you get it stacked, and that you’ll let them know if the stack comes up short. You don’t have to be rude about it, but you should be clear.
Another common problem is firewood delivered in lengths too long to fit comfortably into your woodstove. Even the smallest commercial firewood operations use gas-powered, hydraulic splitters, which typically accept log sections from 2 to 4 feet long. Splitting long sections of logs can be very difficult with a splitting maul, but it isn’t a problem when a gas engine and hydraulics do the hardest part of the work. Couple that with the fact that dealers can save time and money by making their wood a little longer (less cutting, fewer cycles on the splitter), add a little human nature, and you have the recipe for “length creep”—the amazing ability of firewood pieces to continue growing until they’re considerably longer than the length specified in the dealer’s advertisement. This may not matter if you have a big woodstove, but it can be a real pain if every fifth stick is 24 inches long and your woodstove’s firebox is 20 inches. Measure your stove’s firebox, and tell your dealer that you and your woodstove won’t accept wood over a specific length. A good rule of thumb is to specify a length that’s at least six inches shorter than your firebox.
Try to make sure that you’re getting the kind of wood that you’re paying for. Hardwood is expensive. Firewood dealers correctly assume that most customers can’t distinguish white pine from white oak once the wood is cut and split. Honest dealers who advertise hardwood will deliver hardwood, period. For less scrupulous wood sellers, however, the temptation to mix in cheaper softwood can be irresistible. In areas where both hardwoods and softwoods are available, it’s not uncommon to find that a cord of “mixed hardwood” actually contains 20 or 30 percent softwood. There’s nothing wrong with softwood, but if you’re paying a premium price for hardwood, hardwood is what you should get. Before you order, ask your dealer about the specific kinds of wood that will be delivered—is it oak, apple, hickory, white birch? Even if you can’t tell one wood from another, the dealer will have been put on notice that you care.
Similarly, watch out for premium-priced hardwood cords that are mostly made up of softer hardwoods, such as aspen, tulip tree, and poplar. These trees all make good firewood, but they typically deliver about a third less heat per cord than dense hardwoods, like oak and sugar maple. If your dealer tells you that some of the firewood is poplar, ask how much of it is poplar. If it’s a significant percentage, you may be able to negotiate a lower price.
Finally, it’s the rare firewood dealer who delivers wood that is already dry enough to burn efficiently. It’s just a fact of life. Count on it, plan for it, and buy your firewood in the spring so you can be sure that it’s ready to burn in the fall. If you wait until October to order, you’ll likely be burning wet wood, and that’s bad for you, your chimney, and the environment.
Tags: Greater Outdoors
