Amazon Firewood

[Ben]

I need to go into the firewood business on Amazon. On my Amazon home page, this popped up as a recommendation:

https://www.amazon.com/Timbertote-Hardwood-Firewood-Fireplaces-Campfires/dp/B083KQQ4WX?pd_rd_w=87CfC&pf_rd_p=c638e3d4-046b-4753-9e53-3752c2d7f6a7&pf_rd_r=W1GHYNMQE29JXCYQMNYM&pd_rd_r=45a14928-2f2b-4603-87f2-211f626163a2&pd_rd_wg=LheCe

$22 for like eight pieces of firewood. Holy moly! And it has like 300 reviews, so a lot of people are buying it. This is very perplexing to me. I've never lived anywhere, including somewhat urbanized areas, where grocery stores, etc. didn't have firewood bundles out front for purchase, and usually for like $5-$10.

I need to cut down more of my Russian olive trees and start selling that stuff! 

Of tangential interest, many of the reviews mentioned termites and other bugs. Most areas of the country have if not regulations, stern warnings about importing and exporting wood just because of things like that. I'm kind of amazed they are even allowed to sell it on Amazon.

[French G.]

Just been dropping and splitting oak all weekend. I'm gonna be a bajillionaire. I saw some Estonian birch for sale semi-local to me. Kilned for the pest problems. Hugely expensive. In a state with a lot of trees. I don't understand the economy. Where I grew up the woodchucks run loads up to northern VA for huge profits. Around here a good pickup of seasoned and split oak might bring $150 if the winter is bad and they deliver.

On the flip side of the economy thing when we caught some pirates in the Indian Ocean they had taken over a smaller wood hull Indian freighter. Modern electronics and a good new diesel, but a wood boat. Somehow there was money in taking a load of natural charcoal from India to Kenya. People that have no trees or access to better fuels to cook. We don't know how good we have it.

[RoadKingLarry]

Around here a "rick" (1/2 cord more or less) of pretty much any hardwood goes for $50-75 depending on the area. I picked up 2 ricks of mostly 1 year seasoned Ash for $100. I'm pretty well set for this year with what I had from a year ago before my shoulders crapped out on me and what I bought.
It doesn't look like I'll be cutting any firewood this season so this season I'll have to buy at least 2 to 3 cord to have a good supply for next winter.

[Ben]

Around here a "rick" (1/2 cord more or less) of pretty much any hardwood goes for $50-75 depending on the area. I picked up 2 ricks of mostly 1 year seasoned Ash for $100. I'm pretty well set for this year with what I had from a year ago before my shoulders crapped out on me and what I bought.
It doesn't look like I'll be cutting any firewood this season so this season I'll have to buy at least 2 to 3 cord to have a good supply for next winter.

A little cheaper than here. My first Winter here I didn't have enough of my own wood, so got a 1/2 cord of mixed hardwood for I think $90. The local post and pole place sells their scrap pine as firewood in a "help yourself" pile. I can fill my pickup bed even to the top of the box or a little higher for $30 or so. I mix it in with my own hardwood.

This Amazon stuff must be for people that light their fireplace just on Thanksgiving or Christmas or something and live in some big city. But eight little logs - that's maybe an hour or two depending on your fire.

[Larry Ashcraft]

In the old house, we would use about 3 cords of firewood a year, all from our own property.  Mostly what we use is cottonwood and elm, because that's what we have.  From October to April, my first job when I got home from work was, empty the ashes from the stove, start a fire, and bring in a bag of firewood.  Our stove is a Vermont Castings catalytic stove.  With a regular woodstove, we would have burned twice as much.

Around here, a cord of cut and split cottonwood or pine goes from $150-$200, delivered and stacked.  Never had to buy any.

[ConstitutionCowboy]

I have always advocated keeping a couple tons of coal on hand - even though I have none myself at present. It is bug free, can be stored out doors, in a pit, in a swamp, in your living room, basement, or any handy location. It doesn't spoil if it gets wet, it doesn't rot, it doesn't evaporate, and you get a lot of energy for your money. You can heat your home with it, cook your food with it, and in a pinch you can grind it into powder to mix with sulfur and saltpeter to make gun powder.

If you want to store it covertly, use it for mulch in your flower beds around your home. Hell, you can use it instead of gravel for your driveway. Be creative.

Woody

[MechAg94]

A little cheaper than here. My first Winter here I didn't have enough of my own wood, so got a 1/2 cord of mixed hardwood for I think $90. The local post and pole place sells their scrap pine as firewood in a "help yourself" pile. I can fill my pickup bed even to the top of the box or a little higher for $30 or so. I mix it in with my own hardwood.

This Amazon stuff must be for people that light their fireplace just on Thanksgiving or Christmas or something and live in some big city. But eight little logs - that's maybe an hour or two depending on your fire.

I think that is likely.  There were always opportunists selling firewood on the side of the road about the time of the first cold weather around Houston.  The grocery stores have similar packs of wood in many places.

I have natural gas heat.  If I had a fireplace, I would probably only light it a few times a year.  The last house I was in had electric heat and I was always reluctant to run it warm.  Even the "fire logs" made me feel warm on those days I was just cold.

[K Frame]

I had a load of coal go bad on me once...

Went out to get some and it had all turned into diamonds.

Talk about pissed off...

[K Frame]

Of course that kiln dried Amazon firewood is expensive.

It's not growing on trees....

Never mind... 

I always said that when I retired and moved back to Pennsylvania I'd get a coal stove and a couple of tons of coal. But now that I've given up on that plan, I'll probably just stick with my pellet stove.

[brimic]

I have a huge pile of ash firewood... don't have a wood stove, only have a few bonfires a year, and can't take it camping and definitely can't see it on amazon (emerald ash borer.)


https://youtu.be/TBb9O-aW4zI