When delivering firewood, I often hear a lot of stories from customers about their experiences with firewood dealers, many of them are not good. A firewood business is something that anyone with a strong back, a pickup and a chainsaw can get into. But a lot of intelligence is not always required. So sometimes firewood dealers are not always the most business savvy people. This is of course not all of them. There are many reputable firewood businesses that have had happy customers for many years or decades.

One of the best ways to make sure you get a full cord of wood is to know what the dimensions of a cord of wood is before it gets unloaded at your home. Don’t be afraid to ask the dealer what the dimensions of their delivery vehicle is before they deliver. Also let them know that you will be measuring the load before it is unloaded at your home. If they will not give you those measurements and do not allow you to measure the wood, you may be better to find a different dealer.

Measuring a cord of wood is easy, but most people are just unaware of what a cord is or how to measure it. And many might be afraid of offending the dealer by questioning their product. But there is no need to worry about that. Most reasonable dealers will likely just see you as being a savvy consumer and will be more likely to bring you a full cord of wood if they know you will be measuring it.

Most consumers will take the wood once it is delivered no matter what. But it is ok to inspect the wood before it is unloaded and decide if you want it or not. If the load of wood does not measure up to a full cord or is otherwise not acceptable, you are not obligated to buy it. Just make sure you make the decision before it is unloaded.

Learn about firewood measurements and cord of wood dimensions. Knowing how to measure firewood can help to make sure you get a full cord and know when to reject a load of wood if it is not the full amount.

Most people wait until the last minute and buy their firewood in the fall. Some may even think they are buying their wood ahead of time by buying it in the late summer. Buy I hear a lot of stories from people who buy their winter supply of firewood late in the season and then commonly end up spending the whole winter struggling to stay warm trying to burn wood that is not dry or seasoned.

Firewood can appear to be dry on the outside and may even have cracks but may still be full of water or sap on the inside. The sap inside green wood can take a whole summer to dry depending on the drying conditions.

The best way to ensure you have fully seasoned firewood is to buy your wood before the summer and dry it yourself. When you buy your wood ahead of time you can buy it green, usually for a lower price than that of seasoned firewood. Late in the season is when everyone else is buying their wood and that is when firewood prices are more likely to increase. Early in the year demand for firewood is lower and you can usually find better prices.

What the Really Experienced Firewood Users Do

The really experienced firewood users buy their wood a year in advance. They already have their wood for next winter that they got last year. Now this spring they are stocking up for the winter after next. This way their wood has over a year to dry and they always have a year supply of wood on hand.

This may not work so well for people who do not have the space for two years supply of firewood but for those who do, they always know they will have dry wood and they are a full year ahead of price increases. This method can also be good for consumers who have a hard time paying for a full year supply all at once. Since you are buying your wood so far ahead of time you can buy a little at a time throughout the year as your budget allows.

This guy uses a jointer and a bandsaw but there are other cutting tools you could use to cut a piece of firewood into lumber. After you have some flat edges a table saw would probably work well to rip it into boards.

With any of this be very careful. Working with these irregular shaped pieces can be dangerous with power cutting tools so I suggest you not try this if you are not experienced and qualified. Actually I should take my liability disclaimer a step further and say don’t ever do this, ever, it’s too dangerous.

At a young age he taught me to always have a road flare in my backpack when going out in the wild like that. A road flare lights like a match and will burn with a hot flame for a long time. Once it is lit you can start putting dead branches or other dead wood into and around the flame. With a 15 minute flare even if the wood is soaked there is enough time for the hot flames to dry the wood and get it to burn.

If you don’t have dead wood available live wood can work too. It is more difficult to get green wood to burn but if you start putting small twigs in and around the hot flame from the flare they will eventually burn. Leaving the leaves and needles on the twigs can help since they dry out and ignite faster. It is much more difficult with green wood so always go for the dead wood if available.

Keep plenty of wood accumulated around the flame from the flare to make a hot core of burning wood as soon as possible and that will be hot enough to support the fire after the flare goes out. Place the wood so it holds in heat but can still get good air circulation to supply the fire with plenty oxygen. The tee pee shape can work good for this. Once you get a good hot core of burning wood with a bed of coals you can throw just about any kind of wood on it and it will burn.

It have heard stories of people going out in the snow and kids going on family outings and a kid or even an adult gets separated and lost and freezes to death. If they had a flare and were taught how to use it, it may have saved their lives.

Any time I am out in the wild in cold weather I always have at least one flare in my pack or at least in my vehicle if I know I am not going far away from it. It is a good habit to get into and something that is good to teach your kids. A road flare is very inexpensive and having one on hand may save your life.

To split firewood with a handsaw, make a cross cut in the middle of the log about half way through. Then hit the cut area of the log against a hard surface like a tree, rock,stump, log etc. The cut spot makes a weak spot where the log will split down the middle since it is easier for the log to split than break across the grain.

In the video he explains that if you are in a survival situation and you are tired, dehydrated or otherwise not performing at your best, an ax is especially dangerous and difficult to use. In a situation where you were injured and unable to swing an ax, the saw technique would probably be easier if you needed to split your firewood into kindling to get a fire stated.

There are many firewood suppliers that bring logs into the area and let the logs season for a while and then cut them up into firewood. The problem is whole logs don’t dry out very well especially in a cool foggy climate. Whole logs can hold a lot of moisture inside for a very long time. It’s not until they are cut up into firewood size pieces that the moisture in them will easily evaporate. In order for the wood to truly be dry it needs to be first cut and split and then let it season.

Before you decide to buy seasoned firewood from someone make sure it has been seasoned after it was cut into firewood and not seasoned as whole logs. If not your firewood may produce more steam than heat.