A Mill-Slab Firewood Business

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A FAIR CORD MEASURE

Allow room in your woodyard to build a stick crib that holds precisely 128 cubic feet of wood. To measure out an exact cord, pack the crib extra tight with slabs (you need do this only once, as I'll explain momentarily). Make this your best stacking job ever, and leave a minimum of air space between slabs; you want to give fair measure for the customer's dollar. Then, depending on the average thickness of the slabs, add on a good ten to twenty percent (another six to twelve inches in height on a four-foot-high stack) to compensate for the air that you can't keep out of even a tightly stacked slab pile.

That will produce what I advertise as a "slabwood supercord."

When you're ready to make a delivery, toss the measured wood (or exactly half of it if you want to divide your full-cord deliveries into two trips) randomly into the back of your truck (you may want to add low sideboards to increase the vehicle's carrying capacity), mark how high the wood comes up on the sides of your truck, and there's your future cord (or half-cord) gauge—your truck's bed filled "just so." You need never again measure out a cord of slabs so carefully . . . and no one—customer or competition—will ever be able to stack a load of your slabs tightly enough to cast doubt on your honesty.

THE ECONOMICS OF THE TRADE

One of the advantages of this business is that you can buy a low-cost scrap product at the mill, process it into fuelwood, and consistently underprice your cordwood-selling competition while avoiding the hard and dangerous work of felling, limbing, and handling logs—all while making as much or more per hour for your time.

If cordwood is selling for $90 a cord, plan for a minimum price of $70 for your slabsbut sell them for $75 to $80 a cord if the market will bear it. Your own costs will likely differ somewhat, but to continue with the figures cited above, a cost breakdown might look something like this:

[1] Cost for one cord's worth of slabs (bulk rate)—$15.

[2] Average round-trip delivery distance of 25 miles, figuring two trips at 10¢ per mile to cover vehicle registration, insurance, gas, oil, and maintenance—$5.

[3] Costs of a peddler's license (if required) and rental of land for a saw yard (if necessary), plus depreciation on your delivery vehicle, saw, and other equipment—all fixed and apportioned to your merchandise at an estimated $5 per cord.

That adds up to total estimated costs (overhead) of $25 per cord. At a selling price of $70, that leaves you with $45 per cord for your time.

And how much time does it take to process—cut, deliver, and stack—a cord of slabs?

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