Firewood business?

Hello Chris. last week I came across another offer of firewood here in Czech Republic. It’s for spruce poles, means whole trunks two meters long with diameter betwen 2" and 4".
Using current exchange rate, it is 500$ for 30 space meters stacked, which goes for nearly 9 full cords.
One would start to think if your town has a sea port :slight_smile:

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Hi Kamil, here in Washington State, we can get all the orchard hard wood we want for free, but you can’t start a fire wood business because the laws say that this wood must be burned every year. 10,000’s of cords of wood up in smoke. The wood that was cut out of the orchards last winter is being burned up right now. Why pest control that live in the wood. The wood pile I get my wood from has not been burned in 30 years why. One of the riches men in town owns the orchard. No one has told him he has to burn it. So until it gets burned I can help myself to the pile, per the orchard manager. Free wood to DOW. This area is not a good area to have a fire wood business in.
Bob

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If Washington is not good for firewood business, because there is free wood everywhere, why not to start energy business? If fuel comes out of thin air and part of machinery is DIY, it might get pay back.

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Check with your state DOT before doing wood delivery on farm or ag plates. In NH it is illegal to use a farm plate for wood delivery. It is the one thing they definitely do not turn a blind eye to around here.

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It’s Federal. You can get a farm endorsement for air brakes, and haul bulk trees or brush. Once the wood is “processed” you need a CDL, and weight plates. You have to declare a vehicle weight. There is no legal way around it. Class B CDL would cover a pickup or dump truck up to 26000lbs gross. Class A covers a dump truck over 26000 gross, or a pick up with a dump trailer.
Best way to start is two face cords stacked in a pickup w/side walls. One can get away with that for a long time. No one tons, and especially no duallies.

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Washington State has the highest regulations laws on the books of the USA. The government is shutting down everything. We no longer can do any mining on our gold claims with normal mining equipment by the DOE. The DOE Department Of Ecology shut down logging in our area years ago for the poor Spotted Owl that was never endangered, just made up fake facts, bought with our tax monies by the DOE. The small business owners are being run out of the state buy high taxes and regulations costs. It is all about Big Corporations business here. California is so bad that people are leaving by the thousands daily. Even Testa Corporation is leaving and moving to Texas.
Bob

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Hi bob how big of wood pile are you aloud in your yard.Or are they actually enforceing them burn it that year laws.??

Last post i forgot too post who
i was speaking too.

Hi Kevin, orchard owners are supposed to follow the laws of every county/state on pest control in wood. This is why sale of fire fruit wood shipping to other states is prohibited. In this state we have the pine beetle problem so wood pine being sold as fire wood to other states would just pass this infestation around.
Now they are not going around and making me burn my wood. I am not a licenced orchard owner. Just a mile north of where I live. There is a pile of Apple wood that will be burned soon. That wood would take me years to use up in my gasifer truck for fuel.
Bob

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What a foly wasting to let it just burn to blue sky :grinning: I mean him, not you.

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Well, this is no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. Actually they even want to get a new, blacker, National Anthem. Everything is geared towards controlling and making the populous more dependent on government. If this is too political just delete it. I’m trying to be good.

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Well not political, but onto Practical’s.

BobMac is eastern Washington State, one of the fruit orchards concentrated areas of the USofA. They must be concerned for their billion dollar a year industry.
I am western Washington State. Here it is conifer woods and wood fiber. We fear spruce beetles and wildfires.

In Washington State if you do not mix/cross east-west. And use non-signage pickup truck loads, you are left alone “scabbing” firewood, sold/delivered. To a narrow customer base. The Bruce Jackson recommended way. How I have done it. Many still can even road-side sell by the pickup load IF done out in the county - NEVER inside of a municipal boundary area.
Now . . . advertise, solicit sales, and especially haul into the cities areas in dual tired axled trucks and you will be required selling licenses. Minimum of one, to up to three. Have to collect and send in sales taxes 7-9%. Have to have three levels of insurances. Expanded vehicle. Business liability/bond. Mandatory Labor injury insurance(s).
This is done by 2-3 business in my county.

The better price is the pickup loads of scab-wood. Viewed as a poor man just scraping by. They really only checked for defective vehicle equipment and commercial branded stolen wood. Have to use, seen-safe when heavily loaded; and legal tonnage licensed heavy duty 250’s and 2500’s pickup trucks. 2WD piggyback factory Camper-specials. Gas-hogs.
Add a cord hauling trailer too? Sigh. Puts you then into the Business category. The diesel pickup dump trailer guys are quick deliver; dump and go,go,go. Hauling “personal use” fire wood. If stopped and questioned.
S.U.

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Pickups been used for firewood selling and delivering:

Added helper springs. One factory. The other aftermarket add on.
16 inch; 3400 lbs each rated tires at 80PSI. X4 for 13,600 pounds all up.
Tonnage licensed paid for a 10,000 Gross vehicle weight.
And damn well will haul a full cord (128 c.f./3.6 cubic meters) of wood. Legally here in WA.
S.U.

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In the case of firewood, all hardwood species are regulated because inspectors cannot easily identify the species of tree that was cut. Nevertheless, EAB has continued to spread and new outlier infestations, many of which resulted from human-assisted movement of infested material prior to enactment of the quarantine, have been detected each year. Movement of firewood is extremely difficult to regulate and enforce. Unlike nursery trees and wood products that are produced and moved by licensed businesses, firewood is often moved by the general public. Despite extensive outreach efforts many individuals are unaware of regulations prohibiting movement of firewood from infested areas. It is estimated that of outlying infestations in Michigan with known origins, approximately 80% originated in campgrounds, state parks, lakes and recreational areas, or cottage communities, suggesting they were the result of firewood movement. In order to prevent the spread of EAB through movement of firewood, state regulatory and natural resource agencies are enforcing quarantine regulations by conducting inspections for firewood at campgrounds, rest areas and key transportation gateways. Guidelines for treating and certifying wood to allow safe movement and for storage and handling of confiscated firewood are urgently needed to prevent new establishments of EAB.

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/invasive_species/eab/control_management/regulatory_treatment_firewood/

THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION I GESS IT AINT TOO BAD HERE . though i think as long as i am under 10.000 pounds GVWR. ON THE TRUCK OR AND TRAILER, i dont need CDL unless both vehicles together weight is over 26000 pounds. Or like you say , if ask then tell them just hauling my own heating fire wood, or for my own use, wood.Sounds like bob mac has better wood available than me, caint beat that deal.

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At least with a goose neck trailer, they would check the weight of each axle. So, it is easy to exceed the rating of the rear axle on a pickup truck. In other words, you may not exceed the weight of the total rig but might exceed the rating of an axle, even though your under weight.

It’s all about the game of trucking.

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OMG Steve!!! I had five of these…four that looked almost identical, and one of those camper specials with the axle close to the rear, and the spare tucked into the outside wall of the box under a lil door.
They behaved exactly as you described. I liked them better then the chevys because the twin i-beam suspension never broke, whereas the lower ball joint on the gm trucks would blow with a load on.
That sheet metal looks fantastic.
Mine all had FE 360s mostly with c-6 autos. I had two sticks tho both came to me because the clutches didn’t work…I used a bottle jack and some 2x4 cutoffs to relevel the cabs and wella! Clutches fixed.

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The “litl” spare tire door. Worked great as a lockable tool bin.


S.U.

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HI JEFF , yes i remember reading about the goose neck type trailers being more probley check more likely. My heavey duty trailer is a home made one with regular hitch no fifth wheel hook up. So should be ok around my area travels. No out of state travel, just a car or truck pick up now and then, and wood hauling for winter, saw mill 4 miles away. Maybe i will change my dually too single rear wheels just for less speculations.And less drag and more traction.

Hi Kevin, I don’t think you have a problem. You should not have a problem with interstate because it is for personal use.

I ended up appreciating the road regulation, it made me a better drive. Nothing like not being able to stop at the bottom of a hill with a school bus letting kids off, to put a damper on your day. Didn’t happen to me but I could see it happening.

A few trailer trucking hints:
Think like a pilot.
Take your time.
Check your lights, every time.
Broken light gets ya pulled over.
Now the nice officer can ask to see if break-away switch works.
Over loading isn’t worth it on main roads.

Well, I was called away and now lost my train of thought.

When things are right, I actually enjoy trucking/trailering and it can be rewarding. Just keep as much as possible on your side.

Being in a rush has been my biggest problem maker. You know, when a fella stops thinking . . .

Enjoy your trailer !

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