Log length firewood delivered around Bolton, MA

What log length means

The logs arrive as they came off the job: full length, limbed, stacked on the truck with the grapple and unloaded the same way. You buck them to stove length, split them and stack them. In exchange for that work you pay far less per cord than for cut and split wood, and you control exactly how long and how thick your pieces are.

A load is about 6 to 7 cords. A cord is a stack 4 feet high, 4 feet deep and 8 feet long, or 128 cubic feet. For a house that heats mainly with a wood stove in central Massachusetts, one load is usually more than a winter. People who burn for a few evenings a week often split a load with a neighbor.

Where the wood comes from

From our own tree work in Bolton and the towns around it. That matters for two reasons. The wood is local, so you are not importing pests: Massachusetts asks people not to move firewood long distances because that is how emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle travel. And because we are taking these trees down anyway, the logs we set aside for firewood are the good ones, straight hardwood without the crotches and knots that fight a splitter.

Green wood, and when to order

Log length wood is green. It was a living tree recently and it needs to dry before it burns well. Cut, split and stacked off the ground with the top covered and the sides open, most hardwood is ready in about a year, and oak is better given two summers. So the time to order is late winter or spring, for the winter after. Burning wet wood gives you little heat and a lot of creosote in the chimney.

Delivery

The truck is big and the load is heavy. We need firm ground, room to swing the grapple, and no low wires or branches over the drop spot. A driveway edge or a gravel area is ideal. We will not unload over a septic tank or a leach field, so tell us where yours is. Walk the spot with whoever answers when you call, and send a photo if you can.

Questions about log length firewood