# Cordwood construction



## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

I would like to share with you a rather simple and fast building method my wife and I used to build what ended up being the shop.

We built this at least 12 years ago, and it is still doing quite well.




























We were going to build our house this way in the beginning, and I'm glad we didn't for various reasons. 
I also have yet to find any man who is a pro wood cutter and knows what a real and for true cord of wood is.

This is mostly cedar with a bunch of odds and ends added.
Bugs don't seem to like cedar much.

The roof was designed by my friend from SA, who has since returned there.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

Interesting build. How are the "odds and ends" pieces holding up? Most wood around here wouldn't hold up to the wetter weather.



bbqjoe said:


> I also have yet to find any man who is a pro wood cutter and knows what a real and for true cord of wood is.


Care to elaborate?

Around here, a cord of wood is 4x4x8' stacked.


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## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

ZoomZoom said:


> Interesting build. How are the "odds and ends" pieces holding up? Most wood around here wouldn't hold up to the wetter weather.
> 
> Care to elaborate?
> 
> Around here, a cord of wood is 4x4x8' stacked.


A friend of mine, who has been lowered to acquaintance status, told me he is also in the wood cutting biz, and asked if I needed any.
I used to be a cutter. 
I described to him what a cord was, and also how a nicely stacked cord equates to the bed of a pickup, and what I expected.

This is what he brought me, and spent an hour trying to convince me that it was indeed just a "Little short" of a cord.

But this is only one example of the shit I've had to deal with in the desert.

Half this crap won't even fit in my stove. Needless to say, I didn't pay him near what he thought it was worth. It's been over a month, and I haven't heard a word from him.


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## bugoutbob (Nov 11, 2012)

Often I see people try and sell a pickup load as a cord ... if you tell them it isn't they just move on to the next prospective customer. It isn't that they don't know, they do know and don't care


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## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

bugoutbob said:


> Often I see people try and sell a pickup load as a cord ... if you tell them it isn't they just move on to the next prospective customer. It isn't that they don't know, they do know and don't care


They tend to freak out when you tell them a nicely stacked bed up to the rails is only a half cord.
You can also see he destroyed his chain and bar trying to cut this.
It really helps to keep a chain sharp.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

That's not even close to being a cord.

A cord is 128 cu/ft. It barely fits in a 8' truck bed.

Here's some of my wood. Each rank is 1 cord.

_If you look in the background, you can see the roof of the woodshed. That woodshed holds another 10 cord and I have 10 more cord stacked elsewhere._


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## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

ZoomZoom said:


> That's not even close to being a cord.
> 
> A cord is 128 cu/ft. It barely fits in a 8' truck bed.
> 
> ...


Nice wood hey!


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

Around here we have people trying to sell pickup loads of twisted mesquite roots still covered with dirt for firewood.


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## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

terri9630 said:


> Around here we have people trying to sell pickup loads of twisted mesquite roots still covered with dirt for firewood.


I've given 3 different people a chance this year.
Only 1 guy brought me a few root balls.

I'm still looking for a cutter that's not a tweeker, a drunk, a liar, or an idiot.
When I lived in CO. I cut my own wood. 
I hardly own a tree here.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

bbqjoe said:


> A friend of mine, who has been lowered to acquaintance status, told me he is also in the wood cutting biz, and asked if I needed any.
> I used to be a cutter.
> I described to him what a cord was, and also how a nicely stacked cord equates to the bed of a pickup, and what I expected.
> 
> ...


Suggest to him to get a cord of ironwood, however, I think that I had heard it was a protected wood. I have seen a knife handle made with it and it's beautiful. Bet it does a number on bars and chains.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

The only wood I've seen out on the N. Nevada deserts is a few solitary cotton woods and some patches of juniper, it must have been tough for miners to get firewood or roof beams for their rock sided cabins.


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## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

Viking said:


> Suggest to him to get a cord of ironwood, however, I think that I had heard it was a protected wood. I have seen a knife handle made with it and it's beautiful. Bet it does a number on bars and chains.


I would think most prudent people would just plain stop when the oil on their bar bursts into flames.


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## rhrobert (Apr 27, 2009)

I don't understand how people claim they don't know a cord when they deliver it. It's not like it's some arbitrary size.. 4' x 4' x 8' stacked well is a full cord.
We do face cords at 3 to a full cord... 16" x 4' x 8' is a face cord for us

Some do it "whatever the hell they want" x 4' x 8' and some don't even care about the face size, and sell you crap.

In Arkansas it's an offense to misrepresent the sale of wood in standards, from $100 to $700 fine but no one has ever been charged, and people don't seem to bother getting ripped off.

There are a few good sellers though, and they get good business.


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## azrancher (Jan 30, 2014)

A pickup bed (8') level is not a full cord, it is a pickup load of wood, a full cord from a firewood company around here has sideboards up about 18"-20" above the top of the bed.

Iron wood is superb wood to burn, probably not in your area of AZ bbq. My dad did some Government work down by Gila Bend, and they bulldozed out a lot of Ironwood trees, he brought home a huge stack (not cut) of wood about 8' high 16' diameter, we cut it with an axe... that's what slave labor children are for.

You used to be able to buy iron wood carved stuff down in Mexico, but I think they have denuded all their stands of iron wood. Iron wood is so dense it sinks in water.

*Rancher*


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

azrancher said:


> A pickup bed (8') level is not a full cord, it is a pickup load of wood, a full cord from a firewood company around here has sideboards up about 18"-20" above the top of the bed.
> 
> Iron wood is superb wood to burn, probably not in your area of AZ bbq. My dad did some Government work down by Gila Bend, and they bulldozed out a lot of Ironwood trees, he brought home a huge stack (not cut) of wood about 8' high 16' diameter, we cut it with an axe... that's what slave labor children are for.
> 
> ...


I have an eagle carved from iron wood. It would make one heck of a weapon if needed.


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## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

azrancher said:


> A pickup bed (8') level is not a full cord,
> 
> *Rancher*


In my world, 2 well stacked level pickup beds qualifies as a cord.


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## azrancher (Jan 30, 2014)

bbqjoe said:


> In my world, 2 well stacked level pickup beds qualifies as a cord.


Yeah that would be pretty close.

*Rancher*


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