Wanta get rich in the wood biz?

[DanG]

I may have found the way!   But alas, someone has beat us to it.  I stopped in the local Dollar General store today and noticed that they have installed a new "outdoor" department, where they have gardening stuff and outdoor cooking stuff.  They actually had some pretty good deals on garden hoses and things like that...sure beat the heck out of Walmart.  Anyway, as I exited that little area, I noticed some cases of little cans right at the end.  They were labeled, "Instant Smoke" or something like that.  What they turned out to be were cans something like tuna or cat food would come in.  They were all sealed up but there was a label pasted over a hole in the top.  Inside the can is a couple or three ounces of hickory or mesquite chips.  The idea is, you're supposed to remove the label over that little hole and set the can down on your coals or gas flame, and it makes smoke to flavor the meat you're cooking.  For this little miracle, you only have to pay a mere three bucks.  THREE BUCKS for a very generously estimated three ounces of wood chips!  

One of you whiz kids want to find out the weight of a cord of hickory and put a price on it?

[Don_Papenburg]

6528# at 51# cu ft  = 104448oz. x $3.00 + $313,344 Retail   But taxes, labor ,Mfging, Shipping and marketing all take their toll.  as do all the middlemen who never touch the stuff.  They make the lions share  , the retailer makes 16 to 20% markup .   Because you are not selling it as firewood to the mfr. you will get aprox. $75.oo a cord

[metalspinner]

So, DanG,
How many cans did you buy?

[DanG]

You don't see no pics do you?  Didn't happen.

[tmroper]

A fella might be disappointed if the label fell off that can and he opened it expecting tuna.

[WDH]

I can walk out in the yard about 50 feet from the front door and get hickory, oak, cherry, etc. in situ for use in cooking food.  I realize that I am lucky to be able to do that, either lucky or a very good planner .

I feel sorry for the city-bound folks that have to buy a $3 can of wood tuna  .

[Texas Ranger]

I have a three inch long black iron 2 inch nipple, with a cap on either end.  1/2 inch hole drilled in one cap.  I put my wood in it and set it on the gas logs in the gas pit.  Works for me.  I may have put $3 into it when I made it, guess I am ahead.

[Qweaver]

That,s a good idea Ranger.  I'll bet it would work for charcoal also.

[Cedarman]

And someone thought pet rocks were a weird idea.

[easymoney]

 some of the convenience markets have had an arm load of firewood shrink wrapped for sale. i have not checked the prices but i bet that is some expensive heating buying an arm load of kindling that way.

[Cedarman]

Most of the time that little bundle of wood is used with a bottle of wine to heat up some guy's wife or girlfriend.  Cheapest heat out there.

[pigman]

Now Cedarman, how would know that.

[Cedarman]

Pigman, I'm just going on what I have heard.

[WH_Conley]

A lot of heat when his wife figured out he kept his girlfriend warm.

[SwampDonkey]

I see armloads of that kindling at hardware stores, it doesn't seem to sell around here. 

On that note, I stopped making kindling a long time ago for my own use and just use the bark off the firewood blocks. A lot less work.

[Slabs]

And someone thought pet rocks were a weird idea.

The pet rock cemeteries trumped that one.

[Brucer]

some of the convenience markets have had an arm load of firewood shrink wrapped for sale. i have not checked the prices but i bet that is some expensive heating buying an arm load of kindling that way.

The firewood guy just up the road from my mill makes those. He uses mostly mill ends salvaged from local sawmills, or firewood logs that are too small. He used to shrink wrap them, but he found an automatic machine that makes 3 wraps of poly cord and then heat seals the ends together.

A bundle is a cubic foot, and they sell for $6.00 retail. That's about $750 per cord . He has had orders for 20,000 bundles from park campgrounds. The big problem is that when there's a Province-wide campfire band, as there was last summer, he's out of work.

[4genlgr]

around my area(portland, me) those bundles are labeled .75 cubic ft..... price 5.50-6.00 bucks or around 8 buck a cubic foot - -  128cubic ft to the cord (in general) = 1024 bucks a cord

that plastic and cord and labor costs a lot!

[Hilltop366]

Well my BIL ownes a canning factory where he cans smoked kippers (herring) www.imofoods.com  for years I have been trying to think of some other nonfood item to can at his plant but I don't think I could have ever came up with wood chips.

I see where you can order the product with your own label, I can see it now " DanG's good kippers" on the can with a picture of DanG on the can.  What do ya say, I get him to do up a order for ya? (it also says min 60000 units)

We'll talk.

[DanG]

That was pretty interesting Hilltop.  Looks like they deal in quality products.  While I love a good sardine, I don't think I can handle 60,000 cans of them.   Maybe I'll just look for some of their stuff in the store.  I think Dollar General has the market cornered on the canned sawdust.