Flathead Father N' Son - Premium Firewood

Great customer service & product!
Apr 8th, 2024

Prompt, professional and most important...the wood burns great! We will definitely reorder and recommend them to our friends.
Dec 13th, 2023

Edit on December 4, 2023: Ryan dropped off another load of wood, to top off the last delivery. I haven't stacked it yet and so cannot provide an accurate measurement, but I estimate the total to be more than what I ordered. Regarding the size of the individual wood pieces, my comments were just meant as a statement of fact about what you might receive should you order "firewood". That size of wood pieces may or may not work for you depending on your needs. Note that he also offers "stove wood", which is split much smaller than the "firewood". Original Review: I placed an order for two cords of wood on September 6, 2023. After not hearing anything for a month, I reached out on October 6th and was told by Ryan that I was still on the schedule, but no ETA was provided. On November 14th, with winter approaching, I asked for a specific delivery date and said that if he was too busy, I'd go elsewhere this year. Ryan said I was on the schedule for November 16th, 2 days away. This last-minute scheduling left me wondering if I would have been notified at all had I not followed up. Upon delivery, Ryan mentioned a typical lead time of 5 months. I'm a new customer, how am I supposed to know that? He let a new customer place an order which, according to him, would not normally be delivered until February. To test this, I sent an inquiry from another email address, but Ryan's response still did not clarify the timeline, suggesting instead that larger orders might be prioritized. Again, according to Ryan's 5-month lead-time statement, he appears willing to let people spend the entire winter without a heat source. If he would have told me he had a 5-month lead time, I would not have ordered from him this year, but may have in the following years. Instead, he received one order from me this year, but will never receive another one. I ordered the fir/larch combo and, for the most part, it appears to be a combination of fir and larch. One third of the delivered wood was in extra-large pieces. Take a 26" round and split it into quarters. That was the size. The majority of the rest of the delivery was about half that size. These sizes may or may not work for everybody. The biggest problem is that Ryan did not deliver two cords of wood as ordered. He delivered 190 cubic feet. According to every definition from every source since the dawn of time, one cord of wood is equal to 128 cubic feet of neatly stacked split wood. Two cords is 256 cubic feet. He delivered 190 cubic feet. That's 1.5 cords. And he charges a premium price for that. Additionally, I noticed another customer's review mentioning Ryan's claim that a cord is 28% air, translating to 92 cubic feet of burnable wood. This is misleading and I don't know whether Ryan truly does not understand the difference or whether he is trying to scam his customers. The standard definition of a cord is 128 cubic feet of split and neatly stacked wood, including air pockets. Delivering 92 cubic feet of stacked wood means significantly less burnable wood. Ryan, you are confusing two different measurements - "stacked wood" and "burnable wood". A cord of wood is 128 cubic feet of split and neatly stacked wood. Everybody in the world agrees on this and you do not get to redefine it. That 128 cubic feet of split and stacked wood is made up of approximately 28% air because it's impossible to stack it without the air pockets. That equals 92 cubic feet of burnable wood. When you deliver 92 cubic feet of stacked wood, you are delivering 66 cubic feet of burnable wood. This service has been disappointing in terms of communication, transparency, and delivery. The misleading information about the quantity of wood and the late notification of delivery schedules are significant issues. As a result, I won't be using this service again and would advise potential customers to consider these factors.
Dec 8th, 2023

Had a fantastic experience! Communication was very good and the firewood is top quality. I will definitely be a repeat customer next season!
Nov 28th, 2023

Update on 11/29 - Ryan made it right. After receiving less wood than expected on our delivery, I contacted the owner and he did eventually agree to bring more wood next time he was in the area, which was today. I haven't stacked it all yet, but a rough estimate says we now have our full cord and maybe a little extra. I still don't think a cord is anything less than 128 cubic feet when stacked, but I do think Ryan cares about his customers and is trying to run an honest business. It would help if the website was more explicit as to how he calculates a full cord and the free delivery region boundaries, though. Bottom line: product is decent but very disappointed with the service provided. We only received half our order and then had to argue with the owner Ryan about how much wood is actually in a cord...he said some university study said it's 28% air. OK, great, so if it's 92 cubic feet instead of 128 and we only got about 60, then we're still missing a third. I only received about 2 or 3 hours' notice for delivery and was out of town that day, so it was just my wife and 6 month old baby to meet the guy on a cold, rainy day; apparently there was confusion about where/how to stack the wood and instead of just leaving a pile of whatever didn't fit on our storage rack he just figured that was good enough and left. I wouldn't have complained if we were just missing a few feet, but this was clearly far from a complete order. Ryan was prompt in his response to my message but then got very argumentative on the phone when I refused to back down. They have a no refund policy so first just offered "a bit more" on our next order, then finally agreed that we are owed half a cord. I was glad to have found a local small business to provide our firewood, and I'll add a couple stars to my review if our missing wood shows up, but after that conversation we may still look elsewhere next time. Also, be aware that their website says free delivery but that's just for the Big Fork area--the fee we were charged upon delivery wasn't unreasonable, but it was a surprise because you're asked for an address when ordering so they knew we live in Polson and it still said free delivery.
Nov 26th, 2023