Log Fires - the future?

[J1nx]

Another phenomenon of the modern age, social media etc is wood snobbery! People all wanting Ash and rejecting anything less.

If your paying ~£200 per cube then I get it but free or even cheap

Any wood dry and untreated is well worth having in my books. Im starting this season with Elms removed from hedgerows that have stood dead a few years, working great, taking the damp away as much as heating.

 

[Justme]

Up skill then, cutting firewood isn't a particularly difficult job

In fact most groundies are capable

If you can't compete against people who put in a far smaller amount of product into the market you need to re-evaluate your business.

They make more money from the tree work than firewood.

You can compete on price with people that get stock free, are paying for tools via another income stream & using what amounts to free labour as its filling in dead time they are still going to pay for.

But they in general cant do the volume so you just wait till its sold out.

 

[Justme]

Has anyone tried larch in their stove, my local supplier only has larch at the moment. How did you find it?

Larch is the best softwood. KG for KG per kWh produced its as good as hardwood.

In fact most woods all fall into a fairly narrow band or kWh per kg if dried properly.
Its just with softwoods you have to have more volume to get the same weight.

 

[aesmith]

Round here it's between £55 and £70 per cu.m for softwood split and ready to burn. We're using this exclusively at the moment, but will start to add hardwood as it gets colder and we need the stove longer. Our stock for the Winter is around 50% hardwood from our own ground, 50% bought in softwood, by volume.

 

[mtt.tr]

They make more money from the tree work than firewood.

You can compete on price with people that get stock free, are paying for tools via another income stream & using what amounts to free labour as its filling in dead time they are still going to pay for.

But they in general cant do the volume so you just wait till its sold out.

So what are you stating then? As you previously said

Down side is it then devalues the firewood that firewood business are selling as you have 50% less input costs.

Does it devalue it or not? Seems like you have a business strategy issue.

Current prices I would be adding significant income to my business via firewood, I was mostly doing big removals, at the time we were giving rounds away as it wasn't worth the effort. Now it most certainly would be worth the effort.


As I said nothing stopping you building an arb contracting business aswell, in this world you need some self created insurance policy against lost income.

 

[Gareth J]

Round here it's between £55 and £70 per cu.m for softwood split and ready to burn. We're using this exclusively at the moment, but will start to add hardwood as it gets colder and we need the stove longer. Our stock for the Winter is around 50% hardwood from our own ground, 50% bought in softwood, by volume.

Yea, by all rights, wood ought to be sold by dry weight with a %moisture penalty.

 

[redlig]

Yea, by all rights, wood ought to be sold by dry weight with a %moisture penalty.

I must be dim but how do you measure the dry weight ?Presumably measure the 'wet weight' take a reading of the moisture content and work out the dry weight then add the moisture % penalty. There has to be an easier way.

 

[aesmith]

Yea, by all rights, wood ought to be sold by dry weight with a %moisture penalty.

It should. Just as an example one cu.m of "hardwood" is very different if it's Beech vs Willow (or Balsa!).

 

[8ob]

We used to sell off 60 cube artic truck loads of handleable sized chogs for between £350-£450 depending on what it was.

Bob

 

[doubleboost]

Just had 3 dumpy bags of beech delivered 70 quid a bag mates rates .
I do a bit of welding and machining for him .
Problem is it has to be carried through the house to store it .

 

[Erie Fred]

Yea, by all rights, wood ought to be sold by dry weight with a %moisture penalty.

Much like corn taken to the elevator, they check the moisture, and drop the price depending on moisture.

 

[AVI_8]

I must be dim but how do you measure the dry weight ?Presumably measure the 'wet weight' take a reading of the moisture content and work out the dry weight then add the moisture % penalty. There has to be an easier way.

Just use a moisture meter not expensive, My Jack Russel loving the heat, no birds to attack in sight!

 

[fizzy]

Just had 3 dumpy bags of beech delivered 70 quid a bag mates rates .
I do a bit of welding and machining for him .
Problem is it has to be carried through the house to store it .

Would last me 3 weeks hence why I only use free wood

 

[fizzy]

Much like corn taken to the elevator, they check the moisture, and drop the price depending on moisture.

Our wood chip powerstations have a better idea.
They get paid far more money for burning wood rather than gas. They need gas to get going and supplement the burn.
So basically if their nice dry wood turns out to be a tad "wetter" they can burn more gas but get paid for burning wood

 

[AVI_8]

It takes me about a minute to cut up a pallet

I love that!
Can only presume you’re using a chainsaw to get to that level, I’ve got a 20” bar saw, it’s just not accurate enough to make the nice logs i want.

 

[fizzy]

I love that!
Can only presume you’re using a chainsaw to get to that level, I’ve got a 20” bar saw, it’s just not accurate enough to make the nice logs i want.

Yes - only a smallish 16" Stihl.
Having said that I am very lucky and don't need to cut them up any more. Mate next door manufactures pallets and I get the surplus. All I have to do is cut the thick side bearers into 2 or 3 chunks.

 

[addjunkie]

Our wood chip powerstations have a better idea.
They get paid far more money for burning wood rather than gas. They need gas to get going and supplement the burn.
So basically if their nice dry wood turns out to be a tad "wetter" they can burn more gas but get paid for burning wood

When selling to them……its all about ash content. As ash is a waste product that has to be disposed off. So good clean chipped trees, almost no ash, is mixed with brash that has been used to stop harvesters sinking in the mud…..This was discussed yesterday in the pub, along with many other things of course!

 

[mtt.tr]

I love that!
Can only presume you’re using a chainsaw to get to that level, I’ve got a 20” bar saw, it’s just not accurate enough to make the nice logs i want.

Yes - only a smallish 16" Stihl.
Having said that I am very lucky and don't need to cut them up any more. Mate next door manufactures pallets and I get the surplus. All I have to do is cut the thick side bearers into 2 or 3 chunks.

I've never been a fan of using the biggest bar possible.
My 550xp will see a 16"-18" bar, I can confidently fell a diameter 2.5x my bar length.

Unless im expecting to cut big wood the 550xp is always with me on jobs, these yanks running 25" bars on a 660 (90cc saw) cutting 6" wood is beyond my comprehension

 

[Blobber]

Just use a moisture meter not expensive, My Jack Russel loving the heat, no birds to attack in sight!

View attachment 423279

Wow it looks posh in your gaff!

 

[8ob]

When selling to them……its all about ash content. As ash is a waste product that has to be disposed off. So good clean chipped trees, almost no ash, is mixed with brash that has been used to stop harvesters sinking in the mud…..This was discussed yesterday in the pub, along with many other things of course!

The whole game has become a bit of a joke, non stop arguments about the difference between what's been cut and stacked as to what's been delivered ( a question for the hauliers ). The on site set up for chip and haul costs have escalated to the point where there is no return until between three to five loads have gone off site, then there is the timber stacks that get left behind if there is anything short of a full load. Wont mention the joke replanting schemes that fail through lack of husbandry.

Bob