What do you do with brash?

[SbTVF]

Been deliberating about how to deal with the brash created while processing and during drying.

 

We'd like to utilise it in the biomass boiler then we get clean logs and no waste but it needs to be chipped and ours hates brash.

 

What do people do?

Not worry and send it out with the logs then it's the customers problem or do yours not like it?

 

 

 

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[matelot]

As a customer I wouldn't mind some small bits as they are good to get the fire going.

[ash_smith123]

What Boiler do you have that doesn't like it? Our 2 loves the processor "waste" that comes off the conveyor screen. Burns better that logs

[Richard Thompson]

I cut my firewood on a farm clearing obstructions and hedges. When it's a fresh green tree I normally leave the brash in a pile for the farmer to pick up with the tractor grab, it's then either a bonfire or tucked in to the forest for wildlife habitat which is anything under 2.5/3 inches diameter.

At home it's picked through for lighting wood or shredded for compost

Any splitter trash is raked through and anything that will not break or snap by one hand is added to the load or in the lighting wood pile, any "dust" from the splitter is much or bonfire fuel

[SbTVF]

What Boiler do you have that doesn't like it? Our 2 loves the processor "waste" that comes off the conveyor screen. Burns better that logs

 

 

 

The chipper hates brash sorry, it just wraps round the infeed rollers or drops out the bottom before it reaches the drum.

 

Most of it is sycamore bark that would crush up in the boiler auger but any bigger bits or kindling sized pieces of wood would cause a blockage.

 

The boiler is a froling chip boiler.

 

 

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[Logged On]

Ours goes as 'cheaper' kindling'...

[Billhook]

[ame]

[/ame]

[william petts]

 

Saw them at lama this year, only thing that put me off was the build quality didn't look amazing and they are quite expensive, however the concept of turning effectively rubbish into a saleable product I like, although you'd probably have to charge less foe a bulk bag of branch logs than normal logs, but I reckon a lot of customers would buy it especially as they like a "cheaper" alternative

[Treeation]

Saw them at lama this year, only thing that put me off was the build quality didn't look amazing and they are quite expensive, however the concept of turning effectively rubbish into a saleable product I like, although you'd probably have to charge less foe a bulk bag of branch logs than normal logs, but I reckon a lot of customers would buy it especially as they like a "cheaper" alternative

 

Im selling one arbtrader for £3800 if you are interested

[Billhook]

Saw them at lama this year, only thing that put me off was the build quality didn't look amazing and they are quite expensive, however the concept of turning effectively rubbish into a saleable product I like, although you'd probably have to charge less foe a bulk bag of branch logs than normal logs, but I reckon a lot of customers would buy it especially as they like a "cheaper" alternative

 

I bought the petrol version from Welmec

 

Welmac UK Ltd: Urban SM70 Branch Logger

 

and I thought that the build quality was excellent as well as the after sales backup.

We have put quite a lot through it and have experimented with different sizes of brash as well as different bags.

It has been very reliable and often taken in larger diameter branches than we would have expected it to cope with.

For us it works as we run woodburning stoves in the house and down in the farm office where I may only be there for an hour and need quick heat.

 

I have tried to sell the idea to the village but there is a mixed response.

The pub loved to have a bag to start their open fire and to quickly bring the fire up again if it had been a quiet evening and suddenly half a dozen customers came in

 

Since they are a tight fisted bunch around here I started by asking what they thought was reasonable to charge after they had used it. It started at £5 a bag but soon reduced to £2.50.

However it was not cold at the time, people were charging less for logs and oil price is down.

 

 

Other folk complained about the netting in the bags being too wide allowing debris to fall out, the bags being too heavy at about 30 lbs for women, and the size of the product being too variable

A bit of grading of brash is necessary to make the size more uniform.

Smaller close knit bags are available but the summer came along and I need some cold weather to gain people's interest again

 

The two main advantages for me are that firstly my wife loves to operate the machine (keeps her fit and saves on gym membership!)and now the garden as well as the farm is becoming tidy

Secondly we use the product all the time and put it in the stove using a cylindrical type of coal scuttle rather than the tapering type so it means that we are no longer using the quality firewood which is more saleable.

 

So if you have a bit of woodland and are normally burning the brash in the wood or chipping it, and using the good wood yourselves that you would otherwise sell then buying one of these is a no brainer