Traditional Firewood is history

[Big J]

I reckon one of the main impediments to firewood use becoming mainstream and affordable (at present, retailed firewood is a luxury for most) is the customer's belief that softwood is not fit for burning.

 

Whilst England may have fairly large stands of hardwood woodland, Scotland does not. We have sitka and larch, and a lot of it. The things that work in softwood's favour are:

 

* Lower purchase cost

* Quicker drying time

* Much quicker processing

* Wider availability of supply

* Reasonably homogenised product

 

OK, softwood is slightly last calorie dense, but that is easily offset by all of the above savings, which can in part be passed onto the customer.

 

I personally hate burning only hardwood, and would ideally burn 75/25% softwood hardwood. The ember build up from hardwood is a pain in the arse when your fire never goes out.

 

So, if we can get all of out customers to burn a decent proportion of softwood and season all their own firewood, we'll be laughing!

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I reckon one of the main impediments to firewood use becoming mainstream and affordable (at present, retailed firewood is a luxury for most) is the customer's belief that softwood is not fit for burning.

 

Whilst England may have fairly large stands of hardwood woodland, Scotland does not. We have sitka and larch, and a lot of it. The things that work in softwood's favour are:

 

* Lower purchase cost

* Quicker drying time

* Much quicker processing

* Wider availability of supply

* Reasonably homogenised product

 

OK, softwood is slightly last calorie dense, but that is easily offset by all of the above savings, which can in part be passed onto the customer.

 

I personally hate burning only hardwood, and would ideally burn 75/25% softwood hardwood. The ember build up from hardwood is a pain in the arse when your fire never goes out.

 

So, if we can get all of out customers to burn a decent proportion of softwood and season all their own firewood, we'll be laughing!

 

Oh hell we're agreeing again

[LewisB]

On a related note, has anybody else heard about the up coming Forestry Commission plans related to importing wood?

 

Apparently whenever wood is imported for the purpose of burning as fuel, soon you will have to inform the FC. I would guess they want to start getting an idea of what amount of wood burned in the UK is imported. I don't know what they plan to do with that information but I would be interested to see some official figures.

[openspaceman]

I'd say the same. Buying firewood is a luxury these days

 

Yes in most cases it is and in these cases it doesn't compete with the common alternatives, like coal for instance.

 

So in a competitive market and as labour is the major part of the cost of production one needs to create brand loyalty. This is a form of monopoly to enable you to sell an apparently similar good at a higher price.

 

I see things sold as "EDGE" at the moment, I haven't looked up what it means but if it appeals it becomes part of the Unique Selling Point that gives a competitive edge to your product in exactly the same way "kiln dried" is being used.

 

Now I'm easy either way with "kiln Dried" or "hand crafted" logs and when I sold logs( over 35 years ago) they were only partially air dried because I did not have storage facilities, so my customers expected to store logs in a dry place before using them. That model would appear not to work now.

 

When a client had a business model that pointed to needing a quick turn around from raw material to sale because because they could not sustain the cashflow of stockpiling kindling, which only had a demand from October to January, then kiln drying was a good option and energy considerations did not come into it any more than flying blueberries from Peru for Waitrose (very tasty with ice cream) to sell. That's economics.

 

If you feel that on principle it's wrong to do something that's fine by me but, like me, you will have to forego the riches a competitor that ruthlessly exploits the market can make.

[richardwale]

I reckon one of the main impediments to firewood use becoming mainstream and affordable (at present, retailed firewood is a luxury for most) is the customer's belief that softwood is not fit for burning.

 

Whilst England may have fairly large stands of hardwood woodland, Scotland does not. We have sitka and larch, and a lot of it. The things that work in softwood's favour are:

 

* Lower purchase cost

* Quicker drying time

* Much quicker processing

* Wider availability of supply

* Reasonably homogenised product

 

OK, softwood is slightly last calorie dense, but that is easily offset by all of the above savings, which can in part be passed onto the customer.

 

I personally hate burning only hardwood, and would ideally burn 75/25% softwood hardwood. The ember build up from hardwood is a pain in the arse when your fire never goes out.

 

So, if we can get all of out customers to burn a decent proportion of softwood and season all their own firewood, we'll be laughing!

 

Last year and this year 90% of my loads have been a mix of hard and soft. This year, only 2 customers have directly asked for only hardwood and will not be swayed to take any bone dry softwood, which is fine. I frequently get text messages saying how good the firewood is so ill continue to sell it. If customers ask what type of wood it is, I tell them straight, a bit of "selling" might be involved but they are certainly getting a quality product when the firewood turns up.

[Big J]

I had someone call yesterday and specifically request what he had last year, which was sitka spruce.

 

Factoring in the increased production rate and the reduced wear on the machine, has anyone calculated the difference in production cost (of the process only, not the raw material) differences between hard and soft wood?

[HertsWood]

We sell firewood/woodfuel where the timber is sourced from sustainable woodlands that we are managing for clients. That way it's a zero cost for the timber & just have processing costs to account for.

One of the biggest investments we have made is becoming both HETAS accredited & Grown in Britain Licensed - this has helped sales immensely.

[richardwale]

We sell firewood/woodfuel where the timber is sourced from sustainable woodlands that we are managing for clients. That way it's a zero cost for the timber & just have processing costs to account for.

One of the biggest investments we have made is becoming both HETAS accredited & Grown in Britain Licensed - this has helped sales immensely.

 

👍 Great, how do you dry your firewood and what volume do you sell?

[wills-mill]

On a related note, has anybody else heard about the up coming Forestry Commission plans related to importing wood?

 

Apparently whenever wood is imported for the purpose of burning as fuel, soon you will have to inform the FC. I would guess they want to start getting an idea of what amount of wood burned in the UK is imported. I don't know what they plan to do with that information but I would be interested to see some official figures.

 

No idea of the grand plan, and I've not heard of the scheme so far.

 

One thing to bear in mind is that the Emerald Ash Borer is working his way westwards (near Moscow recently), and so at some point our use of Ash from the Baltic might well leapfrog EAB to this country.

 

Emerald Ash Borer would make Chalara look like a nun's picnic

[aesmith]

From my viewpoint as a customer and also some insight as a retailer, the pressure for Kiln Dried comes after experience with no quite properly dry air dried wood. Some customers want the stuff ready to burn on the day the purchase, they can't or can't be bothered buying in advance and letting the stuff dry properly in their storage.

 

If people have found that buying wood that's called "dry" or "seasoned" is not in fact ready for use, then switch to kiln dried, what is going to get them to switch back?