How do you air dry your wood down to 20% ??

[Rough Hewn]

That's a lot of capital investment, both in terms of the barn and stock for almost three years.
 
If firewood customers weren't idiots, then we'd have them all trained to take unseasoned timber in spring to season themselves over summer. No storage costs, no capital outlay. We'd save a fortune, they'd save a fortune and we'd be doing it like the rest of Europe. 

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji106]
This.
It's so true.
[emoji106]

[Stere]

Quote

If firewood customers weren't idiots

But thats like saying  when pigs fly....?

[Big J]

Not to mention that retailers wouldn't have to worry about the logisitics of having to deliver firewood at the most challenging (weather wise) time of year.

 

I wonder what the realistic cost saving would be to the end user if retailers could process straight into a tipper and delivery immediately? At least 20%, I'd reckon, if not more. 

[devon TWiG]

I always have my own supply of wood cut and split  ( fairly small ) by Easter and stacked on pallets with tin sheets on top , fairly good airflow ( not too broad a stack ) and when it comes to burning ( Autumn ) I have a days supply in house near woodburner which dries further still , never measure moisture , it just feels right and burns well ...any wood that is , oak does best is split smaller as it does not like to lose its moisture ..

[Rough Hewn]

I am quite a fan of the French system for processing firewood for dry sales:
All wood in 1m lengths,
Split in 1m lengths into 3"-4" billets.
Double plastic band tied.
Stacked for 6-8 months,
Then cut to order at lengths 20-50cm.
[emoji106]

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

I am quite a fan of the French system for processing firewood for dry sales:
All wood in 1m lengths,

Ok but for extraction 2-3m is better so an extra cross cutting will be needed

 

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

Split in 1m lengths into 3"-4" billets.

another operation

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

 

Double plastic band tied.

 

and another

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

Stacked for 6-8 months,

 

Easily enough over a summer to get dry, much better if under a roof, in sections as small as that, not so in the round.

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

Then cut to order at lengths 20-50cm.

Another operation

 

How does that compare labour wise to processing freshly harvested wood to size and dumping it into ventilated containers in one hit, moving under a roof, preferably transparent, and then taking them from store and delivering them in one hit?

[Woodworks]

1 minute ago, openspaceman said:

Ok but for extraction 2-3m is better so an extra cross cutting will be needed

 

another operation

and another

Easily enough over a summer to get dry, much better if under a roof, in sections as small as that, not so in the round.

Another operation

 

How does that compare labour wise to processing freshly harvested wood to size and dumping it into ventilated containers in one hit, moving under a roof, preferably transparent, and then taking them from store and delivering them in one hit?

I can answer that for you. I tried some billets one year and it took as long to cut them up on the processor as it did to cut and split roundwood. The billeting was painfully slow at around 2 cube an hour with a pretty much perfect splitter for the job. Never again. They dried well and were easy to handle but if your time has any value its a no go IMO

[renewablejohn]

I do have some billets but only from timber that will not fit through the processor. Stored in solar kiln in IBC containers. When processed IBC container is rotated on pallet forks and used as log deck. I try to minimise as its double handling and I normally only like to touch the timber once through the processor.

[Dan Maynard]

I've seen timber stacked like this in Germany too and wondered why they do it. I reckon the stacks are really stable compared to log length, you see a lot of them in fields and this was Black Forest so a lot of big spruce. Billet cross cutting machines make that part of the operation much quicker than a processor.

I've still not tried it myself, as my wood all tends to be arb waste so the chance of getting it all into nice straight split billets is just about nil.

[richardwale]

17 hours ago, renewablejohn said:

No secrets on the solar kiln described on here over a decade ago using a polytunnel the key element being the ridge not being horizontal.

Would be great to see a picture?