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

[trigger_andy]

Just now, Big J said:

I used to have a Jotul type stove at our last house in Scotland and it was my understanding that they were designed to work best with softwood. Given that that was most of what I burned, it worked very well. 

If you remember the model number we can investigate the user manual.  

 

Just now, Big J said:

I produce some fairly tidy hardwood firewood. Several thousand tonnes a year. That being said, when I look at the stacks at roadside next to the softwood 2.5s (same price roadside), I can only see that it would take 4 times as long to process the hardwood, for a fuel that is only has a fractionally higher calorific value. 

I do get that. In my limited time processing firewood the soft was by far easier and quicker to process than the hard. But is the calorific value determined by its weight? Ie, the softwood calorific value is slightly lower than hard per KG. Then if folk are buying logs by a volume and not weight then they will be getting significantly less calorific value but will be told they are getting slightly under Hardwood, and thats not true. 

 

4 minutes ago, Big J said:

Anyway, give us a few years and softwood/hardwood will almost be a moot point.

Why would that be? 

 

4 minutes ago, Big J said:

We're planting 75 acres of new eucalyptus woodland in May, and it's in a class of it's own.

So I hear, Id like to try some to see what its like.  

[Big J]

Just now, trigger_andy said:

If you remember the model number we can investigate the user manual.  

 

I do get that. In my limited time processing firewood the soft was by far easier and quicker to process than the hard. But is the calorific value determined by its weight? Ie, the softwood calorific value is slightly lower than hard per KG. Then if folk are buying logs by a volume and not weight then they will be getting significantly less calorific value but will be told they are getting slightly under Hardwood, and thats not true. 

 

Why would that be? 

 

So I hear, Id like to try some to see what its like.  

 

It was the 20kw stove from The Champion Stove Company. A Jotul copy.

 

The slightly lower calorific value of softwood is more than offset by the fact that it takes only a fraction of the time to process, dries more quickly and is more readily available. Some of that cost saving can be passed onto the customer.

 

There is going to be a massive shortage of fuel wood in the coming decade. The Commission stopped planting large amounts of new woodland from the start of the 90s and many of the restocks after about 2000 (after softwood clearfells) were native broadleaf. Given that squirrels have knobbled most of these, and ash dieback is buggering the rest, there is a large gap in supply coming up and given that the (very hungry) RHI accreditted boilers on higher tariffs still have up to 17 years left, they will be able to pay more for timber than any firewood producer. Drax in Kent sucks up timber from as far as West Wales and Cornwall. The eucalyptus is the only way to plug the gap due to it's staggering growth rate.

[The avantgardener]

The type of wood people burn generally depends on what grows in that particular area. High altitude/low temperature areas generally don’t grow much in the way of broadleaf so they will be burning softwood. Norway’s forests are made up of around 75% Birch, which is why it is the most widely used, in most firewood calorific value charts Birch sits right between two softwoods, Pine and Douglas Fir.

[Big J]

1 minute ago, The avantgardener said:

The type of wood people burn generally depends on what grows in that particular area. High altitude/low temperature areas generally don’t grow much in the way of broadleaf so they will be burning softwood. Norway’s forests are made up of around 75% Birch, which is why it is the most widely used, in most firewood calorific value charts Birch sits right between two softwoods, Pine and Douglas Fir.

In Sweden it's only about 10% hardwood, as a proportion of the forest that covers 69% of the country. The slight majority of the remainder is norwary spruce, the rest scots pine. I'd personally choose pine over spruce, but slow grown spruce is still excellent. 

 

That is, I'll admit, one of the issues with some softwood in the UK. We're very reliant on Sitka, which grows far too quickly to be a quality fuel wood, on account of it being about 60-65% water when felled. Hemlock makes a much better (whitewood) firewood.

 

Anyway, as ever, dry wood good, wet wood bad! ?

[Khriss]

Scandinavian countries seem to be dryer in winter, well its snow only - wood seems to grow with tighter grain so possibly makes it better than our soggy pine and spruce . K

[Big J]

2 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Scandinavian countries seem to be dryer in winter, well its snow only - wood seems to grow with tighter grain so possibly makes it better than our soggy pine and spruce . K

When we moved to Devon we brought a 20ft container load of spruce and larch down at 12% MC and it burned beautifully. It's just a bit lighter when dry compared to slow grown Scandinavian softwood

 

[Turkey]

I get from 25% down to 18% in tunnels in 4 months during the  spring /summer but much longer in the autumn / winter when there is so much humidity in the air 

 

 

[Bolt]

29 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

Drax in Kent sucks up timber from as far as West Wales and Cornwall.

 

 

I thought Drax in Kent suckled up gas.

 

 

[Big J]

4 minutes ago, Bolt said:

 

I thought Drax in Kent suckled up gas.

 

 

They run the Biomass plant at Sandwich in Kent. Otherwise known as Kent Renewable Energy. 

 

Not renewable at all though. They import chip from (amongst other places) New Zealand (eucalyptus).

[Bolt]

3 minutes ago, Big J said:

They run the Biomass plant at Sandwich in Kent. Otherwise known as Kent Renewable Energy. 

 

Not renewable at all though. They import chip from (amongst other places) New Zealand (eucalyptus).

Cool.  Didn't know that one was part of the Drax empire.