How are you going to get your firewood down to 20%?

[cessna]

Most of my firewood is about 25% when I deliver it ,which is split and air dried  the previous summer.

How do you suggest I get it below 20%  to comply with the new regs.

Processing firewood into   big bags during the summer is great but the costs of labour etc make the job uneconomical.

[gdh]

I think splitting at least a year in advance and investing in storage is the only way to go unfortunately. We ended up kiln drying (technically a heated shed) when we sat down and went through it a few years ago because it was cheaper in the long run and we couldn't risk selling out but it was a big set up cost.

 

If we consistently had weather like the last couple of months you could cut heaps while dry then sheet it during wet periods but that would be a lot of work and no guarantee on the weather. Even cutting into bags you need to space them for airflow and keep them covered so that's just as bad.

 

You could look at sheds or polytunnels but then you're limited to what you can store.

 

Or just sell over 2cube at a time and leave it up to the customers.

[arboriculturist]

There is not enough airflow through ventilated bags to achieve an average 20%MC in one season from freshly felled roundwood..

 

Unless the ventilated 1m3 bags were on top of a hill, raised off the ground, well spaced apart, 1 high, with a roof over with the prevailing wind blowing through there is absolutely no possibility - even then I am very skeptical, there just isn't enough airflow. 

 

As I have said on previous posts, the gravity of the proposed legislation has been gravely underestimated.

 

25% MC as we all know produces no more emissions than 20% MC once you factor in all the addition emissions required to achieve the 20%.

 

Its a done deal so rather than wait until last minute panic buying as was seen with C19, we all need to start planning to diversify right now. Stick with what you know and have experience in and work from there. 

 

To be frank, there are a lot of Gardeners out there operating from a private house on a housing estate, making a better living that many firewood retailers ever will.

 

Move with the times - always ?

Edited June 6, 2020 by arboriculturist

[pie eater pete]

Firewood kiln of some description is best bet. Im in the process of finding a shipping container which will have a small wood fired stove fed with softwood.  IBCs then moved with pallet truck and tractor. 

[Vedhoggar]

Wood split into billets and stacked off the ground where the wind can get at it after one or two seasons, depending on species, on average will be <20% MC in my experience but then needs to be either sold before winter or moved under cover, putting a sheet over billets during winter will not keep wood dry enough and the moisture content even of wood that was <20% can increase to 25% under cover during winter. Lengths of timber that have been spit with excavator mounted cone spitters and stacked seem to season quite well too.

[Al Cormack]

I store in ibc’s in a polytunnel.
Last cage I had of last years wood went out the other day and it was around 14% [emoji1360]

[Vedhoggar]

Was sawing billets yesterday which were split/stacked outdoor on pallets but not sheeted in July 2019 (split down to <15cm) and the average MC reading in middle of fresh logs of the 45 tested was 19% with range 11 - 28% MC.

[Big J]

I think that there would be a lot of mileage in developing a quickly constructed, cheaply available, modular drying shed system for customers. 2m tall, 2m deep and 1m wide. Minimum two bays and add as many as you want. 

 

Training customers to cycle their own firewood so that they are working 12-18 months ahead (depending on where you are in the country) shouldn't be difficult, and almost everyone has space to have a 2x2x2m store (which will hold 8 loose cube if just lobbed in, or almost 12 loose cube if stacked). 

 

I bet a fair few customers would consider investing in a store (they need one anyway, why not give it the function of drying the wood as well as just storing it) if they realised they could save around £30/cube by having it straight off the processor. That's making the assumption that those of you selling for say £105/cube would sell for £75/cube if fresh off the machine. 

 

It's so simple. It's like having the entire food industry in the UK being served by the takeaway sector, rather than anyone bothering to cook themselves. Drying your own firewood is markedly easier than doing your own dinner, as it requires the exact same effort as taking a delivery of dried firewood. The only difference is sitting on it for 12 months (or less in the south).

 

 

[Rwhiteheadfirewood]

At the moment I plan to buy as much timber in as possible, ring it into ibcs (oversize), 

Process the good stuff into ibcs, and leave as long as possible, 

Im in a rented yard so kiln not a great idea (planning / costs involved) 

If its not dry enough it won't leave the yard, but I deliver half my logs using 10foot ifor tipper which is 2m3 ish so il just deliver those size loads if I have to. 

Its not us the sellers that need education it's the end user / customers. 

Rob 

[Lm20]

I remember once when I worked at a woodyard we left timber to dry in the stack and covered the top be it will a little overhand with a heavy duty green tarp, we processed it maybe 1 year later and it was ridiculous how much lighter it was, mc was not tested from memory, but it was obvious it worked, it was sycamore and ash I think from memory.