Advice for processing, marketing and selling kindling

[Barnaby89]

Hi everyone, we own 24 acres of pine forest which is in pretty poor health and needs to be felled soon. The plan is to fell up to 75% of it, some of it for logs, but the majority for kindling as this seems to be the best way for us to make some money from it. There's quite a lot of already seasoned wood there which we could get to work on as soon as we have all the equipment required. Already have access to a currently vacant and large sheep building which we can use to store the logs and kindling. We're new to all this though so any advice would be much appreciated. Here are some of the questions I'm currently trying to get clear on:

 

1. What's the best way of going about estimating how much we can expect to make out of it? I realise that this is going to be difficult to gauge reliably, but assuming there must be a way of getting a conservative estimate which we can work to while we're planning. Any useful contacts for this? Any sums I can apply to get this approximate figure?

 

2. When it comes to processing the wood, it seems that Kindlet and Posch are the brands to go for, which model would you recommend? How often do they tend to clog up and/or need parts replacing? Given that we have a set amount to get through, would you recommend leasing/renting the equipment or buying with the intent to resale? We have 1 heavy duty chainsaw and 1 person licensed to use it, we can transport the logs to the sheep building using either a pick-up truck or trailer, but what other machinery would we need to process this amount in a few months of hard work? How big a difference will kiln drying it make? is it worth investing in buying or renting a smallish one?

And how many people do you think we would need to do this? At the moment, we have 3 of us, but others we could pay to help out provided there was enough profit in it. 

 

3. When it comes to marketing and selling, should we be aiming at wholesalers for this quantity or going to local pubs, hotels, shops, etc and selling over a longer period of time? I'm guessing that the bigger players like national supermarket, petrol station and garden centre chains will have contracts with large scale suppliers so aren't interested in smaller/one-off suppliers, is this correct? If so, do you think covid may have created an opening with these buyers who may be looking to stockpile a product that won't go off? Finally, how much would you expect to sell the kindling bags for to wholesalers? And how much to smaller local buyers like hotels/pubs/shops?

 

Apologies for the barrage of questions! Any help or advice on one, some or all will be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help out

[Stubby]

5 hours ago, Barnaby89 said:

Hi everyone, we own 24 acres of pine forest which is in pretty poor health and needs to be felled soon. The plan is to fell up to 75% of it, some of it for logs, but the majority for kindling as this seems to be the best way for us to make some money from it. There's quite a lot of already seasoned wood there which we could get to work on as soon as we have all the equipment required. Already have access to a currently vacant and large sheep building which we can use to store the logs and kindling. We're new to all this though so any advice would be much appreciated. Here are some of the questions I'm currently trying to get clear on:

 

1. What's the best way of going about estimating how much we can expect to make out of it? I realise that this is going to be difficult to gauge reliably, but assuming there must be a way of getting a conservative estimate which we can work to while we're planning. Any useful contacts for this? Any sums I can apply to get this approximate figure?

 

2. When it comes to processing the wood, it seems that Kindlet and Posch are the brands to go for, which model would you recommend? How often do they tend to clog up and/or need parts replacing? Given that we have a set amount to get through, would you recommend leasing/renting the equipment or buying with the intent to resale? We have 1 heavy duty chainsaw and 1 person licensed to use it, we can transport the logs to the sheep building using either a pick-up truck or trailer, but what other machinery would we need to process this amount in a few months of hard work? How big a difference will kiln drying it make? is it worth investing in buying or renting a smallish one?

And how many people do you think we would need to do this? At the moment, we have 3 of us, but others we could pay to help out provided there was enough profit in it. 

 

3. When it comes to marketing and selling, should we be aiming at wholesalers for this quantity or going to local pubs, hotels, shops, etc and selling over a longer period of time? I'm guessing that the bigger players like national supermarket, petrol station and garden centre chains will have contracts with large scale suppliers so aren't interested in smaller/one-off suppliers, is this correct? If so, do you think covid may have created an opening with these buyers who may be looking to stockpile a product that won't go off? Finally, how much would you expect to sell the kindling bags for to wholesalers? And how much to smaller local buyers like hotels/pubs/shops?

 

Apologies for the barrage of questions! Any help or advice on one, some or all will be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help out

If you are going to clear fell most of it you will need to apply for a felling license from the FC .

[andy cobb]

24 acres is a large plot to fell and process in 1 go. Can you not split it in to maybe 3 plots, fell the most dangerous or road side trees first, get a guy in with a processor to cut your rounds and hire a kindlett for a while to see if its viable. Then you could move on to the other plots in further years and re plant the first.

Lots of things stack up on paper, it's the little things that balls it up,  the things you don't find out about until your knacker deep.

[Barnaby89]

On 02/07/2020 at 18:06, Stubby said:

If you are going to clear fell most of it you will need to apply for a felling license from the FC .

We're in the process of getting that now, forestry agent has been to see it and all seemed OK from what i was told. We also need a felling plan - also in process. 

[Barnaby89]

On 02/07/2020 at 18:25, andy cobb said:

24 acres is a large plot to fell and process in 1 go. Can you not split it in to maybe 3 plots, fell the most dangerous or road side trees first, get a guy in with a processor to cut your rounds and hire a kindlett for a while to see if its viable. Then you could move on to the other plots in further years and re plant the first.

Lots of things stack up on paper, it's the little things that balls it up,  the things you don't find out about until your knacker deep.

Will look into this. A fair amount of it is already seasoned and just needs sawing and transporting. Unfortunately there's also a fair amount of wind blow which is obviously trickier to deal with.

Very true thats it's the little things that tend to balls it up. From what we've discovered so far, i think you're right that doing it in parts is probably the most sensible way to go. Can learn our way through it that way, have time to make mistakes without so much risk and make useful contacts along the way. Currently thinking we may sell the bits that won't last to someone as standing timber and trial run some to see what we can do with it. Eventually the plan is to replant, but it's a windy area so will need to get some professional advice in to see which bits to leave standing. 

 

Thanks for the advice offered though. 

[gensetsteve]

I would cut a few trees down rent a kindlet  for a week and make sure your timber kindles easily . I think you will learn loads and possibly be horrified how much work is involved. The best plans for your wood could be chip especially with high prices at the moment.

 

[gensetsteve]

I normally work on 1 tonne of green softwood will make 100 nets of kindling in 40 x 50 nets 

[arboriculturist]

1 hour ago, gensetsteve said:

I would cut a few trees down rent a kindlet  for a week and make sure your timber kindles easily . I think you will learn loads and possibly be horrified how much work is involved. The best plans for your wood could be chip especially with high prices at the moment.

 

At last - someone said it! 

 

Or if you can finance it, get the timber  harvested and sell it roadside by the tonne to Firewood retailers. Not everyone is keen on softwood but it is guaranteed to sell and you can continue life as normal.

 

Completely put the idea of retailing it yourself out of your head, as that is 100% heading down the road to a minefield.

[AndyChalmers]

or just fell it & sell as is.  fook 24 achres is a lifetime supply of kindling.  last load of softwood I got £44 ton selling to local haulure who i think sold to powerstation.  or do a mixture of both.