Current firewood prices per m2

[Justme]

21 hours ago, doobin said:

 

 

What are people being quoted for cordwod? I was quoted £2500 cash for an arctic of processor ash last week!

 

 

I wish.

 

Getting quotes of £2.6k to £2.8k + VAT IF they have any available in the next two months.

 

 

Some possible cash deals at same prices so makes no sense if registered. 

[Justme]

18 hours ago, Big J said:

Crazy prices throughout. A sign of the times though. It was only about 5 years ago really that I was charging £55-65/cubic metre (plus delivery charge) for soft and hardwood out of the sawmill. 

 

 

Broadleaves are not an efficient method of producing firewood. You are far better off with conifer or eucalyptus. Much shorter production cycles and mechanical harvesting vastly reduce production to roadside costs. Then, the actual firewood processing is much faster too (straight logs). These savings can then be passed on to the eventual customer whilst maintaining the same profit margin for all in the production line.

 

 

 

Yet the price per tonne is only about £20 less for softwood.

Thats does not even make up for the volume difference never mind the energy difference per tonne.

[openspaceman]

1 minute ago, Big J said:

Conifer does have fewer calories,

Per m3 or per tonne?

[htb]

Been offered 37 t of spruce at roadside at £30/t

[openspaceman]

15 minutes ago, Big J said:

My understanding is that conifer is 10% higher in calories per dry tonne, on account of the resin content.

Mine too but it is the higher lignin content as well as resin

[Justme]

37 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

Eucalyptus has a similar calorie content to oak, if it's over 7yrs old (trees younger than that are mainly sapwood, which is less calorific). 

 

Conifer does have fewer calories, but the difference (species dependent) isn't massive. To buy it in isn't very much cheaper than hardwood (on the whole) but the processing and drying time is so much less that I'd always try to steer customers that way. 

 

Sawlog prices are still depressed in the UK (though I'm a bit out of touch now) so it's possible to find sawlog at a similar or even lower price than hardwood. I'd be on the lookout for sawlog that's been left roadside for too long (especially pine, which has a very limited shelf life at roadside). It might be possible to pick it up cheaper.

 

On our processor set up that we had in Scotland, you could process 30cm larch at about 4 times the speed of similar sized hardwood. The hardwood quality up there isn't great, which was part of it, but I really can't see too many advantages to hardwood.

 

At £120 a cube, hardwood is about £0.10/kwh, not accounting for efficiency losses. It's a bit more expensive than gas and oil with none of the convenience. 

Dried wood, hard or soft all have about the same kWh per kg but soft is massively lighter per m3.

[Woodworks]

46 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

Per roadside tonne. Not per dried tonne. But then, that does depend a bit on species.

 

My understanding is that conifer is 10% higher in calories per dry tonne, on account of the resin content.

Yep. TCD posted up a table on this years ago. Think Larch came out top per dry kg

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, Justme said:

Dried wood, hard or soft all have about the same kWh per kg but soft is massively lighter per m3.

It's immaterial to me as I get it free and dry it for myself but commercially if you are buying it green the softwood has more water content, so beech and pine both weigh around 1tonne/m3.

 

So if you buy by the tonne green and sell by the bulked m3 at 20% mc there's a fair difference in value as I am sure you know, the softwood is only worth around 2/3 that of the hardwood to the customer whereas if you sell by the tonne they are about the same.

[Johnpl315]

As a forestry contractor I have found it near impossible to shift hardwood promptly, no one wants it unless it's been sat seasoning for a year and then they want to pay tonnage, the wood having lost 30 percent weight. 

 This has actually made it unviable for me so unless someone want to buy some and collect and pay within an allocated time frame I am not cutting any more. I am in West Sussex 

[Vedhoggar]

10 hours ago, Johnpl315 said:

As a forestry contractor I have found it near impossible to shift hardwood promptly, no one wants it unless it's been sat seasoning for a year and then they want to pay tonnage, the wood having lost 30 percent weight. 

 This has actually made it unviable for me so unless someone want to buy some and collect and pay within an allocated time frame I am not cutting any more. I am in West Sussex 

I've had that same problem with other products in the past, had some fencing posts sat for months during a hot summer before being moved and the buyer would only pay by the tonne as he was getting paid by tonne delivered in to mill. Seasoned firewood ought to be sold by the solid m3, it doesn't make sense selling by the tonne.