Buying large volumes of cordwood

[Elliott.F]

Hi guys,

Newbie here.
Im looking to buy green round / cord hard and soft wood, any length or diameter. Probably starting with about 20m3. I’ve done some googling but can’t find much. I’m not in the industry so have no idea where I could get this from. 
It’s to process down into firewood and we have good area on the farm where 8 wheel lorries could access, but again I don’t even know how wood like this is delivered. 
Any advice would be greatly welcome including approximate prices if anyone knows. 
I’m based in south Devon. 
Thanks in advance. 
Elliott. 🔥

[Whoppa Choppa]

We sold a load/s of wood from Gloucestershire to south Devon late last year. The haulier / contractor has since gone bust. What I can tell you is that the smallest lorry holds a little more than 20m³. 18 tonnes on an 8 wheeler worked out at about 22m of ash. If you call it cordwood the contractors and lorry drivers will slam the phone down on you. Trying to wrack my brains and remember who in south devon it was delivered to; they might know a local supplier...

[Elliott.F]

Thank you. Some very useful info there about lorry loads. I’d be happy to buy 20+ m3. 
funny about the cordwood, I thought that was the correct term for unseasoned, full length logs. What should I call it?

cheers,

Elliott. 

[topchippyles]

1 hour ago, Whoppa Choppa said:

We sold a load/s of wood from Gloucestershire to south Devon late last year. The haulier / contractor has since gone bust. What I can tell you is that the smallest lorry holds a little more than 20m³. 18 tonnes on an 8 wheeler worked out at about 22m of ash. If you call it cordwood the contractors and lorry drivers will slam the phone down on you. Trying to wrack my brains and remember who in south devon it was delivered to; they might know a local supplier...

Big J would be the boy to ask that was his stomping ground before moving to Sweden he would have good contacts.

[Elliott.F]

2 hours ago, Whoppa Choppa said:

We sold a load/s of wood from Gloucestershire to south Devon late last year. The haulier / contractor has since gone bust. What I can tell you is that the smallest lorry holds a little more than 20m³. 18 tonnes on an 8 wheeler worked out at about 22m of ash. If you call it cordwood the contractors and lorry drivers will slam the phone down on you. Trying to wrack my brains and remember who in south devon it was delivered to; they might know a local supplier...

Thank you. Some very useful info there about lorry loads. I’d be happy to buy 20+ m3. 
funny about the cordwood, I thought that was the correct term for unseasoned, full length logs. What should I call it?

cheers,

Elliott. 

[gdh]

I don't think anyone really cares if you call it cordwood, I hear it often enough, but usually you would just say you're looking for a load of hardwood or softwood. Most people buy and sell by ton.

 

Hardwood has gone very expensive at the moment but best thing would be to phone hauliers if you don't want much as they'll have more contacts than asking every landowner.

 

If you don't care about quality you could also try tree surgery waste.

[Whoppa Choppa]

I've sent you a private email on here 👍🏼

[openspaceman]

10 hours ago, Elliott.F said:

funny about the cordwood, I thought that was the correct term for unseasoned, full length logs.

Back in the very old days crosscutting was an issue so wood was handled in 4ft lengths, also often burned in this length by using andirons to keep just adjacent tips burning, pushing the sticks together as they burned.

 

A measure of this wood was the cord, a stack of these lengths 8ft long  and 4ft high. This was all well and good when we hand loaded everything. Even oak tops could be well stacked on a lorry as you could cut out most bends ("half a bend is no bend at all") and still achieve 70% stacking efficiency.

 

Later as grapple loaders predominated they needed longer lengths, first 2 metres, then 2.4 and nowadays 3.

 

This becomes a problem with bent tops, often referred to as cordwood as they do not stack neatly.

 

Roundwood is the term more used for straighter lengths and softwood.

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, openspaceman said:

Back in the very old days crosscutting was an issue so wood was handled in 4ft lengths, also often burned in this length by using andirons to keep just adjacent tips burning, pushing the sticks together as they burned.

 

A measure of this wood was the cord, a stack of these lengths 8ft long  and 4ft high. This was all well and good when we hand loaded everything. Even oak tops could be well stacked on a lorry as you could cut out most bends ("half a bend is no bend at all") and still achieve 70% stacking efficiency.

 

Later as grapple loaders predominated they needed longer lengths, first 2 metres, then 2.4 and nowadays 3.

 

This becomes a problem with bent tops, often referred to as cordwood as they do not stack neatly.

 

Roundwood is the term more used for straighter lengths and softwood.

You should weigh in on the Crimean war thread more. You presumably remember the last one.

[Elliott.F]

9 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Back in the very old days crosscutting was an issue so wood was handled in 4ft lengths, also often burned in this length by using andirons to keep just adjacent tips burning, pushing the sticks together as they burned.

 

A measure of this wood was the cord, a stack of these lengths 8ft long  and 4ft high. This was all well and good when we hand loaded everything. Even oak tops could be well stacked on a lorry as you could cut out most bends ("half a bend is no bend at all") and still achieve 70% stacking efficiency.

 

Later as grapple loaders predominated they needed longer lengths, first 2 metres, then 2.4 and nowadays 3.

 

This becomes a problem with bent tops, often referred to as cordwood as they do not stack neatly.

 

Roundwood is the term more used for straighter lengths and softwood.

Very interesting, thanks for the insight. 
I shall to this as round wood from now on. 
Cheers,

E.