Pricing Small Quantities of Logs

[lukemitchell47]

Hi,

 

Occasional lurker, first time poster.

 

I work for an independent charity managing a 750 acre wetland nature reserve. We fell bits and bobs as part of the habitat management work we carry out so often have lumps of wood kicking around. We have a couple of wood burners on site, but always end up with a surplus.

 

I'm wondering if any of you kind people would offer an opinion on the value of the bits pictured, sold as seen? It's 95% ash with a few oddments of oak, apple, and poplar. We end up with around this amount each year from woodland thinning.

 

From what I've read on the Ready to Burn scheme, it doesn't seem like it would be worth our while to process such a small amount and sell in handy bags at our visitor centre after membership fees and such, and we don't have the means to deliver locally in quantities of 2 cubic metres.

 

Any advice on this or other ways of turning tree 'waste' in to a bit of extra pocket money for the charity is appreciated. We cut lots of willow trees down and rarely do anything with it other than burn it on bonfires or leave it for habitat too.

 

Cheers,

Luke

[woody paul]

Sell it as cord would be best. 

Don't know if you could sell bags through a donation to get around ready to burn, with a minimum donation. 

[GarethM]

Sell it as a job lot or ring it up maybe even split it loose.

 

Do a Clarkson and sell a net for a a fiver and fill their own.

[lukemitchell47]

Great idea, thank you. Hadn't crossed my mind to sell the bag rather than the wood!

 

We've had someone say they want to make an offer for the job lot, I just don't have much of a clue what a decent offer might look like and don't want to short change myself.

[Stere]

£300- £400.

Edited Monday at 12:13 by Stere

[GarethM]

Its the usual risk Vs reward, maybe get a sawbench for the future and put towards whatever you get for this as a job lot towards it ?.

[Steven P]

I did OK with small amounts the other year, £20 a car boot full - unseasoned split wood at about 30cm lengths.... never mentioned fires - was pocket money for me and cleared the drive. Mine was all softwoods though.

 

So you might offer your volunteers the opportunity to take some as a thank you (assuming you get volunteers working), otherwise a donation and a suggested amount might be the way to go. Make sure it is clear of course that it isn't seasoned, perhaps market as 'outdoor fire pit' logs... which I don't think come under the ready to burn scheme. What the customer does afterwards is up to them.

 

Noting that if you cut it and split it too soon, your log pile might shrink 'by magic' over time if the car park is open access.

[sandspider]

Where are you in the country?

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, lukemitchell47 said:

we don't have the means to deliver locally in quantities of 2 cubic metres.

I think the wording used is "supply" but the notice that has to accompany a non registered, none woodsure supply says ambiguously:

 

If you sell wood in volumes of 2 cubic metres or more in England you must provide customers with this notice:

“This wood is not suitable for burning until it has been dried. You should not burn wood until it has a moisture content of 20% or less.

“Wet wood contains moisture which creates smoke and harmful particulates when burnt. As well as being harmful to your health and the environment, this can damage your stove and chimney and is an inefficient way to heat your home. Dry it in a sunny, well-aired space for at least two years, keeping rain off in the winter.

“Radial cracks and bark that comes off easily suggests wood that is ready for burning. Test the wood when you think it is ready for burning, ideally with a moisture meter. First calibrate the meter and then measure a freshly split surface to get the best reading.”

 

To my mind this means if you stack roundwood in a container(s) of 2m3 and display this notice you could sell it to a customer for domestic burning. They could take it by the boot load until gone.

 

The question arises of how much work is economic to process it a bit smaller to make it attractive to the ordinary punter and how much extra you would have to charge. I would say not worth it as the labour cost would probably be greater than half the sale price.

 

If you were near my home I would do some voluntary labour for a couple of hours for a boot load but wouldn't part with any of my pension for it.

 

I would not put willow or poplar in a load as this will devalue it.

[scbk]

If you were local I would swap it in exchange for some work.

 

Also, the local community service (as in convicted offenders) here, sometimes do work on sites in exchange for being able to take the wood away.

They take it back to their yard, cut it, split it, season it, bag it, then deliver it for free to needy oaps. Everyone wins. Is there any local groups it could be donated to?