Why are the public anti-softwood?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I think that people are generally right in wanting Hardwood.It burns longer and at a higher tempreture.

 

Here in Norway Birch is the most sought after Firewood.We hardly ever take that off jobs.Oak,Ash,Yew,Syc people won't touch.

 

We used to ring up all our logs and let people come and take what they wanted.Thing was that folks would fling wood around the yard attempting to burrow into the piles in search of Birch.Weirdos.

 

[blue beastie]

Pretty much all we burn up here is birch, larch and pine. Plenty of it around, cheap and easy to come by. It's true to say you have to feed the fire more often, but as long as it's dry it's no bother.

 

Can think of much better things to do with oak, ash etc than burn it tbh.

[Arbgirl]

I have a woodburner that works very well, despite the chimney being unlined, it gets too hot to get near at times! Its in a large inglenook that presumably was an open fire originally. I do burn briquettes that are softwood based, with no problems, but then they are very dry when burnt. I tend to just use them to get it going as they burn too hot and I am worried about the stove cracking or glowing red hot due to the excessive heat they chuck out!

 

The draw is brilliant, and adding a liner isnt an option due to cost and asbestos fire boarding which will cost lots to remove legally, and would probably cause more of a health risk being removed that it does at present being left alone.

 

I shall consider softwood more in future then, if it is a myth that it will tarr up the chimney - thanks for the advice and interesting thread:001_smile:

[Big J]

Very interesting responses so far guys! Seems that for the most part, opinion is that softwoods are perfectly acceptable as wood fuel.

 

Jonathan

[John Barleycorn]

Educate your customers who have woodburning stoves.

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Give them a few pine logs for free.

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Ask them how they got on.

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Then offer them a load at a lower price than hardwood

[rovers90]

I think the main reason the public are so anti-softwood is because the stove retailers tell them they must use hardwood. I had a converastion with one retailer earlier in the year and explained I was setting up a firewood business and he replied, "Supply me with hardwood with a moisture content of under 20%,guaranteed every load and I will buy off you every time." Needless to say he is on to his 33rd supplier in only a few years!!

 

I have never had an open fire or stove and if I bought one and was told only use hardwood logs, that is what I would insist on from any supplier so I think it is a case of educating the customer and either giving them a bag to try for free, at a discount or a mixed bag.

[woodrascal]

Dry softwood also usually produces a much better flame picture in a decent stove than a lot of hardwoods.

 

I reckon that a lot of the first time stove punters out there are buying stoves for visual effect as much as for heating! A nice dry chunk of oak throws out a lot of heat, but there's many people out there (all potential wood fuel customers)who would prefer to sit in front of a hypnotic, swirly flame fire produced by some softwood...

 

In fairness to stove manufacturers, Clearview Stoves boss, Jonathan, spent some considerable time at a trade show showing me just how good one of his Vision 500's looked when loaded with decent dry softwood logs.

[firewoodman]

as i am looking for a new stove to be installed in my new house, i have looked at many many stove brochures,

 

not yet found one that says " do not burn softwood" they do say hardwood is better but also say it is ok to burn softwood but all wood must be well seasoned

[County4x4]

Arbgirl,

 

If your stove is getting that hot, then it's likely that you have some issues with the air control by the sounds of it. This is often a problem with the cheap Chinese stoves sold by Machine Mart and the like, where the castings are so poor that there are gaps between the pieces of the stove body which allow air in. This has pretty much the same effect as holding a sheet of newspaper over the front of an open fire to get it going hard.

 

If the stove is decent quality then chances are that the rope seals in the door and ashpan cover are ready for replacement - these are classed as disposable items and only have a limited life before they harden and shrink and start allowing air to pass.

 

Friends of ours have a half decent stove in their living room, and when we visited in the winter you couldn't get near the stove as it was roaring like a jet engine almost. Uncontrollable heat like this isn't relaxing to sit by - it almost knocks you out - and of course they were getting through a hell of a lot of wood. A new set of rope seals transformed the stove back to what it should be and now they are able to control the heat output again.

 

I sell briquettes myself, and mine will burn happily once they're alight with both primary and secondary air controls almost completely closed down. I tend to run our stove with the secondary air just cracked open most of the time. You shouldn't really have a situation where you can't burn something because it burns too hot - you should be able to control the stove so it burns at the rate you want.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy

[MattyF]

Educate your customers who have woodburning stoves.

.

Give them a few pine logs for free.

.

Ask them how they got on.

.

Then offer them a load at a lower price than hardwood

 

Thats what my parents do and they have loads of customers try and come back to become regulars... not a lot of hard woods in kielder forest were they are based though!