Got an idea for kiln drying logs. Any feedback appreciated.

[Fahrenheit]

Thanks for the input......i don't think it's a doddle by any means.....i realise it's hard work......the bit you quoted wasn't intended to make light of what firewood suppliers are doing.

 

When i've spoken to people in the trade and also searched previous posts on this forum everyone talks around 2m3 - 2.5m3 to a ton of hardwood. What is the typical range when converting 1 ton of wet hardwood cords to 1m3 firewood?

 

£120 for 1m3 for dry firewood is pretty cheap around here........another guy i know sells seasoned firewood for £130 a cube and he's turning people away.

 

What i'm saying is if i can afford to buy 500 ton of hardwood, a machine that can process 20-25 ton of wood a day with 2 men......to shift 500 ton in 6 months is only 7 loads a day excluding weekends.

 

Therefore there should be reasonable money to be made if shifting enough of it, no?

 

Obviously if i were cutting, splitting and stacking by hand then it would be considerably more work and labour and probably not worth bothering with. The thing is that i already have full time staff and the wood business would make use of our slack period so would not cost much extra in wages either.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Fahrenheit

[gensetsteve]

Thinking about it go with your original idea buy in 30 tonnes of cord. Keep an accurate record of time and expences. If its not dampened your enthusiasm you will have learnt alot buy in more. One thing I have found is I could live without my processor some days I could gladly run it over with the Jcb. I could not live without a decent overhead splitter.

[Justme]

gensetsteve,

 

If I click your firewood link I get no results found

[gensetsteve]

gensetsteve,

 

If I click your firewood link I get no results found

 

Thanks for letting me know I found that a day or so ago will try and sort it now:thumbup1:

[Justme]

Working now

[timtree81]

Delivered to a customer this week who had some of the famous plastic bags of kiln dried in her garage. The logs inside the bags had mould on them!

We cut, split and stack all our logs in our drying barn, this has a roof, pallet floor and sides. Even at this time of year the logs moisture content is down to less than 20% and more often sub 18% in about two weeks. By dividing the barn into sections we are able to easily `rotate` stock.

 

:thumbup:

[Fahrenheit]

The thing is that the kiln dried companies are only quoting 20% moisture.....you can get that drying them naturally.....so whats the pros of them being kiln dried?

 

Obviously from a supplier point of view it means you have less wood hanging around and smaller premises as you'd just have several kilns at different stages of drying. But what's the benefit to the customer if it's still 20% moisture when someone selling properly seasoned firewood will be 20% or less?

[windfall]

Did you set up a kiln in the end , or are you using nature?

[One Eyed]

This is an interesting thread. An update would be good