Gold Dust AKA Seasoned birch 3-5m lengths

[JayVee]

Intra EU market is not imported. It is "intra community trade."

 

A container packed (as slasherscot rightly states) is volume wise 65 cubic metres. The over all yield of said load (taking into consideration "broken stowage") if calculated in to cut and split 12 inch logs is around 1.5 times. So you are looking at getting around 97.5 cubic metres of loose filled logs. That equates to under GBP 49 per cubic metre loose filled (obviously you need to add cost of work and machinery use to that).

 

Is that a good price for the UK? That's not for me to say. But the offer is there, if you can get it sold on at a decent profit to yourselves at that price then I am happy to help.

[slasherscot]

sry all round timber that comes into the UK has to be debark, EU or not,

 

 

maybe i missing something here.........is the container volume 67cc metres or is it bigger and holds 67 cubic metres of timber.

[muldonach]

Intra EU market is not imported. It is "intra community trade."

 

A container packed (as slasherscot rightly states) is volume wise 65 cubic metres. The over all yield of said load (taking into consideration "broken stowage") if calculated in to cut and split 12 inch logs is around 1.5 times. So you are looking at getting around 97.5 cubic metres of loose filled logs. That equates to under GBP 49 per cubic metre loose filled (obviously you need to add cost of work and machinery use to that).

 

Is that a good price for the UK? That's not for me to say. But the offer is there, if you can get it sold on at a decent profit to yourselves at that price then I am happy to help.

 

 

I really don't think so - if you are putting random lengths between 3-5m into a container you will be very luckly to get 30cu mtr of timber into that container.

 

Using your multiplier of 1.5 you will end up with 45cu mt of split logs, as you say after all the work of processing them - and getting them out of the container may be a bit of a chore.

 

I don't see it as being a viable proposition I'm afraid

 

cheers

mac

[skyhuck]

container.

 

UK birch cut 2010 delivered to ur yard is £35 a tonne or around £42 a cubic metre if u prefer that measurement.

 

I am afraid to me, urs works out about £190

 

I pretty sure you will get well over 1 cubic metre of Birch too the tonne, making the price per cube less than the price per tonne.

[slasherscot]

we aint doubting that after splitting over here, the problem is u wont get 67cubic metres of round timber in a 67 cubic metre container, i reckon 35 or less. so jays calculation are pie n the sky......huck lol

[skyhuck]

we aint doubting that after splitting over here, the problem is u wont get 67cubic metres of round timber in a 67 cubic metre container, i reckon 35 or less. so jays calculation are pie n the sky......huck lol

 

The point I was making, is that the UK Birch is costing even less per cube than you stated, making the imported stuff even more of a none starter.

 

Timber is becoming more scares, but there is a limit to what people will pay, I reckon coal would cost less than this stuff once its been converted and delivered.

[slasherscot]

i totally agree

[JayVee]

My apologies for the late reply, yesterday was Finnish Independence Day and I was out celebrating it accordingly.

 

To business then. On this thread there have been some incorrect comments and I will address them first.

 

On the matter of debarking. Birch brought in to the UK need not be debarked. Please check this with the Forrestry Commission. There is no point in me arguing a point that is a fact.

 

It was stated here that a cubic metre of birch costs more than a tonne of the same wood. This also is incorrect. A solid cubic metre of fresh felled birch will weigh in at around 800 kilos.

 

As for the container question which seems to have caused some disagreement. This may well be my fault and be a miscommunication in language. I am a Finnish not English. Let me attempt to make this clear. The normal quoted cubic metre for log sales in Europe always refers to a stacked cubic metre NOT a solid cubic metre. Perhaps others have been referring to solid cubic metres. In which case all parties are correct. It does not however change the end result, which would be a little under 100 loose cubic metres of firewood. As I have stated from the get go.

 

The Finnish wood market is one of the largest and most liquid in the world. All measurements are regulated by law. If my original offer is converted into SOLID cubic metres there is a legal formula in Finland which takes in to account the length, curvature, stacking and the branches of the underlying wood to determine a SOLID cubic metre amount. Regarding the wood I offered, that amount comes to 38 solid cubic metres. In turn, that amount will still yield under 100 loose cubic metres of wood. As I have stated all the time.

 

We are a broker of wood, this means we buy from several suppliers all over Finland, prices are always quoted as stacked cubic metres, which is the standard in Finland and the rest of Europe. Once again I stress that this is regulated by law and it is an open and transparent market. We know what we are getting and what it will yield as do our clients. As brokers this is a small margin business, which is dependent totally on volume and repeat business with the same clientele base. It simply isn’t worth the paperwork and hassle for a few hundred euros to deliver something that the end client is disappointed in. We know what we are getting and we always make sure our clients know exactly what they are getting before the deal is struck. We pride ourselves on being boring Finns, with us no one is ever surprised.

 

As for the law I stated. Because of the misunderstandings that have arisen I highly recommend the wood calculation formula that is the legally accepted form in Finland. This was passed into law in 1997 and has remained unchanged, which is testament to its accuracy. I have it as an excel spreadsheet, because it helps to immediately calculate different quality and length of timber into a comparable number. If anyone would like it please PM me and I will translate it into English and you can have a go yourself.

 

With that very long statement I hope I have cleared things up a little. Our normal trade is in cut and split birch logs. I sourced longer lengths and arranged the logistics based on the fact that I received so many PM’s and emails requesting quotes for cordwood. Due to the confusion arisen out of my offer, in hindsight this was a mistake. It was never my intention to confuse anyone.

 

To quote my favourite British comedy series: I was never confused.

[Big J]

I just want to thank Jayvee for taking to time to explain everything - I think that he is getting a very hard time from some members, and quite unjustifiably so as well.

 

His product may well come into what can be considered the premium bracket, but I think the importation is completely justifiable and could easily become a good standing arrangement for a firewood merchant.

 

I have lost track of the number of people posting threads about wanting/needing cordwood (and not being able to get any) and other people wanting to kiln dry timber as they don't have any stock this winter.

 

So little is actually produced in the UK now. I'm not saying that we want to consider long term energy dependency on yet another foreign country, but don't forgot we are a net importer of energy - why not bring in something that is at the very least sustainable?