Designer Logs

[ash1]

I’ve been following the various firewood threads with great interest and amazement, particularly prices being achieved for a cu metre, up to a staggering £120.I can see a person having the odd fire paying the above figure but for someone like myself who heats the whole house and domestic hot water with wood, that would cost in the region of not far short of £3000!!. It would be cheaper to use oil or gas and far more convenient.

I should point out that my wood supply is F.O.C. via what you guys would call Arb waste/ arisings. The contractor who supplies me makes his money from the tree surgery and the removal of the waste so is more than happy for me to take whatever I require.

I have absolutely no axe to grind here (sorry) it is simply an observation and wonder if these prices are truly sustainable.

 

Keith

[Adam]

you have to remember that a lot of the guys doing firewood do so as their only means of buisness. Wood ,as you know, isnt cheap to buy in , takes time to process. when i last checked it was around £70 a tonne for cord wood. Say they are running a £20,000 processor to keep up with demand. all costs. so the £80-£120 per cube isnt making a massive profit.

I personally sell the wood from my tree surgery company as logs, all good wood that is , no conifer and the like.

[Rob D]

I’ve been following the various firewood threads with great interest and amazement, particularly prices being achieved for a cu metre, up to a staggering £120.I can see a person having the odd fire paying the above figure but for someone like myself who heats the whole house and domestic hot water with wood, that would cost in the region of not far short of £3000!!. It would be cheaper to use oil or gas and far more convenient.

I should point out that my wood supply is F.O.C. via what you guys would call Arb waste/ arisings. The contractor who supplies me makes his money from the tree surgery and the removal of the waste so is more than happy for me to take whatever I require.

I have absolutely no axe to grind here (sorry) it is simply an observation and wonder if these prices are truly sustainable.

 

Keith

 

 

Your system works well Keith...

 

 

..... but if/when your arb contractor is offered money for his arb waste you may look back on these days as the 'good 'ol days'! At the moment you have a good thing... whether it will continue for much longer.....

 

A lot of contractors round me now charge for their wood waste when 2-3 years ago they couldn't give it away. To get their wood I now pay them £20 or so and have to go on site, help saw it and collect it at their convenience.

 

Looking ahead I would predict £120-00 per cube is not only sustainable but will rise year on year.

[difflock]

It must be said that as a 16 year Morso stove operator and more recently a 40Kw logburning central heating boiler owner.

I am saying to anyone who asks that heating oil is actually cheap!

Insulate, insulate insulate, then simply pay for the oil................unless one has an unlimited free source of firewood.

[ash1]

Your system works well Keith...

 

 

..... but if/when your arb contractor is offered money for his arb waste you may look back on these days as the 'good 'ol days'! At the moment you have a good thing... whether it will continue for much longer.....

 

A lot of contractors round me now charge for their wood waste when 2-3 years ago they couldn't give it away. To get their wood I now pay them £20 or so and have to go on site, help saw it and collect it at their convenience.

 

Looking ahead I would predict £120-00 per cube is not only sustainable but will rise year on year.

 

Hi Rob

It will continue as long as he is in business as he is a friend and we work on a quid pro quo basis and have done for 25 years. I also have land which I will be planting with ash etc, shortly, for future coppicing.

 

There are guys on here selling seasoned hard wood in builder’s bags (not quite a cube) for £25 now!! Also on eBay £35 for Oak!!

 

Which brings me to another point about the size of builders bags, which a great deal of firewood suppliers use I’m yet to see one that actually is a cu metre most are.8 of a metre or even.6

I’m not saying they don’t exist I’ve just never come across them.

 

To remain sustainable the price has to be comparable or cheaper than oil or gas which at £120 for a cube of hardwood is not.

 

Keith

[Joy Yeomans]

i would inpart agree, that £120 is not a cost alternative for customers, but this is where my points comes in that i have said many times - we need to start introducing to customers mixed loads and /or softwoods this will enable the prices to stay at an affordable level for the customer to continue to use wood as the alternative and better fuel, hardwoods are becoming increasingly hard to get hold of price wise and there is only so much wood to thin, i can see that in next year if we continue to persue these quantities the market will dry up for another 5 years until stocks grow and replenish to require further thinnings etc. as for another comment i read not long ago, re; using uneconmical harvestable hardwood which will come into being economic to get out, i cant see this happening, as the owner will still want a high price for their standing timber and the market will not cover costs of skyline etc for firewood prices.

 

you are spoilt with free wood, a luxury which is sure to dry up, our prices this year shall have to be at least £85 per cube for hardwood and try to promote mixed or softwoods loads at very competative prices to push these, as costs of running harvesting tackle and mens wages as fellers need paying, we in forestry have to pay for the timber not as in tree surgery where it is a sideline, and the costs to justify your said £120 are quite easy to see when the firewood merchant has to buy in at £50 to £60 per tonne delivered, most wood only gives 1 cube per tonne or at best 1.5m3, with processing costs labour and delivery ontop - well i leave the maths to you.

 

joy

[Chris Sheppard]

i would inpart agree, that £120 is not a cost alternative for customers, but this is where my points comes in that i have said many times - we need to start introducing to customers mixed loads and /or softwoods this will enable the prices to stay at an affordable level for the customer to continue to use wood as the alternative and better fuel, hardwoods are becoming increasingly hard to get hold of price wise and there is only so much wood to thin, i can see that in next year if we continue to persue these quantities the market will dry up for another 5 years until stocks grow and replenish to require further thinnings etc. as for another comment i read not long ago, re; using uneconmical harvestable hardwood which will come into being economic to get out, i cant see this happening, as the owner will still want a high price for their standing timber and the market will not cover costs of skyline etc for firewood prices.

 

you are spoilt with free wood, a luxury which is sure to dry up, our prices this year shall have to be at least £85 per cube for hardwood and try to promote mixed or softwoods loads at very competative prices to push these, as costs of running harvesting tackle and mens wages as fellers need paying, we in forestry have to pay for the timber not as in tree surgery where it is a sideline, and the costs to justify your said £120 are quite easy to see when the firewood merchant has to buy in at £50 to £60 per tonne delivered, most wood only gives 1 cube per tonne or at best 1.5m3, with processing costs labour and delivery ontop - well i leave the maths to you.

 

joy

 

Bang on as per usual

[ash1]

Below is a quote from Highland Forestry LTD just a few minutes ago on another thread.

 

Keith

 

That seems awful steep.... we sell at roadside all over the country around the £36/t mark for hardwood.

__________________

Highland Forestry Ltd.

[Frankie Lawrence]

you have to remember that a lot of the guys doing firewood do so as their only means of buisness. Wood ,as you know, isnt cheap to buy in , takes time to process. when i last checked it was around £70 a tonne for cord wood. Say they are running a £20,000 processor to keep up with demand. all costs. so the £80-£120 per cube isnt making a massive profit.

I personally sell the wood from my tree surgery company as logs, all good wood that is , no conifer and the like.

 

£70 a tonne!!! I wish I could sell would at that price.

 

I thought it was 30-40 maybe 50 if things are desperate or am I wrong?

[Dave Martin]

I’ve been following the various firewood threads with great interest and amazement, particularly prices being achieved for a cu metre, up to a staggering £120.I can see a person having the odd fire paying the above figure but for someone like myself who heats the whole house and domestic hot water with wood, that would cost in the region of not far short of £3000!!. It would be cheaper to use oil or gas and far more convenient.

I should point out that my wood supply is F.O.C. via what you guys would call Arb waste/ arisings. The contractor who supplies me makes his money from the tree surgery and the removal of the waste so is more than happy for me to take whatever I require.

I have absolutely no axe to grind here (sorry) it is simply an observation and wonder if these prices are truly sustainable.

 

Keith

 

Even if the wood were to come in free the costs are in the machinery needed to process it, the tractor needed to run the processor ( I have just paid £1265 to have mine serviced ), the storage vessels, the machinery needed to lift the storage vessels, the land to store it on, the truck to deliver it in, the barn to store it in etc etc..... GET AWAY FROM THIS MIND CONCEPT THAT WOOD SHOULD BE FREE.... to do it properly is expensive and hard work.