Payment in wood

[Ty Unnos]

Hi All

 

I am being offered work by a local conservation group extracting timber from various nature reserves.

 

It is all small scale stuff but they have no money so will not pay me. Instead I can keep all the wood I extract. My plan would be to turn most of the wood into charcoal or firewood.

 

Presumably they are getting grant money for the woodland management which they will keep.

 

Is this a workable deal? Is there a sufficient return from firewood to pay for my effort? Or does it all depend on access?

 

Does anyone else work like this?

[Johny Walker]

Hi All

 

I am being offered work by a local conservation group extracting timber from various nature reserves.

 

It is all small scale stuff but they have no money so will not pay me. Instead I can keep all the wood I extract. My plan would be to turn most of the wood into charcoal or firewood.

 

Presumably they are getting grant money for the woodland management which they will keep.

 

Is this a workable deal? Is there a sufficient return from firewood to pay for my effort? Or does it all depend on access?

 

Does anyone else work like this?

 

are you felling,converting & extracting ,can you get a log truck on site ,how much timber is ther ,is it h/w or s/w ,h/w should bring £40t road side

[Chris Gagen]

all depends on work involved in extraction and what kit you've already got so don't need to buy. you'll have to sit down and work out the costs.

[Ty Unnos]

are you felling,converting & extracting ,can you get a log truck on site ,how much timber is ther ,is it h/w or s/w ,h/w should bring £40t road side

 

Yes felling / converting and extracting. Its all hardwood - mostly small stuff. Different sites have different degrees of access but it is all pretty bad. Unlikely to be able to get a log truck in.

 

At the moment I have no equipment but am trying to get 40% funding from council. Thinking about compact / alpine tractor and trailer.

[Chris Sheppard]

In theory it should be workable as most of the time now you would be paying quite a bit for any timber standing if there was a chance of getting any firewood out of it. Taking into account the small diameter and bad access then doing the work in return for the wood (or in effect being given the wood standing) then as long as you work efficiently you should be able to make a wage, perhaps not a great one to start with but a wage all the same

[renewablejohn]

Be very careful doing your sums. We have a similar arrangement with a local council and find that the amount which we can extract on a daily basis barely covers the daily cost of labour. If we did not already have the harvesting equipment then we could not afford to purchase the equipment. Also be aware of harvesting periods as were not allowed to harvest during the nesting season.

[muldonach]

Hi All

 

I am being offered work by a local conservation group extracting timber from various nature reserves.

 

It is all small scale stuff but they have no money so will not pay me. Instead I can keep all the wood I extract. My plan would be to turn most of the wood into charcoal or firewood.

 

Presumably they are getting grant money for the woodland management which they will keep.

 

Is this a workable deal? Is there a sufficient return from firewood to pay for my effort? Or does it all depend on access?

 

Does anyone else work like this?

 

If they are getting grant money for woodland management then they should have no problem in paying the guy who is doing the management.

 

bad access and small parcels do not make for easy (or possibly any) profit.

 

Cheers

mac

[ben lightfoot]

How about doing some sums and seeing what you could get of areas of high yield but other areas of poor quality and poor access charge them, as has been mentioned they are getting a grant for a reason

[farmer_ben]

There seems to me to be more and more people around my way doing work in return for the timber, these are the same people saying they are getting there timber for 'free'!!!! Personally I wouldnt think long and hard about it. I generally charge farmers a standard hourly rate for my work and then offer to buy back the timber, sometimes I end up owing the farming and sometimes the farm owes me, but at least we both know where we stand with this arrangement

[Chris Sheppard]

In theory it should be workable as most of the time now you would be paying quite a bit for any timber standing if there was a chance of getting any firewood out of it. Taking into account the small diameter and bad access then doing the work in return for the wood (or in effect being given the wood standing) then as long as you work efficiently you should be able to make a wage, perhaps not a great one to start with but a wage all the same

 

I've just realised my reply may have come across a bit generic - I should have said that the above generally applies within forestry rather than just any standing timber