Is there a market for softwood???

[owen bell]

Cheers Firewood man! He's a little to close for my softwood pile!

 

hi timberbear would you be interested in supplying softwood with delivery to llanbradach, caerphilly. if yes what sort of prices. thanks

[Dalynn]

Hi

Could you tell me who you managed to get the grant from? We run a comunity woodland in Cwmbran have managed to get Grants to set up a social enterprise to cover wages etc but are struggling to get capital grants for equipment.

[northumbriaforestry]

Softwood is the future, it's the customers knowledge that needs to change, so woodsman need to be more cluey & honest & help there customers get that knowledge . I worry about quangos agreeing to give grants to business that don't have there own timber supplies set up. How did you justify your business's continued viability without a reasonable stab at a cashflow & projected sales forecast. Cutting & delivering logs is the easy bit, obtaining, managing & keeping a truly sustainable supply chain is what will make good quality softwood hold the larger slice of the market, if indeed it doesn't already.

hi guys,

thanks for all your comments. think im going to give the softwood a try. me and my business partner are getting a £7000 grant for our business to buy a log processor so i need a constant supply of timber dont think im going to get a constant supply of hardwood. just need a softwood supplier now.

[Phil The Wood]

There is a market for softwood but where I am (Newtown, Mid-Wales). It retails for £40 per m3 seasoned, delivered within 10 miles. I would guess you won't get much more than that in Caerphilly. I basically won't buy it but will pick it up if it's free. Grants-wise no-one will help you out if it's for your own gain. Try woodlots for artic loads.

[Stereo]

I burn a lot of softwood and playing Devil's Advocate here, I can see why people don't like it. We know all about the fast seasoning, the fast growing, the (usually) easier processing. But, the problem I find with burning it exclusively is that it's hard work. You have to load the stove more often in most cases. Not really a problem for me as I love mucking about with fires. The main problem I find is when you let the fire die down too much. No bed of glowing embers here, just dead, black ash.

 

I put a lot of softwood through our Esse stove as I find it's great for heating the water but if you go out for a few hours you better have a chunk of ash or Syc to hand or you will come back to a dead fire and that's a whole load of work. Chuck a nice big ash log on there and you'll have a bed of coals to chuck more soft on and you're away.

 

Is this stove design? Our Esse W25 seems to be one of the most efficient burners around and with dry wood, extracts every bit of heat out.

 

How do the Scandinavians cope? Is it just accepted that you need to tend more regularly or do their stoves make a better job of softwood?

[Pierre]

There is already a shortage of hardwood and more and more people putting stoves in. You may have to do some explaining (selling) but we have converted 90% of our customers easily. Good luck.

[ThrustSSC]

We should also think about the split of customers more suited to each wood type. The urban-dwelling folks that I mostly sell to really need hardwood because it takes up less of their very-limited storage space for the same energy content. Rural-dwellers can get away with more softwood because they have the space - although Stereo has a good point about always having some hardwood to hand to keep the fire in over longer intervals.

 

It'll be interesting to see what happens when the domestic RHI kicks in (if there's any money left after the FIT fiasco) this coming Autumn. If it drives chip and pellet production, we could see that absorbing a lot of the softwood in the market.

 

I just hope the planting we need for all these stoves is happening. It would help if so much wasn't being wasted by being burned green - either through lack of knowledge by someone who cut a tree in his garden down, or being deliberately sold as 'seasoned' by Mick-with-the-battered-tranny.

[StephF]

I burn a lot of softwood and playing Devil's Advocate here, I can see why people don't like it. We know all about the fast seasoning, the fast growing, the (usually) easier processing. But, the problem I find with burning it exclusively is that it's hard work. You have to load the stove more often in most cases. Not really a problem for me as I love mucking about with fires. The main problem I find is when you let the fire die down too much. No bed of glowing embers here, just dead, black ash.

 

I put a lot of softwood through our Esse stove as I find it's great for heating the water but if you go out for a few hours you better have a chunk of ash or Syc to hand or you will come back to a dead fire and that's a whole load of work. Chuck a nice big ash log on there and you'll have a bed of coals to chuck more soft on and you're away.

 

Is this stove design? Our Esse W25 seems to be one of the most efficient burners around and with dry wood, extracts every bit of heat out.

 

How do the Scandinavians cope? Is it just accepted that you need to tend more regularly or do their stoves make a better job of softwood?

 

Agree 100%, we burn softwood on our Esse cooker, it is brillliant stuff. Sell 2/3 softwood, and its easier to get hold of etc.

[mattpete]

check your local garage nets you will find it is nearly all softwood

 

warma

softwood

 

by us they sell loads

[Phil The Wood]

Correct me if i'm wrong but the RHI will only apply to gassification boilers, which retail for several £k. Can't see many householders opting for them, frankly. I don't see anything wrong with softwood, its cheaper and will burn as hot as hardwood. OK, it doesn't last as long but there is a market for it and people will buy it 'cos it's cheap. I've just sold 20m3

Edited December 24, 2011 by Phil The Wood